Transportes

Accessibility, mobility and participation in activities in housing complexes in Fortaleza

Jordan Caetano da Silva — 2025-08-05

Given the growing housing demand among low-income populations, public policies have prioritized the construction of public housing complexes in peripheral areas, which are often characterized by limited infrastructure and restricted access to employment and recreational opportunities. This study aims to analyze patterns of accessibility, mobility, and the built environment within these housing developments, using Fortaleza as a case study. The methodology integrates secondary data from multiple sources, including the 2019 household OD survey and applies representative indicators of the analyzed phenomena across five city regions. The findings reveal significant variations in mobility, urban structure, and accessibility across regions, with notable distinctions in the northeastern, southeastern and southwestern portions of the urban territory. These disparities underscore the urgent need for public policies focused on enhancing land use and transport integration, as a means to mitigate the effects of socio-spatial inequalities in accessibility.

Use of the HDM-4 in feasibility studies for highway concessions: traffic influence on maintenance cycles

Thisbe Cordeiro Moreira Prates — 2025-10-03

Traffic variables and subgrade bearing capacity are key factors in the mechanistic-empirical design of flexible pavements. However, the lack of accurate data makes estimating traffic loads a challenging task. This study analyzes the influence of traffic on maintenance needs and the service life of road pavements, using HDM-4 performance prediction models applied to Brazilian highway concessions. It also evaluates the impacts of the 2021 Weight Regulation Law on pavement performance and intervention cycles. Nine pavement structures were analyzed under different traffic and subgrade conditions, monitoring the evolution of roughness and cracking over a 30-year concession period. A scenario considering overloads allowed by Law No. 14.229/2021 was included for comparison. Based on these results, a preliminary economic analysis was carried out, estimating cumulative maintenance costs by type of intervention. The results indicate that higher traffic volumes significantly accelerate pavement deterioration and that recent legal changes may increase maintenance costs by up to 25%, compromising structural quality. Therefore, the study highlights the importance of proper planning and well-designed interventions in the face of growing traffic and regulatory changes to ensure the performance and safety of concessioned pavements.

Routing general cargo ships considering the stowage in the holds and the balance of ships in the bow-stern and port-starboard directions

Natan Trancoso Gonçalves — 2025-06-10

Exporters of break bulk cargos such as marble and granite blocks, cellulose bales and lumber generally charter general cargo ships for a certain period, during which they can carry out several voyages for sea transport. Therefore, they need to plan trips and load storage in the ships' holds, seeking to reduce freight and navigation costs. This article proposes a mathematical model that defines, in an integrated way, the ships' trips and the storage in the holds, aiming to minimize these transport costs. The model jointly considers multiple trips, multiple compartments, unloading sequence, 3D rotation of items and ship balance during loading, which has not been found in the literature so far. Tests carried out with the CPLEX solver considering an exporter of granite blocks showed that arrangements with 3D rotation can reduce the number of trips and that the model is capable of representing the transport of parallelepiped items in the holds of general cargo ships, considering the unloading sequence and balance of ships in loading.

Effects of fare variation on bus transit demand in Fortaleza considering spatial, temporal, and socioeconomic attributes

Artur Bruno Leitão de Vasconcelos — 2025-10-03

Public bus transportation in Brazil has been facing a crisis, possibly stemming from the vicious cycle of declining demand. To understand this phenomenon, the scientific community suggests analyzing the relationship between fare and bus demand. However, few studies analyze how spatial, temporal, and socioeconomic characteristics may influence this causal relationship and, in general, do not rely on a priori models that theoretically support causality hypotheses, which can lead to biases in the analysis. Thus, this study seeks to examine the relationship between fare and demand based on a conceptual representation of the determinants that may influence it, grounded in a literature review. Therefore, a mental map is proposed to represent the causality hypotheses regarding the immediate-, medium-, and long-term effects of fare changes. Based on the available data, a causal diagram is developed to assess the direct and indirect effects of these variations over time, estimated through panel data regressions while controlling for spatial, temporal, and socioeconomic factors using fixed effects.

