Thesis PlanB (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 2008. / ONLINE VERSION INCOMPLETE: APPENDIX A, P. 51; APPENDIX B, P. 52; APPENDIX I, P. 59; & APPENDIS J, P. 6 MISSING. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.)--Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1993. / Vita. Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 105-107). Also available via the Internet.

Growth trends in vehicle transportation for the year 1989 showed that truck travel has increased from 400 billion vehicle miles of travel to 600 billion vehicle miles from 1980 to 1989, a staggering 50% increase. If this trend continues, then truck travel will reach 800 billion vehicle miles by the end of the year 2000. This increase in truck travel poses operational and safety problems for both passenger vehicles and trucks. To improve the existing highway facilities for trucks as well as to determine the design standards for new truck facilities, an understanding of the relationship between truck accidents and highway geometry is required. A number of models have been developed in the past but none of them consider all of the geometric features of the highway which are crucial for truck travel and the causation of truck accidents. The objectives of this study were to identify the roadway variables that affect truck accidents and to develop mathematical models which would determine truck involvement rates, per mile, per year. Data from the Highway Safety Information System (HSIS) was used in this analysis. The HSIS is a new data base developed by FHWA which contains accident, roadway and traffic data from five States. Models for truck accidents on Interstates, 2 lane rural roads, and for over turning accidents on Interstates were developed. The models indicate that truck accidents are primarily affected by horizontal curvature and vertical gradient albeit their values are different for Interstates and 2 lane rural roads. The number of truck accidents decreases on 2 lane rural roads as the shoulder width increases, and the model indicates that gradient has no effect on truck accidents on these roads and this, may be due to the inadequacy of the data. The Interstate model indicates that the higher the degree of curvature and the percentage of gradient, the greater the number of truck accident, as well as overturning truck accident involvement rates. / Master of Science

The research analyzes the bridge load stress effects resulting from international bridge formulae and truck size and weight regulations in Europe. This is done with a view to identifying issues that may need to be considered in the development of a European Bridge Formula (EUBF) conforming to European Directive truck configurations for the regulation of truck size and weight limits associated with international travel between European Union (EU) member states. The level of efficiency of bridge formulae vary depending on the design criteria used in the development of the formula, the compatibility to the jurisdiction’s infrastructure and truck fleet characteristics, and the method of implementation as part of the regulation and by operators in the trucking industry. The EUBF should limit imposed critical bending moment and shear stresses on single and continuous span bridges of varying lengths (5, 20, and 50 metres) in accordance to design live loads specified in the Eurocode. The analysis of bridge load effects imposed by European Directive truck configurations in this research, provide the basis for the development of a EUBF.

The research analyzes the bridge load stress effects resulting from international bridge formulae and truck size and weight regulations in Europe. This is done with a view to identifying issues that may need to be considered in the development of a European Bridge Formula (EUBF) conforming to European Directive truck configurations for the regulation of truck size and weight limits associated with international travel between European Union (EU) member states. The level of efficiency of bridge formulae vary depending on the design criteria used in the development of the formula, the compatibility to the jurisdiction’s infrastructure and truck fleet characteristics, and the method of implementation as part of the regulation and by operators in the trucking industry. The EUBF should limit imposed critical bending moment and shear stresses on single and continuous span bridges of varying lengths (5, 20, and 50 metres) in accordance to design live loads specified in the Eurocode. The analysis of bridge load effects imposed by European Directive truck configurations in this research, provide the basis for the development of a EUBF.

Thesis PlanB (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2009. / Title from title screen (site viewed February 25, 2010). PDF text: ix, 363 p. : col. ill. ; 8 Mb. UMI publication number: AAT 3386590. Includes bibliographical references. Also available in microfilm and microfiche formats.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Tennessee, Knoxville, 2005. / Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 118-122). Also available online from the University of Tennessee (http://web.utk.edu/~thesis/etd.shtml).

In response to an increasingly demand for fuel-economy, more weight reduction techniques have been proposed to create an optimum vehicle chassis. Material selection and design modification are two of the vital techniques being investigated. In addition, ample attention has been dedicated towards improving the overall strength of a vehicle chassis. Specifically, the overall objective of this study is to maximize weight savings in a truck chassis, while improving its strength characteristics.

This thesis sets out to analyze how restricting rest (sleep) locations for long-haul truckers may impact operational productivity, given hours-of-service regulations. Productivity in this thesis is measured by the minimum number of unique drivers required to feasibly execute a set of load requests over a known planning horizon. When drivers may stop for rest at any location, they may maximize utilization under regulated driving hours. When drivers may only rest at certain discrete locations, their productivity may be diminished since they may no longer be able to fully utilize available service hours. These productivity losses may require trucking firms to operate larger driver fleets. This thesis addresses two specific challenges presented by this scenario; first, understanding how a given discrete set of rest locations may affect driver fleet size requirements; and second, how to determine optimal discrete locations for a fixed number of rest facilities and the potential negative impact on fleet size of non-optimally located facilities. The minimum fleet size problem for a single origin-destination leg with fixed possible rest locations is formulated as a minimum cost network flow with additional bundling constraints. A mixed integer program is developed for solving the single-leg rest facility location problem. Tractable adaptations of the basic models to handle problems with multiple lanes are also presented. This thesis demonstrates that for typical long-haul lane lengths the effects of restricting rest to a relatively few fixed rest locations has minimal impact on fleet size. For an 18-hour lane with two rest facilities, no increase in fleet size was observed for any test load set instances with exponentially distributed interdeparture times. For test sets with uniformly distributed interdeparture times, additional required fleet sizes ranged from 0 to 11 percent. The developed framework and results should be useful in the analysis of truck transportation of security-sensitive commodities, such as food products and hazardous materials, where there may exist strong external pressure to ensure that drivers rest only in secure locations to reduce risks of tampering.