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Article
Publication date: 4 November 2014

Hubo Cai, Asadur Rahman, Xing Su and Hongtao Zhang

The purpose of this study is to create a framework that integrates GIS and microscopic simulation to optimize the placement of road barriers in emergency evacuation and assess the…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to create a framework that integrates GIS and microscopic simulation to optimize the placement of road barriers in emergency evacuation and assess the effectiveness via simulation. Human populations are at risk from many hazards including man-made and natural disasters, sudden events that are difficult to predict and prevent, but have catastrophic consequences. A critical issue in disaster management is timely evacuation that considers the dynamic traffic demand and congestions under dynamic hazard conditions. University campuses face a unique challenge in developing effective emergency evacuation plans due to their complex site configurations, high-dense buildings and dynamic spatial-temporal distribution of population.

Design/methodology/approach

The framework was implemented and tested on the main campus of the Western Michigan University to optimize the placement and configuration of road barriers to achieve an effective utilization of road network when the demand way exceeds the capacity. The resulting system was also used to test the effectiveness of the phased evacuation notification strategy, both with and without the optimal road barrier strategy.

Findings

It concluded that the newly created framework and its implementation could assist emergency evacuation planning for university campuses. It also concluded that placing road barriers at appropriate locations could reduce the evacuation time by 20 per cent or more under a variety of evacuation scenarios.

Originality/value

The originality of this research lies in three aspects of: a university campus context, the integration of GIS and microscopic simulation in emergency evacuation and the simulation based turn restriction strategy.

Details

International Journal of Disaster Resilience in the Built Environment, vol. 5 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1759-5908

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 12 December 2017

Miguel Torres-Ruiz, Marco Moreno-Ibarra, Wadee Alhalabi, Rolando Quintero and Giovanni Guzmán

Up-to-date, the simulation of pedestrian behavior is used to support the design and analysis of urban infrastructure and public facilities. The purpose of this paper is to present…

Abstract

Purpose

Up-to-date, the simulation of pedestrian behavior is used to support the design and analysis of urban infrastructure and public facilities. The purpose of this paper is to present a microscopic model that describes pedestrian behavior in a two-dimensional space. It is based on multi-agent systems and cellular automata theory. The concept of layered-intelligent terrain from the video game industry is reused and concepts such as tracing, evasion and rejection effects related to pedestrian interactive behavior are involved. In a simulation scenario, an agent represents a pedestrian with homogeneous physical characteristics such as walking speed and height. The agents are moved through a discrete space formed by a lattice of hexagonal cells, where each one can contain up to one agent at the same time. The model was validated by using a test that is composed of 17 real data sets of pedestrian unidirectional flow. Each data set has been extracted from laboratory-controlled scenarios carried out with up to 400 people walking through a corridor whose configuration changed in form of the amplitude of its entrance doors and the amplitude of its exit doors from one experiment to another. Moreover, each data set contained different groups of coordinates that compose pedestrian trajectories. The scenarios were replicated and simulated using the proposed model, obtaining 17 simulated data sets. In addition, a measurement methodology based on Voronoi diagrams was used to compute the velocity, density and specific flow of pedestrians to build a time-series graphic and a set of heat maps for each of the real and simulated data sets.

Design methodology/approach

The approach consists of a multi-agent system and cellular automata theory. The obtained results were compared with other studies and a statistical analysis based on similarity measurement is presented.

Findings

A microscopic mobility model that describes pedestrian behavior in a two-dimensional space is presented. It is based on multi-agent systems and cellular automata theory. The concept of layered-intelligent terrain from the video game industry is reused and concepts such as tracing, evasion and rejection effects related to pedestrian interactive behavior are involved. On average, the simulated data sets are similar by 82 per cent in density and 62 per cent in velocity compared to the real data sets. It was observed that the relation between velocity and density from real scenarios could not be replicated.

Research limitations/implications

The main limitations are presented in the speed simulations. Although the obtained results present a similar behavior to the reality, it is necessary to introduce more variables in the model to improve the precision and calibration. Other limitation is the dimension for simulating variables at this moment 2D is presented. So the resolution of cells, making that pedestrian to occupy many cells at the same time and the addition of three dimensions to the terrain will be a good challenge.

