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Transportation Systems Research
in the United States:
An Overview
Executive Summary
Transportation systems and services (on land and water, in
the air, and in space) account for some 2~25 percent of the U.S.
gross national product (GNP) a striking measure of their critical
importance to the nation. Transportation is such a ubiquitous
feature of modern life that we tend to take it for granted. Yet
the efficient and productive design, manufacture, operation, and
control of transportation systems is key to the ease or difficulty of
day-to-day life and our ability to respond effectively to a national
emergency. Because it has a major impact on the cost of goods
and their delivery, transportation is also an important key to the
competitiveness of companies in the domestic economy and of U.S.
industries in the world economy.
Previous engineering research has made possible today's highly
developed and complex transportation systems. Continuing re-
search is essential to meet the ever-increasing transportation de-
mands of individuals, the industrial and commercial sectors, and
the military. Individuals, organizations, and nations prosper and
develop in concert with progress in transportation. If the United
States does not contribute substantially to that progress, it will
have to defer to other nations in both the economic and defense
realms for the advances they devise.
281
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DIRECTIONS IN ENGINEERING RESEARCH
The field of transportation research encompasses almost all of
the disciplines and interdisciplines of engineering. It has strong
hardware and software components that include vehicles, the
guideways along which they travel, and the "intermodal" inter-
faces or facilities connecting two or more modes of transportation.
Important methodology questions of network analysis and design,
communications and control, logistics, and system planning and
management complement the concern with equipment and facili-
ties.
Important issues for future transportation systems pertain to
the need to: increase productivity, increase defense effectiveness,
limit undesirable congestion, improve reliability, reduce life-cycle
costs, protect the environment, manage safety hazards and risks,
and conserve scarce energy and material resources. From these
demands derive a wide range of engineering research requirements
and opportunities. The Pane] on Transportation Systems Re-
search has selected a few research needs from among the many
that deserve special emphasis and attention. The research needs
identified here are grouped into four categories. Those needs in the
first category (needs that are applicable to all modes of transporta-
tion) are the most critical, and the pane! wishes to emphasize that
they present the greatest opportunities for benefiting the nation.
The reader is cautioned that the topics chosen are those judged
to be of prime importance in meeting transportation needs relevant
to the civilian sector, including those common to both the civilian
and defense sectors. Therefore, many areas of critical importance
to the U.S. Air Force, Army, Navy, Marines, and Coast Guard that
are strictly military in nature do not appear. Among those areas
are the technological research subjects essential to an adequate
global combat readiness the rapid and effective transportation of
materiel and personnel to and within possible combat areas.
1. Engineering research needs applicable to all modes of trans-
portation (i.e., cross-modal research):
. systems engineering (integration of all or major segments
of the entire spectrum of vehicle design, vehicle-guideway interac-
tions, traffic control, intermodal interfaces, and the planning and
logistics of transportation networks for moving people and goods);
the mechanics of slowly deteriorating systems;
energy conversion and pollution control;
fluid dynamics of separated flows; and
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TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS RESEARCH
.
nonlinear collapse of structures.
283
2. Fundamental engineering research areas of special rele-
vance to transportation systems:
tribology;
computational fluid and solid mechanics; and
the man-machine interface.
3. Broad, fundamental research areas within the purview of
other panels of the Engineering Research Board:
computers and control technology;
manufacturing sciences;
composite and other advanced materials; and
structures.
4. Specific aspects of (civilian) modes of transportation re-
· · ~
qulrlng research:
~ aerospace gas turbine engines, laminar flow control or
turbulence suppression, novel configurations and the influence of
structural design on aerodynamics, interactions among compo-
nents, and transatmospheric propulsion;
~ Maritime—ports, terminals, and waterways; cargo han-
dling systems; hazardous cargos; new ship forms; and shipbuild-
~ng;
~ Automotive/highway—urban/suburban street and highway
maintenance, safety, and highway productivity;
Railroads lighter-weight rolling stock, safety, signaling
and communications, maintenance of track structure, evaluation
and inspection; and
. Pipelines—in-situ inspection and refurbishment, pneumatic
transport of fluidized solids, and capsule transport.
The panel found that federal support for engineering research
in transportation is very uneven across the different modes. Sup-
port for aerospace research is substantial; support for the automo-
tive/highway and maritime modes is moderate, but inadequate in
many areas; and federal research support for the rail and pipeline
modes is virtually nonexistent.
Many components of all transportation modes, including most
of the guideways (e.g., highways and aircraft flight paths) and
many of the intermodal interfaces (e.g., ports and terminals), are
in the public sector; research on these components is clearly in
the government's domain. Research on other components (e.g.,
.
