一条专用车道双向运营BRT/轻轨的可行性

为有效满足BRT或轻轨系统的运行需求,提出在带有固定左转车道的繁忙通勤走廊中央设置一条BRT或轻轨专用车道用于双向运营的概念。由此产生了车辆相交问题,其相交空间设置于由左转车道产生的未利用或未被充分利用的道路中央隔离带。提供了公交车站和相交空间的概念设计可选方案和几何布局示意图,并考虑运行速度、发车间隔、相邻相交空间的距离及相交空间数量等条件,分析系统性能。为确保具有实用性,研究了系统在现有交通走廊上的可实施性。由于该系统具有利于TOD发展的潜力,也可作为未来发展两条专用车道系统的中间步骤。     

Dynamics of Pneumatic Tire Vehicles with Connected Suspension Systems

A vehicle model, with 10 degrees of freedom is used to investigate the skidding conditions of any wheel of the vehicle in motion. Equations for the load transfer and equations for the pneumatic tire spring and shock absorber are derived. Parameters such as gradual cornering, U-curve cornering, the wavy road surface of different wave lengths and cases of independent and connected suspension systems are inputs to the system. The tire calculated forces and their corresponding maximum resistance forces are the outputs of the systems. A connected suspension system is found to resist skidding better than the independent suspension system. The system is non-linear, and numerical solutions are obtained.     

A study on adjustment factors for U-turns in left-turn lanes at signalized intersections

U-turns are treated as left-turns in the current procedures for estimating saturation flow rates at signalized intersections. While U-turning vehicles are usually mixed with left-turning vehicles in inside or left-turn lanes and conflict with opposing through traffic as left-turning vehicles, the vehicle operating characteristics are different. The objective of this paper is to investigate the effects of U-turns on the traffic flow in left-turn lanes. Field data of 600 headways of left-turning passenger cars and 160 headways of U-turning passenger cars are recorded. The average headways of U-turning passenger cars are found to be significantly larger than those of left-turning passenger cars. The effects of U-turning vehicles depend upon the percent of U-turning vehicles in the left-turn lane, as well as the order of formation in the traffic stream. Adjustment factors for varying percents of U-turning vehicles in left-turn lanes are established.     

Improving truck safety: Potential of weigh-in-motion technology

Trucks exceeding the legal mass limits increase the risk of traffic accidents and damage to the infrastructure. They also result in unfair competition between transport modes and companies. It is therefore important to ensure truck compliance to weight regulation. New technologies are being developed for more efficient overload screening and enforcement. Weigh-in-Motion (WIM) technologies allow trucks to be weighed in the traffic flow, without any disruption to operations. Much progress has been made recently to improve and implement WIM systems, which can contribute to safer and more efficient operation of trucks.     

Assessment of sea surface temperature observational networks in the Baltic Sea and North Sea

The satellite and in situ Sea Surface Temperature (SST) observational networks in the Baltic Sea and North Sea are evaluated based on the quality of the gridded SST products generated from the networks. A multi-indicator approach is applied in the assessment. It includes evaluation of data quality, effective data coverage, field reconstruction error and model nowcast error. The results show that the best available full-coverage SST product is generated by assimilating the SST observations to obtain a yearly mean model bias of 0.07 °C and RMSE of 0.64 °C. The effective data coverage rate is 31% by using AVHRR (Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer) data from NOAA (National Ocean and Atmosphere Administration) satellites 12, 14 and 16. The data redundancy increases rapidly with the number of infrared sensors. Using either NOAA satellite 12 or all 3 satellites makes a small difference with regard to derived effective coverage and the ocean model nowcast error. The influence of using the in situ SST observations in the SST field reconstruction is negligibly small. Instead, the major role of in situ SST observations is in calibrating the satellite observations. To study the relative importance of data quality and data coverage, an assessment is done for two satellite products: one product is based entirely on NOAA 12 data and has larger coverage but lower quality. The other product is a subset of the SAF products (derived from NOAA 14 and 16) and has lower coverage but higher quality. Based on current monitoring, modelling and assimilation technology, the results suggest that the data quality is an important factor in further improving the quality of the gridded SST products. Recommendations are made for possible further improvements of the existing SST observational networks.     

