Highway Transportation Research Articles

Analysis and MASH TL-5 Crash Testing of a 6 ft-Tall Constant-Slope Barrier with Attached Noise Abatement Wall

Transportation agencies have become more efficient in maximizing the utilization of roadway space because of financial and regulatory constraints. Safety must manifest itself in all aspects of the transportation infrastructure. One notable challenge is the use of high-speed highways within urban environments. A noise reduction facility, such as a noise abatement wall (NAW), has to be incorporated along the roadway to reduce the traffic-generated noise impact on the urban population. However, adding such a facility requires a minimum 4 ft offset from the barrier per existing American Association of State Highway Transportation Officials (AASHTO) standards. These constraints were eliminated in this study through the design of a tall barrier that reduced the interaction between the leaning truck trailer and the NAW to insignificant rubbing. This paper presents the design of the barrier-NAW system, the results of the finite element simulation that verified the performance of the system, and the successful outcomes of the full-scale crash testing according to AASHTO Manual for Assessing Safety Hardware guidelines.

NOISE PROTECTION PRINCIPLES OF HIGHWAY CONSTRUCTION

According to the results of scientific research, it was established that the noise generated by vehicles has a negative impact on people's health, therefore, effective solutions in the field of construction and planning are needed to reduce the noise load on residential areas. Usually, noise is produced by the movement of cars, their engines and road surfaces. Noise can have a negative impact on people's health, leading to stress, sleep problems, impaired concentration and other physical and psychological health problems. The most important noise protection principles are the selection of a suitable place for the construction of a road, the use of special geometric solutions that can help reduce the noise load on the surrounding areas, and the installation of soundproof barriers. A fairly effective means of combating the noise load from the highway is the installation of noise protection screens along the highway. They can be made of different materials, different in structural and geometric perspective. It has been studied that the most effective way to protect rural areas from traffic noise is the construction of screen houses along transport highways. According to the data, the noise level behind such buildings decreases to 23 dBA compared to the noise level on the transport highway itself. A noise map is used to determine the noise level in built-up areas as a whole and in individual sections of microdistricts, which is a graphical representation of sound pressure level curves plotted on a plan diagram. These maps make it possible to estimate the reduction of the noise level with distance from the transport highway.

ARCHITECTURAL AND LANDSCAPE SOLUTIONS TO PROTECT THE TERRITORY FROM TRAFFIC NOISE ALONG TRANSPORT HIGHWAYS

Based on the review of research works, it was established that the noise load from moving transport units affects the health of people, which requires the development of effective design and planning solutions to reduce the noise load on residential areas. It was established that the noise-absorbing structure consisting of a metal sheet and sheet glass has high acoustic properties. Because glass absorbs sound energy in a wide range of frequencies, and what is especially important – even in the low frequency range. At the same time, the acoustic properties do not depend on the influence of the environment: dust, snow and moisture. The entire structure of the screen has high soundproofing properties. The combination of both these properties (sound-absorbing and sound-insulating) enables this screen to effectively protect residents of residential buildings from traffic noise. It has been established that architectural and landscape solutions to protect areas from noise pollution from vehicles significantly reduce the noise level. A significant reduction in the noise load is observed behind the house. However, the use of architectural and planning methods for noise protection are not always effective methods of protecting residential areas from noise pollution. Since there are areas where buildings have already been built, or are being built, without taking into account noise. In addition, the area of land plots in urban conditions is limited, which sometimes prevents the full implementation of architectural and landscape solutions. It has been established that the most effective ways to protect agricultural land from traffic noise are the construction of screen houses along transport highways. The amount of noise behind the house decreases to 23 dBA compared to the noise level on the transport highway. Noise maps are used to identify the noise regime in the built-up area as a whole and in individual sections of microdistricts, which are curves of equal levels plotted on the plan diagram, they characterize the decrease in noise level when moving away from the highway.

