BEASAC - A Survey Hovercraft for Observing the Beaches and Offshore Areas Near the Belgian Coast

In 1983, the Belgian Government instructed the Belgian company Eurosense to start with the development of a new hydrographic measuring system: a specially designed hovercraft-based sounding system. After a period of extended testing, the craft and its special purpose hardware and software was accepted in 1985 by the Coastal Hydrographic Office of the Belgian Ministry of Public Works. Now the system is successfully employed for monitoring changes to access channels of the major Belgian sea ports and for supervising the extensive dredging activities. Moreover, it is used to observe the beaches and offshore areas near the Belgian coast

An Evaluation of the Resilient Modulus and Permanent Deformation of Unbound Mixtures of Granular Materials and Rubber Particles from Scrap Tyres to Be Used in Subballast Layers

[EN] Over the last years rubber from scrap tyres has been reused in different civil works such as road embankments and railway platforms due to its resilient properties, low degradation and vibration attenuation. Unfortunately, this issue is still scarce. For instance, in Spain about 175.000 tonnes of scrap tyres were collected in 2014, of which only 0.6% were reused in civil works. Aiming to contribute to the reutilisation of large quantities of this waste material, this paper focuses on the analysis of unbound mixtures of granular materials with different percentages of rubber particles to be used as subballast layers. Mixtures are tested under cyclic triaxial tests so as to obtain their resilient modulus and evaluate their permanent deformations. It is found that as the rubber content increases, the resilient modulus decreases and the permanent deformation increases. Taking into account the usual loads transmitted to the subballast layer, the optimum rubber content that does not compromise the behaviour of the mixture is set in a range between 2.5% and 5% in terms of weight. (C) 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.Hidalgo Signes, C.; Martínez Fernández, P.; Garzón-Roca, J.; Garrido De La Torre, ME.; Insa Franco, R. (2016). An Evaluation of the Resilient Modulus and Permanent Deformation of Unbound Mixtures of Granular Materials and Rubber Particles from Scrap Tyres to Be Used in Subballast Layers. Transportation Research Procedia. 18:384-391. doi:10.1016/j.trpro.2016.12.050S3843911

Monitoring and analysis of vibration transmission for various track typologies. A case study

[ES] Las vibraciones propagadas desde ferrocarriles pueden afectar a los residentes en las cercanías de la vía. En este sentido, el presente artículo presenta una extensa campaña de mediciones en diversas tipologías de vía, desde vías en placa tranviarias hasta vías en balasto de alta velocidad. Los datos obtenidos son convenientemente procesados y analizados. Los resultados muestran que las vías en balasto se comportan ligeramente mejor en lo que se refiere a vibraciones de baja frecuencia, mientras que la atenuación es similar en todas las tipologías para frecuencias mayores. También se comenta la influencia de aspectos tales como la clase de vehículo o la vibración de las traviesas.[EN] Vibrations propagated from railways can disturb local residents. Within this context, this paper presents a monitoring exercise involving diverse track typologies, ranging from tram slab tracks to high-speed ballasted tracks. The results show a slightly better performance of ballasted tracks when dealing with low frequency vibrations, and an overall similar alleviation pattern for the whole bandwidth. Other issues such as vehicle influence and vibration of sleepers are discussed. 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.The authors wish to thank ACCIONA for providing the equipment for the survey, as well as for their help and support during the whole monitoring process. The authors are also grateful to FGV, ADIF and RENFE for providing permission and support during the monitoring of their linesMartínez Fernández, P.; Villalba Sanchis, I.; Botello Rojas, F.; Insa Franco, R. (2013). Monitoring and analysis of vibration transmission for various track typologies. A case study. Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment. 24:98-109. doi:10.1016/j.trd.2013.05.003S981092

Automobile and Motorcycle Traffic on Indonesian National Roads: Is It Local or Beyond the City Boundary?

経済学 / EconomicsThis paper investigates the dimensions of private vehicles\u27 trips on national roads between neighboring cities in Indonesia using the spatial lag model and the spatial error model approach to reveal the spatial correlations among cities. Private vehicles are defined as privately owned automobiles and motorcycles, and vehicle trips or usage levels are defined in terms of vehicle kilometers traveled (VKT) for both types of private vehicles. The paper finds that motorcycle trips are characteristically local because there is no sign of a spatial correlation with neighboring cities for those trips; by contrast, automobile trips often cross city boundaries, although the models constructed in this study demonstrate only weak spatial correlations among neighboring cities for automobile trips. The models also indicate that the road capacity, gasoline prices, gross domestic regional product per capita, population density, city size, number of public buses, and worker resident density have a significant effect on VKT for both cars and motorcycles. Therefore, these findings suggest that in general, the design of urban transportation policies on national roads could be less complex in Indonesian cities because local solutions may be effective for solving traffic problems in individual cities.JEL Classification Codes: R41, R49, R53http://www.grips.ac.jp/list/jp/facultyinfo/yoshida_yuichiro

The Free State Public Transportation System: A Comparison Between Buses and Taxi Services and Adaptation of ICT Solutions

Conference ProceedingsThis paper explores Information Communication Technologies (ICT) for consideration in the public transportation system in the Free State and how the two main types of public transportation; buses and taxis, are likely to adapt to these technologies. Taxis and buses operation and management of operations are completely different; their differences are likely to affect how each adapts to these technologies. Adaptation to the integrated public transportation system by the bus and taxi users, drivers, and operators will be key to successful ICT integration. Focusing on the benefits that ICT solutions have brought in some regions in the world should not overshadow consideration for possible slow adaptation, lack of acceptance or resistance by stakeholders when applied in a different environment and a different public transportation system. This paper considers the different operational scenarios, government involvement and political will, public – driver – operator participation and willingness and ICT awareness. Whether the technologies and applications will be suitable and adaptable to the existing system and their perceived influence on adaptation to an ICT integrated public transportation system from implementation until there are fully embedded into the system are also considered. Feasibility of some ICT solutions, to the decision makers and operators, considering financial, technical and management feasibility and degree of integration will influence the adaptation process

The potential of a Mobility-as-a-Service platform in a depopulating area in the Netherlands: An exploration of small and big data

This chapter describes a case study examining the potential of a community-driven Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) platform in a rural and depopulating area in the Netherlands. The aim of the 5-year project is to examine if a MaaS platform can be an effective and efficient solution to improve accessibility and liveability of rural areas. The potential for a MaaS is examined by addressing the current mobility patterns and mobility and accessibility barriers. We use a mixed method approach using a combination of small data (primary data) and big data (secondary data)

A laboratory study on cold-mix, cold-lay emulsion mixtures

This paper describes laboratory experiments and presents results for the performances of cold-mix, cold-lay emulsion mixtures. The main objective of the experiments was to evaluate and improve the properties of the cold mixtures. The mixture properties evaluated were: volumetric properties, indirect tensile stiffness modulus (ITSM), repeated load axial creep and fatigue. These properties were compared with conventional hot asphalt mixtures not containing any waste/recycled materials. To optimise the performances of the mixtures, a target of ITSM value of 2000 MPa was selected. At full curing conditions, the stiffness of the cold mixes was found to be very similar to that of hot mixtures of the same penetration grade base bitumen (100 pen). Test results also show that the addition of 1–2% cement significantly improved the mechanical performance of the mixes and significantly accelerated their strength gain. The fatigue behaviour of the cold mixes that incorporated cement was comparable with that of the hot mixtures