The Impact of Sea Level Rise on Roadway Design and Evacuation Routes in Delaware

As the global temperature continues to increase, the sea level continues to rise at a rapid rate that has never been seen before. This becomes an issue for many facets of life but one of the most impacted is the transportation infrastructure. Many people living in low elevation coastal areas can become trapped by flooding with no way in or out. With Delaware being a coastal state, this would affect a large portion of the population and will have detrimental effects over time if nothing is done to combat sea level rise. The issue with sea level rise in transportation is that once the roads become flooded, they become virtually unusable and detour routes would be needed. If all the roads in a coastal area were to be affected by sea level rise, the options for detours would become limited. This article looks at direct solutions to combat sea level rise and indirect solutions that would specifically help transportation infrastructure and evacuation routes in Delaware. There is not one solution that can fix every problem, so many solutions are laid out to see what is applicable to each affected area. Some solutions include defense structures that would be put close to the coast, raising the elevation of vulnerable roads throughout the state and including pumping stations to drain the water on the surface of the road. With an understanding of all these solutions around the world, the ultimate conclusion came in the form of a six-step plan that Delaware should take in order to best design against sea level rise in these coastal areas.

Evaluating the Feasibility of Road Diets for Advancing Urban Mobility in Newark, DE

Road Diets are far from a new technique for designers to apply to roadways. Yet after over 50 years of implementation and countless studies into their effectiveness, it is only relatively recently that the process is gaining widespread recognition and implementation. Each year, more states and countries are examining potential road diets and putting them into place. Still, there remains great skepticism and opposition in many corners. In addition, cities and states may be drawing from many of the same sources in how to go about the process of a road diet and evaluate them, yet their methodology, goals, and even terminology can vary from region to region. This study analyzes the implementation of a road diet along a one-way arterial road, in Newark, Delaware. The primary aim of this analysis is to evaluate the feasibility of introducing a dedicated bicycle infrastructure to enhance local accessibility and to quantify its potential impacts on traffic flow, parking availability, and loading logistics within the vicinity. While the reduction of one lane could be perceived as a constraint on traffic management, the investigation revealed that E Main Street, the roadway analyzed, for the most part, can adequately accommodate its traffic load with a single lane. Detailed findings underscore the notable enhancement in level of service and subsequent reduction in delay times across most surveyed approaches.

Modeling the Undrained Shear Strength with Soil Index Properties for Niger Delta Soft Clays

The aim of this study was to model the Undrained Shear Strength (USS) of soil found in the coastal region of the Niger Delta in Nigeria with some soil properties. The undrained shear strength (USS) is a key parameter needed for most geotechnical/structural designs. Accurate determination of the USS of soft clays can be challenging to obtain in the laboratory due to the difficulty in remoulding the clay to its in-situ conditions before testing and more accurate test such as Cone Penetration test (CPT) can be quite expensive. This study was carried out at Escravos site which is located in Delta state, Nigeria. Three Boreholes were drilled and soil samples were collected at 0.75 m intervals up to a depth of 45 m. Laboratory tests were used to obtain the moisture content, bulk unit weight, liquid and plastic limit, while CPT was used in obtaining the undrained shear strength. Classification of the soil samples was done by adopting the Unified Soil Classification System and various models relating the USS with the soil properties were developed. The result showed that most of the soils at Escravos site were predominately inorganic clay of high plasticity which are problematic due to the expansion and shrinking nature of this type of soil. The model developed showed that the soil properties that gave the best fit with the USS were the moisture content and effective stress of the soil. The coefficient of determination (R2) and the root mean square error (RMSE) obtained for this model were 0.805 and 6.37 KN/m2, respectively.

Ambient noise as the new source for urban engineering seismology and earthquake engineering: a case study from Beijing metropolitan area

In highly populated urban centers, traditional seismic survey sources can no longer be properly applied due to restrictions in modern civilian life styles. The ambient vibration noise, including both microseisms and microtremor, though are generally weak but available anywhere and anytime, can be an ideal supplementary source for conducting seismic surveys for engineering seismology and earthquake engineering. This is funda- mentally supported by advanced digital signal processing techniques for effectively extracting the useful information out from the noise. Thus, it can be essentially regarded as a passive seismic method. In this paper we first make a brief survey of the ambient vibration noise, followed by a quick summary of digital signal processing for passive seismic surveys. Then the applications of ambient noise in engi- neering seismology and earthquake engineering for urban settings are illustrated with examples from Beijing metro- politan area. For engineering seismology the example is the assessment of site effect in a large area via microtremor observations. For earthquake engineering the example is for structural characterization of a typical reinforced con- crete high-rise building using background vibration noise.By showing these examples we argue that the ambient noise can be treated as a new source that is economical, practical, and particularly valuable to engineering seis- mology and earthquake engineering projects for seismic hazard mitigation in urban areas.