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DIRECTIONS IN ENGINEERING RESEARCH
most familiar vehicles) is being addressed more or less satisfacto-
rily by the private sector; nevertheless, there are important areas
of fundamental research that the private sector cannot adequately
pursue and that should be supported by government. In addi-
tion, the Department of Transportation (DOT) and other federal
agencies should increase the research on which their regulation of
the transportation industry and equipment/vehicle manufacturers
is based, in order to ensure that such regulation meets national
objectives of safety and productivity.
The government is also responsible for the national defense, of
which transportation systems are a highly significant element. The
panel found that, in areas in which there is a clear and direct rela-
tionship between defense and an element of civilian transportation
(e.g., air traffic control), federal support for research is adequate.
In areas in which there is a less direct relationship, inadequate
research may lead to a situation in which civilian transportation
systems either do not exist or could not be mobilized quickly
enough to meet national defense needs. Fundamental engineer-
ing research is needed to define the transportation problems that
would be posed by various national emergencies and to provide
the knowledge required to solve these problems.
The federal government should assist the maritime and rail-
road industries in moving toward substantially increasing their
research activities in order to meet worldwide competition and
to develop a readiness for defense mobilization. In addition, the
potential for more fully exploiting pipeline systems should be care-
fully examined from an engineering and economic standpoint. Re-
search should provide the knowledge base for new pipeline inspec-
tion and repair methods.
When a component of a transportation system is in the public
sector (and in the aerospace mode generally), government funding
should be directed at both fundamental and applied engineering
research. For all other civilian components, it should be directed
primarily at fundamental research. The National Science Foun-
dation (NSF) should mount a significant program of fundamental
research in transportation (including its methodological aspects).
In addition, the DOT should resume and expand its programs
in support of fundamental research across the spectrum of trans-
portation, with universities as the principal performers, so that
knowledgeable graduates will be available to both industry and
government.
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TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS RESEARCH
285
The panel found that an adequate number of university faculty
is currently involved in the methodological aspects of transporta-
tion; however, this number is decreasing because of a lack of both
research funding and graduate students. The hardware-oriented
side of the field draws practitioners from all disciplines, but there
is a shortage of qualified and interested Ph.D.s and doctoral can-
didates (especially U.S.-born candidates). If universities receive
the majority of the federal government's funding of fundamental
engineering research, this will increase both the knowledge base
for private sector development of transportation systems and the
supply of appropriately educated people. Additional efforts on the
part of schools, industry, and the government are needed to attract
greater numbers of qualified Ph.D. candidates into transportation
research.
Intro duct ion
SCOPE OF THE PANEL'S REPORT
The Pane! on Transportation Systems Research was charged
with examining issues posed for its parent body, the Engineering
Research Board, relating to those areas of engineering research
critical to the future of transportation systems within the interests
of the United States. The panel's charge encompassed civil and
military transportation systems alike, operating in every sphere-
land, water, air, and space.
Included within this broad scope was the identification of key
areas of engineering research, as a basis for achieving a wide range
of objectives:
. to improve the efficiency, safety, environmental effects,
cost, reliability, and durability of the components of transportation
systems;
.
to optimize the design, management, and control of trans-
portation systems, including air, ground, and maritime systems;
. to enable better decisions to be made when choosing among
existing modes and intermodal systems; and
to develop new or greatly improved transportation systems,
including interfaces among modes of transportation.
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DIRECTIONS IN ENGINEERING RESEARCH
BACKGROUND
The term "transportation systems" refers to the various means
by which technology and resources are applied to the movement
of people and commodities from place to place in response to
economic and societal needs and desires. Transportation systems
and services account for some 2~25 percent of the GNP one
striking measure of the critical importance of this field. In an
increasingly global economy, the productivity and efficiency of
transportation is a key element in the competitiveness of individual
companies and U.S. industries alike. It is equally critical to the
nation's defense readiness.
Today's transportation systems have drawn heavily from prac-
tically every area of engineering research to achieve their present
level of effectiveness, safety, reliability, and economy. Tomorrow's
systems including those not yet developed will continue to de-
pend on the broad spectrum of engineering research for the many
basic elements of knowledge they will require to meet the nation's
transportation needs in a safe, reliable, and economical manner.
The field of transportation is so broad that it encompasses
most engineering disciplines and interdisciplines. Research results
in materials, in fluid mechanics and combustion, in solid mechanics
and structures, in electronic devices and controls, in computer and
systems science and engineering, in manufacturing and fabrication,
in construction, and in aspects of the man-machine interface have
been applied to transportation in a highly integrated way. This
research has enabled the transformation of primitive predecessors
into the present surface vessels, submarines, trains, autos, trucks,
off-road vehicles, pipeline systems, aircraft and space vehicles,
and other familiar people and goods movers and the visible and
invisible paths on which they move.
