Search results for: winter road maintenance
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 3096

Search results for: winter road maintenance

3066 Developing Medium Term Maintenance Plan For Road Networks

Authors: Helen S. Ghali, Haidy S. Ghali, Salma Ibrahim, Ossama Hosny, Hatem S. Elbehairy

Abstract:

Infrastructure systems are essential assets in any community; accordingly, authorities aim to maximize its life span while minimizing the life cycle cost. This requires studying the asset conditions throughout its operation and forming a cost-efficient maintenance strategy plan. The objective of this study is to develop a highway management system that provides medium-term maintenance plans with the minimum life cycle cost subject to budget constraints. The model is applied to data collected for the highway network in India with the aim to output a 5-year maintenance plan strategy from 2019 till 2023. The main element considered is the surface coarse, either rigid or flexible pavement. The model outputs a 5-year maintenance plan for each segment given the budget constraint while maximizing the new pavement condition rating and minimizing its life cycle cost.

Keywords: infrastructure, asset management, optimization, maintenance plan

Procedia PDF Downloads 204
3065 A Multi Criteria Approach for Prioritization of Low Volume Rural Roads for Maintenance and Improvement

Authors: L. V. S. S. Phaneendra Bolem, S. Shankar

Abstract:

Low Volume Rural Roads (LVRRs) constitute an integral component of the road system in all countries. These encompass all aspects of the social and economic development of rural communities. It is known that on a worldwide basis the number of low traffic roads far exceeds the length of high volume roads. Across India, 90% of the roads are LVRRs, and they often form the most important link in terms of providing access to educational, medical, recreational and commercial activities in local and regional areas. In the recent past, Government of India (GoI), with the initiation of the ambitious programme namely 'Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana' (PMGSY) gave greater importance to LVRRs realizing their role in economic development of rural communities. The vast expansion of the road network has brought connectivity to the rural areas of the country. Further, it is noticed that due to increasing axle loads and lack of timely maintenance, is accelerated the process of deterioration of LVRRs. In addition to this due to limited budget for maintenance of these roads systematic and scientific approach in utilizing the available resources has been necessitated. This would enable better prioritization and ranking for the maintenance and make ‘all-weather roads’. Taking this into account the present study has adopted a multi-criteria approach. The multi-criteria approach includes parameters such as social, economic, environmental and pavement condition as the main criterion and some sub-criteria to find the best suitable parameters and their weight. For this purpose the expert’s opinion survey was carried out using Delphi Technique (DT) considering Likert scale, pairwise comparison and ranking methods and entire data was analyzed. Finally, this study developed the maintenance criterion considering the socio-economic, environmental and pavement condition parameters for effective maintenance of low volume roads based on the engineering judgment.

Keywords: Delphi technique, experts opinion survey, low volume rural road maintenance, multi criteria analysis

Procedia PDF Downloads 153
3064 Scheduled Maintenance and Downtime Cost in Aircraft Maintenance Management

Authors: Remzi Saltoglu, Nazmia Humaira, Gokhan Inalhan

Abstract:

During aircraft maintenance scheduling, operator calculates the budget of the maintenance. Usually, this calculation includes only the costs that are directly related to the maintenance process such as cost of labor, material, and equipment. In some cases, overhead cost is also included. However, in some of those, downtime cost is neglected claiming that grounding is a natural fact of maintenance; therefore, it is not considered as part of the analytical decision-making process. Based on the normalized data, we introduce downtime cost with its monetary value and add its seasonal character. We envision that the rest of the model, which works together with the downtime cost, could be checked with the real life cases, through the review of MRO cost and airline spending in the particular and scheduled maintenance events.

Keywords: aircraft maintenance, downtime, downtime cost, maintenance cost

Procedia PDF Downloads 337
3063 Estimation of Particle Number and Mass Doses Inhaled in a Busy Street in Lublin, Poland

Authors: Bernard Polednik, Adam Piotrowicz, Lukasz Guz, Marzenna Dudzinska

Abstract:

