The discomfort caused by the noise and vibration in cars is investigated in this thesis to improve understanding of how subjective judgements of noise and vibration affect each other, how the relative discomfort of noise and vibration depend on their magnitudes and their durations, and how the total discomfort caused by simultaneous noise and vibration can be predicted. Two experiments were designed to determine the magnitude-dependence of the relative discomfort caused by noise and vertical whole-body vibration. Subjects were presented with various combinations of different levels of noise and different magnitudes of vibration, and rated the discomfort caused by noise relative to the discomfort caused by vibration, and also vibration discomfort relative to noise discomfort. The subjective equivalence between noise and vibration was highly dependent on whether noise was judged relative to the vibration or vibration was judged relative to the noise. When judging noise, higher magnitude vibrations appeared to mask the discomfort caused by low levels of noise. When judging vibration, higher level noises appeared to mask the discomfort caused by low magnitudes of vibration. The duration-dependence of the relative discomfort of noise and vibration was then investigated. Subjects were presented with 49 combinations of seven levels of noise and seven magnitudes of vertical whole-body vibration, and with five durations (2, 4, 8, 16, and 32 s). Either the discomfort caused by noise relative to the discomfort caused by vibration, or vibration discomfort relative to noise discomfort were rated in two sessions. The findings indicate that noise discomfort and vibration discomfort have a similar dependence on duration. The slopes expressing the levels of noise (sound pressure level or sound exposure level) judged equivalent to the levels of vibration (logarithms of the r.m.s. acceleration or vibration dose value) increased with increasing duration when judging noise relative to vibration, but were independent of duration when judging vibration relative to noise. As the durations increased from 2 to 32 s, the masking effect of vibration on noise discomfort decreased, whereas the masking effect of noise on vibration discomfort did not change. Finally the noise discomfort in the presence of vibration, vibration discomfort in the presence noise, and the combined discomfort of simultaneous noise and vibration were investigated by employing the method of absolute magnitude estimation. Subjects judged noise discomfort, vibration discomfort, and their total discomfort in different sessions. The results suggest that, within the range of stimuli magnitudes investigated, the discomfort caused by vibration was reduced by noise whereas the judgement of noise discomfort was not significantly influenced by vibration. The total discomfort caused by simultaneous noise and vibration was well predicted by ψc = [(ψv)2+ (ψs)2]0.5, where ψv, ψs, and ψc, represent vibration discomfort, noise discomfort, and their total discomfort, respectively. In conclusion, the relative discomfort caused by noise and vibration varies according to whether subjects are asked to judge noise discomfort relative to vibration discomfort or vibration discomfort relative to noise discomfort. There are masking effects of noise on the judgement of vibration discomfort, and of vibration on the judgement of noise discomfort, depending on the relative magnitudes of the two stimuli. The influence of vibration on the judgement of noise discomfort decreases with increasing duration of the stimuli, whereas the influence of noise on the judgement of vibration discomfort is independent of the duration. The discomfort caused by a combination of noise and vibration can be predicted by root-sums-of-squares of the discomfort caused by noise and the discomfort caused by vibration when these stimuli are presented alone.