The Zangazur Corridor as the new haulage hub for integration and cooperation in the South Caucasus

This paper examines the economic significance of the South Caucasus' Zangazur Corridor in terms of achieving long-term peace, connectivity and integration in the region, and boosting regional growth. It further claims that the Zangazur Corridor will aid future South Caucasus reconciliation and economic cooperation.Upon the signing of the declaration, the establishment of the Zangazur corridor became even more critical. The Zangazur Corridor will connect the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic via the Republic of Armenia's Meghri area. The route was important in regional and international railway and highway transportation between Azerbaijan, Armenia, Iran, Turkey, and Russia during the Soviet era. However, the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan disrupted transportation for thirty years. The transportation links will then be extended from China to Europe. The Zangazur Corridor will play a vital part in the construction of East-West and North-South haulage. Many countries will benefit from the restoration of railways and roadways in the future. Hence, the study discusses the prospect of utilizing the Zangezur corridor - which is specified in the tripartite agreement dated 10 November 2020 - and emphasizes its significance as a vital element of the international transport network.

Optimization Approach for Yard Crane Scheduling Problem using genetic algorithm in Container Terminals

As the core operational issue in container terminals, yard crane scheduling problem directly affects the overall operation efficiency of port connecting highway or railway transportation and sea transportation. In practice, the scheduling of yard cranes is subject to many uncertain factors, so the scheme may be inapplicable and needs to be adjusted. From the perspective of proactive strategy, considering fluctuations in arrival time of external trucks as well as varied handling volume of yard cranes,a stochastic programming model is established in this paper to obtain a fixed scheme with the minimum expected value of yard crane makespan and total task waiting time over all the scenarios. The scheme does not require rescheduling when facing different situations. Subsequently, two algorithms based on certain rules are proposed to obtain the yard crane operation scheme in the deterministic environment, which are taken as the basic solution inthe uncertain conditions, and then a tailored genetic algorithm is adopted to find the optimal solution with good adaptability to the uncertain scenarios. Finally, we use smallscale examples to compare the performance of algorithms in the deterministic and uncertain environment and then analyze the relationship between different yard crane configurations and the number of tasks. Largescale experiments are performed to study the operation efficiency of the storage yard with different handling volumes assigned to each yard crane.

Pricing Based Charging Navigation Scheme for Highway Transportation to Enhance Renewable Generation Integration

The charging operation is rapidly becoming a key concern for highway charging station operation as the electric vehicle charging demand for highway traveling rises. This paper proposes a charging price-setting scheme for highway charging station operation, considering distributed renewable energy generators neighboring highway charging stations. For this purpose, a bi-level approach is proposed in this paper to model the conflicting objectives between the highway charging station operator and electric vehicles to optimize charging price and their routes. The upper level is designed to optimize the highway charging station operation's profit. The lower level characterizes the charging behavior of EVs via a time-space network model. To solve the proposed bi-level model, we adopt the column-and-constraint generation algorithm to obtain an optimal result. The performance of the proposed scheme is illustrated by numerical case studies based on an experimental highway system.

Machine Learning-based Seismic Fragility Curves for RC Bridge Piers

A significant part of ongoing studies in the field of earthquake engineering is directed toward the seismic risk assessment of buildings and infrastructures at a territorial scale. This task is usually accomplished by grouping the structures into homogenous classes in terms of typology, for which seismic fragility curves are then obtained for different limit states via numerical simulations or from the statistical analysis of observational data when available. Particularly, the development of typological fragility curves for bridges under earthquake is useful for assessing the reliability and resilience of transportation networks in seismic areas and can be also effective decision-making support. Within this framework, the proposed study establishes a machine learning-based paradigm for the closed-form prediction of the main statistical parameters required to obtain relevant seismic fragility curves for reinforced concrete bridge piers. Initially, a huge training dataset has been obtained by Monte Carlo simulations and displacement-based bridge pier assessments by assuming data representative of the Italian highway transportation network. Next, symbolic nonlinear regression formulae for estimating the main statistical parameters of seismic fragility curves have been generated. With the aid of those formulae, the effort of calculating the seismic fragility curves is greatly reduced since the corresponding main statistical parameters can be directly calculated from a set of commonly available attributes. Therefore, the proposed study provides a helpful tool for the rapid preliminary assessment of damage and risk level of existing highway transportation networks exposed to seismic hazards.