Transportation is considered to be responsible for increased exposure of road users – i.e., drivers, car passengers, and pedestrians as well as inhabitants of houses located near roads - to pollutants emitted from vehicles. Accurate estimates are, however, difficult as exposure depends on many factors such as traffic intensity or type of fuel as well as the topography and the built-up area around the individual routes. The season and weather conditions are also of importance. In the case of inhabitants of houses located near roads, their exposure depends on the distance from the road, window tightness and other factors that decrease pollutant infiltration. This work reports the variations of particle concentrations along a selected road in Lublin, Poland. Their impact on the exposure for road users as well as for inhabitants of houses located near the road is also presented. Mobile and fixed-site measurements were carried out in peak (around 8 a.m. and 4 p.m.) and off-peak (12 a.m., 4 a.m., and 12 p.m.) traffic times in all 4 seasons. Fixed-site measurements were performed in 12 measurement points along the route. The number and mass concentration of particles was determined with the use of P-Trak model 8525, OPS 3330, DustTrak DRX model 8533 (TSI Inc. USA) and Grimm Aerosol Spectrometer 1.109 with Nano Sizer 1.321 (Grimm Aerosol Germany). The obtained results indicated that the highest concentrations of traffic-related pollution were measured near 4-way traffic intersections during peak hours in the autumn and winter. The highest average number concentration of ultrafine particles (PN0.1), and mass concentration of fine particles (PM2.5) in fixed-site measurements were obtained in the autumn and amounted to 23.6 ± 9.2×10³ pt/cm³ and 135.1 ± 11.3 µg/m³, respectively. The highest average number concentration of submicrometer particles (PN1) was measured in the winter and amounted to 68 ± 26.8×10³ pt/cm³. The estimated doses of particles deposited in the commuters’ and pedestrians’ lungs within an hour near 4-way TIs in peak hours in the summer amounted to 4.3 ± 3.3×10⁹ pt/h (PN0.1) and 2.9 ± 1.4 µg/h (PM2.5) and 3.9 ± 1.1×10⁹ pt/h (PN0.1) or 2.5 ± 0.4 µg/h (PM2.5), respectively. While estimating the doses inhaled by the inhabitants of premises located near the road one should take into account different fractional penetration of particles from outdoors to indoors. Such doses assessed for the autumn and winter are up to twice as high as the doses inhaled by commuters and pedestrians in the summer. In the winter traffic-related ultrafine particles account for over 70% of all ultrafine particles deposited in the pedestrians’ lungs. The share of traffic-related PM10 particles was estimated at approximately 33.5%. Concluding, the results of the particle concentration measurements along a road in Lublin indicated that the concentration is mainly affected by the traffic intensity and weather conditions. Further detailed research should focus on how the season and the metrological conditions affect concentration levels of traffic-related pollutants and the exposure of commuters and pedestrians as well as the inhabitants of houses located near traffic routes.

Keywords: air quality, deposition dose, health effects, vehicle emissions

Procedia PDF Downloads 85
3062 Retro-Reflectivity and Diffuse Reflectivity Degradation of Thermoplastic Pavement Marking: A Case Study on Asphaltic Road in Thailand

Authors: Kittichai Thanasupsin, Satis Sukniam

Abstract:

Pavement marking is an essential task of road construction and maintenance. One of several benefits of pavement markings has been used to provide information about road alignment and road conditions ahead. In some cases, retro-reflectivity of road marking at night may not meet the standard. This degradation may be caused by internal factors such as the size of glass beads and the number of glass beads or external factors such as traffic volume, lane width, vehicle weight, and so on. This research aims to investigate the reflective efficiency of thermoplastic road marking with the glass beads. Ratios of glass beads, ranging from 359 to 553 grams per square meter on an asphaltic concrete, have been tested. The reflective efficiency data was collected at the beginning and at a specific time interval for a total of 8 months. It was found that the difference in glass beads quantity affects the rate of retro-reflectivity but does not affect the diffuse reflectivity. It was also found that other factors affect retro-reflectivity, such as duration, the position of road marking, traffic density, the quantity of glass beads, and dirt coating on top. The dirt coating on top is the most crucial factor that deteriorating retro-reflectivity.

Keywords: thermoplastic pavement marking, retro-reflectivity, diffuse reflectivity, asphalt concrete

Procedia PDF Downloads 118
3061 Providing a Road Pricing and Toll Allocation Method for Toll Roads

Authors: Ali Babaei

Abstract:

There is a worldwide growing tendency toward construction of infrastructures with the possibility of private sector participation instead of free exploitation of public infrastructures. The construction and development of roads through private sector participation is performed by different countries because of appropriate results and benefits such as compensation of public budget deficit in road construction and maintenance and responding to traffic growth (demand). Toll is the most definite form of budget provision in road development. There are two issues in the toll rate assignment: A. costing of transport, B. Cost allocation and distribution of cost between different types of vehicles as each vehicle pay its own share. There can be different goals in toll collection and its extent is variable according to the strategy of toll collection. Costing principles in different countries are based on inclusion of the whole transport and not peculiar to the toll roads. For example, fuel tax policy functions where the road network users pay transportation cost (not just users of toll road). Whereas transportation infrastructures in Iran are free, these methods are not applicable. In Iran, different toll freeways have built by public investment and government provides participation in the road construction through encouragement of financial institutions. In this paper, the existing policies about the toll roads are studied and then the appropriate method of costing and cost allocation to different vehicles is introduced.