Hot Mix Asphalt (HMA) is the most commonly used material in the construction of asphalt pavements. Approximately 650 million tonnes of asphalts for road pavements were produced, worldwide, in 2014. However, the HMA industry is responsible for a substantial consumption of energy, the creation of health and safety issues and has a negative impact on the environment. These shortcomings initiated substantial discussion within the industry with the aim to develop more environmental friendly, sustainable and economic pavement materials. These have resulted in the development of cold bitumen emulsion mixtures (CBEMs). However, to date, low early life stiffness, a slower rate of curing, the length of time necessary to achieve full strength, high air void contents and the presence of moisture in these mixtures have prevented them from being fully embraced by pavement authorities. This led to them being considered inferior to HMA because of a lack of essential mechanical properties. Currently, the use of CBEMs in pavement construction is limited to low traffic road surface course, reinstatement works and footways. Because of this, the development of CBEMs with high early strength and minimal time delay requirements before structural loading, would be considered as a breakthrough in CBEM research. This research aims to develop a novel, fast-curing and environmentally friendly, cold binder course emulsion asphalt (CBCEA) for heavily trafficked roads. The new CBCEA mixture comprises the same gradation as conventional dense bitumen macadam (DBM) mixtures which are normally used as a binder course and base in road pavements in the UK. The new CBCEA incorporates a new cementitious material, alkali activated binary blended cement filler (ABBCF), made from Paper Making Sludge Ash (PMSA) and a Fluid Catalytic Cracking Catalysts Residue (FC3R) activated by a waste NaOH solution (W-NaOH). Incorporation of the PMSA and FC3R was achieved through the replacement of conventional limestone filler (LF), while W-NaOH replaced the pre-water necessary to wet the aggregate in the CBCEA. It was found that the glass phases of the new filler particles were broken and reacted with Ca(OH)2 creating C-S-H gel through the hydration process. This results in a very high early strength and improved mechanical properties. Balanced oxide compositions, within the new filler, were identified as responsible for an enhanced hydration reaction. A laboratory programme of testing measured the stiffness modulus, conducted at 1, 3, 7, 14, 28, 90 and 180 days. Susceptibility to temperature, wheel track testing to establish rutting resistance, fatigue resistance measured by a four-point beam bending test, fracture resistance testing via semi-circular bending tests, moisture damage resistance and ageing tests were successfully performed. Advanced techniques for microstructure assessment, i.e. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD), were used to provide scientific data to provide a deeper understanding of the microstructure and internal composition. An environmental investigation was performed using a Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure (TCLP) test. The new ABBCF mixture offers a significant improvement in stiffness modulus compared to HMA and the reference cold binder course mixture containing conventional limestone filler (LF). Target stiffness, according to British and European standards, can be surpassed after less than one day of curing. The new ABBCF mixture offers a stiffness modulus which is 27 times better than the LF mixture after 3 days. This will overcome restrictions caused by the length of time required to achieve acceptable stiffness by traditional CBEMs. More remarkably, the new ABBCF mixture is 78% better than mixtures treated with Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) in terms of ITSM after 3 days. Furthermore, the impact of a rise in temperature on stiffness modulus from 5 to 45°C, was much larger in LF and both HMA mixtures in comparison to ABBCF, revealing the potential to use these mixes in severe conditions, both hot and cold weathers. ABBCF mixtures displayed considerably reduced susceptibility to permanent deformation, demonstrating the potential advantage of using this material on heavily trafficked roads. Fatigue resistance was noticeably improved by the use of ABBCF in comparison to the reference LF and HMAs. Improved water sensitivity for progressive hydration with the new ABBCF was also established resulting in an enhanced long ageing performance meaning that these mixtures can be considered durable. SEM observation and XRD analysis confirmed the formation of hydration products at various curing times. The concentration of heavy metals in the samples incorporating ABBCF was observed to be less than the regulatory levels determined for hazardous materials. Microwave treatment has proven to be an effective technique to reduce the air void contents of the ABBCF mixture and achieve acceptable levels of porosity. Finally, achieving the aim of the current research will theoretically increase the application of such mixtures and allow them to be used as structural pavement materials. On a further positive note, the inclusion of waste and by-product materials in CBEMs results in more sustainable practice and eliminates disposal problems.

Long term transport plans produced by county borough councils between 1960 and 1974 had low implementation. This thesis examines the degree and likely causes of low-implementation in a detailed and systematic manner. The findings are then used to recommend improvements to structure and local planning including transport planning. The thesis is in five parts. Part 1 begins with justifications for the research. In Chapter II, the land use-transport planning process in its historical context is comprehensively presented. Research by others has been used in Chapter III to identify key factors affecting implementation. These may be grouped as: (l) Institutional - e.g. local government re-organisation (2) Shortage of funds. (3) Socio-political. (4) Inaccurate transport provision and forecasting. The first three groups are further distinguished between national and local factors. In Chapters 4 and 5 the following two measures are developed to assess implementation. FMR is a ratio of plans recommended and implemented TO recommended infrastructure in plan for a given period. FMQ measures recommended and implemented works AS A proportion of total capital works undertaken, FMQ is satisfactory but FMR is low. Parts II and III examine the causes for low FMR. Part II, (Chapters 7 to 9) examines national factors - shortage of funds, political and pressure group resistances and technical deficiencies as reasons. Part III examines local factors - shortage of funds, changes in political control in councils, public resistance and chief officers' influences. In each case variations in local factors and variations in FMR are correlated. The last three factors together explains nearly 90 percent of the variation in FMR. In Part IV chapter 15 deals with changes in influence of factors, in the post-1974 period and chapter 16 concludes implementation analysis. In Part V (the last 4 chapters) present day land use-transport planning is critically reviewed and improvements are outlined.