A semi-empirical dynamic tire model for combined-slip forces

This article presents a semi-empirical combined-slip tire model including transient behavior. It is assumed that the transient behavior is a result from the dynamic deformation of the tire carcass and that the interaction between the lateral and longitudinal slip, and forces can be explained by the deformation of the rubber treads. The deformation of the tire carcass makes the tread slip deviate from the wheel-rim motion in a way that may be described by differential equations. A method based on brush-model tire mechanics is used to construct the combined-slip forces as nonlinear scalings of corresponding pure-slip forces.     

Evaluating competitiveness using fuzzy analytic hierarchy process—A case study of Chinese airlines

With the development of a national market economy, the Chinese aviation industry is now confronted with international competition. Therefore, it is necessary to research the competitive status of Chinese national aviation, as well as advice on how to enhance the competitiveness of the Chinese aviation industry. The main objective of this paper is to propose FAHP as an effective solution for resolving the uncertainty and imprecision in the evaluation of airlines' competitiveness. In this paper, we review the research of industrial international aviation competitiveness at both home and abroad, discuss a theoretical framework for the study of aviation competitiveness, establish an index system with five first‐order indicators and 17 second‐order indicators, set up a Chinese aviation competitiveness model based on simple fuzzy numbers from the fuzzy analytic hierarchy process, and evaluate the competitiveness of five major Chinese airlines. The results showed that this model and these indicators are scientific and practical, with a wide range of application prospects for the purpose of improving and increasing Chinese airline competitiveness in the international market. The effective approach presented in this paper is especially applicable when subjective judgments on performance ratings and attribute weights are not accessible or reliable, or when suitable decision makers are not available. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An analysis of interfacing between signal subnetworks

The objective of this study is to analyze the behavior of offsets between traffic signal subnetworks. If different cycle lengths are used for adjacent subnetworks, the relative timing between the subnetworks will deviate from the original setup. A generalized mathematical model is developed, which demonstrates the cyclic timing patterns of offsets between subnetworks with different cycle lengths. The offset cycle time is equal to the Least Common Multiple (LCM) of the cycle lengths of the adjacent subnetworks. A TRAF-NETSIM model is used to examine how the cyclic behavior of offsets should be considering in timing the subnetworks, and in reconciling different offset requirements between more than two subnetworks.     

大型基础设施系统设计中的风险及概率

在大型基础设施系统中,不可避免地会出现重大的不确定性,因而,无法确保已建系统的安全性和可靠性.有功能失效甚至破坏的可能,同时也有相应的规避风险的措施.从实用角度出发,不确定性可以分为两大类:数据型(又称偶然型)不确定性和知识型(又称认知型)不确定性.前者可以通过对数据的观察来评估,而后者则需要主观判断.系统地分析了这两...     

Optimal interpolation of sea surface temperature for the North Sea and Baltic Sea

Sea surface temperature fields of the North Sea and Baltic Sea have been constructed for the year 2001 using a multiplatform Optimal Interpolation scheme. The analyzed fields are constructed every 12 h on a 10 km spatial grid. The product is based upon observations from the three NOAA satellites 12, 14 and 16 together with a large amount of in situ observations. Space dependent covariance functions are estimated from the satellite observations and account for spatial and temporal lags. Several independent methods have been used to assess the error on the sea surface temperature product. Compared against independent in situ observations, the mean RMS difference for the year 2001 is 0.78 °C. The spatial distribution of the errors reveals that the Baltic Sea in general show higher errors than the North Sea. The error statistics throughout the year show a temporal variation of the errors with maximum during summer and winter. Tests with a varying number of satellite observations show that the accuracy of the satellite observations is the most important parameter in terms of reducing the errors on the interpolated sea surface temperature product.