Title: Optimization models for the planning of transport and transit infrastructure
Prof Zhiyuan (Terry) Liu, Southeast University, Nanjing, China
Abstract:
Transportation Planning is an important component of urban planning. Optimal planning of transport system infrastructures involves in-depth analysis of each stakeholder, i.e., commuters, planners and operators. This talk first reviews about the models used for the performance assessment of a given transport system/network plan, and then presents about the bi-level models used for road network planning, followed by an innovative three-level model proposed for the transit system planning. Optimal algorithms for solving these models are also elaborated.
Dr Zhiyuan (Terry) Liu currently a Professor in the School of Transportation at Southeast University, Nanjing China. He is the awardee of the 1000 Talent Program (Youth Program) and the Innovation & Entrepreneurship Talent Program of Jiangsu Province. He received his PhD degree from National University of Singapore (NUS). From 2012 to 2015, he was a lecturer in Monash University Australia. His research interests include Transportation Network Modelling, Transportation Data Analysis, Public Transport, Intelligent Transport Systems. In these areas, he has published more than sixty SCI/SSCI papers. He is an associate editor of IET Intelligent Transport System and also serves the
editorial board of two international journals, International Journal of Transportation; Journal of Transport and Land Use. In 2015, as the team leader, he has established the Southeast University Transport Big Data and Distributed Computing Platform.
Title: Modelling city logistics: opportunities and challenges
A/Prof Russel Thompson, The University of Melbourne
Abstract:
Determining efficient routes for couriers in central city areas is becoming more challenging due to growing levels of congestion. New technologies allow on-street loading zones to be booked to reduce waiting times and circulation. Couriers when planning deliveries need to consider both driving and walking routes to optimise their activities. A bi-level optimisation model has been developed for determining the best routes for minimising operating and environmental costs. A genetic algorithm is proposed to find (near-) optimal solutions. The output can provide guidance for couriers as well as planners who are involved in determining duration limits at loading zones.
Dr Russel Thompson is an Associate Professor in Transport Engineering in the School of Infrastructure Engineering at the University of Melbourne in Australia. His research areas are urban freight, resilient transport systems and intelligent transport systems. He has over 15 years of experience in urban freight research. He is currently involved in a number of projects involving autonomous freight vehicles. A/Prof Thompson leads the Transport research program in the Centre of Disaster Management and Public Safety (CDMPS) and coordinates projects relating to the disruption and recovery of traffic networks, traffic guidance systems and humanitarian logistics.
Title: A new signal control model for dynamic traffic assignment applications
Prof Hai Vu, Monash University
Abstract:
In this talk I will discuss a new signal control model in an optimal dynamic traffic assignment (DTA) framework to study the optimal signal settings and route choices, taking into account the transition between signal phases. The DTA framework together with the proposed signal control model enables us to study the interaction between the dynamic route choices and signal settings (i.e., phases and green time) while minimizing the total system cost. Via a numerical example, we show the impact of the dynamic traffic demand on the phase ordering and routing, and the interdependency between them.
Dr Hai Vu is a Professor and Australian Research Council (ARC) Future Fellow in the area of Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS). He recently joined Monash University to lead the ITS research. Prior to that, he spent 5 years at the University of Melbourne and 11 years at Swinburne University of Technology where he has had established and led the Intelligent Transport Systems Lab in a joint partnership with VicRoads and over 16 years rich experience as an academic and researcher.
Title: Modeling vehicular traffic and traffic disruption
Dr Joyce Zhang, The University of Melbourne
Abstract:
This talk will discuss the impact of two types of site-wise disruptions: traffic incidents and traffic signals, on road networks. Both the stationary and transient behaviours are studied. For the traffic incidents, the transient behaviour during the disruption and the recovery process is modelled using domain wall theory, and the predictions are then compared with simulations of a stochastic cellular automaton model. The domain wall model can reproduce the time evolution of flow and density for both one-dimensional systems and two-dimensional networks. As for the traffic signals, using the domain wall theory and the hydrodynamic model can predict the time evolution of traffic on a single link with traffic light boundaries for both long- and short-term scales.
Dr Joyce Zhang received his PhD in School of Mechanic Engineering from the University of Melbourne, and is now a lecturer in the School of Mathematics and Statistics. Her research is inherently multidisciplinary, and focuses on applying objects from mathematical physics and applied mathematics, particularly cellular automata, to transport. Her research interests also include traffic flow theory, agent-based simulations of multimodal traffic networks, transit vehicle scheduling and urban freight research.
Prof Liu will give a second talk in the afternoon.
Title: Willingness to board: A novel concept for modeling queuing up passengers
Abstract:
This talk presents an innovative concept, termed as queuing passengers’ willingness to board (WTB) the transit vehicles. In the peak hours, some queuing passengers cannot board a crowded bus/train, but when the same vehicle arrives at the next stop, some other passengers could still get on. This phenomenon reflects that passengers at different queuing locations have heterogeneous level of ambitions to board. A methodological framework is proposed for the quantitative investigation of WTB. First, a general model is proposed, together with a new least square method (LSM) for the calibration. Then, a parametric model is developed, which is also calibrated by the LSM. To refine the calibration method and deal with the biasness of survey data, a weighted least square method is further developed. Based on real survey data, the calibration results clearly support the existence of
WTB, which can be used to estimate the capacity of transit vehicles. This talk also sheds some lights on the practical applications of the quantitative WTB.