This Thesis was undertaken at the University of Nottingham which has a world class history of research into the fatigue of asphalt materials. The work described in this thesis was part of a research project funded by EPSRC, which attempts to gain a greater understanding of fatigue crack propagation in High Modulus Base (HMB) materials. Following on from Pell, Brown and Read this research has introduced the Compact Tension (CT) Test and Fracture Mechanics principles to examine the behaviour of HMB materials which had relatively little fatigue behavioural understanding on commencement of this research. This research investigated the fatigue cracking behaviour of twelve High Modulus Base (HMB) binders and mixtures. The research was instigated in response to the introduction of these HMB binders from France, as it was thought that these materials were not particularly well understood. In hindsight, this view was proven to be correct, as numerous problems have been experienced after using such materials. The Compact Tension test has been proved to be an effective means of testing bituminous mixtures for their crack propagation resistance, allowing the study of temperature effects. Crack propagation is dramatically affected by both binder hardness and temperature. In a pavement, the current approach to design, assuming a single fatigue characteristic, underestimates the life of 35 and 25 pen mixtures. However, it probably overestimates the life of 15 pen mixtures by not accounting for the effects of low temperatures.

Road transportation injuries, environmental pollution, and traffic congestion have resulted in a considerable cost to society annually. They have led to an increasing demand for a new generation of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) road applications, which promise to tackle these widespread issues. A common element of such applications is the positioning system, and its performance has been highlighted as one of the key enablers. With the rapid expansion of Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS), satellite-based positioning and navigation will continue to be the predominant positioning solution for most of ITS road applications. GNSS positioning systems offer global coverage, they are primarily free of charge, operate in all weather conditions, and are available all day, every day. However, there are challenges for GNSS-based positioning for ITS applications; in particular, the limited availability and degraded performance of GNSS signals in urban canyons. These challenges could impede the adoption of ITS applications, such as collision avoidance systems, lane departure warning systems, connected and autonomous vehicles. There is a gap between the positioning performance of GNSS-based systems and the positioning performance demanded by ITS applications. To bridge this gap, this research considers multi-sensor integration and cooperative positioning based on vehicle-to-vehicle, vehicle-to-infrastructure, and vehicle-to-pedestrian communications (collectively known as V2X communication). In comparison to other radio frequency augmentation techniques, Ultra-Wideband (UWB) is of particular interest for multi-sensor integration due to its fine time resolution and robust performance in high signal multipath environments. In addition to this benefit, Dedicated Short Range Communication (DSRC), as a key enabling communication component in V2X communication, not only allows vehicles to exchange their position information but also to share traffic safety-related information such as real-time congestion, accident and incident details, and variable speed limits. By taking advantage of DSRC, a vehicle in a GNSS hostile environment can calculate its position based on data shared from surrounding road users. This thesis utilises Global Positioning System (GPS) as a representative of GNSS and proposes to augment Differential GPS (DGPS) with UWB ranging observations attained from surrounding vehicles and infrastructure. It is accomplished by tightly integrating double-difference (DD) code pseudo-range GPS observations and UWB ranging observations using a Robust Kalman Filter. The performance of the proposed Robust Cooperative Positioning (RCP) method is evaluated using real and simulated GPS code pseudo-range and UWB ranging observations supported by assumed DSRC transmission. This thesis carries out a thorough assessment of the ranging performance, error sources and positioning performance of the Thales UWB Lock-on Model LD2. The assessment is completed by conducting a series of tests in different static and dynamic situations. In addition to this in-field assessment of the UWB device, the positioning performance of the proposed RCP method is demonstrated in both favourable and hostile GPS environments. The proposed RCP method effectively eliminates the impact of observed outliers, and the integrated RCP solution outperforms the DGPS-only solution, especially when the GPS signal is partially or fully obstructed. The results based on simulated UWB ranging observations and real GPS code pseudo-range observations on the roof of the Nottingham Geospatial Building achieve sub-metre three-dimensional accuracies when three DD code pseudo-ranges and four UWB ranging observations are available.