Keywords: toll allocation, road pricing, transportation, financial and industrial systems

Procedia PDF Downloads 344
3060 Thermal Performance of the Extensive Wetland Green Roofs in Winter in Humid Subtropical Climate

Authors: Yi-Yu Huang, Chien-Kuo Wang, Sreerag Chota Veettil, Hang Zhang, Hu Yike

Abstract:

Regarding the pressing issue of reducing energy consumption and carbon footprint of buildings, past research has focused more on analyzing the thermal performance of the extensive terrestrial green roofs with sedum plants in summer. However, the disadvantages of this type of green roof are relatively limited thermal performance, low extreme weather adaptability, relatively higher demands in maintenance, and lower added value in healing landscape. In view of this, this research aims to develop the extensive wetland green roofs with higher thermal performance, high extreme weather adaptability, low demands in maintenance, and high added value in healing landscape, and to measure its thermal performance for buildings in winter. The following factors are considered including the type and mixing formula of growth medium (light weight soil, akadama, creek gravel, pure water) and the type of aquatic plants. The research adopts a four-stage field experiment conducting on the rooftop of a building in a humid subtropical climate. The results found that emergent (Roundleaf rotala), submerged (Ribbon weed), floating-leaved (Water lily) wetland green roofs had similar thermal performance, and superior over wetland green roof without plant, traditional terrestrial green roof (without plant), and pure water green roof (without plant, nighttime only) in terms of overall passive cooling (8.00C) and thermal insulation (4.50C) effects as well as a reduction in heat amplitude (77-85%) in winter in a humid subtropical climate. The thermal performance of the free-floating (Water hyacinth) wetland green roof is inferior to that of the other three types of wetland green roofs, whether in daytime or nighttime.

Keywords: thermal performance, extensive wetland green roof, Aquatic plant, Winter , Humid subtropical climate

Procedia PDF Downloads 167
3059 Appraisal of Maintenance Practices in Selected Tourist Attraction in Bauchi State, Nigeria

Authors: Eldah Ephraim Buba, Amina Bata Zoaka, Aishatu Ibrahim

Abstract:

This study appraised maintenance practices in selected tourist attractions in Bauchi state, Nigeria. Four tourist attractions were used for the research. Checklists were used to assess operations and repairs maintenance practices in the different attractions. The study carried out personal assessment thrice in six months without prior knowledge of the staff in charge for operational maintenance. Records of repairs maintenance from the attractions maintenance unit for a period of ten years were assessed using the checklists. The findings of the study show that operations maintenance was not adequately carried out in the four tourists attractions. Repairs maintenance was carried out in Yankari game reserve and safari, but repairs maintenance was poor in the other three attractions. The study therefore, recommends that adequate maintenance should be practiced in tourist attractions to expand the lifespan of the facilities and also encourage tourist patronage.

Keywords: appraisal, maintenance, practices, tourist attraction

Procedia PDF Downloads 283
3058 Safety Analysis and Accident Modeling of Transportation in Srinagar City

Authors: Adinarayana Badveeti, Mohammad Shafi Mir

Abstract:

In Srinagar city, in India, road safety is an important aspect that creates ecological balance and social well being. A road accident creates a situation that leaves behind distress, sorrow, and sufferings. Therefore identification of causes of road accidents becomes highly essential for adopting necessary preventive measures against a critical event. The damage created by road accidents to large extent is unrepairable and therefore needs attention to eradicate this continuously increasing trend of awful 'epidemic'. Road accident in India is among the highest in the world, with at least approximately 142.000 people killed each year on the road. Kashmir region is an ecologically sensitive place but lacks necessary facilities and infrastructure regarding road transportation, ultimately resulting in the critical event-road accidents creating a major problem for common people in the region. The objective of this project is to study the safety aspect of Srinagar City and also model the accidents with different aspect that causes accidents and also to suggest the possible remedies for lessening/eliminating the road accidents.

Keywords: road safety, road accident, road infrastructure, accident modeling

Procedia PDF Downloads 241
3057 Field Study for Evaluating Winter Thermal Performance of Auckland School Buildings

Authors: Bin Su

Abstract:

Auckland has a temperate climate with comfortable warm, dry summers and mild, wet winters. An Auckland school normally does not need air conditioning for cooling during the summer and only needs heating during the winter. The Auckland school building thermal design should more focus on winter thermal performance and indoor thermal comfort for energy efficiency. This field study of testing indoor and outdoor air temperatures, relative humidity and indoor surface temperatures of three classrooms with different envelopes were carried out in the Avondale College during the winter months in 2013. According to the field study data, this study is to compare and evaluate winter thermal performance and indoor thermal conditions of school buildings with different envelopes.

Keywords: building envelope, building mass effect, building thermal comfort, building thermal performance, school building

Procedia PDF Downloads 412
3056 Intelligent Cooperative Integrated System for Road Safety and Road Infrastructure Maintenance

Authors: Panagiotis Gkekas, Christos Sougles, Dionysios Kehagias, Dimitrios Tzovaras

Abstract:

