Roll Dynamics of Commercial Vehicles

An analytical model is developed here for studying the roll dynamics of commercial vehicles. Large displacements and rotations are accounted for in this nonlinear model so that it can be used for the study of roll dynamics well beyond the limits of wheel lift-off. The model is used to illustrate some of the dynamic phenomena in vehicle rollover, especially the interactive coupling between the roll and the vertical modes of motion. The influence of suspension backlash on rollover resistance is demonstrated, and the phenomenon of roll motion resonance is illustrated to suggest new means for evaluating vehicle rollover sensitivity.     

Motorway crash duration and its determinants: do durations vary across motorways?

Traffic congestion has been a growing issue in many metropolitan areas during recent years, which necessitates the identification of its key contributors and development of sustainable strategies to help decrease its adverse impacts on traffic networks. Road incidents generally and crashes specifically have been acknowledged as the cause of a large proportion of travel delays in urban areas and account for 25% to 60% of traffic congestion on motorways. Identifying the critical determinants of travel delays has been of significant importance to the incident management systems, which constantly collect and store the incident duration data. This study investigates the individual and simultaneous differential effects of the relevant determinants on motorway crash duration probabilities. In particular, it applies parametric Accelerated Failure Time (AFT) hazard‐based models to develop in‐depth insights into how the crash‐specific characteristic and the associated temporal and infrastructural determinants impact the duration. AFT models with both fixed and random parameters have been calibrated on one year of traffic crash records from two major Australian motorways in South East Queensland, and the differential effects of determinants on crash survival functions have been studied on these two motorways individually. A comprehensive spectrum of commonly used parametric fixed parameter AFT models, including generalized gamma and generalized F families, has been compared with random parameter AFT structures in terms of goodness of fit to the duration data, and as a result, the random parameter Weibull AFT model has been selected as the most appropriate model. Significant determinants of motorway crash duration included traffic diversion requirement, crash injury type, number and type of vehicles involved in a crash, day of week and time of day, towing support requirement and damage to the infrastructure. A major finding of this research is that the motorways under study are significantly different in terms of crash durations; such that motorway 1 exhibits durations that are on average 19% shorter compared with the durations on motorway 2. The differential effects of explanatory variables on crash durations are also different on the two motorways. The detailed presented analysis confirms that looking at the motorway network as a whole, neglecting the individual differences between roads, can lead to erroneous interpretations of duration and inefficient strategies for mitigating travel delays along a particular motorway.     

Transport infrastructure provision and operations: Why should governments choose private–public partnership?

Recent transport sector liberalisation, as well as global economic crisis, is favouring the implementation of transport infrastructure projects through Public–Private Partnerships (PPP). However, there is a debate as to whether PPP schemes are a better option than conventional procurement. To this end, an evaluation framework is proposed, to assess which of these two alternative schemes for transport projects financing is preferable for the public. The proposed framework is complimentary to the Value for Money (VfM) approach and is based on a Multi Criteria Analysis (MCA). The first step is the estimation of the Public Sector Comparator (PSC) for the case of conventional procurement, dealing with construction, maintenance and operation costs revenues, as well as any costs associated with risks undertaken by the public. As for the PPP case, it includes any payments by the public sector and related risks costs. The MCA is then applied only if the PPP is found preferable for the public sector. The latter considers additional impacts, including among others the social attributes of a particular scheme, job creation, environmental impacts and safety and security aspects. The proposed framework was applied to a pilot Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) corridor infrastructure project in the city of Indore, India, in order to demonstrate its validity. The framework and its application could provide useful guidance when considering PPP for a transport project, since it demonstrates in a transparent way the society's attitude towards this project, something that is critical to its acceptance.     

Economic impact of non-motorized transportation in Indian cities

Lack of a clear understanding regarding the economic impacts of non-motorized modes is a major reason why they are excluded from the transportation development agenda of cities in India. Keeping this aspect in mind the present study has been divided in to two parts. The first part tries to understand the non-motorized traffic evolution in India. It focuses on the declination of non-motorized modes, necessity to revamp it, the favorable conditions to promote them in India and the relative problems associated with it. It is found here that there is a necessity for defining the role of non-motorized modes in India for the viable implementation of infrastructure and policies related with it.     