This thesis contains a review of literature relevant to the use of chalk as common embankment fill, and the results of a considerable amount of testing to find the variability of the density and plasticity of the Chalk, its strength properties and compressibility. Various available empirical suitability tests are reviewed, and the final section concludes with six case records which illustrate practical experience and demonstrate the relevance of the research. In assessing the variability of the Chalk over 600 determinations of intact dry density and 200 plasticity tests have been carried out on samples collected from almost all parts of the outcrop in England. These tests indicate the extreme variability of the material, which during excavation may behave in extremes as a rock or a slurry. Strength tests have been carried out on remoulded Chalk using the triaxial and C. B. R equipment. It is shown that the undrained triaxial shear strength is strongly dependent on the remoulded liquid limit of crushed chalk and that the liquid limit approximately corresponds to the saturation moisture content and to the point at which the triaxial strength becomes negligible. Effective strength tests show that while the effective angle of friction varies only slightly for most remoulded chalks, it may increase with time as a result of recrystallization of aragonite within a fill. Compression tests on blocky chalk and on chalk fines above and below their liquid limit are reported, and indicate that few field problems are likely to arise from this type of compression. The collapse of chalk fill upon wetting has been modelled in the laboratory and is shown to provide a much greater threat to the satisfactory performance of embankments. The investigations into suitability have indicated that no completely satisfactory test exists to predict the performance of chalk in earthworks. The use of a simple hand dynamic penetrometer is proposed, and its results are correlated to those of the vibratory crushing test.

Excessive rutting, one of the major distress modes of bituminous pavements, is mainly caused by the accumulation of load-induced permanent deformation. However, current pavement design approaches against the excessive rutting are mainly developed using the theory of elasticity. Recently, a new pavement design approach based on the shakedown concept has attracted lots of attention because it can consider plastic properties of pavement materials. However, most of the existing shakedown solutions were developed for pavement foundations composed of granular materials and soils. Very limited work has been reported on bituminous pavements. Besides, current studies usually assume homogeneous, isotropic pavement materials obeying an associated plastic flow rule (termed as standard materials in the present study), which may not be realistic for pavement materials. In the present research, a step-by-step numerical approach was used to obtain numerical shakedown limits of pavement structures under repeated moving loads. Both two-dimensional and three-dimensional problems were considered. It was found that, under the assumption of standard materials, the obtained numerical shakedown limits and residual stress fields agreed well with the available theoretical data. A static (i.e. lower bound) shakedown approach for pavements with anisotropic, heterogeneous materials was developed based on Melan’s lower bound theorem and the critical residual stress method of Yu and Wang (2012). The influence of material plastic flow rules on pavement shakedown limits was also evaluated both numerically and theoretically. It was found that neglect of the inherent material properties (i.e. anisotropy, heterogeneity and non-associated plastic flow) could overestimate the real shakedown limits of bituminous pavements. A series of tests were conducted to validate the shakedown concept for the responses of bituminous pavements under traffic loads. Two distinct phenomena corresponding to shakedown and non-shakedown were observed. Triaxial tests and uniaxial compression tests were also undertaken to obtain the stiffness and strength parameters, from which the theoretical shakedown limits can be calculated. Comparison between the experimental results and the theoretical solutions revealed that the current 3D shakedown approach for standard materials may overestimate capacities of bituminous pavements. Finally, the lower bound shakedown approach was employed to design a typical bituminous pavement. A direct comparison was made between the shakedown-based design and the current UK design method. It demonstrated that the shakedown-based design for bituminous pavements can be conducted considering the maximum contact pressure and a relatively high air temperature.

