Autonomous cars: The tension between occupant experience and intersection capacity

Systems that enable high levels of vehicle-automation are now beginning to enter the commercial marketplace. Road vehicles capable of operating independently of real-time human control under an increasing set of circumstances will likely become more widely available in the near future. Such vehicles are expected to bring a variety of benefits. Two such anticipated advantages (relative to human-driver vehicle control) are said to be increased road network capacity and the freeing up of the driver-occupant’s time to engage in their choice of leisurely or economically-productive (non-driving) tasks.In this study we investigate the implications for intersection capacity and level-of-service of providing occupants of automated (without real-time human control), autonomously-operating (without vehicle-to-X communication) cars with ride quality that is equivalent (in terms of maximum rates of longitudinal and lateral acceleration) to two types of rail systems: [urban] light rail transit and [inter-urban] high-speed rail. The literature suggests that car passengers start experiencing discomfort at lower rates of acceleration than car drivers; it is therefore plausible that occupants of an autonomously-operating vehicle may wish to instruct their vehicle to maneuver in a way that provides them greater ride comfort than if the vehicle-control algorithm simply mimicked human-driving-operation.On the basis of traffic microsimulation analysis, we found that restricting the dynamics of autonomous cars to the acceleration/deceleration characteristics of both rail systems leads to reductions in a signalized intersection’s vehicle-processing capacity and increases in delay. The impacts were found to be larger when constraining the autonomous cars’ dynamics to the more-restrictive acceleration/deceleration profile of high-speed rail. The scenarios we analyzed must be viewed as boundary conditions, because autonomous cars’ dynamics were by definition never allowed to exceed the acceleration/deceleration constraints of the rail systems. Appropriate evidence regarding motorists’ preferences does not exist at present; establishing these preferences is an important item for the future research agenda.This paper concludes with a brief discussion of research needs to advance this line of inquiry.     

相继增压系统对改善船用直列八缸发动机性能的试验研究

随着大型柴油发动机经济性和排放要求的不断提升,以及对发动机稳态、瞬态特性要求的不断提高,传统的涡轮增压系统已无法满足船用发动机全工况性能的要求。为了提高产品竞争力和适配性,针对某8缸直列船用柴油发动机开发了带有定压排气管的相继增压系统,并进行了发动机台架试验研究。结果表明：发动机中、低转速时,相继增压系统使发动机比油耗可以下降5%-10%,排气温度降低30%-45%,烟度下降55%-60%；最大扭矩可以提升15.1%-36.4%；发动机最大扭矩转速工况突加突卸响应性提升约28%-29%；相继增压系统中定压排气管的设计使得发动机高工况性能也有所提升,从而实现发动机全工况性能的提升。     

Development and calibration of a long-distance passenger traffic assignment model

This paper studies the assignment of long-distance passenger traffic on a highway corridor network. First, we propose a traditional model for the long-distance traffic assignment considering interactions with local commuter traffic. It addresses the effect of local networks on highway corridors. An iterative algorithm is developed to solve for the exact solution. Then, to address the potential computational issues that arise therein, a decomposition method is proposed by introducing a new concept of corridor elasticity. An assignment procedure for long-distance passenger traffic is developed accordingly. Numerical tests show that the proposed decomposition method makes significant improvements in computational performance at a small loss of optimality. This decomposition method well approximates the exact assignment from the traditional formulation, especially when the highway corridors are near-saturation. The proposed decomposition method appears practical for application.     

桥墩及桩基形式对墩底平转施工转盘设计的影响

以新建福厦(福州—厦门)高速铁路17500 t转体刚构为背景,采用实体有限元方法分析了不同桥墩类型及桩基布置对墩底平转转体中转盘受力的影响,并对桥墩及桩基进行了优化。结果表明:实体墩对上转盘受力最有利,其次是空心墩,最不利的是双薄壁墩;增加墩底实体段能够有效降低空心墩、双薄壁墩上转盘的主拉应力;随着墩底实体段高度的增加,主拉应力降低的幅度逐渐变小;球铰正下方有桩基时对下转盘底部受力更加有利;距离球铰中心越远,桩基受力越小,适当增加中桩桩径,可使各桩基应力状态更加均衡。     

铁路桥梁浅基冲刷防护方案探讨

桥梁基础长期处于水环境中,在水流冲刷作用下,河床下切导致基础埋置深度减小,容易使基础产生病害进而影响结构强度和稳定性,同时降低地基基础承载力。通过分析河床冲刷对基础承载力的影响,结合铁路桥梁基础加固防护工程实践,探讨基础加固防护方案的合理性与可行性,对有效预防和整治因基础冲刷而产生的桥梁病害具有重要意义。     

