Highway Transportation Research Articles

Evaluating life cycle costs of perpetual pavements in China using operational pavement management system

Abstract Highway transportation is considered as vital factor in China’s economic growth; many high grade highways have been constructed in China during the last decades. The research and application of perpetual asphalt pavement (PP) technology have been deployed in China since 2000. The semi-rigid pavement has been normally considered as typical pavement of high class highways in the design according to the Chinese experience. The objective of this research is to evaluate the performance of different Chinese perpetual pavements using operational pavement management system and to examine its suitability for use in the design and construction of more economical and durable pavements. It has been found that the use of thin asphalt layers over semi-rigid pavement foundation in PP structure will create more sustainable, economical, and durable PP structures in comparison with typical thick asphalt layers PP structures.

Multi-walled carbon nanotubes act as charge transport channel to boost the efficiency of hole transport material free perovskite solar cells

Abstract The two-step spin coating process produces rough perovskite surfaces in ambient condition with high humidity, which are unfavorable for the contact between the perovskite film and the low temperature carbon electrode. To tackle this problem, multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) are embedded into the perovskite layer. The MWCNTs can act as charge transport high way between individual perovskite nanoparticles and facilitate the collection of the photo-generated holes by the carbon electrode. Longer carrier lifetime is confirmed in the perovskite solar cells with addition of MWCNTs using open circuit voltage decay measurement. Under optimized concentration of MWCNT, average power conversion efficiency of 11.6% is obtained in hole transport material free perovskite solar cells, which is boosted by ∼15% compared to solar cells without MWCNT.

Resource reallocation and target setting for improving environmental performance of DMUs: An application to regional highway transportation systems in China

In managerial decisions, situations frequently occur when the decision makers need to allocate/reallocate limited resources among a group of decision making units (DMUs) to improve the efficiencies of the DMUs and make better utilization of the limited resources. In this paper, we propose a resource reallocation and target setting approach for improving the environmental performance of the DMUs based on data envelopment analysis (DEA). Firstly, a model is given to identify the best revenue for each DMU in the resource reallocation and target setting process, and the concept of satisfaction degree of a DMU toward a resource allocation and target setting result is introduced. Then, under a DEA common-weight evaluation framework, a centralized resource allocation and target setting model is proposed for reallocating the DMUs’ discretionary inputs and setting output targets for the DMUs. Our approach can obtain for the DMUs a resource reallocation and target setting result which can not only guarantee that all the adjusted DMUs will be environment efficient in the new production period but also maximizes the minimum satisfaction degree among all the DMUs. Finally, the proposed approach is used for an empirical study of resource allocation and target setting for 30 regional highway transportation systems in China.

Risk assessment of snow disaster for trunk highway transportation in Shaanxi, China

Highway transportation was seriously affected by the rare 2008 snow disaster which occurred in China. Shaanxi Province (China) was one of the most affected areas. Research on risk assessment can play an important role in the mitigation of highway snow disasters. Based on a theoretical model, an index system of highway snow cover risk assessment was put forward. This system covers hazard of environment and the vulnerability of disaster-affected entities. The historical disaster hazard and the potential disaster hazard are the two aspects considered for hazard of environment. Physical exposure of the disaster-affected entities to environment and the societal disaster recovery capabilities are considered as the main factors in the vulnerability of disaster-affected entities. Grades of indices and their weights were prompted based on the assessment model. Assessment of the hazard of environment, the vulnerability of disaster-affected entities and the risk of highway snow disaster in Shaanxi Province were carried out by GIS. The risk was divided into five grades using statistical methods in accordance with regional characteristics of highway snow disasters. A distribution of trunk highway snow disaster risks in Shaanxi was put forward. The results are consistent with actual events.

