Civil Engineering

Md Toushik Ahmed Niloy, Civil Engineering won first place for his poster presentation at the 2017 Graduate Student Research Symposium. The title of his presentationn was “Actuated Signal Timing Optimization for a No-Notice Evacuation: A Simulation Study of Residents near the Phillips 66 Oil Refinery in Wood River, Illinois”. Dr. Ryan Fires, is the advisor for this master thesis work.

The abstract posted to the Symposium webpage further describes the topic:

"The determination of the appropriate traffic signal timing plan for no- notice evacuation in densely populated areas is a noteworthy challenge because no-notice incidents occur with no advance notice of time and place. At the time of the hazardous events especially at night time, at-risk residents nearby the oil refinery or chemical industry, must be evacuated and sheltered in the safe locations as quickly as possible. In response to this problem, optimize traffic signal timing control could significantly impact on evacuee traffic flow in a no-notice evacuation. This research project focused on achieving the important findings through simulation results in settings traffic signal timings and an evacuation strategy as well which can expedite the no-notice evacuation procedure. A simulation study was constructed based on the City of Wood River, Illinois road network with the traffic signal timing data set from the IDOT. With results generated by the traffic simulation software Synchro 8.0 and VISSIM 7.0, an effective traffic signal timing plan was identified for the optimum evacuation in view of three different simulation scenarios; such as existing traffic infrastructure, flexible shelter choice (scenario one) and the optimizing traffic signal-flexible shelter choice (scenario two). Node raw data (delay, TStopd, stops) in ten intersection nodes and vehicle travel time raw data (travel time, delay time) in four evacuation routes were the comparison elements for these simulation scenarios. Z-test and Chi-square experimental results indicate that scenario two was an optimal selection since scenario two reduced the summation of average travel time along with all evacuation routes 78% than the existing traffic infrastructure scenario and 48% than the scenario one. Similarly, in terms of delay, scenario two reduced the total delay time approximately 80% along with all evacuation routes than the existing infrastructure scenario and 52% than the scenario one. Using the node raw data in every T-test and ANOVA test, it was also observed that scenario two achieved utmost recognition for the fastest evacuation strategy compare to existing traffic infrastructure scenario and scenario one. This comprehensive evacuation research study suggests to employ longer cycle length in the busiest intersection than the regular operation and providing considerably more green time toward the shelter centers in evacuation time. This simulation study illustrated the effectiveness of the changing traffic signal timing settings according to the evacuee traffic demand and its potential application in the real-world no-notice evacuation."

(https://www.siue.edu/graduate-school-symposium/student-posters.shtml retreived 4/7/2017)