Practical implications

In total, 17 data sets were generated as a case study. They contain information related to speed, trajectories, initial and ending points. The data sets were used to calibrate the model and analyze the behavior of pedestrians. Geospatial data were used to simulate the public infrastructure in which pedestrians navigate, taking into account the initial and ending points.

Social implications

The social impact is directly related to the behavior analysis of pedestrians to know tendencies, trajectories and other features that aid to improve the public facilities. The results could be used to generate policies oriented toward developing more consciousness in the public infrastructure development.

Originality/value

The general methodology is the main value of this work. Many approaches were used, designed and implemented for analyzing the pedestrians’ behavior. In addition, all the methods were implemented in plug-in for Quantum GIS. The analysis was described with heat maps and statistical approaches. In addition, the obtained results are focused on analyzing the density, speed and the relationship between these features.

Details

Journal of Science and Technology Policy Management, vol. 9 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2053-4620

Keywords

Abstract

Details

Pedestrian Behavior
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-848-55750-5

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 11 October 2018

SungKwan Ku, Hojong Baik and Taehyoung Kim

The surveillance equipment is one of the most important parts for current air traffic control systems. It provides aircraft position and other relevant information including…

1016

Abstract

Purpose

The surveillance equipment is one of the most important parts for current air traffic control systems. It provides aircraft position and other relevant information including flight parameters. However, the existing surveillance equipment has certain position errors between true and detected positions. Operators must understand and account for the characteristics on magnitude and frequency of the position errors in the surveillance systems because these errors can influence the safety of aircraft operation. This study aims to develop the simulation model for analysis of these surveillance position errors to improve the safety of aircrafts in airports.

Design/methodology/approach

This study investigates the characterization of the position errors observed in airport surface detection equipment of an airport ground surveillance system and proposes a practical method to numerically reproduce the characteristics of the errors.

Findings

The proposed approach represents position errors more accurately than an alternative simple approach. This study also discusses the application of the computational results in a microscopic simulation modeling environment.

Practical implications

The surveillance error is analyzed from the radar trajectory data, and a random generator is configured to implement these data. These data are used in the air transportation simulation through an application programing interface, which can be applied to the aircraft trajectory data in the simulation. Subsequently, additionally built environment data are used in the actual simulation to obtain the results from the simulation engine.

Originality/value

The presented surveillance error analysis and simulation with its implementation plan are expected to be useful for air transportation safety simulations.

Details

Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, vol. 90 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1748-8842

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 April 2002

R. Durairaj, G.J. Jackson, N.N. Ekere, G. Glinski and C. Bailey

Soldering technologies continue to evolve to meet the demands of the continuous miniaturisation of electronic products, particularly in the area of solder paste formulations used…

1202

Abstract

Soldering technologies continue to evolve to meet the demands of the continuous miniaturisation of electronic products, particularly in the area of solder paste formulations used in the reflow soldering of surface mount devices. Stencil printing continues to be a leading process used for the deposition of solder paste onto printed circuit boards (PCBs) in the volume production of electronic assemblies, despite problems in achieving a consistent print quality at an ultra‐fine pitch. In order to eliminate these defects a good understanding of the processes involved in printing is important. Computational simulations may complement experimental print trials and paste characterisation studies, and provide an extra dimension to the understanding of the process. The characteristics and flow properties of solder pastes depend primarily on their chemical and physical composition and good material property data is essential for meaningful results to be obtained by computational simulation.This paper describes paste characterisation and computational simulation studies that have been undertaken through the collaboration of the School of Aeronautical, Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering at Salford University and the Centre for Numerical Modelling and Process Analysis at the University of Greenwich. The rheological profile of two different paste formulations (lead and lead‐free) for sub 100 micron flip‐chip devices are tested and applied to computational simulations of their flow behaviour during the printing process.

Details

Soldering & Surface Mount Technology, vol. 14 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0954-0911

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 30 November 2021

Fei Tong, Jie Yang, Meng Qiang Duan, Xu Fei Ma and Gao Chao Li

The purpose of this article is to understand the current research status and future development trends in the field of numerical simulation on rock mass grouting.

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this article is to understand the current research status and future development trends in the field of numerical simulation on rock mass grouting.