Problems of Inter-organizational Interaction of Participants in Motor Transport Cargo Shipments

Background/Objectives: The study considers currently important problems of inter-organizational interaction of participants involved in automotive cargo shipments and implementation of such concepts as Just-in-Time and Justin- Sequence in scheduling practices. Methods: The applied Sigma methodology is focused on the client's wishes and requirements for cargo delivery, according to which the slow processes are expensive. The applied lean production method is based on the fact that shipping losses occur during transportation and waiting time. Thus, a refined methodology has been developed synthesizing Lean production and Six Sigma, one of the tools which is the concept of just in time delivery. Findings: It has been concluded that one of the reasons for low efficiency of the day-to-day scheduling efforts is represented by the problems of organizational interrelations between the stakeholders of the highway cargo transportation business. Generalizations of the road haulage practices together with the outcomes of the investigations carried out by Siberian Automobile and Highway Academy made it possible to identify the groups of interaction problems and the causes in this area. A conceptual approach has been suggested to solve these issues based on such logistical principles as Just-in-Time and Just-in-Sequence. In line with the developed approach, the article justifies the need to introduce the above mentioned principles to scheduling practices to improve the processes of control and management in haulage sector. Developing and implementing Just-in-Time and Just-in-Sequence philosophy in transport logistics is of crucial importance, as it is only within such system that the cargo delivery process could be comprehensively controlled. This system improves customer relationships, establishes the company at the market, stabilizes its financial standing, and enhances its competitive advantages. Applications/Improvements: The study identifies preconditions and constrains to be taken into account in the course of developing scheduling model for material and information flows in the area of automotive cargo shipments.

THE PERFORMANCE OF A TIGHT INS/GNSS/PHOTOGRAMMETRIC INTEGRATION SCHEME FOR LAND BASED MMS APPLICATIONS IN GNSS DENIED ENVIRONMENTS

Abstract. The early development of mobile mapping system (MMS) was restricted to applications that permitted the determination of the elements of exterior orientation from existing ground control. Mobile mapping refers to a means of collecting geospatial data using mapping sensors that are mounted on a mobile platform. Research works concerning mobile mapping dates back to the late 1980s. This process is mainly driven by the need for highway infrastructure mapping and transportation corridor inventories. In the early nineties, advances in satellite and inertial technology made it possible to think about mobile mapping in a different way. Instead of using ground control points as references for orienting the images in space, the trajectory and attitude of the imager platform could now be determined directly. Cameras, along with navigation and positioning sensors are integrated and mounted on a land vehicle for mapping purposes. Objects of interest can be directly measured and mapped from images that have been georeferenced using navigation and positioning sensors. Direct georeferencing (DG) is the determination of time-variable position and orientation parameters for a mobile digital imager. The most common technologies used for this purpose today are satellite positioning using the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) and inertial navigation using an Inertial Measuring Unit (IMU). Although either technology used along could in principle determine both position and orientation, they are usually integrated in such a way that the IMU is the main orientation sensor, while the GNSS receiver is the main position sensor. However, GNSS signals are obstructed due to limited number of visible satellites in GNSS denied environments such as urban canyon, foliage, tunnel and indoor that cause the GNSS gap or interfered by reflected signals that cause abnormal measurement residuals thus deteriorates the positioning accuracy in GNSS denied environments. This study aims at developing a novel method that uses ground control points to maintain the positioning accuracy of the MMS in GNSS denied environments. At last, this study analyses the performance of proposed method using about 20 check-points through DG process.

THE PERFORMANCE OF A TIGHT INS/GNSS/PHOTOGRAMMETRIC INTEGRATION SCHEME FOR LAND BASED MMS APPLICATIONS IN GNSS DENIED ENVIRONMENTS

