1,721,093 research outputs found
AIRPORT NOISE CHARGES AND LOCAL COMMUNITIES: APPLICATION TO REGIONAL AIRPORTS
No full textThere have always been conflicts among airports and local communities due to the aeronautical noise generated by airport operations. In fact, this is a factor that - if not properly managed - could severely cut down the growth of air traffic in an airport with direct effects on the economic and territorial system. Beside this, in the last decade the critical issues related to the impact of aeronautical noise on airport operations have greatly reduced, thanks to technological improvements in aircraft design. Nevertheless, the reduction of noise emissions during a single aircraft operation does not make the issue of the airports’ location less important. This is the case of regional airports in EU, which have recently experimented a large traffic increase due to the
development of low-cost traffic. It is now clear that the problem cannot be reduced to its mere technological aspect, but it ought to be dealt with the involvement of the various stakeholders in order to mitigate the emissions and adequately compensate the impacts to local communities. Typically, there are two possible countermeasures to mitigate the effects of aircraft noise: operational measures, based on the application of technological and organizational devices and market-based measures. The application of noise taxes, aiming at compensating the negative externalities generated by airport operations is becoming increasingly widespread in EU. In this paper, a methodology for the application of noise taxes based on the actual noise of aircraft operating into an airport is discussed and implemented in a test case
Airport ground access and urban congestion: a paradox of bi-modal networks
No full textPublic transport systems with separated way, such as automated people movers or mass transit systems, play a fundamental role as far as airport ground access is concerned, due to high potential capacity and reliability of service time. It is widely recognized that those transport systems, introduced in cities already congested by car traffic, are able to attract only a little share of the urban transport demand due to the fact that they can take competitive advantage and tangible effects on urban mobility only under high congestion levels on the road network. These conditions are proper of congested urban networks, in particular when airports are located close to urban areas so as passengers can travel from/to airports using either the urban road network or the transit systems. This paper shows that, as far as regional and urban airports are concerned, when a new transit system with exclusive rights of way is introduced to enhance airport ground accessibility, a substantial modification of the road network is necessary both in terms of infrastructure and signal policies, to reduce the capacity of the streets in the parts of the town served by transit system in order to establish an efficient bimodal transport system
Empirical analysis of pedestrian delay models at urban intersections
No full textSignalized crosswalks are useful pedestrian facilities but complexities in geometry and configuration arise, especially in congested urban areas, directly affecting safety, cycle length and delay. Universal design criteria are not dealt with by manuals. Scientific literature has proven that pedestrians look for the shortest path at crosswalks, sometimes even adopting unsafe behaviour. On the other hand, drivers’ habits are scarcely bothered by pedestrian signage. The analysis of pedestrians’ cognitive path and choices is fundamental as well as the prediction of irresponsible actions. Delay is a widely adopted parameter to assess pedestrian Level of Service. In this work, a comparison among renowned models to estimate pedestrian delay at signalized crosswalk is set and double-checked with a field study in the city of Bologna – Ital
A systematic approach to assess the effectiveness of airport noise mitigation strategies
No full textRegional airports are often located very close to the urban area they serve and the increasing traffic rate that many of them have experienced in the last years has produced several impacts on the communities living close to the airport area, mainly aviation noise. If not properly managed, noise impacts produced by airport operations can cut down significantly the development of airport air traffic with direct effects on the economic and territorial systems. Aeronautical noise has greatly reduced in the last decade, due to aircraft design technological improvements and more severe regulations. However, the noise reduction during a single event does not make the issue of the airport location – and then the whole noise impact – less significant. This paper proposes an assessment process to evaluate the effects of actions adopted to reduce airport noise impacts on populated areas. Both airport-related factors – such as number of take-off; day-evening-night distributions of movements; aircraft type; flying paths – and land-use characteristics have been considered and combined in a density index that synthesizes the impacts of airport noise on the territory. The assessment process has been tested on a real case, the airport of Bologna in Northern Italy. The predicted results, compared with available real data for the test case, are significant and encourage the use of the proposed assessment process as decision support system for the airport management
