en-us Tue, 5 Jun 2012 00:24:38 UTC Inmagic DB/Text WebPublisher http://114.111.144.247/ics-wpd/exec/icswppro.dll?AC=QUERY&TN=inroads&QY=find+RC+=+1205AR292E Mon, 14 May 2012 14:00:00 UTCThe Roads Economic Decision Model is an assessment tool created by the World Bank for the analysis of investments on roads with low levels of traffic in developing countries. Of the variables used in this model, roughness is one showing the highest incidence in the determination of a project's net present value (NPV). The difficulty in defining roughness, a qualitative attribute of this type of road, in a precise figure may lead to biased NPV estimates. This paper introduces the application of a fuzzy roughness index based on simple fuzzy math, which enables the translation of a qualitative, firsthand appraisal of a road's roughness into a quantitative expression—a triangular fuzzy number—and thus increases the amount of information in the model. As a result, the estimation of NPV is also interpreted in terms of fuzzy math. Investment alternatives for a road may be then compared on the basis of the representation of each fuzzy NPV obtained for the investment alternatives. An analysis conducted on the basis of fuzzy roughness and fuzzy NPVs can lead to an alternative that would have been discarded with a standard approach. http://114.111.144.247/ics-wpd/exec/icswppro.dll?AC=QUERY&TN=inroads&QY=find+RC+=+1205AR150E Mon, 14 May 2012 14:00:00 UTCIn the construction and building industries it has become increasingly frequent for infrastructure asset owners and operators to specify design life requirements for both capital and remediation works. This trend supports the development of more sustainable design and construction practices that take a life-cycle approach, such as including operational and maintenance considerations in the design solution process, and don’t just focus on minimisation of initial capital cost. Whenever design lives are specified there is a clear need to adopt and implement uniform durability design practices throughout the project so that consistency of approach is achieved through: Developing a durability management plan outlining the approach needed to achieve the design life requirements; Providing technical support to the design team so that durability is embedded in the design process; Supporting the construction team to manage issues that impact on the design life of the facility or structure; Providing input to handover documentation such as the asset register, inspection and maintenance plans etc. so that the integrity of the key design inputs and assumptions required to achieve the specified service life are captured prior to commissioning and embedded in the operation phase. This paper presents the findings of a literature survey of various documents that deal with durability design, especially ISO 13823 - “General principles on the design of structures for durability” which is discussed in detail. Of particular interest is the potential for ISO 13823 and the associated standard ISO 15686 - “Buildings and constructed assets - Service life planning” to be used more extensively in Australia. Furthermore, this paper discusses and proposes the terminology and template that could be used when designing for durability in an effort to standardise this important design practice. http://114.111.144.247/ics-wpd/exec/icswppro.dll?AC=QUERY&TN=inroads&QY=find+RC+=+1205AR152E Mon, 14 May 2012 14:00:00 UTCSaltwater ingress led to corrosion initiation on the steel reinforcement of a 1.2km long tunnel. This tunnel houses a conveyor, which links iron ore unloading and stockpiling facilities on the mainland with ship loading facilities on an island. It forms a critical link in the export facilities of a major mining company. Installation of a cathodic protection system was required in order to achieve the desired life of 50 years on this 15 year old asset. Evaluated CP system design options included utilising ribbon anodes, discrete anodes, distributed anodes external to the tunnel and remote anode groundbeds. During the design consideration had to be given to resolving the lack of continuity between individual reinforced concrete panels and achieving even current distribution along the structure. Monitoring of the performance of the CP system by measuring polarisation levels along the tunnel and the presence of a vast network of buried and immersed metallic structures surrounding the tunnel such as pipelines and wharfs, many of which having their own high current output ICCP systems installed. Further, requirements dictated by tunnel operations such as short shut down periods, limited access and other works in the vicinity e.g. the construction of three berths by the owner and other stakeholders (one with piling straddling the tunnel) had to be considered during the design and implementation of the CP system. This paper provides an insight into design process of the CP system, construction challenges and results of the energisation and commissioning process. http://114.111.144.247/ics-wpd/exec/icswppro.dll?AC=QUERY&TN=inroads&QY=find+RC+=+1205AR154E Mon, 14 May 2012 14:00:00 UTCThe effective management of critical infrastructure assets requires a risk-based approach, considering probability and consequences of failure on a range of business parameters and not just an engineering evaluation of the problem and its structural impact. The lack of historical condition or failure data for a range of critical infrastructure assets often presents an additional challenge, since deterioration and its consequences cannot be statistically extrapolated. The absence of