Transportation Engineering Commons^™

Evaluation Of The Locations Of Kentucky’S Traffic Crash Data, Eric R. Green, Kenneth R. Agent

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

This research study evaluated the current accuracy of the location information provided in Kentucky‟s crash data. Since the year 2000, the Kentucky Open Portal System‟s (KYOPS) eCrash form has included latitude and longitude data as well as the more traditional County, Route and Milepoint data (CRMP). The Kentucky Transportation Center conducted a research report in 2004 that evaluated the effectiveness of using latitude and longitude, or GPS, as a means to locate traffic crash data.1 This previous study found that both the CRMP and GPS location data had substantial problems resulting in the location data only being accurate about 50 …

Kennedy Interchange Crash Study, Eric R. Green, Kenneth R. Agent, Jerry G. Pigman

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

The Louisville-Southern Indiana Ohio River Bridges project is a construction and reconstruction project being undertaken to address long-term transportation needs in the Louisville metropolitan area. Partial justification for construction of the new downtown bridge and reconstruction of the Kennedy interchange is the existing safety issues and the potential for improved safety. Crash rates for the interchange area have not been fully documented to establish the existing level of safety and degree of the problem relative to state and national statistics. The objective of this study was to analyze and evaluate crash data for the Kennedy Interchange area of Louisville and …

An Exploratory Survey Of Drivers’ Knowledge Of Right Of Way At Freeway On-Ramp Merging Areas, Deogratias Eustace, Stephen Owusu-Ansah, Vamsi Krishna Indupuru

Civil and Environmental Engineering and Engineering Mechanics Faculty Publications

Motor vehicle crashes are one of the leading causes of death in the United States. The most recent data available show that in 2006 there were almost 6 million police-reported motor vehicle crashes in the United States where a total of 42,642 people were killed and an additional 2.6 million were injured. The majority of these motor vehicle crashes occurred at intersections or within the intersection influence areas. Traffic conflicts occur at intersections due to traffic streams moving in different directions interfering with each other, and as a result they become areas with high potential for traffic crashes compared with …

Corrosion Behaviour Of Brass In The Vembanad Estuary, India, Andy Mathiazhagan, Rani Joseph, Kanjiramparayil Puthilon Narayanan, Palaniandy Seralathan

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

Corrosion characteristics of brass panels were investigated in the Vembanad estuarine water (Cochin Harbor), India over a period of one year. The corrosion rate of brass samples during exposure was determined by gravimetric method and fouling on panels was assessed, exposure-wise, in terms of biomass. Corrosion products were identified by X-Ray diffraction. The results of the study were discussed in the light of the seawater characteristics.

A Wide Speed Range Sensorless Control Technique Of Brushless Dc Motors For Electric Propulsors, Min-Fu Hsieh, Hung-Ju Liao

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

This paper presents a sensorless drive technique for permanent-magnet brushless DC motors applied to electric propulsors of small ships or underwater vehicles. Propulsors enveloping electric motors (e.g., POD or subsea thrusters) have been increasingly applied due to their advantages of excellent maneuverability, high efficiency and low maintenance costs. To secure reliable operation under water, sensorless control is considered as an appropriate technique. However, conventional sensorless techniques often suffer problems of narrow speed range and low efficiency, particularly when the propulsors sustain heavy load at high speed operation. Hence, a sensorless technique with a wide speed range is developed in this …

The Study Of Ship Collision Avoidance Route Planning By Ant Colony Algorithm, Ming-Cheng Tsou, Chao-Kuang Hsueh

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

Maritime traffic is becoming more complex every day. At present, due to technological advances and to new maritime regulations, there is increasing demand for new nautical marine instruments to be installed into the bridge, and the breadth of navigational information complicates on-duty officers’ decisions. Therefore, if decision support tools can be used to help deal with navigational decision-making, human errors arising from subjective judgments can be reduced, and sea transport safety improved. This research uses the concept of e-navigation as a framework, positioning collision avoidance path planning as the main theme, and applies an Ant Colony Algorithm (ACA) in the …

Final Warranty Evaluation I-275 Kenton/Boone Counties Mp 1.06-7.15, Tim C. Scully Jr., R. Clark Graves

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

The center performed a visual survey on the eastbound and westbound side of the pavement on the warranted section of I-275. The center’s evaluation team looked for any distresses that exceeded the threshold levels outlined in the warranty specification.

Rapid Construction Of Pacific Street Bridge, Kromel E. Hanna, George Morcous, Maher K. Tadros

Nebraska Department of Transportation: Research Reports

No abstract provided.

Implementation Of Lessons Learned From Change Orders: A Supplement To Kyspr 09-384, Paul M. Goodrum, Timothy R. B. Taylor, William Lester, Alex Mccoy, Mohammed M. Uddin, Yongwei Shan

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

Which change orders tend to have the greatest impact on Kentucky transportation projects? How can I avoid them on future projects? If I do have a change order, what process can I follow to estimate a fair price for both the Cabinet and the Contractor? These are some of the questions that were addressed by research project Change Orders and Lessons Learned (KYSPR 09‐384) at the University of Kentucky’s Kentucky Transportation Center.

Why the Need for this Supplement?