The early development of mobile mapping system (MMS) was restricted to applications that permitted the determination of the elements of exterior orientation from existing ground control. Mobile mapping refers to a means of collecting geospatial data using mapping sensors that are mounted on a mobile platform. Research works concerning mobile mapping dates back to the late 1980s. This process is mainly driven by the need for highway infrastructure mapping and transportation corridor inventories. In the early nineties, advances in satellite and inertial technology made it possible to think about mobile mapping in a different way. Instead of using ground control points as references for orienting the images in space, the trajectory and attitude of the imager platform could now be determined directly. Cameras, along with navigation and positioning sensors are integrated and mounted on a land vehicle for mapping purposes. Objects of interest can be directly measured and mapped from images that have been georeferenced using navigation and positioning sensors. Direct georeferencing (DG) is the determination of time-variable position and orientation parameters for a mobile digital imager. The most common technologies used for this purpose today are satellite positioning using the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) and inertial navigation using an Inertial Measuring Unit (IMU). Although either technology used along could in principle determine both position and orientation, they are usually integrated in such a way that the IMU is the main orientation sensor, while the GNSS receiver is the main position sensor. However, GNSS signals are obstructed due to limited number of visible satellites in GNSS denied environments such as urban canyon, foliage, tunnel and indoor that cause the GNSS gap or interfered by reflected signals that cause abnormal measurement residuals thus deteriorates the positioning accuracy in GNSS denied environments. This study aims at developing a novel method that uses ground control points to maintain the positioning accuracy of the MMS in GNSS denied environments. At last, this study analyses the performance of proposed method using about 20 check-points through DG process.

Scheme Optimization of Large-Scale Highway Transport Based on AHP-Grey Correlation Degree

AbstractWe constructed the evaluation index system of the transport scheme based on the influencing factors of large-scale highway transport to save cost and improve the decision-making process of a large-scale transport scheme. The scheme considered safety, technical, economic, and timeliness factors. Moreover, we used the analytic hierarchy process-grey (AHP-grey) correlation degree method to optimize the transport scheme. The method adopted AHP to determine index weight, used benefit and cost index normalization to change the decision-making matrix into a relative membership degree matrix, and chose the scheme according to grey correlation degree between the best scheme and alternatives. The methods provided an effective solution for multi-index quantitative analysis of the transport scheme. The objectivity and effectiveness of the method was validated using an example.

DROUGHTS IN THE TIETÊ-PARANÁ WATERWAY: IMPACTS ON THE DIRECT, INDIRECT AND HIDDEN COSTS IN THE TRANSPORTATION OF SOYBEAN

Brazil's agricultural economy is growing and increasing productivity. Therefore, it has required transportation systems with high load capacity and lower transportation costs. However, with the drought in the Southeast region of Brazil, the waterway Tiete-Parana closed since May 2014 generating a loss of more than 30 million last year. Thus, this study investigates the impacts on direct, indirect and hidden costs resulting from this change of route for soy transport. The methodology consists of an exploratory, descriptive and bibliographic research that seeks to raise the main costs. The results show that failing to ensure the production of soybeans by the Tiete-Parana waterway and using the highway transportation costs for waterway users are increased by US$ 37,760,146.86.

Proactive privacy for a driverless age

Autonomous vehicles are on the cusp of disrupting the entire transportation industry and current privacy legislation is not yet equipped to deal with the changes being spurred by this innovation. This paper enumerates and elucidates on the various privacy concerns that are specific autonomous vehicles. It also proposes the principles of “Privacy-by-Design”, an industry trend pertaining to other arenas of privacy, be adapted and used for regulating privacy around autonomous vehicles. It calls for the NHTSA (National Highway Transportation Safety Administration), with guidance from the FCC, and the FTC, to use their expertise in creating administrative rules that will protect the privacy of the public. Having learned valuable lessons from recent privacy concerns in the mobile device industry, the Privacy-by-Design approach would help ease the transition into this useful, but potentially intrusive technology. Currently, privacy is receiving significant attention in publications, but with autonomous vehicles being a nascent industry, there is very little being said about the privacy concerns specifically pertaining to these technology autonomous vehicles. Recent strides in the technology and the legislative acceptance of these vehicles have made them a widely discussed topic, and thus makes a thorough discussion of privacy related specifically to this technology both timely and relevant. This paper provides an early assessment of an area of concern that is growing as rapidly as are autonomous vehicles. The technology is being proven effective and safe, so the real focus will shift to use concerns, like privacy. The autonomous vehicle industry is still early in its development, and there is imminent opportunity to anchor privacy into the fundamentals of autonomous vehicles, preempting numerous potential infringements.

In Memoriam: Carol Stroebel.

