A systematic analysis of multimodal transport systems with road space distribution and responsive bus service

A smart design of transport systems involves efficient use and allocation of the limited urban road capacity in the multimodal environment. This paper intends to understand the system-wide effect of dividing the road space to the private and public transport modes and how the public transport service provider responds to the space changes. To this end, the bimodal dynamic user equilibrium is formulated for separated road space. The Macroscopic Fundamental Diagram (MFD) model is employed to depict the dynamics of the automobile traffic for its state-dependent feature, its inclusion of hypercongestion, and its advantage of capturing network topology. The delay of a bus trip depends on the running speed which is in turn affected by bus lane capacity and ridership. Within the proposed bimodal framework, the steady-state equilibrium traffic characteristics and the optimal bus fare and service frequency are analytically derived. The counter-intuitive properties of traffic condition, modal split, and behavior of bus operator in the hypercongestion are identified. To understand the interaction between the transport authority (for system benefit maximization) and the bus operator (for its own benefit maximization), we examine how the bus operator responds to space changes and how the system benefit is influenced with the road space allocation. With responsive bus service, the condition, under which expanding bus lane capacity is beneficial to the system as a whole, has been analytically established. Then the model is applied to the dynamic framework where the space allocation changes with varying demand and demand-responsive bus service. We compare the optimal bus services under different economic objectives, evaluate the system performance of the bimodal network, and explore the dynamic space allocation strategy for the sake of social welfare maximization.     

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。     

Tyre/road noise damping characteristics using nomographs and fundamental vibroacoustical relationships

Several studies have successfully developed laboratory and field measurement techniques to estimate tyre/road noise damping characteristics. However, laboratory–field noise correlations of pavement types in the form of nomographs is essential to cognize the pavements’ acoustical properties from a practical perspective. A toolkit that readily provides field tyre/road noise intensity of different pavement materials is needed. Thus, the main objective of this study was to develop nomographs with relationships for tyre/road noise versus pavement materials’ viscoelastic–vibroacoustical properties. Isothermal and isochronal nomographs of phase angle–tyre/road noise as toolkits were developed based upon well-established phase angle and noise intensities typical of mixtures, making the nomograph correlations very authentic, realistic, and novel along with benefit to predict tyre/road noise at any desired temperature and traffic speed (or frequency) combination. This study is envisaged to benefit in the discernment of road materials’ damping capabilities from vibroacoustical and field noise–viscoelastic relation aspects.     

Data dependent input control for origin–destination demand estimation using observability analysis

In this paper, we address the observability issue of static O–D estimation based on link counts. Unlike most classic observability analyses that relied only on network topological relationships, our analysis incorporates the actual values of input parameters, thus including network operational relations as well. We first analyze possible mathematical properties of an O–D estimation problem with different data input. We then propose a modeling approach based on mixed-integer program for selecting model input that ensures observability and estimation quality. Through establishing a stronger connection between observability analysis and the corresponding estimation problem, the proposed method aims to improve estimation quality while reducing reliance on erroneous data.     

A real-time adaptive signal control in a connected vehicle environment

The state of the practice traffic signal control strategies mainly rely on infrastructure based vehicle detector data as the input for the control logic. The infrastructure based detectors are generally point detectors which cannot directly provide measurement of vehicle location and speed. With the advances in wireless communication technology, vehicles are able to communicate with each other and with the infrastructure in the emerging connected vehicle system. Data collected from connected vehicles provides a much more complete picture of the traffic states near an intersection and can be utilized for signal control. This paper presents a real-time adaptive signal phase allocation algorithm using connected vehicle data. The proposed algorithm optimizes the phase sequence and duration by solving a two-level optimization problem. Two objective functions are considered: minimization of total vehicle delay and minimization of queue length. Due to the low penetration rate of the connected vehicles, an algorithm that estimates the states of unequipped vehicle based on connected vehicle data is developed to construct a complete arrival table for the phase allocation algorithm. A real-world intersection is modeled in VISSIM to validate the algorithms. Results with a variety of connected vehicle market penetration rates and demand levels are compared to well-tuned fully actuated control. In general, the proposed control algorithm outperforms actuated control by reducing total delay by as much as 16.33% in a high penetration rate case and similar delay in a low penetration rate case. Different objective functions result in different behaviors of signal timing. The minimization of total vehicle delay usually generates lower total vehicle delay, while minimization of queue length serves all phases in a more balanced way.     