This paper presents the architecture of the “Intelligent cooperative integrated system for road safety and road infrastructure maintenance towards 2020” (ODOS2020) advanced infrastructure, which implements a number of cooperative ITS applications based on Internet of Things and Infrastructure-to-Vehicle (V2I) technologies with the purpose to enhance the active road safety level of vehicles through the provision of a fully automated V2I environment. The primary objective of the ODOS2020 project is to contribute to increased road safety but also to the optimization of time for maintenance of road infrastructure. The integrated technological solution presented in this paper addresses all types of vehicles and requires minimum vehicle equipment. Thus, the ODOS2020 comprises a low-cost solution, which is one of its main benefits. The system architecture includes an integrated notification system to transmit personalized information on road, traffic, and environmental conditions, in order for the drivers to receive real-time and reliable alerts concerning upcoming critical situations. The latter include potential dangers on the road, such as obstacles or road works ahead, extreme environmental conditions, etc., but also informative messages, such as information on upcoming tolls and their charging policies. At the core of the system architecture lies an integrated sensorial network embedded in special road infrastructures (strips) that constantly collect and transmit wirelessly information about passing vehicles’ identification, type, speed, moving direction and other traffic information in combination with environmental conditions and road wear monitoring and predictive maintenance data. Data collected from sensors is transmitted by roadside infrastructure, which supports a variety of communication technologies such as ITS-G5 (IEEE-802.11p) wireless network and Internet connectivity through cellular networks (3G, LTE). All information could be forwarded to both vehicles and Traffic Management Centers (TMC) operators, either directly through the ITS-G5 network, or to smart devices with Internet connectivity, through cloud-based services. Therefore, through its functionality, the system could send personalized notifications/information/warnings and recommendations for upcoming events to both road users and TMC operators. In the course of the ODOS2020 project pilot operation has been conducted to allow drivers of both C-ITS equipped and non-equipped vehicles to experience the provided added value services. For non-equipped vehicles, the provided information is transmitted to a smartphone application. Finally, the ODOS2020 system and infrastructure is appropriate for installation on both urban, rural, and highway environments. The paper presents the various parts of the system architecture and concludes by outlining the various challenges that had to be overcome during its design, development, and deployment in a real operational environment. Acknowledgments: Work presented in this paper was co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund of the European Union and Greek national funds through the Operational Program Competitiveness, Entrepreneurship and Innovation (call RESEARCH–CREATE–INNOVATE) under contract no. Τ1EDK-03081 (project ODOS2020).

Keywords: infrastructure to vehicle, intelligent transportation systems, internet of things, road safety

Procedia PDF Downloads 98
3055 Exploring the Relationship between Building Construction Activity and Road-Related Expenditure in Victoria

Authors: Md. Aftabuzzaman, Md. Kamruzzaman

Abstract:

Road-related expenditure and building construction activity are two significant drivers of the Victorian economy. This paper investigates the relationship between building construction activity and road-related expenditure. Data for construction activities were collected from Victorian Building Authority, and road-related expenditure data were explored by the Bureau of Infrastructure and Transport Research Economics. The trend between these two sectors was compared. The analysis found a strong relationship between road-related expenditure and the volume of construction activity, i.e., the more construction activities, the greater the requirement of road-related expenditure, or vice-versa. The road-related expenditure has a two-year lag period, suggesting that the road sector requires two years to respond to the growth in the building sector.

Keywords: building construction activity, infrastructure, road expenditure, Victorian Building Authority

Procedia PDF Downloads 120
3054 Neural Network Based Approach of Software Maintenance Prediction for Laboratory Information System

Authors: Vuk M. Popovic, Dunja D. Popovic

Abstract:

Software maintenance phase is started once a software project has been developed and delivered. After that, any modification to it corresponds to maintenance. Software maintenance involves modifications to keep a software project usable in a changed or a changing environment, to correct discovered faults, and modifications, and to improve performance or maintainability. Software maintenance and management of software maintenance are recognized as two most important and most expensive processes in a life of a software product. This research is basing the prediction of maintenance, on risks and time evaluation, and using them as data sets for working with neural networks. The aim of this paper is to provide support to project maintenance managers. They will be able to pass the issues planned for the next software-service-patch to the experts, for risk and working time evaluation, and afterward to put all data to neural networks in order to get software maintenance prediction. This process will lead to the more accurate prediction of the working hours needed for the software-service-patch, which will eventually lead to better planning of budget for the software maintenance projects.

Keywords: laboratory information system, maintenance engineering, neural networks, software maintenance, software maintenance costs

Procedia PDF Downloads 337
3053 A Statistical Study on Young UAE Driver’s Behavior towards Road Safety

Authors: Sadia Afroza, Rakiba Rouf

Abstract:

Road safety and associated behaviors have received significant attention in recent years, reflecting general public concern. This paper portrays a statistical scenario of the young drivers in UAE with emphasis on various concern points of young driver’s behavior and license issuance. Although there are many factors contributing to road accidents, statistically it is evident that age plays a major role in road accidents. Despite ensuring strict road safety laws enforced by the UAE government, there is a staggering correlation among road accidents and young driver’s at UAE. However, private organizations like BMW and RoadSafetyUAE have extended its support on conducting surveys on driver’s behavior with an aim to ensure road safety. Various strategies such as road safety law enforcement, license issuance, adapting new technologies like safety cameras and raising awareness can be implemented to improve the road safety concerns among young drivers.