Comparative analysis of tropical soil classification methods for highway pavement applications

Manoel Leandro Araújo e Farias — 2025-05-16

Road agencies in tropical regions face significant challenges when applying traditional soil classification systems, such as TRB (Transportation Reserach Board), developed for temperate and lateritic soils. The MCT (Miniatura, Compactado, Tropical) and G-MCT (Granular - Miniatura, Compactado, Tropical) offer a more suitable approach by classifying tropical soils into fine and coarse categories, facilitating predicting their properties and pavement applications. The UCLS (Universal Classification Methodology for Lateritic), which takes into account factors such as texture, granulometry, and mineralogy, shows promise for classifying lateritic soils, offering a comprehensive approach aligned with the specific characteristics of these soils. This study compared these methods using 20 soil samples from five Brazilian states. The samples were analyzed for chemical, physical, and mechanical properties. The dynamic triaxial test was used to measure the Resilient Modulus. A direct mismatch between the systems was observed due to distinct contexts, with the TRB being unsuitable for tropical soils. MCT and G-MCT showed partial incompatibility with UCLS, highlighting the need for an approach more aligned with tropical characteristics to optimize pavement performance.

Analysis of the effect of probabilistic response time at microsimulated intersections in AIMSUN

Wanderson Pedrosa — 2025-06-05

Signalized intersections are critical points in road infrastructure, often prone to congestion and accidents due to capacity limitations and traffic conflicts. Driver response time (RT), especially when prolonged, is a behavioral variable that affects traffic performance at these locations, contributing to increased delays and reduced road capacity. This study aimed to model and analyze the impact of drivers’ RT on traffic flow at signalized intersections using the AIMSUN microsimulation software. The methodology involved collecting RT and headway data at an intersection in Fortaleza, modeling the RT probability distribution, and implementing it in the simulator. Different scenarios were simulated by varying vehicle demand and RT to assess their impacts on average delay, v/c ratio, saturation flow, and the capacity of signalized approaches. The results showed that the log-normal distribution was the best fit to the RT data. Probabilistic modeling of RT in AIMSUN showed that the RT of the first vehicle in the queue (RT1) was higher than that of the subsequent vehicles. Incorporating probabilistic RT modeling increased delays and reduced capacity compared to the default model. The study highlights that probabilistic RT modeling affects the flow of microsimulated signalized intersections, particularly under more saturated traffic conditions.

Laboratory and numerical analysis for enhanced ballast performance: towards sustainable railway track pavement design

André Fardin Rosa — 2025-03-14

The physical and mechanical characterization of rock materials is a crucial step for their applicability as a railway ballast layer. However, most of the standardized tests for such characterization do not have direct application for the ballast layer design and the normative limits take into account only the origin of the rock material, ignoring the axle load factor and the lifespan for which the railway project is designed. This study aims to demonstrate the importance of characterizing materials in this process, through laboratory tests (physical and mechanical) and finite element modeling with four different rock materials as ballast, applying the results to obtain a reduction in the use of stone materials, aiming an optimized and sustainable concept for new railway projects. The effects of ballast thickness on subgrade stresses are analyzed in terms of subgrade bearing capacity and permanent deformation of geotechnical materials. The results show that variations in the ballast’s resilience modulus between 294 and 115 MPa have minimal influence on the subgrade’s vertical stresses, but that reductions of 10 cm in the thickness of this layer can increase subgrade stresses by up to 20%. Furthermore, an increase in the number of non-cubic particles can lead to greater permanent deformations, which can reduce the period between track maintenance cycles. Finally, the analysis showed that the Micro-Deval test can be considered an interesting method for the mechanical characterization of ballast and can be used to estimate its lifespan.

Basic education and sustainability: an exploratory analysis of training for sustainable transport habits

Isabel Magalhães — 2025-04-04

Through an exploratory literature review, this article discusses the need to promote sustainable transport habits in schools, given the increasing environmental degradation and high carbon emissions from the transport sector. While there are several strategies to promote sustainable transport, the effectiveness of these interventions depends on behavioral changes. The discussions are based on the searches conducted, including a bibliometric analysis and a narrative analysis. The searches introduce the concepts of ‘education on sustainable transport’ and ‘education and sustainable development – ESD’ within the Brazilian context. Regarding the theme, the bibliometric analysis highlights: suitable journals for the publication of future studies; the multidisciplinary nature of the subject; and the scarcity of studies. The narrative analysis suggests three hypotheses for future studies: the relationship between the scarcity of studies and the lower need for child awareness in developed countries; the positive impact of a solid foundation of environmental awareness in the school curriculum; and the inadequacy of current educational practices in Brazilian schools. However, the article provides insights into how educational practices can promote sustainable transport habits from childhood.