Modeling the impacts of mandatory and discretionary lane-changing maneuvers

In this paper, a novel mesoscopic multilane model is proposed to enable simultaneous simulation of mandatory and discretionary lane-changing behaviors to realistically capture multilane traffic dynamics. The model considers lane specific fundamental diagrams to simulate dynamic heterogeneous lane flow distributions on expressways. Moreover, different priority levels are identified according to different lane-changing motivations and the corresponding levels of urgency. Then, an algorithm is proposed to estimate the dynamic mandatory and discretionary lane-changing demands. Finally, the lane flow propagation is defined by the reaction law of the demand–supply functions, which can be regarded as an extension of the Incremental-Transfer and/or Priority Incremental-Transfer principles. The proposed mesoscopic multilane cell transmission model is calibrated and validated on a complex weaving section of the State Route 241 freeway in Orange County, California, showing both the positive and negative impact of lane changing maneuvers, e.g., balancing effect and capacity drop, respectively. Moreover, the empirical study verifies that the model requires no additional data other than the cell transmission model does. Thus, the proposed model can be deployed as a simple simulation tool for accessing dynamic mesoscopic multilane traffic state from data available to most management centers, and also the potential application in predicting the impact of traffic incident or lane control strategy.     

Validating and improving public transport origin–destination estimation algorithm using smart card fare data

Smart card data are increasingly used for transit network planning, passengers’ behaviour analysis and network demand forecasting. Public transport origin–destination (O–D) estimation is a significant product of processing smart card data. In recent years, various O–D estimation methods using the trip-chaining approach have attracted much attention from both researchers and practitioners. However, the validity of these estimation methods has not been extensively investigated. This is mainly because these datasets usually lack data about passengers’ alighting, as passengers are often required to tap their smart cards only when boarding a public transport service. Thus, this paper has two main objectives. First, the paper reports on the implementation and validation of the existing O–D estimation method using the unique smart card dataset of the South-East Queensland public transport network which includes data on both boarding stops and alighting stops. Second, the paper improves the O–D estimation algorithm and empirically examines these improvements, relying on this unique dataset. The evaluation of the last destination assumption of the trip-chaining method shows a significant negative impact on the matching results of the differences between actual boarding/alighting times and the public transport schedules. The proposed changes to the algorithm improve the average distance between the actual and estimated alighting stops, as this distance is reduced from 806 m using the original algorithm to 530 m after applying the suggested improvements.     

A capacity maximization scheme for intersection management with automated vehicles

With the advent of connected and automated vehicle technology, in this paper, we propose an innovative intersection operation scheme named as MCross: Maximum Capacity inteRsection Operation Scheme with Signals. This new scheme maximizes intersection capacity by utilizing all lanes of a road simultaneously. Lane assignment and green durations are dynamically optimized by solving a multi-objective mixed-integer non-linear programming problem. The demand conditions under which full capacity can be achieved in MCross are derived analytically. Numerical examples show that MCross can almost double the intersection capacity (increase by as high as 99.51% in comparison to that in conventional signal operation scheme).     

Integrating mesoscopic dynamic traffic assignment with agent-based travel behavior models for cumulative land development impact analysis

A number of approaches have been developed to evaluate the impact of land development on transportation infrastructure. While traditional approaches are either limited to static modeling of traffic performance or lack a strong travel behavior foundation, today’s advanced computational technology makes it feasible to model an individual traveler’s response to land development. This study integrates dynamic traffic assignment (DTA) with a positive agent-based microsimulation travel behavior model for cumulative land development impact studies. The integrated model not only enhances the behavioral implementation of DTA, but also captures traffic dynamics. It provides an advanced yet practical approach to understanding the impact of a single or series of land development projects on an individual driver’s behavior, as well as the aggregated impacts on the demand pattern and time-dependent traffic conditions. A simulation-based optimization (SBO) approach is proposed for the calibration of the modeling system. The SBO calibration approach enhances the transferability of this integrated model to other study areas. Using a case study that focuses on the cumulative land development impact along a congested corridor in Maryland, various regional and local travel behavior changes are discussed to show the capability of this tool for behavior side estimations and the corresponding traffic impacts.