Keywords: driving behavior, Graduated Driver Licensing System (GLDS), road safety, UAE drivers, young drivers

Procedia PDF Downloads 247
3052 The Design of Imaginable Urban Road Landscape

Authors: Wang Zhenzhen, Wang Xu, Hong Liangping

Abstract:

With the rapid development of cities, the way that people commute has changed greatly, meanwhile, people turn to require more on physical and psychological aspects in the contemporary world. However, the current urban road landscape ignores these changes, for example, those road landscape elements are boring, confusing, fragmented and lack of integrity and hierarchy. Under such current situation, in order to shape beautiful, identifiable and unique road landscape, this article concentrates on the target of imaginability. This paper analyses the main elements of the urban road landscape, the concept of image and its generation mechanism, and then discusses the necessity and connotation of building imaginable urban road landscape as well as the main problems existing in current urban road landscape in terms of imaginability. Finally, this paper proposes how to design imaginable urban road landscape in details based on a specific case.

Keywords: identifiability, imaginability, road landscape, the image of the city

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3051 Lean Philosophy towards the Enhancement of Maintenance Programs Efficiency with Particular Attention to Libyan Oil and Gas Scenario

Authors: Sulayman Adrees Mohammed, Ahmed Faraj Abd Alsameea

Abstract:

The ongoing hindrance for Libyan oil and gas companies is the persistent challenge of eradicating maintenance program failures that result in exorbitant costs and production setbacks. Accordingly, this research is prompted to introduce the concept of lean philosophy in maintenance, which aims to eliminate waste and enhance productivity in maintenance procedures through the identification and differentiation of value-adding (VA) and non-value-adding (NVA) activities. The purpose of this paper was to explore and describe the benefits that can be gained by adopting the Lean philosophy towards the enhancement of maintenance programs' efficiency from theoretical perspectives. The oil industry maintenance community in Libya now has an introduced tool by which they can effectively evaluate their maintenance program functionality and reduce the areas of non-value added activities within maintenance, thereby enhancing the availability of the equipment and the capacity of the oil and gas facilities.

Keywords: efficiency, lean philosophy, Libyan oil and gas scenario, maintenance programs

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3050 Perception of Risk toward Traffic Violence among Road Users in Makassar, Indonesia

Authors: Sulasmi Sudirman, Rachmadanty Mujah Hartika

Abstract:

Traffic violence is currently a big issue in Indonesia. However, the road users perceived risk that is caused by traffic violence is low. The lack of safety driving awareness is one of the factors that road users committed to traffic violence. There are several lists of common traffic violence in Indonesia such as lack of physical fitness, not wearing helmet, unfasten seatbelt, breaking through the traffic light, not holding a driving license, and some more violence. This research sought to explore the perception of road users toward traffic violence. The participants were road users in Makassar, Indonesia who were using cars and motorbikes. The method of the research was a qualitative approach by using a personal interview to collect data. The research showed that there three main ideas of perceiving traffic violence which are motives, environment that supported traffic violence, and reinforcement. The road users committed traffic violence had particular motive, for example, rushing. The road users committed to traffic violence when other road users and significant other did the same. The road users committed traffic violence when the police were not there to give a ticket. It can be concluded that the perception of road users toward traffic violence determined by internal aspect, the social aspect, and regulation.

Keywords: perception, road users, traffic, violence

Procedia PDF Downloads 210
3049 Applications of Social Marketing in Road Safety of Georgia

Authors: Charita Jashi

Abstract:

The aim of the paper is to explore the role of social marketing in changing the behavior of consumers on road safety, identify critical aspects and priority needs which impede the implementation of road safety program in Georgia. Given the goals of the study, a quantitative method was used to carry out interviews for primary data collection. This research identified the awareness level of road safety, legislation base, and marketing interventions to change behavior of drivers and pedestrians. During several years the non-governmental sector together with the local authorities and media have been very intensively working on the road safety issue in Georgia, but only seat-belts campaign should be considered rather successful. Despite achievements in this field, efficiency of road safety programs far from fulfillment and needs strong empowering.

Keywords: road safety, social marketing interventions, behavior change, well-being

Procedia PDF Downloads 184
3048 Providing a Practical Model to Reduce Maintenance Costs: A Case Study in GeG Company

Authors: Iman Atighi, Jalal Soleimannejad, Reza Pourjafarabadi, Saeid Moradpour

Abstract:

In the past, we could increase profit by increasing product prices. But in the new decade, a competitive market does not let us to increase profit with increased prices. Therefore, the only way to increase profit will be to reduce costs. A significant percentage of production costs are the maintenance costs, and analysis of these costs could achieve more profit. Most maintenance strategies such as RCM (Reliability-Center-Maintenance), TPM (Total Productivity Maintenance), PM (Preventive Maintenance) and etc., are trying to reduce maintenance costs. In this paper, decreasing the maintenance costs of Concentration Plant of Golgohar Iron Ore Mining & Industrial Company (GeG) was examined by using of MTBF (Mean Time Between Failures) and MTTR (Mean Time To Repair) analyses. These analyses showed that instead of buying new machines and increasing costs in order to promote capacity, the improving of MTBF and MTTR indexes would solve capacity problems in the best way and decrease costs.