Caratteristiche generali del sistema di trasporto aereo e potenziali fattori di sviluppo degli aeroporti regionali italiani
No full textNegli ultimi cinquanta anni il traffico aereo mondiale ha conosciuto un incremento elevatissimo, nettamente superiore, in termini di tasso di crescita, rispetto a quello degli altri sistemi di trasporto. La domanda di trasporto aereo mondiale ha costantemente seguito lo sviluppo economico: registrando tassi di crescita mediamente doppi rispetto a quelli del prodotto interno lordo mondiale. La crescita economica determina un aumento degli scambi di merce e di servizi, inoltre con l’aumento del reddito pro-capite crescono i viaggi per svago. Il sistema di trasporto aereo ha inoltre conosciuto un tasso di evoluzione tecnologica superiore a quello degli altri sistemi di trasporto: questo ha permesso di diminuire i costi di produzione del servizio. Un’influenza, forse ancora maggiore, sulla diminuzione dei costi, e delle tariffe, è stata determinata, a partire dagli anni 80, dell’avanzamento del processo di liberalizzazione del mercato del trasporto aereo, e, più recentemente, dall’entrata nel mercato di compagnie caratterizzate da nuove modalità di gestione: le compagnie “low-cost”. Le compagnie “low-cost” sono da molti considerate il migliore “prodotto” del processo di liberalizzazione e la loro affermazione è considerata una “rivoluzione” nei servizi di trasporto aereo. La nota mette in evidenza come il mercato del trasporto aereo italiano abbia seguito sostanzialmente l’evoluzione di quello mondiale: più che triplicando i passeggeri negli ultimi venti anni. Inoltre deve essere rilevato che nel caso italiano il rapporto tra il tasso di crescita della domanda di trasporto aereo e quello del PIL è stato pari a circa 3. .
Successivamente nella nota sono esaminate le caratteristiche del servizio di trasporto offerto dalle compagnie aeree tradizionali e da quelle di tipo “low-cost”. Le prime sono caratterizzate da un servizio basato su reti di tipo “hub-and-spoke”, le seconde da un servizio basato su reti di tipo punto-punto. La nota descrive le caratteristiche principali del servizio offerto agli utenti dalle compagnie “low- cost” a proposito di: tariffe, vendita biglietti, servizi a bordo, frequenza e puntualità dei voli. Sono quindi esaminate le caratteristiche delle compagnie low- cost da un punto di vista operativo a proposito di: aeromobili utilizzati, tratta di servizio, aeroporti utilizzati, gestione del personale. Le compagnie di tipo “low-cost” puntano a servire soprattutto passeggeri con bassa disponibilità di spesa per i quali il confort di viaggio non risulti un attributo chiave del servizio. Il successo del modello di “business” delle compagnie di tipo “low-cost” è ormai fuori discussione : anche negli anni caratterizzati da una congiuntura sfavorevole, queste compagnie sono state in grado di produrre profitti. Nella memoria sono quindi affrontate le caratteristiche delle reti di tipo “hub–and-spoke” . Questo tipo di rete si è affermato, fra le compagnie tradizionali, negli anni 80 in seguito alla deregolamentazione del mercato del trasporto aereo. Un rete di tipo “hub-and-spoke” richiede: un elevato grado di concentrazione spaziale della struttura di rete; il coordinamento temporale dell’orario dei voli all’”hub” secondo il sistema delle onde; l’integrazione dei servizi via “hub”. I principali requisiti che deve possedere un “hub” sono: centralità geografica rispetto al mercato da servire; elevata capacità fisica del sistema delle piste; elevata capacità ambientale del sistema delle piste; condizioni meteo che consentono un elevato livello di utilizzazione dello scalo; elevato domanda in origine e destinazione da/per l’”hub”; presenza di una compagnia che decida di operare con servizio ad “onde” Nella nota è quindi definita l’”onda ideale” : complesso di voli in arrivo ed in partenza, entro una determinata fascia oraria, tale che ciascun volo in arrivo possa stabilire una connessione, con ciascun volo in partenza, che possa essere effettivamente prenotata dai passeggeri. Nel lavoro sono quindi esaminati i vantaggi delle reti “hub-and spoke” e di quelle punto-punto. Il principali vantaggi di una rete “hub-and-spoke”, in un ambiente competitivo, sono: l’alto numero di coppie O/D che possono essere servite, rispetto ad una rete punto-punto, a parità di voli; la possibilità di esercitare potere monopolistico agli aeroporti “hub” (si parla a questo proposito di hub “fortificati”). Rispetto alle reti punto-punto quelle “hub-and spoke” hanno il problema di elevati picchi di domanda che provocano un aumento dei costi dell’utilizzo delle risorse infrastrutturali e umane. L’aumento dei costi è messo in evidenza dal fatto che le compagnie “low-cost” non praticano l’”hubbing”. Nella memoria è anche affrontato la novità in campo aeronautico rappresentata de “regional jet”. Questo tipo di aereo, da 30-100 posti, ha una velocità più elevata ed un impatto acustico minore rispetto ai turboelica che precedentemente costituivano la tipologia più diffusa di aerei “regional”. I “regional jet” inoltre possono operare su piste corte.
