Different Categories Of Vehicles Research Articles

Probabilistic Gross Vehicle Weights and Associated Axle Loads for Military Vehicles in Bridge Evaluation and Code Calibration

Military vehicles frequently use civilian bridges. The loading effects of military vehicles, both wheeled and tracked, are specific and different than those of civilian vehicles in normal traffic. Calibration to determine appropriate load factors for military loading of civilian bridges has not been fully performed and the corresponding levels of safety have not been quantified. This is partially due to the lack of probabilistic information of the gross vehicle weights and corresponding axle loads of military vehicles while operating in real-world conditions. This paper quantifies probabilistically the gross vehicle weight and axle loads for three military vehicles in use by NATO, each of which is representative of: military transport vehicles; armoured personnel carriers; and main battle tanks. A general means are proposed to quantify the probabilistic gross vehicle weight of military vehicles on the basis of maximum nominal payload as a proportion of the total nominal vehicle weight. Based on observed probabilistic gross vehicle weight of military vehicles, it is recommended to differentiate between military transport and military fighting vehicles as different categories of vehicles in bridge evaluation.

New Types of Electric Pedal-Assisted Cycles (EPACs) As a Form of Active Mobility: Consequences for Traffic Safety and Sustainable Mobility

Background Many countries in Europe are today grappling with the sudden appearance of many types of pedal-assisted electric bicycles on the market (different maximum speeds, and power of the motor as the primary differentiating features). An “ordinary” EPAC, also often known as a pedelec has a maximum pedal-assist speed of 25 km/h after which the motor cuts off, while faster EPACs, often referred to as speed-pedelecs can have a pedal-assist up to 45 km/h. Different countries classify these vehicles differently (e.g. as bicycles and different types of mopeds), and have resultant differing applicable legislation. Consideration of these vehicles needs to be made both to support the use of pedal-assisted electric bicycles for promoting active mobility, but also to reduce any possible negative consequences for traffic safety. Method This study focused on the traffic safety impacts of three classes of EPACs: pedelecs, speed-pedelecs and powered cycles. Different methods to collect information included a literature review in scientific and grey literature and expert interviews performed in Sweden, the Netherlands, Germany and Switzerland. Additionally, a survey was distributed to bicycle dealers in Sweden to get a better understanding of the market and of how well Swedish bicycle dealers know about existing legislation, and a workshop was held gathering industry, bicycle experts, local and regional authorities and legislative authority in Sweden. Results According to our study, faster and more powerful EPACs result in an increased risk of injury compared to normal bicycles and pedelecs. According to interviewed experts, these vehicles also seem to becoming more popular in Europe Sweden, the Netherlands and Germany have similar legislation relating to different categories of vehicles, while Switzerland legislation differs. The most important conclusion was that we need to find out and spread more knowledge about these vehicles and their traffic safety impacts. Additionally, although different categories of EPACs have different technical capabilities and will likely travel with different speeds and acceleration on roads, the vehicles all look the same to other road users. Conclusions Questions remain as to how legislation regarding helmet use and vehicle registration can be applied, and what infrastructure is best used (road or cycle lane?). At the same time, EPACs have been shown to really shift car trips to active mobility trips, and can be seen to provide a promising way to promote active mobility.

Estimation of critical gap of U-turns at uncontrolled median openings

The estimation of critical gap is an important traffic parameter and this is useful to estimate the capacity of U-turning vehicles at uncontrolled median openings. In this study critical gap is estimated by four different methods by collecting data at seven median openings in India. During field study it was observed that, the heterogeneous traffic in India operates very peculiarly and the rule of priority is often violated and aggressive behavior of the minor stream vehicles compels the major stream vehicles to slow down to provide sufficient gap for the U-turn maneuver. These peculiar characteristics warrant for a re-look into the methodology of critical gap estimation. An unconventional method of critical gap estimation using the merging time of the U-turning vehicle is proposed. The merging time to clear the conflict area at uncontrolled median opening was calculated from field data and this time is utilized to estimate the critical gap for different categories of vehicle.