Statistical characterization of plant mixing and compaction of dense asphalt mixtures

Euller Loiola Sena — 2025-05-16

Despite the different approaches to defining quality, it is understood that minimizing the variability of the main characteristics of a product or process provides a gain in quality. For this purpose, it is necessary to first measure such variability. Aiming to add greater quality to asphalt pavement works, this study describes and statistically compares the variations that occur during the plant mixing and compaction stages of dense asphalt mixtures in three real road construction projects, with the percentage of asphalt binder (%Pb) and the degree of compaction (DoC) as quality indicators for each stage, respectively. For the works under analysis, the results indicate variations intrinsic to the type of service, but also reveal a scenario of normative non-conformities and significant statistical differences among the variations observed throughout construction, indicating a potential for improvement in the process. The proposed statistical approach adds a quantitative understanding of the execution process and can be used by contractors to improve their procedures aiming at quality improvement. Additionally, when applied to works already completed and/or in progress, regulatory agencies acquire useful references to assist in the planning and implementation of compliance audits in an optimized and precise manner.

Effect of wetting-drying cycles on physical and mechanical behavior of soil-aggregate-cement mixtures

André Lapa de Moraes Tavares — 2025-03-14

Soil-aggregate-cement (SAC) mixtures have been used in Brazil as base and/or subbase in pavements of heavy and very heavy volume roads, however, still lacks standardized protocols concerning material dosage and assessment of its performance and durability. Then, this study aims to understand the durability of the SAC mixtures by investigating their physical and mechanical behavior after wetting and drying cycles (ASTM D 559), and to contribute to creating reference data and constitutive models of this mixture. For this, four SAC mixtures composed of lateritic sandy soil and basaltic aggregate, in two different soil-aggregate proportions (20:80 and 30:70) and using 5% of two types of cement (PC-HE and PCC-S) were produced. Analyses were based on results of volume changes, weight loss, unconfined compression strength (UCS), indirect tensile strength (ITS) and resilient modulus (Mr) by repeated load triaxial test, at 0, 6 and 12 cycles. Findings show that SAC mixtures had small volume changes (±1.3%) and weight loss (from 4.8 to 5.5%) and their strength and stiffness properties were preserved or increased after W-D cycles. The stiffness of 20:80 mixtures was equivalent to the cement treated crushed rock (CTCR) ones, and 30:70 mixtures, to the soil-cement ones. The cycling effect on increasing mechanical properties warns against potential distresses in very high strengthen and stiff materials that can contribute to reduce fatigue performance of the mixture.

Mobile phone use while driving indicators based on naturalistic driving data

Thiago Noriyuki Kubo — 2025-05-16

The use of mobile phones while driving is a known risk factor for road crashes. Little is known about the characteristics of mobile phone use as a secondary task while driving in Brazil. The aim of this study was to derive road safety performance indicators related to mobile phone use while driving from Brazilian naturalistic driving data. The methodology involved an observational study analyzing video footage from 32 drivers in Curitiba and the Metropolitan Region. The most common type of use was checking/browsing: 44.96% of all instances. The average frequency of use was 8.71 uses per hour, with an average duration of 55.34 seconds per use. On average, drivers reduced their speed by 6.32 km/h after initiating use, and increased it by 5.11 km/h after completing the task. Checking/browsing was the type of use associated with the greatest speed adaptation, showing an average reduction of 7.39 km/h at the start, and an average increase of 3.55 km/h at the end. In conclusion, speed adaptation during mobile phone use was related to the complexity of the activity, based on the required manual, visual, and cognitive demands. However, drivers did not perceive the increased risk of making a call or sending a voice message, highlighting the need for more effective measures to reduce engagement in secondary tasks while driving.

Evaluation of the relationship between railway pavement stiffness and the occurrence of rail head fractures

Luciano de Oliveira — 2025-10-03

Understanding how rail fractures occur, considering the interaction and influence of the permanent way elements, is essential to mitigate railway incidents and their impacts. This study evaluates the relationship between the structural condition of the railway pavement and the propagation of cracks that appear inside the head rail section until the occurrence of fracture. The Estrada de Ferro Carajás – EFC was adopted as a case study, estimating the time until the fracture, considering the initial condition of the rail defect and the stiffness of the railway pavement. The results indicate that in the EFC sections with less stiffness, the fracture tends to occur significantly earlier than in those with greater stiffness. On the other hand, the larger the defect, the faster the crack evolution, especially in stiffer pavement of EFC. The methodology was applied and validated in a real EFC case. Based on the results, the need to review normative and operational procedures is highlighted, incorporating the structural condition of the railway pavement in the planning of inspections and interventions, as a strategy to prevent critical failures on tracks and improve the operational safety of railways.

