Determining infrastructure requirements for an air taxi service at Cologne Bonn Airport

The worldwide increasing population density in major urban centres poses great challenges for transportation systems. Air taxi services could be a solution to this growing problem by bringing the existing transportation system to the three dimensional space. This paper analyzes the challenges and requirements of developing a vertiport intended for the use of air taxis at Cologne Bonn Airport. This research was conducted with the information available at the time of writing, for which a basis scenario is defined for the Cologne Bonn Airport where important aspects of an air taxi service are determined such as passenger demand and possible vehicles. The main aspects analysed were the requirements on the vertiport infrastructure and its location, as well as the requirements on passenger processing. For the defined basis scenario, results show that the preferential locations to develop a vertiport at Cologne Bonn Airport are the roof top levels of parking garages P2 and P3. Furthermore, it is shown that given the estimated passenger demand, a very high utilization factor of the defined infrastructure is to be expected. This paper provides a starting point for the development of an air taxi service at Cologne Bonn Airport. Further research is needed in key issues such as the financial aspects of an air taxi service, its integration into the current operating scenario of the Cologne Bonn Airport and the approval process for an air taxi service and the vertiport itself.

Experimental Investigation of Top Mix Permeable Concrete on Pedestrian Pathway

Our towns are increasingly protected by buildings and water paved pavements. Moreover, the city's climate is far from normal. Rainwater is not filtered underground due to the absence of the permeability of the common concrete pavement to water and air permeability. In addition, the exchange of heat and humidity with air is difficult for the soil, and it's not possible to change the temperature and relative humidity of the Earth's surface in urban areas. At the same time, the safety from both car and foot passenger traffic is limited by a plash on the road on a rainy day. Since the 1980s, work on permeable asphalt pavements has started in developed countries like the US and Japan. For roadway applications, permeable concrete is also widely used as a surface course in Europe and Japan Improving skid resistance and reducing noise from traffic. Only about 20 – 30 MPa can the material reach's compressive intensity. Due to their low strength, such materials cannot be used as pavement. Only frames, walking routes, parking garages, and park trails can be used with permeable concrete. Utilizing specified analyses, small materials, admixtures, organic intensifiers and changing the ratio, strength and abrasion resistance of the concrete mix, the porous concrete may be greatly enhanced.

Numerical Simulation of Hydrogen Leakage from Fuel Cell Vehicle in an Outdoor Parking Garage

It is significant to assess the hydrogen safety of fuel cell vehicles (FCVs) in parking garages with a rapidly increased number of FCVs. In the present work, a Flame Acceleration Simulator (FLACS), a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) module using finite element calculation, was utilized to predict the dispersion process of flammable hydrogen clouds, which was performed by hydrogen leakage from a fuel cell vehicle in an outdoor parking garage. The effect of leakage diameter (2 mm, 3 mm, and 4 mm) and parking configurations (vertical and parallel parking) on the formation of flammable clouds with a range of 4–75% by volume was considered. The emission was assumed to be directed downwards from a Thermally Activated Pressure Relief Device (TPRD) of a 70 MPa storage tank. The results show that the 0.7 m parking space stipulated by the current regulations is less than the safety space of fuel cell vehicles. Compared with a vertical parking configuration, it is safer to park FCVs in parallel. It was also shown that release through a large TPRD orifice should be avoided, as the proportion of the larger hydrogen concentration in the whole flammable domain is prone to more accidental severe consequences, such as overpressure.