reliable, historical data necessitates inspection and the consideration of materials durability, deterioration, and asset failure criteria to support failure probability estimates. This paper will present a risk-based approach to asset management combining a high level of detailed materials and corrosion testing, used to determine the current condition, degradation mechanisms and rates with a multi criteria tool enabling key risks to be factored into the decision making process. Two case studies are presented which uses this risk-based approach for different types of infrastructure. Although the types of assets considered differed in each case, the risk-based approach is not only transferable but provides a verifiable trail as to which technical and business factors have been accounted for in the decision-making process and all assumptions used where technical data has not been available. http://114.111.144.247/ics-wpd/exec/icswppro.dll?AC=QUERY&TN=inroads&QY=find+RC+=+1205AR155E Mon, 14 May 2012 14:00:00 UTCThis paper presents failure investigation and analysis of corrosion of elements of a tunnel wall panel system containing galvanized steel frames supporting the architectural wall panels on the sides of a tunnel. These wall panels were installed in around year 2001. The panels were mounted on galvanized steel frames using stainless steel screws through Aluminium strips. The specification for the wall panel system was based on performance and required the system to have 25 years design life. However, the elements of the wall panel system started showing sign of corrosion within ten years of installation. An investigation into the root cause of the problem was carried out. This involved inspection and visual examination of the elements of the wall panel and sampling of water that was present due to seepage from the tunnel walls. The failure analysis identified presence of Chloride in water around the support frames and the contact of dissimilar metals resulting in galvanic corrosion of the elements. The corrosion was apparent in the elements of the wall panel system only at the locations where there was ponding of water. The paper examines the provisions in the performance specification, describes the corrosion mechanism and reviews the proposed remedial measures. http://114.111.144.247/ics-wpd/exec/icswppro.dll?AC=QUERY&TN=inroads&QY=find+RC+=+1205AR157E Mon, 14 May 2012 14:00:00 UTCThe performance of bridges dating from the late nineteenth century constructed on cast iron piers across rivers and tidal estuaries was examined. These aging assets form a critical part of the transport network, and as such a thorough understanding of their current condition and expected future performance was required. This paper presents the findings of inspections and assessments of a number of cast iron bridge structures and describes the degradation mechanisms observed and corrosion rates in different exposure environments. The approach to investigation of condition and structural assessment of the variable quality of materials cast more than 100 years ago is described. In situ NDT was undertaken along with extraction of small samples of the cast iron for laboratory analysis for graphitic corrosion. The remaining sound metal thickness was measured and the grade of cast iron estimated from hardness testing and metallography. The effectiveness of these techniques and investigation processes is discussed. Limited information about the cast iron grades was available from the small size samples however assumptions were made to correlate with strength grades in current standards to enable structural analysis and load rating of the bridges. The results indicated substantially better performance than would typically be expected from unprotected mild steel structures in tidal environments, where similar satisfactory performance after 100+ years exposure would be highly unlikely. Overall this paper illustrates the good long-term performance of this type of cast iron bridge pier in corrosive environments and highlights some of the difficulties in accurate condition assessment of tidal and submerged structures. http://114.111.144.247/ics-wpd/exec/icswppro.dll?AC=QUERY&TN=inroads&QY=find+RC+=+1205AR221E Mon, 14 May 2012 14:00:00 UTCDriving simulators hold much promise for addressing roadway design issues. However, although simulators have demonstrated their value in experimental research addressing driver performance, their ability to support road design projects has not been as clearly established. This paper describes a design-centered framework to make simulators valuable for traffic engineers and geometric designers. This framework includes several steps: (a) identification of design issues that would benefit from driving simulators, (b) identification of simulator characteristics to match them to design issues, and (c) translation of driver performance data from the simulator to traffic behavior on the road. Several critical obstacles inhibit application of simulators to highway design. First, driving safety researchers and engineers comprise separate communities and their perspectives on how simulators can be applied to address road design issues often diverge. This paper seeks to reduce this divergence and make simulators useful to highway engineers. Interviews with engineers revealed important issues that simulators could address, such as intersection and interchange design. Second, driving simulators are often broadly defined as high fidelity, which provides little value in matching simulators to design issues. A survey of simulators and simulator characteristics clarifies the