尼泊尔喜马拉雅地区塔玛科什3级水电工程——穿越软弱构造片岩修建隧洞所面临的挑战

由于尼泊尔喜马拉雅地区岩石强度较低,水平应力较高,因此在该软弱构造片岩带中开挖隧洞具有较大的挑战性.文章主要阐述装机容量为650 kW的塔玛科什3级水电工程17km长大跨度隧洞和大型地下发电厂房(这两项工程计划穿越夹杂有软弱构造片岩带的坚硬眼球状片麻岩区域)所面临的重大技术挑战.穿过片岩带开挖的隧洞长度约占总长的15％,由于此岩层带岩石强度较低,具有剪切特性和渗流现象,且水平应力较高,围岩挤压和隧洞塌方都是可预期的问题,因此该工程地下开挖主要关注的问题是大尺寸隧洞的可施工性和工期.为了解决可预期问题,进行了更进一步的研究,主要集中在隧洞最大可建尺寸、方位、减少围岩挤压的开挖方法,以及地下发电厂房稳定性和合理岩石支护设计上.研究发现,在构造片岩带中可施工的全断面隧洞最大尺寸可达9m,为改进的马蹄形(有弧形仰拱).通过对隧洞三种不同方位方案(即正交、斜交、平行)的分析发现,与叶理面正交的方案最佳,可减少围岩挤压近50％.     

A cost and expected consequence approach to planning and managing railroad transportation of hazardous materials

Although hazardous materials (hazmat) account for around 140 million tons of all railroad freight traffic in the US, it has not received much attention from academic researchers. This is surprising especially when one considers the volume of hazmat moved by railroads in both North America and Europe. In this paper we develop a bi-objective optimization model, where cost is determined based on the characteristics of railroad industry and the determination of transport risk incorporates the dynamics of railroad accident. The optimization model and the solution framework is used to solve a realistic-size problem instance based in south-east US, which is then analyzed to gain managerial insights. In addition, a risk-cost frontier depicting non-dominated solutions is developed, followed by conclusion.     

Pick‐up locations and bus allocation for transit‐based evacuation planning with demand uncertainty

This paper develops a decision‐support model for transit‐based evacuation planning under demand uncertainty. Demand uncertainty refers to the uncertainty associated with the number of transit‐dependent evacuees. A robust optimization model is proposed to determine the optimal pick‐up points for evacuees to assemble, and allocate available buses to transport the assembled evacuees between the pick‐up locations and different public shelters. The model is formulated as a mixed‐integer linear program and is solved via a cutting plane scheme. The numerical example based on the Sioux Falls network demonstrates that the robust plan yields lower total evacuation time and is reliable in serving the realized evacuee demand. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Sustainable urbanization using high speed rail (HSR) in Karnataka,India

Considering the present trends of urbanization and motorization in India, there is an urgent need for integration, revitalization and renewal of the smaller towns and cities to make urban areas in India more sustainable. Unless our regional space is reorganized to upgrade development of towns and cities and integrate them with each other and the larger cities, the urbanization process in India will become unsustainable. It is argued that High Speed Rail (HSR) can play a role in achieving this more balanced and sustainable development of towns and cities, opening up opportunities for growth across a wider, inter-connected, region, with the benefit of taking the pressure of the larger cities to absorb additional burgeoning populations. This paper will make the case that in the current Indian context, current patterns of mega-city growth are unsustainable, and that HSR can play an important role in providing opportunities for medium and smaller size cities through their interconnections. It begins by highlighting the role that railways have played in India and other countries, noting that merely economic analysis of their costs and benefits generally underestimated their contributions to development. It then provides an introduction to HSR and its potential impact in general, before applying this to the example of the State of Karnataka in South India.