Development and validation of a wear model for the analysis of the wheel profile evolution in railway vehicles

The numerical wheel wear prediction in railway applications is of great importance for different aspects, such as the safety against vehicle instability and derailment, the planning of wheelset maintenance interventions and the design of an optimal wheel profile from the wear point of view. For these reasons, this paper presents a complete model aimed at the evaluation of the wheel wear and the wheel profile evolution by means of dynamic simulations, organised in two parts which interact with each other mutually: a vehicle's dynamic model and a model for the wear estimation. The first is a 3D multibody model of a railway vehicle implemented in SIMPACK?, a commercial software for the analysis of mechanical systems, where the wheel–rail interaction is entrusted to a C/C++user routine external to SIMPACK, in which the global contact model is implemented. In this regard, the research on the contact points between the wheel and the rail is based on an innovative algorithm developed by the authors in previous works, while normal and tangential forces in the contact patches are calculated according to Hertz's theory and Kalker's global theory, respectively. Due to the numerical efficiency of the global contact model, the multibody vehicle and the contact model interact directly online during the dynamic simulations.

The second is the wear model, written in the MATLAB® environment, mainly based on an experimental relationship between the frictional power developed at the wheel–rail interface and the amount of material removed by wear. Starting from a few outputs of the multibody simulations (position of contact points, contact forces and rigid creepages), it evaluates the local variables, such as the contact pressures and local creepages, using a local contact model (Kalker's FASTSIM algorithm). These data are then passed to another subsystem which evaluates, by means of the considered experimental relationship, both the material to be removed and its distribution along the wheel profile, obtaining the correspondent worn wheel geometry.

The wheel wear evolution is reproduced by dividing the overall chosen mileage to be simulated in discrete spatial steps: at each step, the dynamic simulations are performed by means of the 3D multibody model keeping the wheel profile constant, while the wheel geometry is updated through the wear model only at the end of the discrete step. Thus, the two parts of the whole model work alternately until the completion of the whole established mileage. Clearly, the choice of an appropriate step length is one of the most important aspects of the procedure and it directly affects the result accuracy and the required computational time to complete the analysis.

The whole model has been validated using experimental data relative to tests performed with the ALn 501 ‘Minuetto’ vehicle in service on the Aosta–Pre Saint Didier track; this work has been carried out thanks to a collaboration with Trenitalia S.p.A and Rete Ferroviaria Italiana, which have provided the necessary technical data and experimental results.     

Overview of public transport policy developments in South Africa

In South Africa, a restructuring of the public transport system is currently under way. In the bus industry the tender for contract system is being implemented, the commuter rail sector is being recapitalised and the minibus taxi industry recapitalization programme is in its early stages. Progress with policy implementation across the modes of transport, modal split trends and issues that hamper the full development of the public transport industry are discussed in this paper. Medium to long term policy and strategy initiatives that will further inform the development of the industry are also highlighted in this chapter.     

并列瓶颈路网下个人与家庭混合通勤行为研究

通勤者的出行行为对早高峰期间拥挤政策的制定有着至关重要的作用。本文基于瓶颈模型构建并列瓶颈路网下个人与家庭混合出行的均衡出行模型，分析两类通勤者的出行需求情况、 两个瓶颈处的通行能力以及学校-工作开始时间差这3个因素对用户均衡、用户出行成本和系统性能的影响。结果表明：在并列瓶颈路网下，混合出行的用户均衡状态并不唯一；无论两个瓶颈的通行能力大小如何变化，增加学校-工作开始时间差对个人通勤者都是有利的；受瓶颈通行能力的影响，增加学校-工作开始时间差对家庭通勤者的影响是否有利是不确定的；并不是在任何情况下调节学校-工作开始时间差对交通系统都是有效的，而是只有在特定情况下对其进行调节 才能提高系统运行效率，降低系统总出行成本。     

Innovation strategy in new transportation systems: The case of Crossrail

This article examines how innovation can be strategically incorporated into transportation systems. Large transportation systems generally have a poor record in systematically integrating innovation in their development, construction and operation. Our research setting is Crossrail, a major new railway traversing London, where the creation and implementation of an innovation strategy formalized and systemized its approach to innovation. Based on in-depth, semi-structured interviews with project leaders and participant observation, the paper critically analyses the formulation, implementation and performance of Crossrail’s innovation strategy. Crossrail’s management explicitly uses an ‘open innovation’ strategy that incentivizes partners, contractors, and clients to innovate in the project. Its strategy guides decisions and priorities on innovation and the types and levels of innovation that best match project aims. The paper holds lessons for those developing, operating and studying large transportation systems both now and into the future.     