meaning of simulator fidelity and links it to road design issues. Third, simulators often produce data that do not correspond to data collected by traffic engineers. This mismatch can result from inadequate simulator fidelity, but can also arise from more fundamental sources—traffic engineers focus on traffic behavior and driving simulator researchers focus on driver behavior. Obstacles in using simulators for highway design reflect both technical and communication challenges. http://114.111.144.247/ics-wpd/exec/icswppro.dll?AC=QUERY&TN=inroads&QY=find+RC+=+1205AR226E Mon, 14 May 2012 14:00:00 UTCWith increasing traffic demands and various attempts to get maximum performance out of the road traffic system, the driving task is becoming more and more complex, and the more important it is to consider the human factor in highway design and operation. Successful introduction of new driver support systems, dynamic traffic management systems, or complex road designs depends strongly on how people are able and willing to cope with these developments. Knowledge is needed on how people behave and perform in complex and dynamic task environments. Following a brief description of available driving simulator facilities at TNO in the Netherlands, this paper presents research on human behavior that makes use of advanced human-in-the-loop driving simulators for highway design and operation. A study on the acceptable length of contraflow systems in work zones revealed that a 3-1 contraflow system with a 2.75-m lane width would be acceptable up to 8 km in length. For the Westerschelde tunnel in the Netherlands, a traffic management evacuation scheme of diverting left lanes is much more effective than stopping all traffic in the secure tunnel tube. Given a speed limit of 80 km/h, a 5.4-m-wide single-lane tunnel tube is an acceptable solution, but drivers prefer a wider cross section (6.5 m). Lane departure warning assistant systems improve truck driving behavior on narrow lanes, but at a cost of more strenuous driving. These examples clearly illustrate the added value of driving simulator research for safe and efficient highway design and operation. http://114.111.144.247/ics-wpd/exec/icswppro.dll?AC=QUERY&TN=inroads&QY=find+RC+=+1205AR236E Mon, 14 May 2012 14:00:00 UTCDepartments of transportation and municipalities are expected to implement infrastructure management systems powered by analytical tools. The tools perform long-term strategic analysis capable of identifying alternatives that achieve the most cost-effective solution and that provide sustainability to networks of infrastructure assets. However, results from such analyses reflect uncoordinated programs of works represented by actions scattered across time and space. The implementation of strategic analysis results as they emerge from life-cycle optimization bring about many small contracts, which translate into constant disruption of services for users and higher costs to the government. In addition, uncoordinated actions may result in utility cuts or premature damage to recently rehabilitated assets. This paper adapts classical time-space adjacency modeling to translate results from strategic analysis into coordinated tactical and operational plans addressing the aforementioned drawbacks. A case study of Kindersley, Saskatchewan, Canada, is used to illustrate the proposed approach for coordinating the program of works of pavements, sanitary and storm sewers, and water mains for one of the scenarios of the original strategic analysis. The approach can incorporate time and space considerations among neighboring assets for selected compatible actions (investments) guided by a heuristic simulation that follows the guiding objectives of the original optimization. The results from coordinated actions are compared with results from classical life-cycle optimization to determine the degree of optimality. http://114.111.144.247/ics-wpd/exec/icswppro.dll?AC=QUERY&TN=inroads&QY=find+RC+=+1205AR265E Mon, 14 May 2012 14:00:00 UTCThis study explored a methodology for assessing a neighborhood's bicycle accessibility or "bikeability" on the basis of its mix of infrastructure and destinations, essentially the 20-min neighborhood for bicycles. Prior approaches to assessing bikeability were examined. A new method to measure bikeability that incorporates extensive bicycle infrastructure and land use destination location data is described. The assessment method compared neighborhoods in Portland, Oregon, that had significant differences in bicycle usage. On the basis of the new method, the findings confirmed that, taking into account route infrastructure and destination accessibility, East Portland locations were considerably less bikeable than Inner Portland locations. The assessment method was then rerun to incorporate potential investment and development scenarios to understand how they might affect neighborhood bikeability. The methodology provided steps toward making an objective bikeability assessment—asking if a place could be considered a 20-min neighborhood by bike—and pushed the effort to integrate transportation infrastructure and land-use factors. In its application, the process could be used to explore where planned (or hypothetical) infrastructure or development could be most helpful and which neighborhoods might not receive much added value from the planned improvements. http://114.111.144.247/ics-wpd/exec/icswppro.dll?AC=QUERY&TN=inroads&QY=find+RC+=+1205AR330E Mon, 14 May 2012 14:00:00 UTC http://114.111.144.247/ics-wpd/exec/icswppro.dll?AC=QUERY&TN=inroads&QY=find+RC+=+1205AR345E Mon, 14 May 2012 14:00:00 UTCThe