基于剩余充电电量的锂离子电池组容量快速估计方法

针对传统锂离子电池组容量确定方法存在的效率低、能耗高且只能离线应用等问题,提出一种基于电池剩余充电电量的锂离子电池组容量快速估计方法。首先,基于充电电压曲线一致性原理,以电池组内率先充电至充电截止电压的电池单体电压曲线为基准,通过电压曲线的平移缩放与线性插值计算出各单体电池的剩余充电电量与剩余充电时间,从而实现各单体电池的荷电状态(State of Charge, SOC)在线估计,在此基础上实现电池组容量的快速估计。其次,在电池单体模型的基础上建立电池组的仿真模型,并在全SOC区域上对模型参数进行分段辨识。通过所建立的仿真模型得到电池组的充放电曲线,并对电池组容量进行估计。最后,对4个单体串联而成的电池组进行充电试验。研究结果表明:仿真容量与估计容量误差为1.2%以内,验证了所提出的容量快速估计算法的有效性;利用所提方法估计出电池组容量与试验得到的电池组容量的误差为2.61%;该方法根据电池充电曲线的平移与缩放即可在线估计出电池组容量,可应用于新电池组容量的在线快速估计,能在保证3%估计误差的基础上将检测效率提高到传统方法的2倍以上。     

Determination of limiting cavity depths for offshore spudcan foundations in a spatially varying seabed

The importance of accurate prediction of limiting cavity depths during offshore spudcan foundations installation has been variously highlighted in the literature. Nonetheless, most of the previous research is deterministic in nature and confined to homogenous soils. Since offshore clayey soils can be highly spatially variable, there is a practical need to take proper account of the spatial variability in the prediction of limiting cavity depths. In a bid to remedy this situation, large deformation finite element calculations combined with three-dimensional random fields were repeatedly conducted in this study within a Monte-Carlo framework. The continuous penetration of a spudcan initiated from surface was explicitly modeled until a full-localized flow-around mechanism was observed. Spatial variability was found to clearly affect the soil back-flow and thereby the limiting cavity depth, the latter of which takes a range of values that can be approximately modeled as a log-normal distribution. Characteristic limiting cavity depths at various probability levels were ascertained. An algebraic expression was proposed to explicitly predict the characteristic limiting cavity depths in random soils from the fractile. Particular attention was paid to the lower and upper 5% characteristic values, which are likely to be useful for reliability-based design.     

信号交叉口行人二次过街下右转车通行能力与延误估计模型

在充分分析典型四相位交叉口行人二次过街设置前、后的行人流与右转车流冲突的前提下，以行人过街时间占有率和行人群到达分布作为分析指标，利用可插车间隙理论得出行人单向通行和双向通行条件下的右转车通行能力计算公式；根据行人流随机消散和集中消散的不同特征，应用随机分布理论推导出右转车穿越行人流的延误模型；并通过算例对比分析行人二次过街设置前、后右转车通行能力和延误的变化值。结果表明，除了在少数行人流量比较大的情况下， 行人二次过街的设置会小幅度减少右转车的延误；在其他大多数情况下，行人二次过街设置后， 右转车的通行能力将受到限制，延误增大，其中，平均通行能力降低了16.68%，平均延误时间增大 了21%，所以，当右转车交通需求较大时，需同时考虑行人和右转车的交通运行状态，优化设计是否采用行人二次过街，避免右转车超出极限忍耐时间而增大与行人冲突的概率。     

移动闭塞系统区间通过能力分析及参数计算

移动闭塞条件下“闭塞分区”呈现出“移动”和“长度变化”的特征,其区间通过能力的计算较固定闭塞系统更加复杂。本文建立了移动闭塞系统区间通过能力的数学模型,对区间通过能力与列车追踪运行速度、跟驰车距和列车性能等参数之间的相互关系进行了定性、定量分析,并就关鍵参数的计算方法进行了深入的讨论,对移动闭塞条件下的列车运行控制与行车组织有一定的参考价值。     

铁路预应力路堤加固技术数值研究

研究目的:铁路预应力路堤在国内外尚属一种新型路基加固法,其受力变形特性暂未得到系统化研究,相关加固设计理论仍处于探索性阶段。因此,有必要通过数值手段了解预应力路堤的工作状态,以掌握其加固性能。鉴于此,借助ABAQUS软件平台构建预应力路堤仿真系统,分析差异化预应力加固参数对路堤变形和承载能力的影响以及预应力加固构件的受力特征。研究结论:(1)路堤本体段坡面较优加固位置为距本体顶面以下0.3倍本体高度处;(2)坡率1∶1的预应力路堤在第1、2排侧压板分别施加50 k Pa、100 k Pa预压荷载时,其变形与承载力均可达传统路堤(坡率1∶1.5)水平,并可通过提升加固标准进一步强化路堤承载性能;(3)当对第1、2、3排侧压板分别施加50 k Pa、100 k Pa、100 k Pa预压荷载时,路堤内部附加围压S11>13.5 k Pa区域大致呈"x"形分布并形成横贯路堤的"预压加固区";(4)侧压板锚固区受力集中且复杂,应注意保障锚固区板体强度;(5)力筋在路堤加载前后的应力变化量与坡面侧向变形特征相关;(6)本研究成果可为铁路预应力路堤的加固设计提供技术指导。