Model-Based Road Friction Estimation

The tire/road friction coefficient, μ, has a significant role in vehicle longitudinal and lateral control, and there has been associated efforts to measure or estimate the road surface condition to provide additional information for stability augmentation systems of automobiles. In this paper, a model based road friction estimation algorithm is proposed from easily measured signals such as yaw rate and wheel speed. For the development of the estimator, a low order vehicle model incorporated with simple but effective tire model. Field tests of the estimator using actual vehicle measurements show promising results.     

Characteristics of premium transit services that affect mode choice

This research seeks to improve the understanding of the full range of determinants for mode choice behavior and to offer practical solutions to practitioners on representing and distinguishing these characteristics in travel demand forecasting models. The principal findings were that the representation of awareness of transit services is significantly different than the underlying assumption of mode choice and forecasting models that there is perfect awareness and consideration of all modes. Furthermore, inclusion of non-traditional transit attributes and attitudes can improve mode choice models and reduce bias constants. Additional methods and analyses are necessary to bring these results into practice. The work is being conducted in two phases. This paper documents the results of Phase I, which included data collection for one case study city (Salt Lake City), research and analysis of non-traditional transit attributes in mode choice models, awareness of transit services, and recommendations for bringing these analyses into practice. Phase II will include data collection for two additional case study cities (Chicago and Charlotte) with minor modifications based on limitations identified in Phase I, additional analyses where Phase I results indicated a need, and a demonstration of the research in practice for at least one case study city.     

“Not just a taxi”? For-profit ridesharing,driver strategies,and VMT

The spread of GPS-based location services using smartphone applications has led to the rapid growth of new startups offering smartphone-enabled dispatch service for taxicabs, limousines, and ridesharing vehicles. This change in communicative technology has been accompanied by the creation of new categories of car service, particularly as drivers of limousines and private vehicles use the apps to provide on-demand service of a kind previously reserved for taxicabs. One of the most controversial new models of car service is for-profit ridesharing, which combines the for-profit model of taxi service with the overall traffic reduction goals of ridesharing. A preliminary attempt is here made at understanding how for-profit ridesharing compares to traditional taxicab and ridesharing models. Ethnographic interviews are drawn on to illustrate the range of motivations and strategies used by for-profit ridesharing drivers in San Francisco, California as they make use of the service. A range of driver strategies is identified, ranging from incidental, to part-time, to full-time driving. This makes possible a provisional account of the potential ecological impacts of the spread of this model of car service, based on the concept of taxicab efficiency, conceived as the ratio of shared versus unshared miles driven.     

Optimal Suspension Parameter Distributions and Roadway Profiles for Isolation of Heavy Trucks

Heavy trucks are known to have ride problems and are difficult to isolate from roadway unevenness. Heavy trucks are rich in modal density and are stiffly sprung, a combination that makes isolation difficult. Due to their inherent mass, trucks create roadway unevenness as they move along a roadway. Each following truck is excited by the unevenness created by the preceding one, and the road condition worsens over time. It is shown that trucks create roadway profiles from which perfect isolation is possible by having the proper parameter distribution in the suspension units. One distribution is best for rigid body isolation and one is best for 'beaming' isolation.     

Simplical decomposition of the asymmetric traffic assignment problem

This paper presents a convergent simplicial decomposition algorithm for the variational inequality formulation of the asymmetric traffic assignment problem. It alternates between generating minimum path trees based on the cost function evaluated at the current iterate and the approximate solving of a master variational inequality subject to simple convexity constraints. Thus it generalizes the popular Frank-Wolfe method (where the master problem is a line search) to the asymmetric problem. Rules are given for dropping flow patterns which are not needed to express the current iterate as a convex combination of previous patterns. The results of some computational testing are reported.     

Thermal deformations in typical maglev guideway structures

Thermal gradients and related deformations induced in elevated Maglev guideways by temperature variations in their environment have been predicted by a mathematical model. The deflections induced by thermal gradients in typical guideways are found to exceed specified limits for acceptable operation of an electromagnetic suspension system vehicle unless measures are taken to reduce the thermal gradients and related deflections by suitable treatment of the guideway surfaces.     

Convergence of the Frank-Wolfe method for certain bounded variable traffic assignment problems

In two recent papers published in Transportation Research, Daganzo presented a modification of the Frank-Wolfe algorithm to solve certain link capacitated traffic assignment problems satisfying certain conditions. In order to show convergence of the modified algorithm, the assumption was made that the integral of the volume delay formula for each link tends to infinity as the link flow approaches the link capacity. In this paper we give a Theorem which establishes convergence of the modified algorithm under much weaker conditions. This result is then used to show convergence if the objective function of the assignment model is sufficiently large (not necessarily infinite) when the link flows are at capacity. Thus the modified method is applicable to a broader class of assignment problems. Two numerical examples illustrate (a) when the method converges and when it does not, and (b) that our Theorem provides a weaker condition for convergence of the method.     

Biological Status Assessment of Coral Reefs in Southern Puerto Rico: Supporting Coral Reef Protection Under the U.S. Clean Water Act

Abstract

States and other jurisdictions may protect coral reefs using biological water quality standards outlined by the United States Clean Water Act (CWA). Such protection will require long-term, regional monitoring of the resource using biological indicators and a probability-based sampling design. A 60-station survey targeting nearshore linear coral reef was conducted across southern Puerto Rico in December 2011 to document the status of reef inhabitants using a probabilistic, regional sampling design. The quantity, type and condition of stony corals, fish, gorgonians, and sponges were documented from each station, providing a robust representation of linear reef status and composition across the region. Fish represented 106 unique taxa and stony corals 32 unique taxa. Benthic organisms (stony corals, sponges, and gorgonians) averaged nearly 12 colonies per square meter, more than half of which were gorgonians. Assessment results can be used as a baseline to compare with future regional surveys to quantify change in reef condition over time (trend). Both temporal and spatial changes can be expected after large-scale disturbances like hurricanes Maria and Irma in 2017. The indicators and probabilistic sampling design support the long-term regional monitoring envisioned by the Environmental Protection Agency to implement CWA protections in Puerto Rico and elsewhere.     

Using µ Feedforward for Vehicle Stability Enhancement

A differential braking control strategy using yaw rate feedback, coupled with µ feedforward is introduced for a vehicle cornering on different µ roads. A nonlinear 4-wheel car model is developed. A desired yaw rate is calculated from the reference model based on the driver steering input. It is shown that knowledge of µ offers significant improvement of the vehicle desired trajectory over that of a yaw rate controller alone. Uncertainties and time delay in estimating µ are shown to still yield a system that is superior to using no µ information at all.