La memoria si conclude con l’osservazione che, nel quadro di evoluzione dei servizi di trasporto aereo descritto, possono essere individuate le opportunità di sviluppo degli aeroporti regionali, ed, in particolare, di quelli italiani. Infatti le compagnie aeree tradizionali, grazie anche alla diffusone dei “regional jet”, vedono nello sviluppo degli aeroporti regionali il modo di alimentare il traffico, in particolare a lunga percorrenza, sui loro grandi aeroporti “hub”. D’altra parte le compagnie “low- cost” trovano negli aeroporti regionali dei terminali di viaggio fondamentali in quanto: non congestionati, poco costosi e con domanda di trasporto aereo non soddisfatta. Lo sviluppo degli aeroporti regionali permetterebbe una maggiore diffusione del trasporto aereo nel territorio e perciò un aumento dell’accessibilità; inoltre permetterebbe una più equa distribuzione dei traffici tra grandi aeroporti, che sono quasi tutti al limite della saturazione, in particolare da un punto di vista ambientale, e scali secondari che molto spesso hanno riserve di capacità fisica ed ambientale. Inoltre una più capillare diffusione del servizio aereo nel territorio italiano può condurre ad importanti occasioni di sviluppo di aree territoriali marginali. In questo quadro, di evoluzione e di opportunità, concludono gli autori della nota, appare particolarmente opportuna la messa a punto di metodi e modelli quantitativi finalizzati alla programmazione ed allo sviluppo dei sistemi aeroportuali regionali ed in particolare di quello italiano
Aircraft turnaround and industrial actions: how ground handlers' strikes affect airport airside operational efficiency
No full textThe efficiency of airport turnaround operations has often been compromised by various disruptive events out of the airlines' control, such as strikes, which negatively influence the punctuality and regularity of operations. The purpose of this work is to determine the loss of airport operational performance provoked by ground handlers' industrial actions. A discrete-event simulation model of both aircraft landing-and-takeoff (LTO) cycles and turnaround operations has been built by using AnyLogic. If the number of ground handler's operators decreases, turnaround operations require more time to be performed, resulting in delayed departures and knock-on delays. For the case study of Lisbon “Humberto Delgado” airport, turnaround time increases more than linearly with respect to the decrease of staff resources in service. When the number of operators decreases under a certain threshold, turnaround lengthening cannot be absorbed by buffer times and departure delays propagate in cascade over the day. This threshold should call for emergency actions and contingency plans
Towards Green and Smart Ro–Ro Port Terminal Operations: A Comparative Analysis of ICE, BET and e-AGT Tractors
Full text linkThe decarbonization and automation of port operations are emerging as key strategies to enhance the sustainability and efficiency of maritime logistics. This study proposes a simulation-based framework to assess the operational and environmental impacts of transitioning from traditional Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) tractors to Battery Electric Tractors (BET) and Automated Electric Guided Tractors (e-AGT) in Roll-on/Roll-off (Ro-Ro) port terminal operations. The proposed framework is applied to simulate a full vessel turnaround at the Ro-Ro terminal of the Port of Ravenna (Italy). A set of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) is defined to evaluate turnaround time, vehicle productivity, energy consumption and CO2 emissions across three scenarios. The results indicate that both BET and e-AGT configurations significantly reduce emissions compared to ICE, with reduc-tions up to 40%. However, the e-AGT scenario reveals operational drawbacks, including increased unloading time and reduced fleet availability due to charging constraints and routing limitations. These findings highlight the environmental potential of automation and electrification but also emphasize the need for integrated planning of fleet size, charging infrastructure and circulation specifications. The proposed framework provides a replicable decision-support tool for port authorities and logistics operators to evaluate alternative handling technologies under realistic conditions
Logistics facilities location choice modeling: Effects of environmental constraints