The spatial effects of regional transportation roads and their role in activating the development potential using (GIS) techniques: Al Zubair district a case study

The research, through a scientific study of the Al-Zubair district, tried to focus on the importance of land transport roads in general and highway transport lines in particular, and their role in creating an integrated development process in the spatial domains that they penetrate. The developmental role of this important vital sector (main road networks) in reviving and activating the development potential characterizes the study area with the spatial extension of those roads in the establishment of urban communities and planning for the development of various human activities. The research focused on analysing the developmental relationship of the main transportation roads and their impact on the Al-Zubair district using the analytical method by relying on geographic information systems (GIS) techniques and using standard methods, including the inflexion factor method and the nearest neighbour in determining the effectiveness of regional roads, and the use of the questionnaire and the adoption of planning methods to show the efficiency of the roads, including the method (the inflexion coefficient). The research reached a set of results that prove the existence of a developmental interrelationship between the regional transport routes and the areas of spatial activities of the population in the study area.

An experimental application on energy harvesting with piezoelectric on asphalt pavements

With the dramatic increase in the world population, the demand for transportation and, accordingly, energy is also increasing. Clean and renewable energy sources are one of the most important research topics in all countries. The word piezo-electric that, means energy from pressure, is the ability of the material to change an electric field or electric potential as a result of mechanical pressure applied to some materials. This effect is directly related to the change in polarization density inside the material. If the material is not short-circuited, the applied loading and stress creates a voltage in the material. Energy production with materials that provide piezoelectric energy harvesting placed within asphalt pavements is one of the topics that road pavement engineers have been researching in recent years. This study was carried out as a preliminary study. In this study, experiments were made using different sensors to improve energy harvesting from asphalt pavements. The difference of this study from other studies was that different piezoelectric sensors were placed in the asphalt mixture samples and the measurements of the resulting voltages were made. As a result of the experimental study, voltages up to 0.210 V were obtained in the asphalt samples. The obtained results showed that this method is encouraging for energy harvesting and might be the answer for highway transport demand in the future.

Conceptual cost estimation of highway bid items – A systematic literature review

PurposeChallenges associated with ensuring the accuracy and reliability of cost estimation of highway construction bid items are of significant interest to state highway transportation agencies. Even with the existing research undertaken on the subject, the problem of inaccurate estimation of highway bid items still exists. This paper aims to assess the accuracy of the cost estimation methods employed in the selected studies to provide insights into how well they perform empirically. Additionally, this research seeks to identify, synthesize and assess the impact of the factors affecting highway unit prices because they affect the total cost of highway construction costs.Design/methodology/approachThis paper systematically searched, selected and reviewed 105 papers from Scopus, Google Scholar, American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), Transportation Research Board (TRB) and Science Direct (SD) on conceptual cost estimation of highway bid items. This study used content and nonparametric statistical analyses to determine research trends, identify, categorize the factors influencing highway unit prices and assess the combined performance of conceptual cost prediction models.FindingsFindings from the trend analysis showed that between 1983 and 2019 North America, Asia, Europe and the Middle East contributed the most to improving highway cost estimation research. Aggregating the quantitative results and weighting the findings using each study's sample size revealed that the average error between the actual and the estimated project costs of Monte-Carlo simulation models (5.49%) performed better compared to the Bayesian model (5.95%), support vector machines (6.03%), case-based reasoning (11.69%), artificial neural networks (12.62%) and regression models (13.96%). This paper identified 41 factors and was grouped into three categories, namely: (1) factors relating to project characteristics; (2) organizational factors and (3) estimate factors based on the common classification used in the selected papers. The mean ranking analysis showed that most of the selected papers used project-specific factors more when estimating highway construction bid items than the other factors.Originality/valueThis paper contributes to the body of knowledge by analyzing and comparing the performance of highway cost estimation models, identifying and categorizing a comprehensive list of cost drivers to stimulate future studies in improving highway construction cost estimates.