It is with very heavy hearts that the board and staff of the Children’s Environmental Health Network (CEHN) announce the loss of our long-time colleague, champion, and friend Carol Stroebel. Carol, of Winchester, Virginia, passed away surrounded by loved ones on 16 January 2016.

Energy consumption in China’s logistics industry: A decomposition analysis using the LMDI approach

The logistics industry plays a critical role in boosting China’s economic development, although at significant externality costs. Using the 1980–2010 data, we examine the historical evolution of energy consumption in China’s logistics industry. The logarithmic mean Divisia index (LMDI) method was used to analyze the key factors that drove the chronicle changes in logistics energy consumption in China. Changes in energy consumption of China’s logistics industry are attributed to growth in logistics activity, modal shift in freight transportation, increases in transport intensity, and overall improvements in energy intensity: (1) China’s logistics industry enjoyed fast growth with an average annual growth rate of 9.65% from 1980 to 2010. Increase in logistics activity has been the major force driving up logistics energy consumption (accounting for 48.8% of logistics energy increase); (2) Logistics energy consumption increased by 22.91 times, averaging at 11.9% growth per year. Fuel consumption in highway transportation has become more dominant in logistics energy consumption; (3) While changes in logistics activities, transportation modes and transport intensity pushed up logistics energy consumptions, improvements in energy intensity helped significantly to curb the energy rise in China’s logistics industry.

Impact of Fuel Cell and Storage System Improvement on Fuel Consumption and Cost

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Vehicle Technologies Program (VTP) is developing more energyefficient and environmentally friendly highway transportation technologies that will enable America to use less petroleum. The VTP includes studies of the potential benefit of advanced technologies and also attempts to clarify and refine the requirements for vehicle components. Owing to the large number of component and powertrain technologies considered, the benefits of the VTP research and development portfolio were simulated using Autonomie, Argonne National Laboratory’s vehicle simulation tool. This paper evaluates advanced fuel cell and hydrogen storage systems for a midsize car in different model years, in conjunction with advancements in the rest of the powertrain, as part of DOE baseline and scenario analysis (BaSce). In addition, this paper quantifies the fuel displacement and costs of advanced hydrogen storage and fuel cell systems, without considering advancements in the rest of the powertrain.

URBAN TRAFFIC PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS

Most of the urban metropolitan cities are facing traffic problems due delay and overcrowding. Recently the growth of population increased unusually because of the development and employment in metropolitan cities. Generally, road transportation is the major approach of convey which connects the villages, towns, cities, metropolitan regions, states and whole country in to the system establishing an innovative communique. It improves the entire nation development, environment surroundings and socio economic customs developments. Additionally the special advantages of the highway transport individual have been facing unusual troubles owing to the need of its suitable organization, refurbish & preservation. With the unusual predicament of road transport, traffic delay and overcrowding are the rising troubles in the urban region. Various authentic problems and solutions of traffic delay and overcrowding have been discussed in this paper.

Injury severity data for front and second row passengers in frontal crashes.

The data contained here were obtained from the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration׳s National Automotive Sampling System – Crashworthiness Data System (NASS-CDS) for the years 2008–2014. This publically available data set monitors motor vehicle crashes in the United States, using a stratified random sample frame, resulting in information on approximately 5000 crashes each year that can be utilized to create national estimates for crashes. The NASS-CDS data sets document vehicle, crash, and occupant factors. These data can be utilized to examine public health, law enforcement, roadway planning, and vehicle design issues. The data provided in this brief are a subset of crash events and occupants. The crashes provided are exclusively frontal crashes. Within these crashes, only restrained occupants who were seated in the right front seat position or the second row outboard seat positions were included. The front row and second row data sets were utilized to construct occupant pairs crashes where both a right front seat occupant and a second row occupant were available. Both unpaired and paired data sets are provided in this brief.