The container transportation problem involves designing routing plans for a fleet of vehicles to accommodate requests from multiple ports. A request is a transshipment activity that involves loading a commodity at the source port and then unloading it at the destination port. This problem is closely related to the classic vehicle routing problem (VRP). This thesis investigates a real-world, multi-shift container transportation problem with a limited fleet size. In this problem, requests are sent from the customs office via declaration forms. Each declaration form contains several container transport tasks that share the same time window, source port and destination port. The time windows for container transportation in this problem can generally span across several shifts, thus container transportations can be arranged at any shift. Delaying some transportations to later shifts may cause the violation of time window constraints. As a result, strategies that prioritise tasks with closer deadline need to be developed to ensure that all tasks can be completed. This thesis presents the following research efforts towards the container transshipment problem. Firstly, two formulations have been proposed to describe the problem, in which the representation of transshipment requests are simplified as nodes. The network of the ports is then discussed and, based on the network, three sets of problem instances are introduced. This thesis then introduces several insertion-based heuristics, which are able to generate solutions that complete all container transshipment tasks. In order to further reduce the travelling distance in the solutions, two multi-neighbourhood algorithms are implemented and experimental results are presented. The characteristics of solutions are discussed to get a deeper understanding of the problem characteristics. The dynamic version of the problem, in which declaration forms arrive over time, is then studied. A discrete event simulation framework is developed to accommodate the experiment of various commodity holding strategies. This research leads to an intelligent container transportation system that automates the task assignment.

Road structures are important to the survival of nations. As the cost for the rehabilitation and maintenance of highways soars, civil engineers and administrators face the ever present difficulty of meeting current resurfacing and rehabilitation needs. The deterioration of road structures under growing traffic weight and volume is occurring faster than agencies envisaged coupled with increasingly scarce and expensive new materials required. It is now apparent that for planning, design and construction for road structures, the most efficient and cost effective processes, materials and practices available must be appropriately considered. The use of recycled materials as a sustainable alternative is gaining significant worldwide attention. The overall purpose of this research was to conduct an in-depth investigation and analysis into the design and optimisation of Cold Asphalt Emulsion Mixtures (CAEMs) incorporating high contents of Reclaimed Asphalt Pavements (RAP). To achieve the objectives of the research, four proportions of RAP aggregate materials in addition to Virgin Aggregates (VA) were used as categorised below: - Category 1: 0% RAP (no RAP, 100% VA) - Category 2: 50% RAP (50% RAP, 50% VA) - Category 3: 85% RAP (85% RAP, 15% VA) - Category 4: 95% RAP (95% RAP, 5% VA) The effect of mixing and compaction temperatures at 5°C, 20°C and 32°C and how cement at 0%, 1% and 3% OPC influenced the CAEMs was also investigated. This study presents a practical mix design procedure to act as a guideline for CAEMs incorporating high RAP contents by identifying critical parameters for the various categories of CAEMs which stemmed from the fact that currently there is no universally accepted mix design. The proposed mix design guideline is presented in this thesis. The effect of accelerated curing was investigated to study the effects of temperature, curing duration, conditioning and the influence of cement on the CAEMs. The research showed that an increase in curing temperature results in an increase in the stiffness and strength of the CAEMs. The thesis presents results on the mechanical and performance properties which provided vital information on expected performance of CAEMs incorporating high contents of RAP for use as a road base material. The research was able to highlight the purported effects of residual binder in RAP which could contribute positively to the mechanical and performance properties of the CAEMs. This points to the fact that treating RAP as “black rock” is not the right approach. The RAP needs to be evaluated for its inherent properties and suitability for purpose. The stiffness and strength were investigated using the Indirect Tensile Stiffness Modulus (ITSM) and Indirect Tensile Strength (ITS) tests which proved useful in ranking them. The addition of 1% OPC improved the stiffness of Categories 1-3 mixtures by 32% with Category 4 having the highest increase at 89%. The inclusion of 3% OPC, more than doubled the stiffness values. The Indirect Tensile Fatigue Test (ITFT) was used to investigate the fatigue characteristics. Results showed that if the CAEMs with cement at 1% and 3% experienced strains in the region of 200µε, they tend to fail suddenly soon after crack initiation due to reduced flexibility of the CAEMs. This was more pronounced for the CAEMs at 