Method for Determining the Location of Highway Passenger Transportation Hubs Using POI Data and the Dijkstra Algorithm in Large City

In order to reduce the impact of highway passenger transportation hubs on urban internal traffic operations and improve the efficiency of external travel, a method to determine the location of such hubs based on POI data and the Dijkstra algorithm is proposed. Firstly, the process of connecting the starting point of travel in the city to the urban road node and the highway exit is analyzed. Taking the minimum total time cost as the objective function, the mathematical model of the location method of a highway passenger transportation hub is established. Then, an algorithm for solving the mathematical model is proposed. In the solution method, the concept of “equivalent distance” is introduced into the Dijkstra algorithm to calculate the shortest path for passengers traveling on the urban road network. Weighted random numbers are generated to simulate the choice of highway exits when intercity coaches carrying passengers leave the city. Finally, Zhengzhou City is taken as an example for application analysis. The calculation is carried out using a script written in Python. The calculation results of the proposed method are compared with the results of the P -median model and the current locations of hubs. The results show that the proposed method consumes less time than the P -median method. The total time cost is also lower, which can reduce the time for passengers to leave the city. The location of the highway passenger transportation hub is closer to the periphery of the city and highway nodes, which conforms to the engineering practice and development trend of hub location so as to reduce its impact on urban internal traffic.

National Economic Benefits of Railway Transportation Analyzed Using Data Mining

This study focuses on the economic benefits of railway transportation from the aspect of data mining using convolution neural network (CNN), long short-term memory (LSTM), and multiple linear regression (MLRA) models. Improved CNN and LSTM (CNN-LSTM), and CNN and bidirectional LSTM (CNN-Bi-LSTM) models have been developed to enhance learning. The case data sets include operating mileage, and passenger and freight turnover for four transportation modes (railway, highway, aviation, and water transportation) from 1952 to 2020 in China; various evaluation indexes are used to verify model effectiveness. The CNN and LSTM model prediction error rates are 29% and 22%, respectively, verifying the role of an integrated transportation system in railway transportation and the time effect as a national economic benefit of railway transportation, respectively. The CNN-LSTM model prediction error rate is 12%, indicating that the economic benefits of railway transportation depend on the structure of various transportation modes and the time stage of transportation resource allocation. The prediction error rate of the CNN-Bi-LSTM model is 14%, suggesting the irreversibility of the impact of railway transportation resources on economic benefits. The MLRA model error rate is lower than those of the CNN and LSTM models, at 19%, but higher than those of the other models. The CNN-LSTM model is recommended to quantify the economic benefits of railway transportation. This study illustrates the systematic nature, periodicity, time lag, and irreversibility of railway transportation and economic development, providing a theoretical basis for the formulation of transportation development and investment plans.

Vitamin E supplementation improves post-transportation systemic antioxidant capacity in yak.

This study was aimed to evaluate the effects of post-transportation vitamin E (VE) supplementation on health condition, blood biochemical parameters, blood antioxidant indices and blood metabolomics in yak. Five yaks were used in this study. After 2100 km of highway transportation from Riwoqe county to Rongchang County, Chongqing, blood was collected immediately after arrival and these samples served as the baseline (control, CON_VE). A VE injection (40 mg/kg) was then performed and blood samples were collected 10 days later. Injection of VE led to lower serum VE concentration. Relative to the CON_VE, VE injection led to greater concentrations of creatinine and lower concentrations of glutamate pyruvic transaminase, alkaline phosphatase, aspartate aminotransferase, total bilirubin, indirect bilirubin, direct bilirubin, UREA and glucose. Compared with CON_VE, VE injection led the lower serum level of malondialdehydeand greater serum level of glutathione s-transferase, glutathione peroxidase, glutathione reductase and glutathione peroxidase 4. Based on metabolomics analysis, 119 differentially altered serum metabolites (P<0.05 and VIP>1.0) were identified with VE injection relative to CON_VE. VE injection resulted in changes of lysophosphatidylethanolamine, lysophosphatidylcholine, phosphocholine, choline, malate, citrate, α-Oxo-glutarate, phenylalanine, 3-Phenylpropanoic acid and 3-(3-Hydroxyphenyl) propanoic acid. These metabolites are associated with lipid metabolism, tricarboxylic acid cycle and oxidative stress. Overall, our study indicates that VE injection can alleviate transportation stress in yak partly through protecting liver and kidney, and improving antioxidant defense systems.