Keywords: GeG company, maintainability, maintenance costs, reliability-center-maintenance

Procedia PDF Downloads 204
3047 A Study on Establishing Criteria for Installation of Small Road Signs

Authors: Sang-KeunBaik, Kyu-Soo Chong, Joon-Yeop Na

Abstract:

This study attempts to reduce the wind load of road signs, improve roadside landscaping, and enhance the safety of road users by establishing criteria for the installation of small road signs. First, we derive the minimum font size that can be used on road signs according to the road’s design speed by considering the visibility and legibility of such road signs. We classify road junctions into eight types based on junction type (intersection, interchange, and expressway) and on the number of road lanes. Furthermore, we propose small sign alternatives, to which the minimum font size is applied, to be placed by each road junction. To verify the effects of the small signs, we implemented a 3D simulation road environment, to which the small road signs were applied, and performed experiments using the driving simulator targeting 50 drivers. The experiments compared and analyzed the effects, whether the driver proceeds to the desired exit and the average driving time, between the existing large road signs and the improved small road signs under the same road conditions and intersection type. We conducted a survey with the participants of the simulation experiment on the preference between graphical signs (large road signs) and exit-centric signs (small road signs). The results show that the participants prefer the exit-centric signs (60%) to the graphical signs (40%). We propose installation criteria for small road signs for intersections, interchanges, and expressways based on the results of the experiment and the survey.

Keywords: 3D simulation, driving simulator, legibility distance, minimum font size, small road signs

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3046 Improving the Performance of Road Salt on Anti-Icing

Authors: Mohsen Abotalebi Esfahani, Amin Rahimi

Abstract:

Maintenance and management of route and roads infrastructure is one of the most important and the most fundamental principles of the countries. Several methods have been under investigation as preventive proceedings for the maintenance of asphalt pavements for many years. Using a mixture of salt, sand and gravel is the most common method of deicing, which could have numerous harmful consequences. Icy or snow-covered road is one of the major reasons of accidents in rainy seasons, which causes substantial damages such as loss of time and energy, environmental pollution, destruction of buildings, traffic congestion and rising possibility of accidents. Regarding this, every year the government incurred enormous costs to secure traverses. In this study, asphalt pavements have been cured, in terms of compressive strength, tensile strength and resilient modulus of asphalt samples, under the influence of Magnesium Chloride, Calcium Chloride, Sodium Chloride, Urea and pure water; and showed that de-icing with the calcium chloride solution and urea have the minimum negative effect and de-icing with pure water has most negative effect on laboratory specimens. Hence some simple techniques and new equipment and less use of sand and salt, can reduce significantly the risks and harmful effects of excessive use of salt, sand and gravel and at the same time use the safer roads.

Keywords: maintenance, sodium chloride, icyroad, calcium chloride

Procedia PDF Downloads 267
3045 Aircraft Line Maintenance Equipped with Decision Support System

Authors: B. Sudarsan Baskar, S. Pooja Pragati, S. Raj Kumar

Abstract:

The cost effectiveness in aircraft maintenance is of high privilege in the recent days. The cost effectiveness can be effectively made when line maintenance activities are incorporated at airports during Turn around time (TAT). The present work outcomes the shortcomings that affect the dispatching of the aircrafts, aiming at high fleet operability and low maintenance cost. The operational and cost constraints have been discussed and a suggestive alternative mechanism is proposed. The possible allocation of all deferred maintenance tasks to a set of all deferred maintenance tasks to a set of suitable airport resources have termed as alternative and is discussed in this paper from the data’s collected from the kingfisher airlines.

Keywords: decision support system, aircraft maintenance planning, maintenance-cost, RUL(remaining useful life), logistics, supply chain management

Procedia PDF Downloads 488
3044 Providing a Practical Model to Reduce Maintenance Costs: A Case Study in Golgohar Company

Authors: Iman Atighi, Jalal Soleimannejad, Ahmad Akbarinasab, Saeid Moradpour

Abstract:

In the past, we could increase profit by increasing product prices. But in the new decade, a competitive market does not let us to increase profit with increase prices. Therefore, the only way to increase profit will be reduce costs. A significant percentage of production costs are the maintenance costs, and analysis of these costs could achieve more profit. Most maintenance strategies such as RCM (Reliability-Center-Maintenance), TPM (Total Productivity Maintenance), PM (Preventive Maintenance) etc., are trying to reduce maintenance costs. In this paper, decreasing the maintenance costs of Concentration Plant of Golgohar Company (GEG) was examined by using of MTBF (Mean Time between Failures) and MTTR (Mean Time to Repair) analyses. These analyses showed that instead of buying new machines and increasing costs in order to promote capacity, the improving of MTBF and MTTR indexes would solve capacity problems in the best way and decrease costs.