Design/methodology/approach

This article first searched the literature database (EI, Web of Science, CNKI, etc.) for keywords related to the numerical simulation of rock mass grouting to obtain the initial literature database. Then, from the initial database, several documents with strong relevance to the numerical simulation theme of rock mass grouting and high citation rate were selected; some documents from the references were selected as supplements, forming the sample database of this review study (a total of 90 articles). Finally, through sorting out the relationship among the literature, this literature review was carried out.

Findings

The numerical simulation of rock mass grouting is mainly based on the porous media model and the fractured media model. It has experienced the development process from Newtonian fluid to non-Newtonian fluid, from time-invariant viscosity to time-varying viscosity, and from generalized theoretical model to engineering application model. Based on this, this article summarizes four scientific problems that need to be solved in the future in this research field: the law of grout distribution at the cross fissures, the grout diffusion mechanism under multi-field coupling, more accurate grouting theoretical model and simulation technology with strong engineering applicability.

Originality/value

This research systematically analyzes the current research status and shortcomings of numerical simulation on rock mass grouting, summarizes four key issues in the future development of this research field and provides new ideas for the future research on numerical simulation on rock mass grouting.

Details

Engineering Computations, vol. 39 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0264-4401

Keywords

Abstract

Details

Transport Science and Technology
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-0-08-044707-0

Article
Publication date: 7 June 2019

Yingchun Zhang, Nesrin Ozalp and Gongnan Xie

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the unsteady flow past through a permeable diamond-shaped cylinder and to study the effects of the aspect ratios and Darcy numbers of…

195

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the unsteady flow past through a permeable diamond-shaped cylinder and to study the effects of the aspect ratios and Darcy numbers of the cylinder.

Design/methodology/approach

The lattice Boltzmann method with D2Q9 lattice model was used to simulate the unsteady flow through permeable diamond-shaped cylinders. The present numerical method is validated against the available data.

Findings

The key findings are that increasing the permeability enhances the suppression of vortex shedding, and that the Strouhal number is directly proportion to the Darcy number, Reynolds number and the aspect ratio of the porous cylinder.

Originality/value

The present study considers unsteady laminar flow past through single permeable diamond-shaped cylinder. According to the authors’ knowledge, very few studies have been found in this field. The present findings are novel and original, which in turn can attract wide attention and citations.

Details

International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat & Fluid Flow, vol. 29 no. 9
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0961-5539

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 July 2006

Chongbin Zhao, T. Nishiyama and A. Murakami

The main purpose of this paper is to present and use the particle simulation method to explicitly simulate the spontaneous crack initiation phenomenon in brittle materials, and to…

Abstract

Purpose

The main purpose of this paper is to present and use the particle simulation method to explicitly simulate the spontaneous crack initiation phenomenon in brittle materials, and to compare the particle simulation results with experimental ones on the laboratory scale.

Design/methodology/approach

Using the particle simulation method, the brittle material is simulated as an assembly of particles so that the microscopic mechanism of inter‐ and intra‐particle crack initiation can be straightforwardly considered on the microscopic scale. A laboratory test has been conducted using a gypsum sample model to validate the particle simulation method for explicitly simulating the spontaneous crack initiation phenomenon.

Findings

The paper finds that in terms of simulating the macroscopic sliding surface along or around the contact plane between a block and its foundation, both the laboratory test and the particle simulation have produced consistent results. This indicated that the particle simulation method is capable of simulating macroscopic cracks through simulating conglomerations and accumulations of microscopic crack initiation within the brittle material. Compared with other numerical methods, the particle simulation method is more suitable for explicitly and effectively simulating spontaneous crack initiation problems on the microscopic scale in brittle materials.

Originality/value

The particle simulation method can be used to explicitly and effectively simulate the spontaneous crack initiation on the microscopic scale in brittle materials. It can be also used to simulate the macroscopic sliding surface along or around the contact plane between a block and its foundation. The experimental results of simulating the spontaneous crack initiation on the laboratory scale in brittle materials are very valuable for validating the numerical simulation results obtained not only from the particle simulation method, but also from other numerical simulation methods.

Details

Engineering Computations, vol. 23 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0264-4401

Keywords

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