Traditional research reports through the Kentucky Transportation Center contain a significant amount of scientific and technical discussion regarding the research activities and …

Optimal Design Of Work Zone Median Crossovers, Karen Schurr, Brian R. Garnder, Shashwat Rijal

Nebraska Department of Transportation: Research Reports

No abstract provided.

Siphoning Sea Water Back Into The Engine In Fast Boats, Osman Azmi Ozsoysal

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

A failure investigation has been conducted on the exhaust system of a high speed marine diesel engine in Turkish ambulance boats. Premature failures were reported on the poor starting, on the loss of power, on the lubricating oil leakage and on the engine overload. It was observed some significant tracks of sea water found its way into the exhaust passages from condensation of the salt water vapour and also from entering some sea water into the exhaust system. In order to initiate a more accurate cause investigation, the engine went through an overhaul inspection, in which it was determined that …

Risk Evaluation Of Ship Dynamic Stability In Regular Waves, Zhan-Jun Long, Seung-Keon Lee, Han-Suk Choi

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

In this paper, a method combined with the existing approaches is proposed for evaluating and predicting the safety of ship rolling in regular waves. Based on the uncoupled equation of a single degree of freedom, the nonlinear ship rolling in waves is presented and the differential equation is integrated in the time domain by the fourth order Runge-Kutta algorithm. The erosion of the safe basins of a ship roll equation is simulated and the survival probability of a typical ship is studied according to the statistical and simulation results. The numerical results show that the survival probabilities of ship excited …

Bottom Flange Reinforcement In Nu I-Grinders, George Morcous, Kromel E. Hanna, Maher K. Tadros

Nebraska Department of Transportation: Research Reports

No abstract provided.

Development Of A Low Cost, Energy-Absorbing Bridge Rail, Dean L. Sicking, Robert W. Bielenberg, Ronald K. Faller, Karla A. Lechtenberg, Scott K. Rosenbaugh, John D. Reid

Nebraska Department of Transportation: Research Reports

No abstract provided.

2010 Driver Attitudes And Awareness Survey, Kenneth R. Agent, Eric R. Green, Ronald E. Langley

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

A basic set of questions were developed that could be used in periodic surveys that track drivers attitudes and awareness concerning impaired driving, seat belt use, and speeding issues. The objective of the survey was to learn the knowledge, views, and behaviors of drivers in these areas. The objective of this report is to document the results of the 2010 baseline survey.

The method used to conduct the survey was a telephone survey. In addition to questions for the three major highway safety areas of impaired driving, seat belt use, and speeding, an additional question was added which dealt with …

Analysis Of Traffic Crash Data In Kentucky (2005 - 2009), Eric R. Green, Kenneth R. Agent, Jerry G. Pigman

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

This report documents an analysis of traffic crash data in Kentucky for the years of 2005 through 2009. A primary objective of this study was to determine average crash statistics for Kentucky highways. Average and critical numbers and rates of crashes were calculated for various types of highways in rural and urban areas. These data can be used in Kentucky’s procedure to identify locations that have abnormal rates or numbers of crashes.

The other primary objective of this study was to provide data that can be used in the preparation of the problem identification portion of Kentucky’s Annual Highway Safety …

Development Of Advanced Finite Element Material Models For Cable Barrier Wire Rope, John D. Reid, Karla A. Lechtenberg, Cody S. Stolle

Nebraska Department of Transportation: Research Reports

An improved LS-DYNA model of ¾-in. (19-mm) diameter 3x7 wire rope commonly used in roadside cable guardrail installations has been developed. A Belytschko-Schwer beam element was selected along with material *MAT_166. Numerical noise was reduced using part stiffness damping with a coefficient of 2%, and frequency range damping with a coefficient of 12%. The optimum element length based on timestep, accuracy, and computational cost was determined to be between 0.4 and 0.8 in. (10-20 mm). Dynamic component tests were conducted on wire rope to determine material properties. These tests were simulated and the results compared to the physical tests. The …

Load Rating Of Complex Bridges, George Morcous, Kromel E. Hanna, Maher K. Tadros

Nebraska Department of Transportation: Research Reports

No abstract provided.

2010 Safety Belt Usage Survey In Kentucky, Kenneth R. Agent, Eric R. Green

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

The objective of this study was to establish 2010 safety belt and child safety seat usage rates in Kentucky. The 2010 survey continues to document the results after enactment of the original “secondary enforcement” statewide mandatory safety belt law in 1994 and the subsequent change to “primary enforcement” which was enacted in 2006. Data were collected at 160 randomly selected sites in 18 counties across Kentucky. Data from the individual sites were combined into a statewide percentage considering roadway functional classification, county, and vehicle miles traveled.

The data show that the usage rate in 2010 (80.3 percent) was almost identical …

Effects Of Chloride Contamination On Coatings Performance, Bobby W. Meade, Sudhir Palle, Theodore Hopwood Ii, Rick Younce

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

Research indicates that chloride concentration as determined by currently available field test methods does not reliably predict protective coating performance on KYTC bridges. Laboratory testing of chloride charged panels also failed to relate chloride concentration to coating performance. The coatings industry provides recommendations for acceptable chloride levels for various exposure conditions but bridges are different than other structural steel and the exposure conditions for bridges are not adequately addressed. Effective chloride remediation strategies and protective coatings that perform best in the presence of chlorides need to be identified.