Bus control strategies in corridors with signalized intersections

This paper proposes a new dynamic bus control strategy aimed at reducing the negative effects of time-headway variations on route performance, based on real-time bus tracking data at stops. In routes with high demand, any delay of a single vehicle ends up causing an unstable motion of buses and producing the bus bunching phenomena. This strategy controls the cruising speed of buses and considers the extension of the green phase of traffic lights at intersections, when a bus is significantly delayed. The performance of this strategy will be compared to the current static operation technique based on the provision of slack times at holding points. An operational model is presented in order to estimate the effects of each controlling strategy, taking into account the vehicle capacity constraint. Control strategies are assessed in terms of passenger total travel time, operating cost as well as on the coefficient of headway variation. The effects of controlling strategies are tested in an idealized bus route under different operational settings and in the bus route of highest demand in Barcelona by simulation. The results show that the proposed dynamic controlling strategy reduces total system cost (user and agency) by 15–40% as well as the coefficient of headway variation 53–78% regarding the uncontrolled case, providing a bus performance similar to the expected when time disturbance is not presented.     

Personalized real-time traffic information provision: Agent-based optimization model and solution framework

The advancement of information and communication technology allows the use of more sophisticated information provision strategies for real-time congested traffic management in a congested network. This paper proposes an agent-based optimization modeling framework to provide personalized traffic information for heterogeneous travelers. Based on a space–time network, a time-dependent link flow based integer programming model is first formulated to optimize various information strategies, including elements of where and when to provide the information, to whom the information is given, and what alternative route information should be suggested. The analytical model can be solved efficiently using off-the-shelf commercial solvers for small-scale network. A Lagrangian Relaxation-based heuristic solution approach is developed for medium to large networks via the use of a mesoscopic dynamic traffic simulator.     

Geometric design safety estimation based on tire–road side friction

A closed-loop drive–vehicle–road–environment system (DVRES) model was established using Adams/Car and Matlab/Simulink. Dynamic responses of lateral tire forces based on tire–road side friction and road geometric characteristics are used to investigate vehicle side slip for geometric design safety estimation. The root mean square, the maximum values of lateral tire forces, comfort limit on curves and vehicle trajectories are used to quantify the safety margin of side friction. The simulation results show that the safety margins of lateral tire forces for radius, operating speed and superelevation rate were 18.2%, 19.3% and 17.6%, respectively, to guarantee good vehicle lateral reliability and ride comfort, while lower speeds are optimal in wet and slippery roads. Finally, a case study was conducted to illustrate the analysis of road design safety, and on-site experiment testing further validated the accuracy and reliability of the closed-loop DVRES model.     

Expirable parking reservations for managing morning commute with parking space constraints

When total parking supply in an urban downtown area is insufficient, morning commuters would choose their departure times not only to trade off bottleneck congestion and schedule delays, but also to secure a parking space. Recent studies found that an appropriate combination of reserved and unreserved parking spaces can spread the departures of those morning commuters and hence reduce their total travel cost. To further mitigate both traffic congestion and social cost from competition for parking, this study considers a parking reservation scheme with expiration times, where commuters with a parking reservation have to arrive at parking spaces for the reservation before a predetermined expiration time. We first show that if all parking reservations have the same expiration time, it is socially preferable to set the reservations to be non-expirable, i.e., without expiration time. However, if differentiated expiration times are properly designed, the total travel cost can be further reduced as compared with the reservation scheme without expiration time, since the peak will be further smoothed out. We explore socially desirable equilibrium flow patterns under the parking reservation scheme with differentiated expiration times. Finally, efficiencies of the reservation schemes are examined.     

An inverse finite element method for the analysis of VIV data

This paper presents an algorithm for the frequency domain solution of dynamic linear “inverse” problems, that is for the processing of measurement data (strain, acceleration etc.) acquired on a mechanical structure, in order to estimate the loads acting on the structure and its corresponding response. The problem is formulated as a constrained (force equilibrium) optimization (small deviations from measurements, small loads) problem, which is transformed into an unconstrained problem, then into differential equations. The algorithm is applied to the estimation of hydrodynamic forces induced by the shedding of vortices from an offshore oil riser.     