Automotive Safety Rolling Barrier

The government is always looking at the latest technology that can ensure safety of road users, as outlined in the construction industry transformation plan. A small Korean manufacturing company invented a new concept longitudinal barrier, (The Rolling Barrier) which had continuous pipes covered with urethane rings. This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of the “Rolling Barrier” and to understand the Rolling Barrier’s characteristics of crash cushioning, how to correct the vehicles running direction and the required strength of barriers. They convert that impact energy into rotational energy to propel the vehicle forward rather than potentially breaking through an immovable barrier. When a car hits the barrier, the rotating barrel converts shock from the vehicle to rotational energy. Upper and lower frames adjust tires of large and small vehicles to prevent the steering system from a functional loss. The Rolling Barrier can be effectively used in curved roads sections, ramps, medians and entrance or exit ramps in parking garages. In this paper, the description and studies of Rolling Barriers are elaborated. In 2015, there were 63,805 traffic accidents over on the Maharashtra, India, with 54.2 % composed of vehicles that crashed into longitudinal barriers. Such accidents can be drastically reduced if more safe barriers are installed for traffic safety. A small Korean manufacturing company invented a new concept longitudinal barrier, the Rolling Barrier (RB), which has continuous pipes covered with urethane rings. This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of the RB & to understand the RB’s characteristics of crash cushioning, how to correct the vehicle’s running direction & the required strength of barriers. Experiments with barriers performance & crashing vehicle behavior at curved sections using a 1.3-ton passenger car & a 3.5-ton truck showed satisfactory vehicle behavior as they ran parallel with the RB after crashing. The structural problem of the RB wasn’t found during the time of the crash. In the strength performance test using the 8-ton truck & in the passenger protection test using the 1.3-ton passenger car, the RB satisfied the Ministry of Construction & Transportation’s “ Guidelines for Installation & Management of Road Safety Facilities.” The differences between the RB & conventional barriers where crash cushioning & required strength of barriers were involved were verified by mathematical equations. The RB can be effectively used in curved road sections, ramps, medians & entrance/exit ramps in parking garages. Keywords: -accidents, longitudinal barrier, rolling barrier, traffic barrier, vehicle, collision

RSM-Based Optimization of the Parameters Affecting TiO2-Mediated UV Photocatalysis of Vehicular Emissions in Enclosed Parking Garages

In the preceding times, the number of enclosed parking garages has increased significantly in developing nations. The toxic emissions from vehicular exhausts are expected to drastically compromise the environmental conditions of the parking garages. Subsequently, exposure of humans to these accumulated pollutants is also expected to degrade their health. Therefore, in the present investigation, efforts were made to estimate the applicability of TiO2-mediated UV photocatalysis in degrading the concentration of vehicular emissions, viz., NOx and SO2, in the enclosed parking garages (EPGs). In this regard, an artificial EPGs’ environment was created and experiments were designed using the Box-Behnken design in combination with response surface methodology. The process parameters chosen for maximizing the degradation of the pollutants were a concentration of TiO2 emulsion (20 to 120 ml/m2), UV irradiance (1 to 5 mW/cm2), and relative humidity (10 to 50%). Optimization of the laboratory experiments revealed that at optimal conditions of the process parameters, i.e., a concentration of TiO2 emulsion = 77.50 ml / m 2 , intensity of UV irradiance = 3 mW / c m 2 , and relative humidity = 43.2 % , maximum degradation of the NOx and SO2, i.e., 61.24% and 55.05%, respectively, was achieved. Further, it was revealed that relative humidity may prove to be the limiting factor while using the TiO2-mediated UV photocatalysis in humid areas. Findings of this study may prove beneficial in urban planning as it may assist scientific auditory and local authorities in identifying the applicability of TiO2-based photocatalysis in mitigating the impacts of vehicular emissions.

Parking Volume Forecast of Railway Station Garages Based on Passenger Behaviour Analysis Using the LSTM Network

Parking volume forecast is an indispensable part of the parking guidance and information system (PGIS), which is an important component of the intelligent transportation system (ITS). The parking volume forecast of railway stations’ garages will provide information support for garages’ management and will also be a great convenience for car passengers. Parking garages of railway stations serve passengers to arrive or depart stations by car, and their arrival or departure behaviours definitely affect parking volumes. The study results showed that different parking behaviours have different characteristics of the parking duration category. Therefore, passenger behaviour analysis based on parking duration category analysis and time series similarity measures was introduced into the forecast model in this research. Also, a novel parking volume forecast model based on the long short-term memory (LSTM) is proposed. In this paper, the parking volume data of public parking garages of Hongqiao Railway Station in Shanghai of China is used to verify the model, and the proposed model makes it possible for the accurate and real-time prediction of parking volumes which are divided into different parking duration categories. Compared with the ungrouped data model and the conventional forecast model, the proposed parking volume forecast model based on passenger behaviours with the LSTM network achieves a better performance and provides more accurate prediction.