Simulator sickness: a comparison between static and dynamic motion platforms in immersive driving simulators

Tânia Batistela Torres — 2025-08-06

This paper aims to evaluate and compare drivers’ sickness sensation on simulated driving for static and dynamic immersive simulators. For this, the Simulator Sickness Questionnaire (SSQ) was applied to 36 volunteers (18 men and 18 women) of three age groups (19 to 30; 31 to 60; and over 60 years old) who underwent the driving experience simulated. The severity of sickness symptoms in simulated conduction for SSQ and its virtual reality version – Virtual Reality Sickness Questionnaire, VRSQ – was obtained, allowing the comparison of both approaches. Analysis of the results using ANOVA indicates that static simulators cause greater sickness severity than dynamic ones. While the application of SSQ allowed the analysis of drivers’ oculomotor symptoms through the two types of platform, the application of VRSQ allowed the analysis of oculomotor and disorientation symptoms.

Adaptation of the HCM-7 for estimating the level of service on a Brazilian two-lane rural highway with passing lanes

Ana Carolina Felício Bicalho — 2025-04-04

The Highway Capacity Manual (HCM-7) is the primary document for analyzing capacity and level of service worldwide. The traffic data used in the development of the manual were obtained on North American roads, so adaptations must be made based on observed local conditions. The present study aimed to adapt the HCM-7 method to estimate the level of service on a Brazilian two-lane highway with passing lanes. The proposed method was based on traffic data produced with the Aimsun Next simulator, previously calibrated from traffic data obtained on a Brazilian highway (BR-040). Based on the simulation results, the coefficients of several equations in the manual were adjusted to assess the service measure Follower Density (FD) values in segments with passing lanes. It was observed that the adaptation of the HCM-7 method provided FD and Level of Service values close to the data found directly in the field.

Assessment of the impact of electronic speed and red-light camera enforcement on road safety: a before-and-after study using the Empirical Bayes Method

Paulo Bruno Souza Nunes — 2025-03-13

Automated enforcement strategies are commonly employed at signalized intersections to minimize traffic incidents. The actual impact of these strategies can vary between jurisdictions and lacks observational studies that address methodological challenges such as the regression-to-the-mean phenomenon and the time limitation of the observed period. This study evaluates the effects of electronic speed and red-light enforcement at signalized intersections on road safety performance using the Empirical Bayes (EB) Method. Using a total analysis period from 2010 to 2019, a Safety Performance Function (SPF) was developed for crashes with victims in 2011 based on vehicle flow (AADT) and the number of lanes, using a sample of 176 intersections in Fortaleza. The SPF (2011) was transferred to the other years of the analysis by adjusting the intercept correction obtained using the method proposed in the Highway Safety Manual. The results indicated a 21% reduction (8%, 33%; CI=95%) in crashes with injured and fatal victims, similar to the findings from using a comparison group and slightly better than those found in the international literature. The results and the application of the methodology help reinforce the effectiveness of installing enforcement devices at signalized intersections and contribute to improving ‘before-and-after’ observational studies in the Brazilian context.

Recycled hot asphalt mixtures with milled asphalt from geosynthetic-reinforced asphalt layers

Tiago Rodrigues Souza — 2025-06-11

The increasing use of geosynthetic interlayers, such as geogrids, geocomposites, and paving mats in asphalt rehabilitation projects, has led to an increase in milling operations involving asphalt layers containing these materials. While milling conventional pavement layers is well-documented, experience with milling layers reinforced with geosynthetic polymeric or fiberglass interlayers remains limited. This study aimed to evaluate the mechanical performance of asphalt mixtures containing Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement (RAP) with geosynthetic fragments (G-RAP). An experimental section was constructed at Salvador International Airport (Brazil), featuring five test sections reinforced with geosynthetics, which were milled after construction. Field results indicated that all interlayers were millable, though with variable milling efficiencies and byproducts with different physical characteristics. A mean reduction of 18% in milling efficiency was observed in the reinforced layers compared to the unreinforced control section. The results indicate that there are no significant differences between the G-RAP millings and the control RAP, other than the presence of geosynthetic fragments, highlighting the feasibility of reusing G-RAP in applications similar to conventional RAP. The analysis of asphalt mixtures with 20% G-RAP demonstrated that the presence of geosynthetic fragments maintained the particle size distribution of the control RAP and did not compromise the resilience modulus. Furthermore, G-RAP proved beneficial for mechanical properties such as Marshall stability, flow, and indirect tensile strength, confirming its viability for use in recycled paving mixtures.