A continuum traffic flow model with the consideration of coupling effect for two-lane freeways

A new higher-order continuum model is proposed by considering the coupling and lane changing effects of the vehicles on two adjacent lanes. A stability analysis of the proposed model provides the conditions that ensure its linear stability. Issues related to lane changing, shock waves and rarefaction waves, local clustering and phase transition are also investigated with numerical experiments. The simulation results show that the proposed model is capable of providing explanations to some particular traffic phenomena commonly observable in real traffic flows.

Intelligent technology-based control of motion and vibration using MR dampers

Due to their intrinsically nonlinear characteristics,development of control strategies that are implementable and can fully utilize the capabilities of semiactive control devices is an important and challenging task.In this study,two control strategies are proposed for protecting buildings against dynamic hazards,such as severe earthquakes and strong winds,using one of the most promising semiactive control devices,the magnetorheological (MR) damper.The first control strategy is implemented by introducing an inverse neural network (NN) model of the MR damper.These NN models provide direct estimation of the voltage that is required to produce a target control force calculated from some optimal control algorithms.The major objective of this research is to provide an effective means for implementation of the MR damper with existing control algorithms.The second control strategy involves the design of a fuzzy controller and an adaptation law.The control objective is to minimize the difference between some desirable responses and the response of the combined system by adaptively adjusting the MR damper.The use of the adaptation law eliminates the need to acquire characteristics of the combined system in advance. Because the control strategy based on the combination of the fuzzy controller and the adaptation law doesn't require a prior knowledge of the combined building-damper system,this approach provides a robust control strategy that can be used to protect nonlinear or uncertain structures subjected to random loads.

An Interactive Expert System Based Decision Making Model for the Management of Transit System Alternate Fuel Vehicle Assets

Traditionally, the process used by public transportation entities to determine the acquisition strategy for new vehicle asset is based upon a broad range of criteria. Vehicle cost has been cited as one of the more critical factors which decision makers consider. It is currently a common practice to consider other factors (life-cycle cost, fuel efficiency, vehicle reliability, environmental effects, etc.) that contribute to a more comprehensive approach. This study investigates the next generation of advancements in decision making tools in the area of the application of methods to quantify and manage uncertainty. In particular, the uncertainty comes from the public policy arena where future policy and regulations are not always based upon logical and predictable processes. The fleet decision making process in most governmental agencies is a very complex and interdependent activity. There are always competing forces and agendas within the view of the decision maker. Rarely is the decision maker a single person although, within the transit environment, there is often one person charged with the responsibility of fleet management. The focus of this research examines the decision making of the general transit agency community via the development of an expert systems prototype tool. A computer-based prototype system is developed which provide an expert knowledge-based recommendation, based upon variable user inputs. The results shown in this study show that a decision making tool for the management of transit system alternate fuel vehicle assets can be modeled and tested. The direct users of this research are the transit agency administrations. The results can be used by the management teams as a reliable input to inform their urban transit buses expansion decision making process.

Pedestrian Facilities Capacity and Level of Service at Intersections in a Connected and Autonomous Vehicle Environment

It is inevitable that Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CAVs) will be a major focus of transportation and the automotive industry with increased use in future traffic system analysis. Numerous studies have focused on the evaluation and potential development of CAVs technology;however, pedestrians and bicyclists, as two essential and important modes of the road users have seen little to no coverage. In response to the need for analyzing the impact of CAVs on non-motorized transportation, this paper develops a new model for the evaluation of the Level of Service (LOS) for pedestrians in a CAVs environment based on the Highway Capacity Manual (HCM). The HCM provides a methodology to assess the level of service for pedestrians and bicyclists on various types of intersections in urban areas. Five scenarios were created for simulation via VISSIM (a software) that corresponds to the different proportions of the CAVs and different signal systems in a typical traffic environment. Alternatively, the Surrogate Safety Assessment Model (SSAM) was selected for analyzing the safety performance of the five scenarios. Through computing and analyzing the results of simulation and SSAM, the latter portion of this paper focuses on the development of a new model for evaluating pedestrian LOS in urban areas which are based upon HCM standards which are suitable for CAVs environments. The results of this study are intended to inform the future efforts of engineers and/or policymakers and to provide them with a tool to conduct a comparison of capacity and LOS related to the impact of CAVs on pedestrians during the process of a transportation system transition to CAVs.