No full textThe selection of logistics facility locations is a critical decision that influences supply chain efficiency, cost structures and operational resilience. While previous studies have extensively examined the role of transport accessibility in location choices, the interplay between socio-demographic, transport-related and environmental constraints remain partially underexplored. This study addresses this gap by developing a conditional logit model to assess the impact of these factors on logistics facility location decisions, using the Emilia-Romagna region (Italy) as a case study. The model incorporates key determinants of location choice, including proximity to transport infrastructure (highways, freight terminals, rail stations), population density, environmental risks (flooding and seismic hazards) and land-use restrictions (protected natural areas). Results confirm that transport accessibility is the primary driver of logistics location choices and that socio-demographic factors, particularly
population, also influence location preferences. Conversely, environmental constraints exert a negative effect on site selection, reducing the likelihood of a location being chosen. These findings bring significant policy implications.
Investments in logistics-oriented transport infrastructure – such as enhanced highway connectivity, intermodal terminals and advanced congestion management systems – remains essential for strengthening regional logistics competitiveness. Moreover, implementing risk mitigation measures in location choice process analysis, including flood-resilient warehousing and seismic-resistant facilities, can enable firms to operate in moderate-risk areas without undermining operational resilience. Finally, integrated transport and land-use
planning that harmonizes industrial expansion with environmental sustainability, through initiatives like ecoindustria parks, can support the development of resilient and efficient logistics systems
A discrete event simulation model for inbound baggage handling
No full textInbound baggage handling represents a crucial process among airport terminal's activities as it affects directly airport performance and passengers' service quality perception. It is important to make the inbound process as efficient as possible and to explore solutions to enhance the performance of the system, thus reducing passengers' waiting time at baggage carousels. The aim of this paper is to present a detailed discrete event model of inbound baggage handling at a large regional Italian airport. The simulation model allows to fully understand the whole process and to identify bottlenecks and critical operations. The model is validated by comparing the simulation results with real data
A Kinematic Analysis of Vehicle Acceleration from Standstill at Signalized Intersections: Implications for Road Safety, Traffic Engineering, and Autonomous Driving
Full text linkUnderstanding vehicle acceleration behavior during intersection departures is critical for advancing traffic safety, sustainable mobility, and intelligent transport systems. This study presents a high-resolution kinematic analysis of 714 vehicle departures from signalized intersections, encompassing straight crossings, left turns, and right turns, and involving a diverse sample of internal combustion engine (ICE), hybrid electric (HEV), and battery electric vehicles (BEV). Using synchronized Micro Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) accelerometers and Real-Time Kinematic (RTK)-GPS systems, the study captures longitudinal acceleration and velocity profiles over fixed distances. Results indicate that BEVs exhibit significantly higher acceleration and final speeds than ICE and HEV vehicles, particularly during straight crossings and longer left-turn maneuvers. Several mathematical models—including polynomial, arctangent, and Akçelik functions—were calibrated to describe acceleration and velocity dynamics. Findings contribute by modeling jerk and delay propagation, supporting better calibration of AV acceleration profiles and the optimization of intersection control strategies. Moreover, the study provides validated acceleration benchmarks that enhance the accuracy of forensic engineering and road accident reconstruction, particularly in scenarios involving intersection dynamics, and demonstrates that BEVs accelerate more rapidly than ICE and HEV vehicles, especially in straight crossings, with direct implications for traffic simulation, ADAS calibration, and urban crash analysis
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