Influence of uneven rail irregularities on the dynamic response of the railway track using a three-dimensional model of the vehicle–track system

A mathematical model of the vehicle–track interaction is developed to investigate the coupled behaviour of vehicle–track system, in the presence of uneven irregularities at left/right rails. The railway vehicle is simplified as a 3D multi-rigid-body model, and the track is treated as the two parallel beams on a layered discrete support system. Besides the car-body, the bogies and the wheel sets, the sleepers are assumed to have roll degree of freedom, in order to simulate the in-plane rotation of the components. The wheel–rail interface is treated using a nonlinear Hertzian contact model, coupling the mathematical equations of the vehicle–track systems. The dynamic interaction of the entire system is numerically studied in time domain, employing Newmark's integration method. The track irregularity spectra of both the left/right rails are taken into account, as the inputs of dynamic excitations. The dynamic responses of the track system induced by such irregularities are obtained, particularly in terms of the vertical (bounce) and roll displacements. The numerical model of the present research is validated using several benchmark models reported in the literature, for both the smooth and unsmooth track conditions. Four sample profiles of the measured rail irregularities are considered as the case studies of excitation sources, examining their influences on the dynamic behaviour of the coupled system. The results of numerical simulations demonstrate that the motion of track system is significantly influenced by the presence of uneven irregularities in left/right rails. Dynamic response of the sleepers in the roll direction becomes more sensitive to the rail irregularities, as the unevenness severity of the parallel profiles (quantitative difference between left and right rail spectra) is increased. The severe geometric deformation of the track in the bounce–pitch–roll directions is mainly related to such profile unevenness (cross-level) in left/right rails.     

Dynamic diurnal social taxonomy of urban environments using data from a geocoded time use activity-travel diary and point-based business establishment inventory

In this paper, we explore the diurnal dynamics of joint activity participation in a small city in Pennsylvania, USA, using behavioral data and an inventory of business establishments. We account for the variation caused by the collective impact of social, temporal and spatial choices of individuals to produce predicted space–time visualizations of activity participation. The focus is on how social contexts of an activity impact the temporal and spatial decisions regarding the activity locations and how this impact varies depending on activity types. A comparison across activity types and social interaction types is made among spatial patterns during a day. The CentreSIM dataset, which is a household-based activity diary survey collected in Centre County (Pennsylvania, USA) in 2003, provides very detailed social interaction information enabling the analysis of social, spatial and temporal aspects of activity participation. In this paper we use this information to develop a spatio-temporal interpolation method and demonstration based on kriging. In this way, we extract the dynamic social taxonomy of places from the behavioral information in the dataset and suggest how urban and transportation models can be informed from the dynamics of places by observing “what is taking place” (activities being pursued in the context of this paper) combined with “what exists” (business establishments) or “what is available” (businesses that are open). The method here can also be used to improve the design of urban environments (e.g., filling gaps in desired activity locations), manage specific places (e.g., extending the opening and closing times of businesses), study transportation policies that are sensitive to time of day (e.g., pricing of parking to discourage crowding and traffic congestion), and modeling of spatio-temporal decisions of social activities in travel demand models (e.g., to guide the development of model specification and representation of the space in which behavioral models are applied).     

用模糊逻辑实现动力定位船舶的艏向寻优

由于各种环境因素随时间不断变化，船舶作为动力定位作业时，最优艏向也是不断变化的，所以艏向寻优是动力定位的关键技术之一，本文用模糊逻辑实现艏向寻优，其优点是，不依赖于环境要素的测量值和数学模型，寻优与控制相结合，反应快，准确程度高。     

浮置板式轨道结构隔振效果仿真研究

建立列车—轨道结构耦合系统有限元模型,将轨道不平顺作为列车—轨道结构耦合系统的激励源,对普通碎石道床轨道结构和浮置板式轨道结构的列车—轨道结构耦合系统动力学性能进行仿真研究,对比分析这2种类型的轨道结构系统振动响应与系统振动传递函数,评价浮置板式轨道结构的隔振效果。分析结果表明,浮置板式轨道结构与普通碎石道床轨道结构相比,振动加速度降低约70%,距线路5 m处大地振动加速度响应峰值降低约62.8%,相应Z振级衰减约10 dB,竖向振动加速度频率范围由0~200 Hz降到0~60 Hz,有效起到了振动隔离效果。     

行波及相干效应对超千米跨度斜拉桥多维多点随机地震响应的影响

为了研究行波及相干效应对超千米跨度公铁两用斜拉桥地震响应的影响,基于通用有限元软件ANSYS,借助高效的虚拟激励法分别得到考虑两种效应的结构地震响应值,通过对比研究,结果表明:(1)仅考虑行波效应时,在视波速取500 m/s工况下,主梁纵向位移和竖向位移出现最大均方根值,行波效应对主梁纵向位移响应影响最为显著;(2)仅考虑相干效应时,主梁纵向位移和横向位移在部分相干工况下出现最大均方根值,主梁跨中横向位移的均方根值为0.274 m,较一致激励(完全相干)增大了126.4%;(3)两种效应对结构1号边墩、2号辅助墩和3号主塔的不同地震响应的影响程度存在较大差异,需具体响应具体分析。通过各具体工况下的结果对比,得出超大跨度斜拉桥地震响应分析考虑行波和相干效应十分必要的结论。