Analysis and Modeling of Vehicle Following Behavior in Mixed Traffic Conditions

Abstract Car following models replicate the behaviour of a car following another car. In mixed traffic conditions, leader-follower vehicle types are not only car-car cases but also there are different combinations of vehicles (e.g., car-two wheeler and heavy vehicle-auto-rickshaw). Due to weak lane discipline, the follower is unable to strictly follow the lead vehicle. The other types of following behaviour like staggered following, following between vehicles, etc. are also observed under mixed traffic conditions. Depending on speed and position of vehicles in front, the subject vehicle may follow a leading vehicle with varying levels of lateral separation or stagger. The nature, extent and impact of such interactions need to be investigated for characterizing following behaviour under mixed traffic conditions. Hence, the present study focuses on analysis and modelling of vehicle following behaviour under mixed traffic conditions. The current study uses an open access mixed traffic trajectory data collected on an urban arterial road in Chennai city, India. The collected dataset includes 3005 vehicle trajectories with a total of 111,629 observations. To identify the different types of following behaviour, the extent of overlap (%) between leader-follower pair was used. The vehicle following behaviour was classified into three types: 1) Car Following 2) Staggered following and 3) Following between two vehicles. The vehicle following behaviour were analysed for different categories of vehicles and also, for different types of follower-leader pair. When the follower is a smaller size vehicle compared to a leader, it generally follows the leader. It was observed that when the vehicle size increases, staggered following behaviour of vehicle also increases. Subject vehicle chooses a following behaviour based on size of follower and leader, speeds of follower and leader, longitudinal gap between follower and leader, types of follower and leader. Multinomial Logistic Regression model was used to model the choices of vehicle following behaviour. This study has interesting implications in identifying vehicle-specific and vehicle following parameters for car following models to be adopted under mixed traffic and non-lane discipline traffic conditions.

An adaptive neuro-fuzzy interface system model for traffic classification and noise prediction

In present study, two adaptive neuro-fuzzy models have been developed for traffic classification and noise prediction, respectively. The traffic classification model (ANFIS-TC) classifies extracted sound features of different categories of vehicles based on their acoustic signatures. The model also compute total number of vehicles passes through a particular sampling point. The results have been used for the estimation of the equivalent traffic flow ( $$Q_\mathrm{E})$$ . The noise prediction model (ANFIS-TNP) has three inputs, namely equivalent traffic flow ( $$Q_\mathrm{E})$$ , equivalent vehicle speed ( $$S_\mathrm{E})$$ and honking. The equivalent traffic flow ( $$Q_\mathrm{E})$$ is the output of ANFIS-TC model, while equivalent vehicle speed ( $$S_\mathrm{E})$$ and honking are computed from observed averaged speed of different categories of vehicles and number of recorded horns blow per minute. The model assumes that the distance between sound level meter and road centerline is fixed for particular sampling point. The performance of both the models has been validated by field observations. The results show that traffic classification is 100% accurate, while correlation coefficients between observed and predicted traffic noise range from 0.75 to 0.96. Both the models are validated with random samples of data, and it is observed that both the models are generalized and could be employed for traffic classification and traffic noise prediction in small urban heterogeneous traffic environment for noise pollution assessment and control.

Vibrational Comfort on Board the Vehicle: Influence of Speed Bumps and Comparison between Different Categories of Vehicle

This paper shows the results of a study conducted on five different categories of vehicles in a specific test site. The aim was to investigate how the effect of the test site discontinuity determines variations of comfort related to the increase in speed and to the five selected road vehicles of different classes. Measurements were obtained by combining data relating to vibrations in the three reference axes, detected through a vibration dosimeter (VIB-008), and geolocation data (latitude, longitude, and speed) identified by the GPS inside a smartphone. This procedure, through the synchronization between dosimeter and GPS location, has been helpful in postprocessing to eliminate any measurement anomalies generated by the operator. After the survey campaign it was determined that a formulation allows defining a Comfort Index (CI) depending on velocity and five vehicles of different classes. This study showed that the presence of speed bumps, in the test site investigated, appears to be uncomfortable even at speeds well below those required by the Highway Code.