Keywords: Golgohar Iron Ore Mining and Industrial Company, maintainability, maintenance costs, reliability-center-maintenance

Procedia PDF Downloads 285
3043 Assessment of Vehicular Accidents and Possible Mitigation Measures: A Case of Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India

Authors: K. Omkar, D. Nayan

Abstract:

Rapid urbanization is one of the consequences of rapid population explosion, which has also led to massive increase in number of motorized vehicles essential for carrying out all activities needed for sustaining urban livelihood. With this increased use of motorized vehicles over the time there has also been an increase in number of accidents. Study of road network and geometric features are essential to tackle problems of road accidents in any district or town. The increase in road accidents is one of the burning issues in the present society. Records show that there is one death at every 3.7 minutes because of road accident. It has been found from the research that, accidents occur due to, mistakes of the driver (86%) followed by bad street condition (5%), mistake of pedestrian (4%), as well as technical and maintenance defects (1%). Here, case study of Ahmedabad, Gujarat is taken up where first road safety level is assessed considering various parameters. The study confined to accident characteristics of all types of vehicles. For deeper analysis, road safety index for various stretches in Ahmedabad was found out. Crash rate for same stretches was found out. Based on various parameters priority was decided so that which stretch should be look out first to minimize road accidents on that stretch and which stretch should look out last. The major findings of the study are that accident severity of Ahmedabad has increased, but accident fatality risk has decreased; thus there is need to undertake some traffic engineering measures or make some traffic rules that are strictly followed by traffic. From the above study and literature studied it is found that Ahmedabad is suffering from similar problem of accidents and injuries and deaths caused by them, after properly investigating the issue short-term and long-term solutions to minimize road accidents have been presented in this paper.

Keywords: accident severity index, accident fatality rate, accident fatality risk, accident risk, road safety index

Procedia PDF Downloads 131
3042 Strategic Maintenance Management of Built Facilities in an Organisation

Authors: Anita D. Adamu, Winston M. W. Shakantu

Abstract:

Maintenance management is no longer a stand-alone activity. It has now assumed a strategic position in many organisations that have recognised its importance in achieving primary goals and a key aspect of effective management of facilities. This paper aims at providing an understanding of the role and function of strategic management in creating and sustaining an effective maintenance management system in an organisation. The background provides an articulated concept and principles of strategic management. The theoretical concepts paved way for a conceptual framework for which strategic management can be integrated into the maintenance management system of an organisation to improve effectiveness in the maintenance of facilities.

Keywords: facilities, maintenance management, organisations, strategic management

Procedia PDF Downloads 385
3041 Sustainable Maintenance Model for Infrastructure in Egypt

Authors: S. Hasan, I. Beshara

Abstract:

Infrastructure maintenance is a great challenge facing sustainable development of infrastructure assets due to the high cost of passive implementation of a sustainable maintenance plan. An assessment model of sustainable maintenance for highway infrastructure projects in Egypt is developed in this paper. It helps in improving the implementation of sustainable maintenance criteria. Thus, this paper has applied the analytical hierarchy processes (AHP) to rank and explore the weight of 26 assessment indicators using three hierarchy levels containing the main sustainable categories and subcategories with related indicators. Overall combined weight of each indicator for sustainable maintenance evaluation has been calculated to sum up to a sustainable maintenance performance index (SMI). The results show that the factor "Preventive maintenance cost" has the highest relative contribution factor among others (13.5%), while two factors of environmental performance have the least weights (0.7%). The developed model aims to provide decision makers with information about current maintenance performance and support them in the decision-making process regarding future directions of maintenance activities. It can be used as an assessment performance tool during the operation and maintenance stage. The developed indicators can be considered during designing the maintenance plan. Practices for successful implementation of the model are also presented.

Keywords: analytical hierarchy process, assessment performance Model, KPIs for sustainable maintenance, sustainable maintenance index

Procedia PDF Downloads 123
3040 Reliability-Centered Maintenance Application for the Development of Maintenance Strategy for a Cement Plant

Authors: Nabil Hameed Al-Farsi

Abstract:

This study’s main goal is to develop a model and a maintenance strategy for a cement factory called Arabian Cement Company, Rabigh Plant. The proposed work here depends on Reliability centric maintenance approach to develop a strategy and maintenance schedule that ensures increasing the reliability of the production system components, thus ensuring continuous productivity. The cost-effective maintenance of the plant’s dependability performance is the key goal of durability-based maintenance is. The cement plant consists of 7 important steps, so, developing a maintenance plan based on Reliability centric maintenance (RCM) method is made up of 10 steps accordingly starting from selecting units and data until performing and updating the model. The processing unit chosen for the analysis of this case is the calcinatory unit regarding model’s validation and the Travancore Titanium Products Ltd (TTP) using the claimed data history acquired from the maintenance department maintenance from the mentioned company. After applying the proposed model, the results of the maintenance simulation justified the plant's existing scheduled maintenance policy being reconsidered. Results represent the need for preventive maintenance for all Class A criticality equipment instead of the planned maintenance and the breakdown one for all other equipment depends on its criticality and an FMEA report. Consequently, the additional cost of preventive maintenance would be offset by the cost savings from breakdown maintenance for the remaining equipment.