Evaluation of the Accuracy and Automation of Travel Time and Delay Data Collection Methods

Travel time and delay are among the most important measures for gauging a transportation system’s performance. To address the growing problem of congestion in the US, transportation planning legislation mandated the monitoring and analysis of system performance and produced a renewed interest in travel time and delay studies. The use of traditional sensors installed on major roads (e.g. inductive loops) for collecting data is necessary but not sufficient because of their limited coverage and expensive costs for setting up and maintaining the required infrastructure. The GPS-based techniques employed by the University of Delaware have evolved into an automated system, which provides more realistic experience of a traffic flow throughout the road links. However, human error and the weaknesses of using GPS devices in urban settings still have the potential to create inaccuracies. By simultaneously collecting data using three different techniques, the accuracy of the GPS positioning data and the resulting travel time and delay values could be objectively compared for automation and statistically compared for accuracy. It was found that the new technique provided the greatest automation requiring minimal attention of the data collectors and automatically processing the data sets. The data samples were statistically analyzed by using a combination of parametric and nonparametric statistical tests. This analysis greatly favored the GeoStats GPS method over the rest methods.

Development of a Post-Processing Automation Procedure for the GPS-Based Travel Time Data Collection Technique

The travel time data collection method is used to assist the congestion management. The use of traditional sensors (e.g. inductive loops, AVI sensors) or more recent Bluetooth sensors installed on major roads for collecting data is not sufficient because of their limited coverage and expensive costs for installation and maintenance. Application of the Global Positioning Systems (GPS) in travel time and delay data collections is proven to be efficient in terms of accuracy, level of details for the data and required data collection of man-power. While data collection automation is improved by the GPS technique, human errors can easily find their way through the post-processing phase, and therefore data post-processing remains a challenge especially in case of big projects with high amount of data. This paper introduces a stand-alone post-processing tool called GPS Calculator, which provides an easy-to-use environment to carry out data post-processing. This is a Visual Basic application that processes the data files obtained in the field and integrates them into Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for analysis and representation. The results show that this tool obtains similar results to the currently used data post-processing method, reduces the post-processing effort, and also eliminates the need for the second person during the data collection.

Identification of crash hotspots using kernel density estimation and kriging methods:a comparison

This paper presents a study aimed at comparing the outcome of two geostatistical-based approaches, namely kernel density estimation （KDE） and kriging, for identifying crash hotspots in a road network. Aiming at locating high-risk locations for potential intervention, hotspot identification is an integral component of any comprehensive road safety management programs. A case study was conducted with historical crash data collected between 2003 and 2007 in the Hennepin County of Min- nesota, U.S. The two methods were evaluated on the basis of a prediction accuracy index （PAI） and a comparison in hotspot ranking. It was found that, based on the PAI measure, the kriging method outperformed the KDE method in its ability to detect hotspots, for all four tested groups of crash data with different times of day. Further- more, the lists of hotspots identified by the two methods were found to be moderately different, indicating the im- portance of selecting the right geostatistical method for hotspot identification. Notwithstanding the fact that the comparison study presented herein is limited to one case study, the findings have shown the promising perspective of the kriging technique for road safety analysis.

Injury severity analysis： comparison of multilevel logistic regression models and effects of collision data aggregation

This paper describes an empirical study aiming at identifying the main differences between different logistic regression models and collision data aggregation methods that are commonly applied in road safety literature for modeling collision severity. In particular, the research compares three popular multilevel logistic models （i.e., sequential binary logit models, ordered logit models, and multinomial logit models） as well as three data aggregation methods （i.e., occupant based, vehicle based, and collision based）. Six years of collision data （2001-2006） from 31 highway routes from across the province of Ontario, Canada were used for this analysis. It was found that a multilevel multinomial logit model has the best fit to the data than the other two models while the results obtained from occupant-based data are more reliable than those from vehicle- and collision-based data. More importantly, while generally consistent in terms of factors that were found to be significant between different models and data aggregation methods, the effect size of each factor differ sub- stantially, which could have significant implications forevaluating the effects of different safety-related policies and countermeasures.