Analysis of occupation time of vehicles at urban unsignalized intersections in non-lane-based mixed traffic conditions

In India, traffic flow on roads is highly mixed in nature with wide variations in the static and dynamic characteristics of vehicles. At unsignalized intersections, vehicles generally do not follow lane discipline and ignore the rules of priority. Drivers generally become more aggressive and tend to cross the uncontrolled intersections without considering the conflicting traffic. All these conditions cause a very complex traffic situation at unsignalized intersections which have a great impact on the capacity and performance of traffic intersections. A new method called additive conflict flow (ACF) method is suitable to determine the capacity of unsignalized intersections in non-lane-based mixed traffic conditions as prevailing in India. Occupation time is the key parameter for ACF method, which is defined as the time spent by a vehicle in the conflict area at the intersection. Data for this study were collected at two three-legged unsignalized intersections (one is uncontrolled and other one is semicontrolled) in Mangalore city, India using video-graphic technique during peak periods on three consecutive week days. The occupation time of vehicles at these intersections were studied and compared. The data on conflicting traffic volume and occupation time by each subject vehicle at the conflict area were extracted from the videos using image processing software. The subject vehicles were divided into three categories: two wheelers, cars, and auto-rickshaws. Mathematical relationships were developed to relate the occupation time of different categories of vehicles with the conflicting flow of vehicles for various movements at both the intersections. It was found that occupation time increases with the increasing conflicting traffic and observed to be higher at the uncontrolled intersection compared to the semicontrolled intersection. The segregated turning movements and the presence of mini roundabout at the semicontrolled intersection reduces the conflicts of vehicular movements, which ultimately reduces the occupation time. The proposed methodology will be useful to determine the occupation time for various movements at unsignalized intersections. The models developed in the study can be used by practitioners and traffic engineers to estimate the capacity of unsignalized intersections in non-lane-based discipline and mixed traffic conditions.

Effect of traffic composition on capacity of multilane highways

Mixed traffic has always been a major concern in all studies related to estimation of capacity of a highway in developing nations like India. The problem of mixed traffic is generally circumvented by making use of passenger car equivalency factors for different categories of vehicles and converting them into equivalent number of Passenger Cars Units (PCU). However, capacity is also required in terms of vehicles per hour, particularly for quick estimation of volume-to-capacity ratio on a highway. The present study investigates the effect of traffic mix on capacity of four-lane, six-lane divided highways in India. All vehicles on a highway are divided into five categories namely standard car, big car, heavy vehicle, motorized three-wheelers and motorized two-wheelers, and effect of each vehicle type on capacity of the highway is evaluated. The VISSIM software is calibrated and used to generate the traffic operations based on field data using capacity as the measure of performance. Speed-flow curves are developed to find simulated capacity values for different combinations of standard car and one of the remaining four types of vehicles in the traffic stream. The results are finally combined to propose the generalized equations to determine capacity when all or few of the five categories of vehicles are simultaneously present on a highway.

Исследование негативного воздействия на состояние окружающей среды в Российской Федерации

The article deals with the problems of ecology and managing natural resources. The author investigated the main sources influencing on the environment and identified the processes that don’t allow the environment to be clean.
 The author shows the distribution of harmful substances emissions as a result of the impact of automobile transport, the dependence of the concentration of harmful substances in the different categories of vehicles is presented, the predominant pollutant chemical compounds from automobile transport are revealed, also the most dangerous factors of transport pollution, affecting on the health of the population are identified, the norms of harmful substances emissions into the atmosphere (the maximum allowable levels), actual data and comparative analysis of emissions into the atmosphere by 2005, 2010 2013 are given.
 The article presents the results of analysis of the influence of thermal power plants on the ecological state of the environment and their impact on health of population, and particularly highlighted the results of the ash and slag dumps TPP environmental impact, the analysis of which allowed to reveal extent of exerted environmental damage, that defined by composition of ash, preserving type, physiographic and climatic characteristics of the area. In addition to the negative impact of thermal power plants on the environment, there is considered the significant harm caused by wastewater discharges of TPP into water bodies, the sources of which are petroleum products, chlorides, sulfates, salts of heavy metals and other.
 The author carried out the monitoring of pollutants emissions into the atmosphere and water bodies and offered the ways to solve this problem for improving the state of the environment and water.