Geographic Information System (GIS-T) database design for transportation safety system (case study: spatial database for road transportation system in Indonesia)

This study aimed to develop a spatial database design on transportation safety system. Spatial databases is a fundamental factor that is very important in the utilization of GIS for transportation, so it is important that a good preparation of spatial databases. Preparation of spatial database will be effective if tailored to the needs. Factors affecting transportation safety is different from one region to another. Factors that affect transportation safety system in an area can be influenced by the transportation system infrastructure in the area. Database design for transportation safety in this study is expected to be a model of the spatial database according to the highway transportation system in a small town in Indonesia. Characteristics of the transport system in Indonesia was largely dominated by private vehicles and less of public transport. Spatial analysis has the advantage to combine data and analyze various factors based on spatial location. Spatial data that can be used to support the analysis include the basic data, thematic data path, data that can be supporting the highway transportation system. Spatial data and GIS - T can be used as an analysis tool and alternative approach to improve road transport safety.

Quantification of multi-hazard risk of existing RC bridges in Barak Valley region, India

The ability to assess and evaluate the condition of existing bridges adequately and accurately is a critical aspect of bridge maintenance and management, which involves condition assessments. Multiple hazards can affect existing bridges, making them vulnerable or risky, and any decision support concerning their management requires special attention. A rational and systematic framework for making practical decisions about the hazards present in a region and the appropriate level of risk is presented in this paper. An analytical hierarchy process (AHP) framework is proposed to rank hazards in hierarchical order based on a region's characteristics and a suitable analysis range, which provides the degree of risk that could jeopardise bridges. The proposed method can assist decision makers in selecting appropriate strategies for improving existing bridges. As a result, bridge inspection costs can be significantly reduced, maintenance and repair funds can be more effectively allocated and the safety, mobility, longevity and reliability of highway transportation assets can be improved. The approach was used in a case study of existing reinforced concrete (RC) bridges in the Barak Valley region in Assam, India. Such an approach is novel to the Indian subcontinent.

Are Expensive Expressways in China Attractive to Businesses? Evidence From the Location Selections of Manufacturing Enterprises

Most expressways in China are tolled, making expressway transportation expensive for enterprises. Traditional location theory focuses only on transportation distances and transit costs, making it difficult to explain how expressways influence location decisions of enterprises. This research starts from the perspective of expressway travel times to explain how tolled expressways affect the location choices of new manufacturing enterprises. A geographic information system digital map of expressways for the years 2000–2013 was developed. The origin–destination matrix module was used to calculate the expressway travel times of 293 cities. Count data regression models, including probit, Poisson, zero-inflated Poisson, and negative binomial regression, were applied to empirically study the influence of expressway construction on the location selections of new manufacturing enterprises. The results show that reduced expressway travel time significantly attracts new enterprises and positively affects the location selections of manufacturing enterprises in China. Further, this finding reveals significant heterogeneity across different manufacturing industries.

Effect of traffic monitoring period on mechanistic-empirical pavement design

The mechanistic-empirical pavement design approach requires defining detailed axle load spectra for each truck class and axle group that can be obtained from continuous site-specific weigh-in-motion (WIM) data. However, it is challenging to collect reliable WIM data over an extended period of time as these systems may experience technical or equipment problems leading to incomplete WIM data. As a result, there may be a need to rely on WIM data collected over shorter traffic monitoring periods to generate the required traffic inputs for use in mechanistic-empirical pavement design. This study examined the effect of the traffic monitoring period on the resulting traffic inputs and the associated pavement performance as predicted using the mechanistic-empirical pavement design approach. The analysis results revealed higher variability in traffic inputs and predicted performance when using shorter traffic monitoring periods. This was more obvious for WIM sites with lower truck traffic. This study also presented a framework for selecting the minimum required traffic monitoring period to achieve a target accuracy level in predicting the pavement service life. The results of this study are expected to assist highway transportation agencies in understanding the impact of the traffic data collection effort on mechanistic-empirical pavement design.

