Hydroelastic analysis of oblique irregular waves with a pontoon-type VLFS edged with dual inclined perforated plates

The fluid-structure interaction of oblique irregular waves with a pontoon-type very large floating structure (VLFS) edged with dual horizontal/inclined perforated plates has been investigated in the context of the direct time domain modal expansion theory. For the hydroelastic analysis, the boundary element method (BEM) based on time domain Kelvin sources is implemented to establish water wave model including the viscous effect of the perforated plates through the Darcy’s law, and the finite element method (FEM) is adopted for solving the deflections of the VLFS modeled as an equivalent Mindlin thick plate. In order to enhance the computing efficiency, the interpolation-tabulation scheme is applied to assess rapidly and accurately the free-surface Green function and its partial derivatives in finite water depth, and the boundary integral equation of a half or quarter VLFS model is further established taking advantage of symmetry of flow field and structure. Also, the numerical solutions are validated against a series of experimental tests. In the comparison, the empirical relationship between the actual porosity and porous parameter is successfully applied. Numerical solutions and model tests are executed to determine the hydroelastic response characteristics of VLFS with an attached anti-motion device. This study examines the effects of porosity, submerged depth, inclined angle and gap distance of such dual perforated anti-motion plates on the hydroelastic response to provide information regarding the optimal design. The effects of oblique wave angle on the performance of anti-motion and hydroelastic behavior of VLFS are also emphatically examined.     

Socially optimal electric driving range of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles

This study determines the optimal electric driving range of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) that minimizes the daily cost borne by the society when using this technology. An optimization framework is developed and applied to datasets representing the US market. Results indicate that the optimal range is 16 miles with an average social cost of $3.19 per day when exclusively charging at home, compared to $3.27 per day of driving a conventional vehicle. The optimal range is found to be sensitive to the cost of battery packs and the price of gasoline. When workplace charging is available, the optimal electric driving range surprisingly increases from 16 to 22 miles, as larger batteries would allow drivers to better take advantage of the charging opportunities to achieve longer electrified travel distances, yielding social cost savings. If workplace charging is available, the optimal density is to deploy a workplace charger for every 3.66 vehicles. Moreover, the diversification of the battery size, i.e., introducing a pair and triple of electric driving ranges to the market, could further decrease the average societal cost per PHEV by 7.45% and 11.5% respectively.     

基于时延特性建模的多断面短时交通流预测

针对现有交通流预测方法未充分考虑多断面车流演变规律，提出基于时延特性建模的时空相关性计算方法. 该方法采用对不同断面、不同时刻交通流的分布相似性度量，对输入的车辆到达数据序列进行切割构建时空相似度矩阵，得到相邻断面之间的时延参数. 基于时延特性建模，将多断面之间的流量信息进行融合，使用长短时记忆(LSTM)网络进行流量预测. 通过对实际路段数据的预测和结果分析，验证所提方法的有效性和实用性.     

Local joint flexibility of tubular X-joints stiffened with external ring or external plates

In the present paper, the Local Joint Flexibility (LJF) of the ring-stiffened X-joints and plate-stiffened X-joints under compressive load is investigated. In the first phase, a finite element (FE) model was generated and verified with the results of available experimental tests and equations. In the next phase, a set number of 234 FE models were created to evaluate the role of the external ring size (β_r and τ_r), the external plate size (β_p and τ_p), and the connection geometry (γ, τ, and β) on the LJF factor (f_LJF). In these FE models, the weld connecting the chord and brace members was generated. The results indicated that the f_LJF of a plate stiffened joint can be down to 76% of the f_LJF of the corresponding un-stiffened joint. Also, the effect of the ring size on the f_LJF was more than the effect of the plate size on the f_LJF, because of the stiffener position. Despite the notable effect of the ring and the plate on the f_LJF, there is not any study or formula on tubular connections stiffened with ring or plate. Therefore, the FE results were used to propose two parametric formulas for determining the f_LJF in X-joints with external ring or external plate under brace compressive load. Moreover, the derived formulas were checked based on the UK DoE acceptance criteria.     

Generalized Maximum Benefit Multiple Chinese Postman Problem

This research is focused on a generalization on the Max Benefit Chinese Postman Problem and the multiple vehicle variant of the Chinese Postman Problem. We call this generalization, the Generalized Maximum Benefit k-Chinese Postman Problem (GB k-CPP). We present a novel Mixed Integer Programming (MIP) formulation for the GB k-CPP. Four different cases of the model are discussed. The first case, performs arc-routing with profits and assumes that the origin and destination for each vehicle is the same for each cycle and is given by the user. The next case relaxes the assumption that the origin and destination for each vehicle should be the same and allows the users to select possible origins/destinations for vehicles. Case three gets the origin for each vehicle as input and produces a solution based on finding the best destination for each vehicle. The last case, that is very general, allows the optimization model to select possibly different locations for vehicle origin and destination, during each cycle. The different cases are applied to a security patrolling case conducted on the network of University of Maryland at College Park campus and the results are compared.     