The energy consumption and economic costs of different vehicles used in transporting woodchips

One of the weak points in the energy-wood chain is the transport of woodchips from the forestry yard to the power station. This operation is critical because the vehicles used must be very versatile to operate under different conditions while maintaining low operating costs. The goal of this study is to implement the information on this topic by examining the different categories of vehicles that are considered to be appropriate for this purpose. For each category of vehicle, the working time, working rate, fuel consumption, energy costs and economic costs were processed.Tests were conducted using both “agricultural convoys” (tractor+trailer) and “industrial vehicles” (lorries).All vehicles were tested on short itineraries of approximately 5, 15 and 25km and on long itineraries of 50, 100 and 200km.The study showed that on routes longer than 25km, lorries had the highest average transfer speed (42kmh−1) whereas agricultural vehicles had the lowest (24kmh−1).The transport costs depending on the distance, the type of vehicle used and the unit cost (€km−1) were high, especially for distances less than 20km (up to 5€km−1).The application of these values to a biomass-fed thermal power unit of 1MW with an annual use of 2000h and a supply of biofuels in the radius of 75km shows that 1500hyear−1 are needed for the bestowal of chips to power the unit (3700tss). The total cost for a lorry is approximately € 148,000year−1 and approximately four times higher for agricultural convoys.The energy required to transport the woodchips is approximately 90MJm−3 loose chips for agricultural vehicles and 35MJm−3 loose chips for lorries. In both cases, these values represent a small claim (2%) of the energy value of the biomass transported.

Analysis of Vehicle Modification Practice in Bangladesh

With the present vehicle growth over 10%, many vehicles are found to operate within urban areas and national highways of Bangladesh without having necessary registration and fitness papers. Uncontrolled vehicle modification practice has become a serious concern particularly for large vehicles, which leads the vehicle owners not to properly adhere to the vehicle fitness rules. The primary objective of this research is to reveal the extent of vehicle modification of different categories of vehicle. In this regard, field survey is conducted in major bus terminals and truck depots of Dhaka city to find out the issues related to rampant vehicle modification. Later statistical analysis is performed to obtain the most observed vehicle dimensions followed by local body workers. Finally, detailed questionnaire survey is performed on vehicle owners as well as the body makers as an attempt to reveal the poor quality of work performed by unskilled local workers. This paper would describe the findings of this research work along with appropriate remedial measures to control the unsafe modification of vehicles. Language: en

Speed Prediction Models for Urban Arterials Under Mixed Traffic Conditions

The present study extends the basic concept of linear speed-density relation to mixed traffic condition and attempts to develop speed equations for different categories of vehicles generally found on an urban arterial in India. Field data were collected on different sections of urban arterials in New Delhi, Jaipur and Chandigarh by video recording method. All vehicles in the traffic stream were divided into 5 categories and a set of simultaneous equations is developed relating speed of a vehicle type to the densities of all categories of vehicles in their individual terms. These equations are solved for some assumed values of traffic volume and traffic composition and effect on speed of each vehicle type is explained. Accuracy of the equations is checked by comparing the observed values of speed with calculated speeds.

Video-based Vehicle Detection and Classification in Heterogeneous Traffic Conditions using a Novel Kernel Classifier

Vehicle classification in a traffic video is considered a difficult task due to similarity in appearances among different vehicles. This paper presents a real-time algorithm for detection and classification of different categories of vehicles in a heterogeneous traffic video. The processing of the video is done in four steps starting with camera calibration, vehicle detection, speed estimation, and classification. Vehicle detection is achieved by using background subtraction and blob tracking method. Speed of the detected vehicle is estimated by utilizing virtual start and stop line markers and calibration parameters. The vehicle classification is done by extracting multiple features of the detected vehicles which serve as input to a support vector machine based classifier. A histogram-based nonlinear kernel is used in the classifier. A combination of interest point detectors and low-level shape detectors as features was found to produce accurate and consistent results.