Development of Jacket Platform Tsunami Risk Rating System in Waters Offshore North Borneo

This work details the simulation of tsunami waves generated by seaquakes in the Manila Trench and their effect on fixed oil and gas jacket platforms in waters offshore North Borneo. For this study, a four-leg living quarter jacket platform located in a water depth of 63 m is modelled in SACS v5.3. Malaysia has traditionally been perceived to be safe from the hazards of earthquakes and tsunamis. Local design practices tend to neglect tsunami waves and include no such provisions. In 2004, a 9.3Mw seaquake occurred off the northwest coast of Aceh, which generated tsunami waves that caused destruction in Malaysia totalling US$ 25 million and 68 deaths. This event prompted an awareness of the need to study the reliability of fixed offshore platforms scattered throughout Malaysian waters. In this paper, we present a review of research on the seismicity of the Manila Trench, which is perceived to be high risk for Southeast Asia. From the tsunami numerical model TUNA-M2, we extract computer-simulated tsunami waves at prescribed grid points in the vicinity of the platforms in the region. Using wave heights as input, we simulate the tsunami using SACS v5.3 structural analysis software of offshore platforms, which is widely accepted by the industry. We employ the nonlinear solitary wave theory in our tsunami loading calculations for the platforms, and formulate a platform-specific risk quantification system. We then perform an intensive structural sensitivity analysis and derive a corresponding platform-specific risk rating model.

Mathematical Advancement of General Chlorine Bulk Decay Model

An accurate chlorine bulk decay model is needed to ensure that potable water meets the microbial and the chemical safeties at the treatment plant and throughout the distribution. Among the mathematical models available,the general second-order chlorine bulk decay model( GBDM) is the most fundamentally sound.Application of the GBDM,however,has been hindered by its numerous fictive parameters and lack of an analytical solution. This theoretical work removes the two obstacles. The GBDM is solved through transformation and integration. The analytical solution provides deep insights into the GBDM and facilitates the parameterization and sensitivity analysis. The background natural organic matter( NOM) is characterized with the probabilistic distribution of functional groups. It reveals that the mean of the function group distribution is correlated with the initial chlorine decay rate coefficient( κ_0). A simple formula is developed to determine κ_0 directly from the initial chlorine decay. The theoretical treatment reduces the fictive parameters to a minimum. For the common lognormal distribution,the GBDM needs only three parameters,well defined as initial chlorine demand X_0,median rate coefficient km,and heterogeneity index σ. For more complicated scenarios,composite distributions are constructed through superposition of individual distributions. A highlighted example is to predict chlorine decay in blends of different waters. With the theoretical and mathematical advancement here,the GBDM can be applied effectively to any reactive background matter in any reaction systems.

Comparative Analysis and Assessment of States’ Traffic Management Center Programs

This research presents a step-by-step guideline for traffic data collection standards set by the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) and American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO). This study reviews manual and automatic methods of traffic counting and provides detailed information on traffic volume and vehicle classification studies. This research also provides a detailed analysis of the Delaware Department of Transportation (DelDOT)-TMC (Transportation Management Center) websites and compares it to selected Department of Transportation websites of other states such as Vermont, Connecticut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, California, Texas, and Virginia. The purpose of the comparison is to analyze the data sources;user friendliness, accessibility, types of data available, presentation formats, and style for each state to determine how they compared to DelDOT-TMC. Although there were some similarities, the findings suggest that two major differences are present. The overall results revealed that DelDOT-TMC provides limited traffic and roadway weather data, and presentation formats to the public as compared to the other states. Further, a unitless variable, called the Capacity Factor (Q), has been developed within this study to represent this relative comparison. This study shows that DelDOT TMC performs well within the group of selected states and better than selected states of similar size and most selected states of larger size;where only Virginia performs better then DelDOT TMC. DelDOT TMC does not perform as well as selected neighboring states;however, it performs in an acceptable range relative to neighboring states.

Utilization and Usability of Delaware Traffic Management Products: A Survey and Challenges

To address the growing problem of congestion, delays, and overall traffic issues, DelDOT (Delaware Department of Transportation) established the Transportation Management Center (TMC) in 1997. DelDOT-TMC also coordinates and manages DelDOT’s response to any incident that impacts the multimodal transportation system within the state of Delaware. Among other things, DelDOT-TMC collects traffic, roadway weather, and hydrological data using over a thousand monitoring devices installed throughout the state of Delaware. After data has been obtained, DelDOT-TMC analyzes and disseminates real-time travel information to the public through DelDOT’s website (online interactive maps), smartphone application, traffic advisory radio, and social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Blog, and Flickr;however, the utilization and usability of this information by the public are, for the most part, unknown. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the global responsibilities of DelDOT-TMC and assess the process that DelDOT-TMC uses to gather, process, analyze, and distribute traffic and roadway weather data to the public. The study employs a survey to assess the utilization of DelDOT-TMC’s products, i.e., DelDOT Mobile App, WTMC 1380 AM travel advisory radio, DelDOT’s public website, DelDOT’s social media, as well as the usability of the DelDOT mobile app to check DART (Delaware Authority for Regional Transportation) First State transit service schedules.