3% OPC. Resistance to permanent deformation was investigated using the Vacuum Repeated Load Axial Test (VRLAT) which showed that the mixing and compaction temperature influenced the permanent deformation characteristics of the CAEMs. Increasing OPC content to 1% for Categories 2 and 3 resulted in a decrease in permanent strains of 47% and at 3% OPC, the decrease in permanent strains was 54%. Wheel Tracking Test (WTT) was conducted to ascertain the susceptibility of the CAEMs to deform under loading, investigate crack propagation and number of cycles to failure. The test showed that the performance of the specimens was affected by the test temperature. Increased test temperatures resulted in an increased rate of rutting and eventual failure of the specimens. The test further highlighted the positive benefits of adding cement to the mixtures which resulted in reduced strains and an increased number of cycles to failure for the CAEMs. Structural design and modelling was conducted using KENLAYER which was able to account for the non-linearity of the CAEMs. This was crucial in having a total overview of these mixture types. Although, the structural design was based on practical hypothetical layer thicknesses, the results provided useful insight into the structural capabilities of the CAEMs. The RAP CAEMs generally had lower horizontal tensile strain values in comparison to the VA CAEMs. The design charts showed that an increase in the thickness of the base course and surfacing layer resulted in an increase in the overall fatigue life of the pavement structure. Overall, evaluating the complete findings of this research, CAEMs produced with high RAP contents especially at 50% and 85% RAP had considerably enhanced mechanical and performance properties and are suitable for inclusion as a base material for reconstruction and rehabilitation.

Roads form a key element for the expansion of economy and development of a country. As with most countries, Brunei Darussalam has been facing a rapid development to meet the economic growth that requires an efficient road network. Therefore, the scarcity of conventional road aggregates in Brunei Darussalam means that the country has a strong dependence on imported aggregates from overseas to construct quality roads. Further restrictions on local road specifications make it almost impossible to include low quality granular materials. The study reported in this thesis was undertaken on the basis that the dependence on overseas resources is not a viable long- term solution. The research task has been, therefore, to ascertain the quality of local sandstones for road construction and then to propose means to upgrade their performance quality for optimum utilisation in cost effective applications. This study focused on the road base layer since that is where most aggregate is used. The approach used for this study was to identify the common rock in Brunei Darussalam and review the candidate treatment methods. A weighted matrix for these candidate treatment methods was constructed to determine the overall ranking with selected key criteria on the basis of the local climatic condition, construction preferences and traditions. From the reviews, Foamed bitumen was selected as a feasible treatment method that can improve the sandstone characteristics under local conditions. Three curing conditions were adopted in this study, simulating extreme field conditions in Brunei Darussalam, to characterise the mechanical properties of foamed bitumen stabilised sandstone mixtures, termed 'foam mix'. The following tests were conducted: • The response of stiffness modulus behaviour in the foam mix produced at different levels of mixing moisture content and cement content under dry and wet conditions was measured to study the mixing moisture content (MMC) in foam mix design. • A humid curing study was performed to indicate the short term stiffness of foam mixes in order to aid in the prediction of the delay necessary before a road comprising these foam mixes could be opened to traffic, and to determine how curing time and moisture content affect the development of stiffness modulus with and without cement. • A preliminary investigation was carried out into the potential of coir fibres as a reinforcement agent in the foam mix, measuring its effect on stiffness modulus, tensile strength and permanent deformation. • Being sensitive to moisture, the climatic durability of foam mix was further assessed by studying the effect of dry/wet cycles on the stiffness modulus incorporating other additives such as hydrated lime and pre-blended bitumen with wet fix. • Microscopic analysis has been undertaken as a guide to characterise the microstructure of the foam mix incorporating additives such as cement and coir fibres in order to support the laboratory findings. The laboratory results confirmed that the stiffness behaviour of the foam mix could be influenced by the amount of MMC, cement content and humidity of the environment. It was found that the foam mix with 1% cement (by mass of dried aggregates) at MMC, 70% of OMC, produced a durable mixture with a high stiffness modulus value in both dry and wet conditions as well as when subjected to the effect of alternate dry and wet cycles. The investigation on the potential of coir fibre to reinforce the foam mix indicated that the fibre did help to prevent large cracks in the foam mixes but unfortunately the reinforced foam mixes were easily damaged under a wet environment.