Concept of Stream Equivalency Factor for Heterogeneous Traffic on Urban Arterial Roads

AbstractMixed traffic flow is often converted to equivalent flow in passenger car units (PCUs) by multiplying the number of each category of vehicles in the traffic stream by their respective PCU factors and then adding them up. PCU is a complex parameter and depends on multitude of factors. This paper presents a methodology to convert a mixed traffic stream into a homogeneous equivalent without making use of PCU factors. Traffic volume and speed data collected on different six-lane urban arterial roads in India are analyzed to determine PCU values of five different categories of vehicles found on these roads. These PCU values are used to convert heterogeneous traffic volume in vehicles per hour to homogeneous volume in PCU per hour. A new term stream equivalency factor (SEF) is introduced in this study and denoted by K. It is the ratio of traffic volume in PCU per hour and volume in vehicles per hour. The K factor is related to traffic composition and volume on a road through the regression analysis meth...

ENERGY CONSUMPTION AND EMISSIONS FROM THE ROAD TRANSPORT IN SPAIN: A CONCEPTUAL APPROACH

The interurban road transport is one of the largest sources of emissions within all the economical sectors of Spain and accounts for 30% of the total energy consumption and subsequent CO2emissions. Fuel consumption, mostly gasoline and diesel, has decreased by −0.7% between 2004 and 2009 despite the increase of vehicle fleet (14.7%) and related travelled performances (3.1%). The paper estimates the energy consumption and subsequent emissions of CO2 and pollutants, CO, NOx, PM and NMVOC, of the interurban road transport in Spain for the period 2004–2009 by the use of a conceptual procedure. This procedure makes an effort to allocate the fuel sales, liters of diesel and gasoline, across different categories of vehicles (ages and technologies) operating on the interurban Spanish roads. In order to elaborate the inventory of energy consumption and emissions, the procedure uses the emission factors from the Copert process-based model, optimized for the Spanish interurban driving conditions. According to the inventory, total CO2 emissions have decreased from 68.0 Mt of CO2in 2004 to 66.9 Mt (−1.6%). This trend is due to diesel road vehicles. The CO2 emissions of gasoline vehicles and the total emission of related pollutants followed a downward trend due to technological improvements of vehicles and decrease of gasoline consumption. The CO2 emissions of diesel vehicles and the total emission of related pollutants followed an upward trend due to the increase of diesel consumption despite technological improvements of vehicles. Better estimates of energy consumption and emissions are possible in the future by using specific emission factors for different vehicle categories based on telemetric systems.

RISK FACTORS FOR ROAD TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS IN GULU MUNICIPALITY, UGANDA.

Currently Road Traffic Accidents (RTA) are ranked tenth among the leading causes of death and ninth among all leading causes of disability worldwide. There has been no published study on RTA in Gulu municipality. There is a high frequency of RTA in Gulu municipality with poor road design and inadequate knowledge on road safety precaution among road users. To establish the causes of Road Traffic Accidents (RTA), establish the safety measures in place to protect road users to avoid RTA and establish people mostly involved and the mechanism of RTA. A cross-sectional study. Four divisions of Gulu Municipality; Layibi, Laroo, Pece and Bardege. Two hundred and forty two participants including pedestrians, drivers of different categories of vehicles, motorcyclists and bicyclists locally known as boda-boda and the police were interviewed. Most respondents reported RTA as a problem in Gulu municipality (96%), causing death (48%), financial constraint due to medical treatment (41%) and disability (11%). The following causes of RTA were identified; reckless driving and riding (49%), poor road design (24%), drug abuse (15%) and over loading (12%). According to police records of January to September 2009 RTA involved pedestrians (36.34%), passengers (25.80%), motorcyclists (24.88%), pedal cyclists (11.52%) and drivers (3.68%). RTAs is a substantial burden in Gulu municipality in Northern Uganda with reckless driving or riding, poor road design, overloading, double parking, inadequate road safety signs and knowledge, were major risk factors. Efforts to reduce RTA in Gulu municipality should aim at addressing these problems.