Predicting Rainfall Using the Principles of Fuzzy Set Theory and Reliability Analysis

The paper presents occurrence of rainfall using principles of fuzzy set theory and principles of reliability analysis. Both the abstract and the rest of the paper are discussed from these two points of view. First, a fuzzy inference model for predicting rainfall using scan data from the USDA Soil Climate Analysis Network Station at Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical University (AAMU) campus for the year 2004 is presented. The model further reflects how an expert would perceive weather conditions and apply this knowledge before inferring a rainfall. Fuzzy variables were selected based on judging patterns in individual monthly graphs for 2003 and 2004 and the influence of different variables that caused rainfall. A decrease in temperature (TP) and an increase in wind speed (WS) when compared between the ith and (i ? 1)th day were found to have a positive relation with a rainfall (RF) occurrence in most cases. Therefore, TP and WS were used in the antecedent part of the production rules to predict rainfall (RF). Results of the model showed better performance when threshold values for 1) Relative Humidity (RH) of ith day;2) Humidity Increase (HI) between the ith and (i ? 1)th day;and 3) Product (P) of decrease in temperature (TP) and an increase in wind speed (WS) were introduced. The percentage of error was 12.35 when compared the calculated amount of rainfall with actual amount of rainfall. This is followed by prediction of rainfall using principles of reliability analysis. This is done by comparing theoretical probabilities with experimental probabilities for the occurrence of two main events, namely, Relative Humidity (RH) and Humidity Increase (HI) being in between specified threshold values. The experimental values of probability are falling in between μ ? σ and μ + σ for both RH and HI parameters, where μ is the mean value and σ is the standard deviation.

城市通勤出行停车管理技术政策研究

当前城市早晚通勤高峰时段中心区停车难问题日益突出,针对中心区的机动车出行居高不下,如何合理引导机动车出行选择.结合北京市中心区公共交通网络化水平和接驳换乘能力,以及实行累进停车收费和居民多模式出行的意愿调查,构建政府指导下停车票价与居民交通出行方式选择双层规划模型.在改善公共交通服务水平基础上,适度调整城市不同区域的停车价格,形成中心区和外围地区的级差式停车收费政策.通过数值计算给出城市交通需求管理技术政策运用效果分析.总结通勤多模式出行的停车管理技术政策措施的缓解交通拥堵的效果,为进一步完善停车市场化运作,合理的收费提供参考.

Damage localization under ambient vibration using changes in flexibility

In recent years,Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) has emerged as a new research area in civil engineering.Most existing health monitoring methodologies require direct measurement of input excitation for implementation.However,in many cases,there is no easy way to measure these inputs-or alternatively to externally excite the structure.Therefore,SHM methods based on ambient vibration have become important in civil engineering.In this paper,an approach is proposed based on the Damage Location Vector (DLV) method to handle the ambient vibration case.Here,this flexibility-matrix-based damage localization method is combined with a modal expansion technique to eliminate the need to measure the input excitation.As a by-product of this approach,in addition to determining the location of the damage,an estimate of the damage extent also can be determined.Finally,a numerical example analyzing a truss structure with limited sensors and noisy measurement is provided to verify the efficacy of the proposed approach.

Fracture initiation and propagation in intact rock—A review

The initiation and propagation of failure in intact rock are a matter of fundamental importance in rock engineering. At low confining pressures, tensile fracturing initiates in samples at 40%-60% of the uniaxial compressive strength and as loading continues, and these tensile fractures increase in density, ultimately coalescing and leading to strain localization and macro-scale shear failure of the samples. The Griffith theory of brittle failure provides a simplified model and a useful basis for discussion of this process. The Hoek-Brown failure criterion provides an acceptable estimate of the peak strength for shear failure but a cutoff has been added for tensile conditions. However, neither of these criteria adequately explains the progressive coalition of tensile cracks and the final shearing of the specimens at higher confining stresses. Grain-based numerical models, in which the grain size distributions as well as the physical properties of the component grains of the rock are incorporated, have proved to be very useful in studying these more complex fracture processes.