Heterogeneous hazard model of PEV users charging intervals: Analysis of four year charging transactions data

Public charging infrastructure represents a key success factor in the promotion of plug-in electric vehicles (PEV). Given that a large initial investment is required for the widespread adoption of PEV, many studies have addressed the location choice problem for charging infrastructure using a priori simple assumptions. Ideally, however, identifying optimal locations of charging stations necessitates an understanding of charging behavior. Limited market penetration of PEV makes it difficult to grasp any regularities in charging behavior. Using a Dutch data set about four-years of charging transactions, this study presents a detailed analysis of inter-charging times. Recognizing that PEV users may exhibit different charging behavior, this study estimates a latent class hazard duration model, which accommodates duration dependence, unobserved heterogeneity and the effects of time-varying covariates. PEV users are endogenously classified into regular and random users by treating charging regularity as a latent variable. The paper provides valuable insights into the dynamics of charging behavior at public charging stations, and which strategies can be successfully used to improve the performance of public charging infrastructure.     

Evaluating sustainability of supply chains by two-stage range directional measure in the presence of negative data

Assessing sustainability of supply chains is a critical and increasingly complex problem. In recent years sustainability has received more attention in supply chain management (SCM) literature with triple bottom lines including social, environmental, and economic factors. Conventional data envelopment analysis (DEA) models consider decision making units (DMUs) as black boxes that consume a set of inputs to produce a set of outputs and do not take into consideration internal interactions of DMUs. Two-stage DEA models deal with such DMUs. However, existing two-stage DEA models are applicable only in technologies characterized by positive inputs/outputs. This paper aims to build and present a new two-stage DEA model considering negative input-intermediate-output data. Some numerical examples along with some theorems and properties are given to show capability of proposed method. The proposed ideas are used in a case study where 29 Iranian supply chains producing equipment of expendable medical devices are evaluated in terms of sustainability.     

How the environmental impact affects the design of logistics networks based on cost minimization

The degree of centralization of the logistics network is one of the important strategic decisions to take. This issue has often been studied but mainly from a cost minimization focus. This research studies the influence of incorporating the environmental impact in logistics network design models, comparing the results with those obtained considering cost minimization only. A fuzzy biobjective optimization model is used to carry out a number of experiments. By weighting the relative importance of the two objectives, the differences with respect to the base cost minimization solution can be ascertained. Our results show that in general more material is moved through warehouses when the environmental impact is considered and more decentralized facilities are opened.     

Generating lane-based intersection maps from crowdsourcing big trace data

Lane-based road information plays a critical role in transportation systems, a lane-based intersection map is the most important component in a detailed road map of the transportation infrastructure. Researchers have developed various algorithms to detect the spatial layout of intersections based on sensor data such as high-definition images/videos, laser point cloud data, and GPS traces, which can recognize intersections and road segments; however, most approaches do not automatically generate Lane-based Intersection Maps (LIMs). The objective of our study is to generate LIMs automatically from crowdsourced big trace data using a multi-hierarchy feature extraction strategy. The LIM automatic generation method proposed in this paper consists of the initial recognition of road intersections, intersection layout detection, and lane-based intersection map-generation. The initial recognition process identifies intersection and non-intersection areas using spatial clustering algorithms based on the similarity of angle and distance. The intersection layout is composed of exit and entry points, obtained by combining trajectory integration algorithms and turn rules at road intersections. The LIM generation step is finally derived from the intersection layout detection results and lane-based road information, based on geometric matching algorithms. The effectiveness of our proposed LIM generation method is demonstrated using crowdsourced vehicle traces. Additional comparisons and analysis are also conducted to confirm recognition results. Experiments show that the proposed method saves time and facilitates LIM refinement from crowdsourced traces more efficiently than methods based on other types of sensor data.     

基于传播模型的非机动车违规过街行为研究

为研究信号交叉口非机动车违规过街行为，选取西安市的7个信号交叉口，通过视频拍摄获取资料，应用复杂网络来分析非机动车网络的结构特征和演化规律.建立了交叉口非机动车网络，基于SI模型的基本思想，提出了非机动车违规过街行为的传播模型.并通过python程序进行模拟分析，在不同的网络结构和不同的传播率下，获取了非机动车违规过街的行为趋势.结果表明：随着等待时间的增加，一旦有骑行者闯红灯，更多的骑行者将加入到违规过街的行列；在内向度和外向度方面，电动自行车均高于普通自行车；非机动车违规行为随着传播率及非机动车流量的增加而增加.