Reducing heavy truck aggressiveness moving heavy truck into a 1987 Ford Taurus 4-door sedan at 80.5 KPH. Final report.

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Washington, D.C.

Reducing heavy truck aggressiveness moving heavy truck into a 1987 Ford Taurus 4-door sedan at 80.3 KPH. Final report.

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Washington, D.C.

Emergency escape ramps for runaway heavy vehicles (EERRHV). Final report.

Federal Highway Administration, Washington, D.C.

Identification of industrial sources of airborne heavy metal pollution in urban areas

The research examines the deposition of airborne particles which contain heavy metals and investigates the methods that can be used to identify their sources. The research focuses on lead and cadmium because these two metals are of growing public and scientific concern on environmental health grounds. The research consists of three distinct parts. The first is the development and evaluation of a new deposition measurement instrument - the deposit cannister - designed specifically for large-scale surveys in urban areas. The deposit cannister is specifically designed to be cheap, robust, and versatile and therefore to permit comprehensive high-density urban surveys. The siting policy reduces contamination from locally resuspended surface-dust. The second part of the research has involved detailed surveys of heavy metal deposition in Walsall, West Midlands, using the new high-density measurement method. The main survey, conducted over a six-week period in November - December 1982, provided 30-day samples of deposition at 250 different sites. The results have been used to examine the magnitude and spatial variability of deposition rates in the case-study area, and to evaluate the performance of the measurement method. The third part of the research has been to conduct a 'source-identification' exercise. The methods used have been Receptor Models - Factor Analysis and Cluster Analysis - and a predictive source-based deposition model. The results indicate that there are six main source processes contributing to deposition of metals in the Walsall area: coal combustion, vehicle emissions, ironfounding, copper refining and two general industrial/urban processes. |A source-based deposition model has been calibrated using facctorscores for one source factor as the dependent variable, rather than metal deposition rates, thus avoiding problems traditionally encountered in calibrating models in complex multi-source areas. Empirical evidence supports the hypothesised associatlon of this factor with emissions of metals from the ironfoundry industry.

A road safety performance indicator for vehicle fleet compatibility

This paper discusses the development and the application of a safety performance indicator which measures the intrinsic safety of a country's vehicle fleet related to fleet composition. The indicator takes into account both the ‘relative severity’ of individual collisions between different vehicle types, and the share of those vehicle types within a country's fleet. The relative severity is a measure for the personal damage that can be expected from a collision between two vehicles of any type, relative to that of a collision between passenger cars. It is shown how this number can be calculated using vehicle mass only. A sensitivity analysis is performed to study the dependence of the indicator on parameter values and basic assumptions made. The indicator is easy to apply and satisfies the requirements for appropriate safety performance indicators. It was developed in such a way that it specifically scores the intrinsic safety of a fleet due to its composition, without being influenced by other factors, like helmet wearing. For the sake of simplicity, and since the required data is available throughout Europe, the indicator was applied to the relative share of three of the main vehicle types: passenger cars, heavy goods vehicles and motorcycles. Using the vehicle fleet data from 13 EU Member States and Norway, the indicator was used to rank the countries’ safety performance. The UK was found to perform best in terms of its fleet composition (value is 1.07), while Greece has the worst performance with the highest indicator value (1.41).

Dynamic Simulation Methods for Evaluating Motor Vehicle and Roadway Design and Resolving Policy Issues, 1990

This study had three objectives: (1) to develop a comprehensive truck simulation that executes rapidly, has a modular program construction to allow variation of vehicle characteristics, and is able to realistically predict vehicle motion and the tire-road surface interaction forces; (2) to develop a model of doweled portland cement concrete pavement that can be used to determine slab deflection and stress at predetermined nodes, and that allows for the variation of traditional thickness design factors; and (3) to implement these two models on a work station with suitable menu driven modules so that both existing and proposed pavements can be evaluated with respect to design life, given specific characteristics of the heavy vehicles that will be using the facility. This report summarizes the work that has been performed during the first year of the study. Briefly, the following has been accomplished: A two dimensional model of a typical 3-S2 tractor-trailer combination was created. A finite element structural analysis program, ANSYS, was used to model the pavement. Computer runs have been performed varying the parameters defining both vehicle and road elements. The resulting time specific displacements for each node are plotted, and the displacement basin is generated for defined vehicles. Relative damage to the pavement can then be estimated. A damage function resulting from load replications must be assumed that will be reflected by further pavement deterioration. Comparison with actual damage on Interstate 80 will eventually allow verification of these procedures.