A fuel consumption model for public transportation with 3-D road geometry approach

Abstract

Public transportation fuel consumption modeling shows a great importance because of economic and environmental aspects. Considering to the metropolises with millions of inhabitants with circulating thousands of buses that uses intercity lines, its importance is becoming vital in planning both operation of transportation company and city mobility planning. In this context a detailed fuel consumption modelling approach for public transportation buses was used for vehicle fuel consumption assessment during operation. The methodology was developed with IPG TruckMaker + AVL Cruise co-simulation environment following instantaneous speed, load and 3-D road data primarily besides model parameters. The model was validated at one of the most important public transportation axle of the world, Istanbul Metrobus System, at two direction which carries over ~1 million passenger daily in 24 hours operation with petrol engine buses. The comparison simulation/ measurements showed that the proposed fuel consumption model is accurate and can predict fuel consumption behavior for public transit buses in a reliable band. In addition, this methodology can be used to investigate various powertrain and operating scenarios near future for more efficient public transportation with high reliability.