Study of modified soils with polymers addition for use in roads pavements

Jonny Dantas Patricio — 2025-03-13

Soil is a supporting material and composes the pavement layers. Therefore, it must possess characteristics that confer stability and mechanical resistance to the stresses due to traffic during the pavement’s service life. When soils do not have the characteristics the projects require, stabilization techniques can make the natural soil suitable for highway requirements. Based on this assumption, this study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of polymer association in soil stabilization for use in road pavement. Mechanical behavior and wear tests were conducted on four different soils using pure soil samples and samples with the addition of the polymer association. The polymer association increased the values in the California Bearing Ratio (CBR), Unconfined Compressive Strength (UCS), Indirect Tensile Strength (ITS), Resilient Modulus (MR), and reduced wear in the LWT and WTAT tests. Overall, the polymer association studied in this research effectively stabilizes soils, making this technique efficient in highway pavement layers.

Fatigue behavior of CTCS type cemented mixtures using two representative rocks from Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

Ana Helena Back — 2025-04-25

The densification of the road sector makes it necessary to enable structures with greater structural capacity. To this end, one of the techniques developed consists of inserting layers of cement-treated crushed stones (BGTC) into the composition of the pavements. Therefore, the present research aims to study the fatigue behavior of four BGTC-type mixtures, incorporating a mechanistic analysis to the laboratory results. The materials chosen for the BGTC mixtures included aggregates of extrusive igneous rocks from the state of Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil), bonded with cement contents of 3.5% and 5.5%. For the mechanistic analysis, the MeDiNa software was used, evaluating different configurations of semi-rigid and inverted semi-rigid pavements replacing the purely granular layers of a flexible pavement taken as a reference. From the results obtained based on the mechanistic analysis carried out, it is concluded that cemented mixtures with a higher cement content are effective for both base and sub-base layers, as long as the cemented layers are not thin. For the highest traffic condition (5×107), the use of the BGTC mixtures studied in this paper in the base layer, with 5.5% cement, made it possible to reduce the thickness of the asphalt material used in the coating by 75%.

Using a hybrid multi-criteria analysis method to classify hot mix asphalt regarding permanent deformation

Victória Nunes-Ramos — 2025-06-11

The new Brazilian pavement design method (MeDiNa) defines the Flow Number as an indicator of permanent deformation of asphalt mixtures, which is adapted to traffic by trial and error, as there is no established combination of parameters in the literature for its prediction. In this sense, multi-criteria decision-making support methodologies can help optimize the mix composition process by simultaneously combining simplified indicators. Therefore, this study used a hybrid multi-criteria method (SMART and TOPSIS) to classify asphalt mixtures by combining parameters obtained in the design of these materials, comparing them with the ranking found by Flow Number. Based on the relative importance assigned by a panel of experts, it was found that it is possible to obtain a ranking statistically similar to that of Flow Number using only data from softening point and viscosity of the binder, granulometric range, shape index of the aggregate fraction #3/4 and binder content. The method is more effective for traffic of less than 6.8E+07 repetitions of standard axis under normal conditions. Therefore, the research has shown that it is feasible to simplify the design of mixtures for surfacing flexible pavements by filtering out the mixtures sent for more laborious tests such as Flow Number, limiting the number of tests to only the best-placed test mixtures. It also makes it possible to rationalize the design of low-traffic roads where there are no resources to carry out the test proposed by MeDiNa, helping designers to make decisions based on simplified indicators.

Dynamic semicircular bending testing for asphalt mixture fatigue evaluation

Karolayne Peres de Melo — 2025-10-03

Determining the fatigue life of asphalt mixtures is an important step in predicting the performance of flexible surface courses, and it is necessary to use laboratory tests that adequately represent the mechanisms that lead to the failure of mixtures due to fatigue. Currently, methods such as Indirect Tensile Test (IDT), Four-Point Beam Bending (4PB) and Direct Tension (DT) are used for this purpose. Due to their practicality and speed, static fracture tests such as Semi-Circular Bending (SCB) are also widely used, but they do not allow fatigue life to be determined. This study aims to investigate the viability of the dynamic SCB test as an alternative for obtaining fatigue life coefficients in order to optimize the analyses required for the mechanistic-empirical design of sidewalks. Initially, two systematic mappings were carried out to support the methodological decisions. Static and dynamic SCB tests and IDT fatigue tests were then carried out on two asphalt mixtures. The results were statistically compared to assess the agreement between the methods and indicated that, although there were differences in the fatigue curve coefficients obtained by the dynamic SCB and IDT tests, this was not statistically significant and both had similar fatigue performance ratings.