project aims to analyse the management response of Toowoomba Regional Council (TRC) to repair and reconstruct the road network system following the flooding disaster of 10 January 2011. The management system for emergent and short-term restoration efforts will be researched and analysed. Issues identified within the system will be discussed and improvements and recommendations will be presented. http://114.111.144.247/ics-wpd/exec/icswppro.dll?AC=QUERY&TN=inroads&QY=find+RC+=+1205AR008E Mon, 14 May 2012 14:00:00 UTC http://114.111.144.247/ics-wpd/exec/icswppro.dll?AC=QUERY&TN=inroads&QY=find+RC+=+1205AR013E Mon, 14 May 2012 14:00:00 UTC http://114.111.144.247/ics-wpd/exec/icswppro.dll?AC=QUERY&TN=inroads&QY=find+RC+=+1205AR016E Mon, 14 May 2012 14:00:00 UTC http://114.111.144.247/ics-wpd/exec/icswppro.dll?AC=QUERY&TN=inroads&QY=find+RC+=+1205AR049E Mon, 14 May 2012 14:00:00 UTC http://114.111.144.247/ics-wpd/exec/icswppro.dll?AC=QUERY&TN=inroads&QY=find+RC+=+1205AR141E Mon, 14 May 2012 14:00:00 UTC http://114.111.144.247/ics-wpd/exec/icswppro.dll?AC=QUERY&TN=inroads&QY=find+RC+=+1205AR163E Mon, 14 May 2012 14:00:00 UTCThis paper describes the development of a stochastic rail wear model. Once validated, the model can be used to assist in the strategic assessment of railroad track funding needs. The algorithms used for simulating rail wear utilise Markov processes, resulting in a transition probability matrix that defines rail wear progression, as opposed to the more familiar regression-type model popular with engineers. The New Zealand railroad track database contained 10 years of rail wear data from which to develop and validate the model. The transition probability matrices for use in the model were developed using the first five years of the historical rail wear data, with the remaining five years set aside to validate the model. The development of the transition probability matrices is reported in the paper, together with the development of the initial condition distributions ready for use in validation of the model. http://114.111.144.247/ics-wpd/exec/icswppro.dll?AC=QUERY&TN=inroads&QY=find+RC+=+1205AR313E Mon, 14 May 2012 14:00:00 UTCThe research identified how the physical noise and vibration generated by traversing audio tactile profiled (ATP) roadmarkings was influenced by the properties of the roadmarkings, such as their height, width and pitch, as well as by other factors, such as vehicle speed. The research established the relationship of human response to the noise and vibration generated. The physical effects of traversing ATP roadmarkings were determined by measuring the noise (using sound level meters) and vibration (using accelerometers) inside the vehicle while the vehicle traversed a special test strip of ATP roadmarkings, the profiles of which were machined mainly from wood, or from plastic. The driver-response was investigated as a threshold effect via a laboratory-based driving simulation. Participants were played noise effects in controlled conditions from a vehicle driving over different ATP block heights between 2mm and 6mm, and from a vehicle on the road only. The accuracy of participants in distinguishing between road-only noise and ATP roadmarking noise was assessed using signal detection theory while the participant completed a distracter task (Stroop task) designed to replicate the cognitive demands of driving. The overall threshold block height was found to be between 3mm and 4mm. http://114.111.144.247/ics-wpd/exec/icswppro.dll?AC=QUERY&TN=inroads&QY=find+RC+=+1205AR341E Mon, 14 May 2012 14:00:00 UTCIn April 2011 the British Government announced a review into the problem of potholes. A progress report was published in December 2011. The final report of this Review has considered how local highway authorities deal with potholes, as well as wider stakeholder views and implications. It makes 17 recommendations that will, if implemented, provide an improvement in highway maintenance and reduce the number of potholes occurring. There are three key messages in the report: 1. Prevention is better than cure; 2. Right first time for better repairs; and 3. Clarity for the public. http://114.111.144.247/ics-wpd/exec/icswppro.dll?AC=QUERY&TN=inroads&QY=find+RC+=+1205AR352E Mon, 14 May 2012 14:00:00 UTCIn the last few decades, the consequences of floods and flash floods in many parts of the world have been devastating. One way of improving flood management practice is to invest in data collection and modelling activities which enable an understanding of the functioning of a system and the selection of optimal mitigation measures. A Digital Terrain Model (DTM) provides the most essential information for flood manager. Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) surveys which enable the capture of spot heights at a spacing of 0.5m to 5m with a horizontal accuracy of 0.3m and a vertical accuracy of 0.15m can be used to develop high accuracy DTM but it needs careful processing before it can be used for any application. This research presents the augmentation of an existing Progressive Morphological filtering algorithm for processing raw LiDAR data to support a 1D/2D urban flood modelling framework. The key characteristics of this improved algorithm are: (1) the ability to deal with different kinds of buildings; (2) the ability to detect elevated road/rail lines and represent them in accordance to the reality; (3) the ability to deal with bridges and riverbanks; and (4) the ability to recover curbs and the use of appropriated roughness coefficient of Manning’s value to represent close-to-earth vegetation (e.g. grass and small bush).