A dynamic analysis of air pollution emissions in China: Evidence from nonparametric additive regression models

PM2.5 emissions not only have serious adverse health effects, but also impede transportation activities, especially in air and highway transport. As a result, PM2.5 emissions have become a public policy concern in China in recent years. Currently, the vast majority of existing researches on PM2.5 are based on natural science perspective. Very few economic studies on the subject have been conducted with linear models. This paper adopts provincial panel data from 2001 to 2012, and uses the STIRPAT model and nonparametric additive regression models to examine the key driving forces of PM2.5 emissions in China. The results show that the nonlinear effect of economic growth on PM2.5 emissions is consistent with the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis. The nonlinear impact of urbanization exhibits an inverted “U-shaped” pattern due to the rapid development of urban real estate in the early stages and the strengthening of environmental protection measures in the latter stage. Coal consumption follows an inverted “U-shaped” relationship with PM2.5 emissions owing to massive coal consumption at the beginning and efforts to optimize the energy structure as well as technological progress in clean energy in the latter stages. The nonlinear inverted “U-shaped” impact of private vehicles may be due to the different roles of scale, structural and technical effects at different stages. However, energy efficiency improvement follows a positive “U-shaped” pattern in relation to PM2.5 emissions because of differences in the scale of the economy and the speed of technological progress at different times. As a result, the differential dynamic effects of the driving forces of PM2.5 emissions at different times should be taken into consideration when initiating policies to reduce PM2.5 emissions in China.

Decomposition of carbon dioxide emission from highway transportation in Tunisia

We have adopted the Divisia index approach to study the effects of five factors on the total emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) arising from highway vehicles in Tunisia during the period ranging from 1980 to 2011. CO2 emissions have been decomposed into five factors, namely emission coefficient, vehicle fuel intensity, vehicle ownership, population intensity and economic growth. We show that fast-paced economic growth and vehicle ownership have been the most important factors which have participated in the augmentation of CO2 emissions, while population intensity has contributed significantly to the decrease of emissions.

Aggressive Environmental Effect on Polypropylene Fibre Reinforced Hot Mix Asphalt

Highway transportation is the most preferred transportation system as compared to other modes due to its high accessibility. Flexible highway pavement consists of mainly aggregate and bitumen, besides, in order to improve performance, some organic and/or inorganic additives are also utilized as additional constituents in the hot mix asphalt (HMA). By improving performance, positive characteristics can be gained to the HMA such as high strength, durability, toughness, suitable flexibility and resistance to impact. In this study, an attempt has been made to minimize deterioration due to the damage given by different aggressive environmental conditions. For that purpose, polypropylene fibers were added in varying ratios (0, 5, 7.5 and 10% by weight of binder) into the HMA, then these mixtures were maintained in the freeze-thaw cycling cabinet, CaCl2, NaCl and Na2SO4 solutions for a certain period. The results showed that stability increased continuously by mixtures with a content of up to 7.5% of polypropylene fibre, and then a drop was observed by 10% fibre reinforced mixtures. In addition, exposure to freeze-thaw cycles and Na2SO4 solution was found as the most harmless and harmful conditions, respectively among other environments in the investigation.

If, When, and How to Perform Lane Change Maneuvers on Highways

Advanced driver assistance systems or highly automated driving systems for lane change maneuvers are expected to enhance highway traffic safety, transport efficiency, and driver comfort. To extend the capability of current advanced driver assistance systems, and eventually progress to highly automated highway driving, the task of automatically determine if, when, and how to perform a lane change maneuver, is essential. This paper thereby presents a low-complexity lane change maneuver algorithm which determines whether a lane change maneuver is desirable, and if so, selects an appropriate inter-vehicle traffic gap and time instance to perform the maneuver, and calculates the corresponding longitudinal and lateral control trajectory. The ability of the proposed lane change maneuver algorithm to make appropriate maneuver decisions and generate smooth and safe lane change trajectories in various traffic situations is demonstrated by simulation and experimental results.

Highway Safety Factor

Road safety is an important aspect of the targeted improvement of highway transportation system in addition to the smoothness, safety, reliability, efficiency and harmony with the environment. Traffic safety indicator is the main component result in whether high or low levels of traffic accidents. Traffic safety is constantly becoming increasingly urgent needs to be realized in the implementation of national transport policy. No exaggeration when safety in road is included as one indicators of public welfare as a sign of success or failure in the development of infrastructure.