Study on the Construction Waste Composition and Strength Mechanism of Recycled Mixture

Recycling of construction waste has been a hot issue in road engineering research, and microscopic characteristics and composition of construction waste-recycled aggregate (RA) significantly influence their macroscopic service characteristics. In this paper, the composition, microstructure, and strength formation mechanism of natural aggregate (NA), recycled concrete aggregate (RCA), and recycled brick (RCB) were systematically studied by X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), fractal dimension and porosity determination, unconfined compressive strength test, and indirect tensile test. The results showed that RA’s microscopic morphological characteristics and chemical components were analyzed by combining XRD and SEM electron microscopy techniques. RA has prominent fractal features, and the smaller bulk density and more extensive crushing value index of RA correspond to its larger porosity as well as fractal dimension. The attributes of RA lead to the peak of 7 d unconfined compressive strength and 7 d splitting strength of the mix. The reasonable control of RA admixture benefits the improvement of mix strength. This study relies on engineering to carry out theoretical and experimental research, which provides essential support and guarantee for the application of construction waste in the field of highway transportation in Hebei Province.

Hierarchical conducting polymer coated conjugated polyimide anode towards durable lithium-ion batteries

Organic polymer materials attract lots of attention as promising anode materials for lithium ion batteries (LIBs) due to the superior lithium ion storage capability and low cost. However, the inherent insulativity of the polymer anodes results in the unsatisfactory electrochemical performance. Herein, we design and construct a hierarchical flowers-like polyaniline-coated (PANI) pyromellitic dianhydride-based polyimide (PPI) composite (PANI-PPI-9). Benefiting from the core-shell structure, the PPI presents an improved electrochemical performance, especially the remarkable cycling life (503 mAh g−1 at 1.5 A g−1 after 2400 cycles). Ex-situ characterizations and kinetics analyses also verify that the PANI shell serves as the electronic transport highway without obstructing the Li storage of PPI. This work highlights the potential application of the multifarious polymer-based composite electrodes for the lithium ion batteries.

MODEL OF FUNCTIONING CEREALS SEED DELIVERY SYSTEM IN CONTAINERS FROM THE USA TO UKRAINE

The paper analyzed the current state and prospects for the development of grain seed delivery systems in international routes, including option using containers, which made it possible to form the study purpose in this research. The chosen topic is quite relevant because the rational organization of goods delivery in containers allows increasing the efficiency of transport systems functioning. The effective use of transport resources (ports, railway stations, trains, trucks, containers) is one of the directions to make delivery costs cheaper. The fact was established that considerable attention paid to the development of transport infrastructure, solving problems on the effective resources using, implementation of digital technologies and models designing of reliable delivery systems in previous scientific researches. A structural model has been designed, which consists of a system for delivering grain seeds in containers from the USA to Ukraine and is represented by the interaction of subsystems that have a significant impact on the functioning quality and take into account the possible risks associated with waiting for operations performance and the peculiarities of paperwork for international transportation. Five interaction schemes have been formed for participants of goods supply in containers based on used maritime routes, railway transport capabilities, a highways network and warehouse systems. These schemes identify the main departure ports in the United States (New York and Savannah) and destination ports in Europe (Rotterdam, Gdańsk and Odessa), as well as take into account the possibility of resources using of highway and railway transport in the European countries and Ukraine. Unit delivery costs were chosen as a parameter for evaluating an effective model selection during the week, influenced by cargo order intensities, cargo order volumes, and transportation mileages in a certain chain of the corresponding i-th transport kind. The designed models of the system functioning for delivering grain seeds in containers from the USA to Ukraine allow operators to take into account random factors influence, considering the peculiarities of performing relevant operations on different kinds of transport, assess the possibility of using transport resources, as well as determine the influence level of established parameters. Keywords: model, delivery, grain, container, unit costs, international transportation.