Robust constrained control of uncertain macroscopic fundamental diagram networks

This paper considers modeling and control of uncertain Macroscopic Fundamental Diagram (MFD) systems for multiple-region networks. First, the nonlinear vehicle conservation equations based on MFD dynamics, presented in earlier publications, are transformed to linear equations with parameter uncertainties. The parameter uncertainties include the destination decomposition fractions, that are difficult to estimate in reality. Then, the uncertain linear model is utilized to design a robust feedback controller by an interpolation-based approach. This approach (i) guarantees robustness against all parameter uncertainties, (ii) handle control and state constraints, and (iii) present a computationally cheap solution. The main idea is to interpolate between (i) a stabilizing outer controller that respects the control and state constraints and (ii) an inner robustly stable controller designed by any method. The robust control is further challenged to deal with different relative locations of reference accumulation points on the MFD diagrams. Numerical results for a two-region system show that the uncertain linear model can replace the nonlinear model for modeling and control. Moreover, the robust control law is presented as implicit and explicit solutions, where in the implicit case one linear programming (LP) problem is solved at each time instant, while in the explicit case, the control law is shown as a piecewise affine function of state. Finally, a comparison between the interpolating controller and other controllers in the literature is carried out. The results demonstrate the performance advantages from applying the robust interpolating controller.     

考虑用户偏好的共享汽车混合运营模式优化

针对共享汽车运营商的油车和电车混合车队调度问题，本文将自由流动式和站点借还式两种运营模式相结合，提出考虑用户用车类型偏好的共享汽车系统优化模型。模型为油车和电车车队分别设置了自由流动式和站点借还式的运营模式，并进行运营范围决策、站点选址和车辆调度优化；运营商优先满足用户的用车类型偏好选择，对无法满足偏好的用户进行补贴。根据优化模型基本特征，设计基于梯度的启发式求解方法，对大规模非线性混合整数规划模型进行求解；针对案例区域，比较有无补贴的混合车队模式和单一车队模式的优化结果。结果表明：相比无补贴模式，有补贴模式能够鼓励偏好燃油汽车的用户更多地使用电动汽车，需求满足率从73.4%提高到78.2%，运营商利润提高了46.4%；相比单一类型车队，混合车队能够吸引更多用户使用共享汽车，用户需求数提高了40.6%。     

Comparing smart scheme effects for congested highways

A high level objective for many international governments and local operators is that highways should be managed in a way that is sustainable in terms of a Low Carbon Energy future. Recent initiatives such as the Strategic Transport Technology Plan and the policy and legal framework promoted by the European Commissions’ Intelligent Transport System (ITS) Directive and ITS Action Plan may assist with this objective. However, many levels of complexity are inherent within the (ITS) schemes that are now part of highway management, due to the linkage of various technological components to complex systems and services. Maintaining efficient, sustainable co-operative performance is therefore a major task, with inconsistencies between product suppliers, network managers and operators. As a result, it is of considerable interest to the highway operators and high level policy makers to be able to assess the performance of individual ITS schemes and furthermore, to be able to compare performance between ITS schemes. In this paper, an illustration is provided of a methodology that can be used to assess the performance of ITS schemes according to a set of sustainability criteria. A case study is introduced which compares the performance of anticipated Active Traffic Management (ATM) schemes for what the road network operator (Highways England) perceive to be the four most congested highways in England (in terms of annual average daily traffic flows). Appropriate action can then be taken to improve the energy and sustainable management of Information Communication Technology (ICT) and transport systems for the benefit of a smarter, sustainable and efficient future.     

Measuring the car ownership impact of free-floating car-sharing – A case study in Basel,Switzerland

Free-floating car-sharing schemes operate without fixed car-sharing stations, ahead reservations or return-trip requirements. Providing fast and convenient motorization, they attract both public transport users and (former) car-owners. Thus, their impact on individual travel behavior depends on the user type. Estimating the travel behavior impact of these systems therefore requires quantitative data. Using a two-wave survey approach (shortly after launch of the scheme plus one year later) including travel diaries, this research indicates that (due to their membership) 6% of the free-floating car-sharing customers reduce their private vehicle ownership. Moreover, the results suggest that free-floating car-sharing both complements and competes with station-based car-sharing.