Modelling the effects of road pricing on traffic using ERP traffic data

Singapore’s Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) system involves time-variable charges which are intended to spread the morning traffic peak. The charges are revised every three months and thus induce regular motorists to re-think their travel decisions. ERP traffic data, captured by the system, provides a valuable source of information for studying motorists’ travel behaviour. This paper proposes a new modelling methodology for using these data to forecast short-term impacts of rate adjustment on peak period traffic volumes. Separate models are developed for different categories of vehicles which are segmented according to their demand elasticity with respect to road pricing. A method is proposed for estimating the maximum likelihood value of preferred arrival time (PAT) for each vehicle’s arrivals at a particular ERP gantry under different charging conditions. Iterative procedures are used in both model calibration and application. The proposed approach was tested using traffic datasets recorded in 2003 at a gantry located on Singapore’s Central Expressway (CTE). The model calibration and validation show satisfactory results.

Description, Validation and Use of a Model to Estimate Speed Profile of Heavy Vehicles in Grades

This paper describes a model for calculating speed profile for a heavy vehicle uphill in a grade. Weight/power ratio and gradient are the most important input parameters. Calibration and validation of the model is reported. Several heavy vehicles are equipped with a GPS logger, and logged speed profiles from a large number of actual trips are compared with corresponding calculated speed profiles. The results indicate a good accordance between calculated and measured speed. The paper includes a description of the use of the model to calculate delay in grades for different categories of vehicles, as well as some considerations about passing lanes and other use of the model.

End-of-Life Vehicles management: Italian material and energy recovery efficiency

Each European Member State must comply with Directive 2000/53/EC recycling and recovery targets by 2015, set to 85% and 95%, respectively. This paper reports a shredder campaign trial developed and performed in Italy at the beginning of 2008. It turns out to be the first assessment about the critical aspects belonging to the Italian End-of-Life Vehicles (ELVs) reverse supply chain involving 18 dismantling plants, a shredder plant and 630 ELV representatives of different categories of vehicles treated in Italy during 2006. This trial aims at improving the experimental knowledge related to ELVs added waste, pre-treatment, part reuse, recycling and final metal separation and car fluff disposal. Finally, the study also focuses on the calculation of the effective Italian ELV recycling rate, which results equal to 80.8%, and auto shredder residue (ASR) characterization. According to the results obtained in this work, ASR still contains up to 8% of metals and 40% of polymers that could be recovered. Moreover, physical–chemical analysis showed a Lower Heat Value of almost 20,000 kJ/kg and revealed the presence of pollutants such as heavy metals, mineral oils, PCBs and hydrocarbons.

Effect of Gradient and Its Length on Performance of Vehicles under Heterogeneous Traffic Conditions

Study of the basic traffic-flow characteristics and clear understanding of vehicular interaction are the prerequisites for highway capacity and level of service analyses and to formulate effective traffic regulation and control measures. Computer simulation has emerged as an effective technique for modeling traffic flow and to study the flow characteristics over a wide range of roadway and traffic conditions due to its capability to account for the randomness related to traffic. This paper is concerned with application of a simulation model of heterogeneous traffic flow, named HETEROSIM, to quantify the vehicular interaction, in terms of passenger car unit (PCU), for the different categories of vehicles, by considering the traffic flow of representative composition, on up-grades of different magnitudes for intercity roads in India. The PCU estimates, determined through microscopic simulation, for the different types of vehicles in heterogeneous traffic, for a wide range of grades and traffic volumes, indicate that the PCU value of a vehicle significantly changes with change in traffic volume and magnitude of grade and its length.