A computational methodology for assessing the time-dependent structural performance of electric road infrastructures

An infrastructure adapted to dynamic wireless recharging of electric vehicles is often referred to generically as Electric Road (“e-road”). E-roads are deemed to become essential components of future grid environments and smart city strategies. Several technologies already exist that propose different ways to integrate dynamic inductive charging systems within the infrastructure. One e-road solution uses a very thin rail with box-section made of fibre-reinforced polymer, inside which an electric current flows producing a magnetic field. In spite of the great interest and research generated by recharging technologies, the structural problems of e-roads, including vibrations and structural integrity in the short and/or long period, have received relatively little attention to date. This article presents a novel computational methodology for assessing the time-dependent structural performance of e-roads, including a recursive strategy for the estimation of the lifetime of surface layers. The article also reports some numerical findings about e-roads that will drive further numerical analyses and experimental studies on this novel type of infrastructure. Finally, numerical simulations have been conducted to compare an e-road with a traditional road (“t-road”), in terms of static, dynamic and fatigue behavior

An Approximate Feasibility Assessment of Electric Vehicles Adoption in Nigeria: Forecast 2030

Efforts toward building a sustainable future have underscored the importance of collective responsibility among state and non-state actors, corporations, and individuals to achieve climate goals. International initiatives, including the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement, emphasize the need for immediate action from all stakeholders. This paper presents a feasibility assessment focused on the opportunities within Nigeria's Electric Vehicle Value Chain, aiming to enhance public understanding of the country's renewable energy sector. As petroleum currently fulfills over 95% of global transportation needs, energy companies must diversify their portfolios and integrate various renewable energy sources to transition toward a sustainable future. The shifting investor sentiment away from traditional fossil fuel industries further highlights the imperative of incorporating renewables. To facilitate significant progress in the renewable energy sector, it is vital to establish platforms that support the growth and diversification of industry players, with knowledge sharing playing a pivotal role. This feasibility assessment serves as an initial reference for individuals and businesses seeking technically and economically viable opportunities within the sector

Estudi de la transició energètica d’una línia d’autobús

Per assolir els compromisos a nivell europeu de reducció d’emissions es requereix fer un estudi de transició energètica per a diferents sectors, entre ells el dels transports. Actualment s’estan utilitzant línies d’autobús propulsades per electricitat, però hi ha moltes casuístiques de línies, com les de barri. Aquestes línies, tot i oferir servei a un grup reduït de persones, és necessari que segueixin operant i s’ha de planificar una transició energètica per tal de poder seguir oferint aquest servei en un futur. Existeixen diverses opcions que permeten fer aquesta transició cap a una mobilitat sostenible, però algunes presenten problemes de planificació i costos elevats. Aquestes línies presenten un problema addicional, i és que per la manera en que està dissenyat el recorregut, es necessiten utilitzar autobusos més petits i, conseqüentment, amb menys capacitat per les bateries. És per aquest motiu que s’ha fet un anàlisis de les alternatives als autobusos propulsats per combustible dièsel i realitzat la comparativa a partir del mètode AHP per determinar quina d’elles és la millor opció. Els resultats obtinguts mostren que la millor de les opcions a nivell de reducció de contaminació i econòmic és substituir els autobusos actuals pels seus homòlegs elèctrics amb recàrrega d’oportunitat. D’aquesta manera, s’aconseguiran reduir unes 500 tones de diòxid de carboni emeses a l’atmosfera en un període de 10 anys.Objectius de Desenvolupament Sostenible::7 - Energia Assequible i No Contaminan

Probabilistic Framework for Behavior Characterization of Traffic Participants Enabling Long Term Prediction

This research aims at developing new methods that predict the behaviors of the human driven traffic participants to enable safe operation of autonomous vehicles in complex traffic environments. Autonomous vehicles are expected to operate amongst human driven conventional vehicles in the traffic at least for the next few decades. For safe navigation they will need to infer the intents as well as the behaviors of the human traffic participants using extrinsically observable information, so that their trajectories can be predicted for a time horizon long enough to do a predictive risk analysis and gracefully avert any risky situation. This research approaches this challenge by recognizing that any maneuver performed by a human driver can be divided into four stages that depend on the surrounding context: intent determination, maneuver preparation, gap acceptance and maneuver execution. It builds on the hypothesis that for a given driver, the behavior not only spans across these four maneuver stages, but across multiple maneuvers. As a result, identifying the driver behavior in any of these stages can help characterize the nature of all the subsequent maneuvers that the driver is likely to perform, thus resulting in a more accurate prediction for a longer time horizon. To enable this, a novel probabilistic framework is proposed that couples the different maneuver stages of the observed traffic participant together and associates them to a driving style. To realize this framework two candidate Multiple Model Adaptive Estimation approaches were compared: Autonomous Multiple Model (AMM) and Interacting Multiple Model(IMM) filtering approach. The IMM approach proved superior to the AMM approach and was eventually validated using a trajectory extracted from a real world dataset for efficacy. The proposed framework was then implemented by extending the validated IMM approach with contextual information of the observed traffic participant. The classification of the driving style of the traffic participant (behavior characterization) was then demonstrated for two use case scenarios. The proposed contextual IMM (CIMM) framework also showed improvements in the performance of the behavior classification of the traffic participants compared to the IMM for the identified use case scenarios. This outcome warrants further exploration of this framework for different traffic scenarios. Further, it contributes towards the ongoing endeavors for safe deployment of autonomous vehicles on public roads

Sustainable Freight Transport

This Special Issue of Sustainability reports on recent research aiming to make the freight transport sector more sustainable. The sector faces significant challenges in different domains of sustainability, including the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and the management of health and safety impacts. In particular, the intention to decarbonise the sector’s activities has led to a strong increase in research efforts—this is also the main focus of the Special Issue. Sustainable freight transport operations represent a significant challenge with multiple technical, operational, and political aspects. The design, testing, and implementation of interventions require multi-disciplinary, multi-country research. Promising interventions are not limited to introducing new transport technologies, but also include changes in framework conditions for transport, in terms of production and logistics processes. Due to the uncertainty of impacts, the number of stakeholders, and the difficulty of optimizing across actors, understanding the impacts of these measures is not a trivial problem. Therefore, research is not only needed on the design and evaluation of individual interventions, but also on the approach of their joint deployment through a concerted public/private programme. This Special Issue addresses both dimensions, in two distinct groups of papers—the programming of interventions and the individual sustainability measures themselves