Sharif Digital Repository

This paper presents a method for estimation of road profile for automotive research applications with more accuracy and higher speed. Dynamic response of a car equipped with position and velocity sensors and driving on a sample road is used as basic data. A feed-forward neural network, trained with outputs from a car model in ADAMS, is used as the car inverse model. The neural network is capable of estimating the road roughness from the car response during test drives. The ADAMS model is corrected and validated using a series of dynamic experiments on the car, performed on a hydro-pulse test rig. The only problem in this approach, like other identification and optimization methods, is the... 

An optimal preview control of a vehicle suspension system traveling on a rough road is studied. A three-dimensional seven degree-of-freedom car-riding model and several descriptions of the road surface roughness heights, including haversine (hole/bump) and stochastic filtered white noise models, are used in the analysis. It is assumed that contact-less sensors affixed to the vehicle front bumper measure the road surface height at some distances in the front of the car. The suspension systems are optimized with respect to ride comfort and road holding preferences including accelerations of the sprung mass, tire deflection, suspension rattle space and control force. The performance and power... 

Adding a new road to help traffic flow in a congested urban network may at first appear to be a good idea. The Braess Paradox (BP) says, adding new capacity may actually worsen traffic flow. BP does not only call for extra vigilance in expanding a network, it also highlights a question: Does BP exist in existing networks? Literature reveals that BP is rife in real world. This study proposes a methodology to find a set of roads in a real network, whose closure improve traffic flow. It is called the Braess Paradox Detection (BPD) problem. Literature proves that the BPD problem is highly intractable especially in real networks and no efficient method has been introduced. We developed a... 

Crash data availability is a significant requirement for identifying hazardous roads. However, for roads with poor data sets or no crash record, a method is needed to find and rank road segments independent of the crash records. In this paper, an auditing based methodology is proposed to determine the hazardous locations. A Rural road is investigated by decomposing it first into six elements, and then into safety factors corresponding to each element. The elements are: straight segments, horizontal and vertical curves, bridges, tunnels, merges and intersections, and side road land use. The relative contribution of the elements to the safety of a road segment is determined using the... 

Deep neural networks are currently the best solution for road and traffic scene interpretation for autonomous and self-driving vehicles. Compared to the autonomous cars, motorcycles have significant flexibility and advantages in crowded traffic situations and especially in non-urban and off-road areas. Many off-road tracks especially for agriculture and environment management tasks are only traversable with motorcycles. In this paper, a deep neural network is used for design and implementation of the vision system for navigation of an autonomous motorcycle. The proposed framework is evaluated using real world scenarios captured by a real motorcycle in various complex situations. The... 

In this article a novel method has been developed to improve the ride comfort of a passenger car by optimum choice of shock absorbers. The objective is to minimize the fatigue provided in the body due to transmitted vibrations. A comprehensive ADAMS model of the car was constructed for perfect simulation of car motions in different maneuvers. This model was validated by further construction of a car and test rig model, and comparing hydro-pulse test data on the real car with simulation results of ADAMS model. The real road profile was adopted as stimulus for the model. Copyright © 2005 SAE International  

A methodology was developed to project total vehicular emissions from different emission reduction policies for the light-duty vehicles in the roads network of Tehran, Iran. A road-link-based model was constructed based on a bottom-up approach by coupling COPERT emission functions with the travel demand model of EMME/2. Results showed total emission from the studied network was largely impacted by vehicles' technology and age, speeds in the links, and fuel type. The proper transportation management to reduce the part of passenger cars and improve traffic flow also leads to a significant drop in the emission, e.g., emission decreased by 43% from 20% traffic volume reduction. Results indicated... 

The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) and Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) encourage the use of various Accelerated Bridge Construction (ABC) strategies, which can help reduce onsite construction time, minimize traffic and environmental impacts, improve work zone safety, and deliver longer lasting and more durable bridges. ABC approaches include the application of technical innovations and management techniques. The decision to use ABC must be made on a project-by-project basis as each bridge location is unique, and factors constraining each project are different. Toward this end, FHWA developed a qualitative decision making framework called... 

This paper investigates the dynamical behaviour of the fractional delayed damped Mathieu equation. This system includes three different phenomena (fractional order, time delay, parametric resonance). The method of harmonic balance is employed to achieve approximate expressions for the transition curves in the parameter plane. The n = 0 and n = 1 transition curves (both lower and higher order approximations) are obtained. The dependencies of these curves on the system parameters and fractional orders are determined. Previous results for the transition curves reported for the damped Mathieu equation, delayed second-order oscillator, and fractional Mathieu equation are confirmed as special... 

Existing sight distance models are applicable only to two-dimensional (2-D) separate horizontal and vertical alignments or simple elements of these separate alignments (vertical curve, horizontal curve). A new model is presented for determining the available sight distance on 3-D combined horizontal and vertical alignments. The model is based on the curved parametric elements that have been used in the finite element method. The elements presented are rectangular (4-node, 6-node, and 8-node elements) and triangular. These elements are used to represent various features of the highway surface and sight obstructions, including tangents (grades), horizontal curves, vertical curves, traveled... 

Hydro-mechanical behavior of unsaturated collapsible soils can be drastically affected by saline infiltrations. Saline infiltrations into the underlain soil layers of the urban transportation and lifelines due to deicing or existence of traffic pollutants has been a common issue of concern for years in many countries. Additionally, many reports have been published so far, indicating the construction of roads and railways on unsaturated collapsible soils. In this research, hydro-mechanical characteristics of an unsaturated collapsible loessial soil diluted with saturated solutions of three different salts that are frequently involved in transportation infrastructure (namely NaCl, CaCl2 and... 

This paper is an endeavor to quantify the concept of sustainable transportation. The prevailing idea in the context of sustainable development (SD) emphasizes on the reduction of transportation demand in order to reduce the environmental and social consequences of it. Nevertheless, in the current paper using a measure for SD and based on the conformity of the growths of all sectors with transportation supply and demand, the countries are comparatively studied. The measure, elasticity, for each two variables indicates the extent to which those two variables have been changing consistently. Indeed the elasticity values are measures of a "harmonic development" representing sustainability. The... 

The innovative powertrain configuration of modern electric vehicles with four-wheel independent drive (4WID) provides the possibility of simple and exact yaw moment control by controlling the electric motor of every wheel independently. In this study, a genuine control strategy for optimum direct yaw moment control is proposed. Although this can be considered as a global control system for traction control of 4WID electric vehicles, the analysis is quite general and can be applied to other types of vehicle. The directional vehicle model is derived and, in accordance with the optimal control theory, an optimum yaw moment controller is designed. Two versions of the control law are developed... 

Vehicle speed control is one of the most important factors at increasing safety, reducing the number and severity of road accidents. Also, other factors such as inappropriate designing, the overuse of speed bumps, nonconformity to the prevailing standards of the world in construction, maintenance, and repair of roads can cause damage to the car suspension and consequently brings the discomfort of car occupants when crossing the actual road under different driving conditions (various speeds and maneuvers). In the present paper, the effect of different vehicle velocities on the comfort of occupants was investigated empirically. To this end, a passenger vehicle was driven at different constant...