Keywords: engineering, reliability, strategy, maintenance, failure modes, effects and criticality analysis (FMEA)

Procedia PDF Downloads 155
3039 Design of New Sustainable Pavement Concrete: An Experimental Road

Authors: Manuel Rosales, Francisco Agrela, Julia Rosales

Abstract:

The development of concrete pavements that include recycled waste with active and predictive safety features is a possible approach to mitigate the harmful impacts of the construction industry, such as CO2 emissions and the consumption of energy and natural resources during the construction and maintenance of road infrastructure. This study establishes the basis for formulating new smart materials for concrete pavements and carrying out the in-situ implementation of an experimental road section. To this end, a comprehensive recycled pavement solution is developed that combines eco-hybrid cement made with 25% mixed recycled aggregate powder (pMRA) and biomass bottom ash powder (pBBA) and a 30% substitution of natural aggregate by MRA and BBA. This work is grouped in three lines. 1) construction materials with high rates of use of recycled material, 2) production processes with efficient consumption of natural resources and use of cleaner energies, and 3) implementation and monitoring of road section with sustainable concrete made from waste. The objective of this study is to ensure satisfactory rheology, mechanical strength, durability, and CO2 capture of pavement concrete manufactured from waste and its subsequent application in real road section as well as its monitoring to establish the optimal range of recycled material. The concrete developed during this study are aimed at the reuse of waste, promoting the circular economy. For this purpose, and after having carried out different tests in the laboratory, three mixtures were established to be applied on the experimental road.

Keywords: biomass bottom ash, construction and demolition waste, recycled concrete pavements, full-scale experimental road, monitoring

Procedia PDF Downloads 55
3038 Bayesian Networks Scoping the Climate Change Impact on Winter Wheat Freezing Injury Disasters in Hebei Province, China

Authors: Xiping Wang,Shuran Yao, Liqin Dai

Abstract:

Many studies report the winter is getting warmer and the minimum air temperature is obviously rising as the important climate warming evidences. The exacerbated air temperature fluctuation tending to bring more severe weather variation is another important consequence of recent climate change which induced more disasters to crop growth in quite a certain regions. Hebei Province is an important winter wheat growing province in North of China that recently endures more winter freezing injury influencing the local winter wheat crop management. A winter wheat freezing injury assessment Bayesian Network framework was established for the objectives of estimating, assessing and predicting winter wheat freezing disasters in Hebei Province. In this framework, the freezing disasters was classified as three severity degrees (SI) among all the three types of freezing, i.e., freezing caused by severe cold in anytime in the winter, long extremely cold duration in the winter and freeze-after-thaw in early season after winter. The factors influencing winter wheat freezing SI include time of freezing occurrence, growth status of seedlings, soil moisture, winter wheat variety, the longitude of target region and, the most variable climate factors. The climate factors included in this framework are daily mean and range of air temperature, extreme minimum temperature and number of days during a severe cold weather process, the number of days with the temperature lower than the critical temperature values, accumulated negative temperature in a potential freezing event. The Bayesian Network model was evaluated using actual weather data and crop records at selected sites in Hebei Province using real data. With the multi-stage influences from the various factors, the forecast and assessment of the event-based target variables, freezing injury occurrence and its damage to winter wheat production, were shown better scoped by Bayesian Network model.

Keywords: bayesian networks, climatic change, freezing Injury, winter wheat

Procedia PDF Downloads 394
3037 An Accidental Forecasting Modelling for Various Median Roads

Authors: Pruethipong Xinghatiraj, Rajwanlop Kumpoopong

Abstract:

Considering the current situation of road safety, Thailand has the world’s second-highest road fatality rate. Therefore, decreasing the road accidents in Thailand is a prime policy of the Thai government seeking to accomplish. One of the approaches to reduce the accident rate is to improve road environments to fit with the local behavior of the road users. The Department of Highways ensures that choosing the road median types right to the road characteristics, e.g. roadside characteristics, traffic volume, truck traffic percentage, etc., can decrease the possibility of accident occurrence. Presently, raised median, depressed median, painted median and median barriers are typically used in Thailand Highways. In this study, factors affecting road accident for each median type will be discovered through the analysis of the collecting of accident data, death numbers on sample of 600 Kilometers length across the country together with its roadside characteristics, traffic volume, heavy vehicles percentage, and other key factors. The benefits of this study can assist the Highway designers to select type of road medians that can match local environments and then cause less accident prone.

Keywords: highways, road safety, road median, forecasting model

Procedia PDF Downloads 253