It might be tempting to believe that so much has been ac-
complished in the transportation field to date that little dramatic
progress can be expected in the future. The literature of past
decades and centuries is replete with assertions that "they've gone
about as far as they can go." Each time, the expectations for little
change have proved to be false often catastrophically so in eco-
nomic and/or military terms, for those so complacent. Sometimes
improvements simply continued at a steady pace. At other times
new modes or new devices were developed to supersede those for
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TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS RESEARCH
287
which only marginal unprovements could be achieved. The les-
son should be clear: Individuals, groups, and nations prosper and
develop in concert with progress in transportation. If the United
States does not contribute substantially to that progress, it will have
to defer to other nations in both the economic and defense realms
for the advancements they devise.
Engineering research directed at transportation can provide
the overall framework for significant advances in the future. A1-
though every individual and every organization uses transporta-
tion systems, and are therefore informed about (and typically
critical of) their-shortcomings, few are aware of the complex and
pervasive influence transportation systems have on the national
welfare. Most people understand that transportation systems fa-
cilitate achieving widely accepted societal goals pertaining to the
quality of life, to domestic productivity, and to the nation's eco-
nomic and defense position relative to the rest of the world. It is
also widely recognized that limitations in transportation systems
hamper achieving those goals.
Less apparent, however, are the far-reaching implications that
relaxing or tightening this system of limiting factors may have
on seemingly unrelated events. Adjustments in the system bring
about a cascade of changes that affect the growth and decline
of cities and regions, the expansion or contraction of sectors of
the economy, and our ability to function effectively in the world
economic system and to defend successfully our national interests
in the world political system. The Organization of Petroleum
Exporting Countries' oil embargo of 1973 and subsequent price
increases are a prime example, leading as they did to a worldwide
economic readjustment and major alterations in the direction and
fortunes of some of our nation's largest industries. Substantial
decreases in oil prices could in the future have equally powerful
impacts on the world economy and not entirely beneficial ones.
DEFINITION OF THE FIEI,D
A transportation system encompasses (1) guideways (or sim-
ply "ways"), (2) vehicles Including containers), (3) operations
and control, and (4) terminals and other nodes. Often the term
~mode" is used to refer to the vehicle (e.g., surface ship, aircraft, or
spacecraft) and/or guideway (e.g., highway, railroad, or pipeline).
Thus, a transportation system may be modal or intermodal (e.g.,
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DIRECTIONS IN ENGINEERING RESEARCH
truck-rail). Interfaces between modes are included in the system
description.
Transportation systems research encompasses not only the
tangible components of these systems, but also the software and
methodologies governing a system's design, operation, and man-
agement to meet the ever-changing needs and desires of our society.
Table 1 lists aspects of transportation that are subject to engineer-
ing research. Systems engineering, which encompasses both the
tangible components and methodological elements of transporta-
tion systems, brings public and/or social choices and concerns into
play along with the other aspects shown in Table 1.
Important or Emerging Areas of
Transportation Systems Research
IDENTIFYING RESEARCH NEEDS
IN TRANSPORTATION
Despite the great importance of our transportation system
to the nation, as measured by the enormous public investment
mentioned earlier, there is little investment in and almost no co-
ordination of the research needed to improve the effectiveness and
efficiency of either the overall transportation system or of the
individual modes. Indeed, for our highways alone (a $1 trillion
system), less than 0.15 percent of the nation's 1982 expenditures
on the system went for research. The leverage for benefit from
a proportionately small increase in research is very large. One
reason that more research is not done, however, is that the payoffs
come not to the industry that might pioneer the advance, but
to the users of the system. This absence of financial return has
limited industrial investments in research.
As a nation, then, we are missing a great opportunity to
invest wisely in transportation systems research. What are the
best investments we can make in that research? Too often we
do not know, because even the studies that would determine the
important trade-offs have not been done. A logical starting point,
however, is the projection of likely future societal needs with re-
spect to transportation systems. Because these needs will derive
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TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS RESEARCH
TABLE 1 Aspects of Transportation Systems Subject to Engineering Research
System
Topic
289
Vehicles
G uideways
Intermodal interfaces
Communication
Network analysis
System planning and
management
Propulsion
Container
Communications
Controls
Safety equipment
Pollution controls
Navigational equipment
Structures
G eometrics
Maintenance equipment
Safety equipment
Navigational equipment
Conveyors
Parking facilities
Freight handling equipment
Terminals (e.g., harbors)
Vehicle to vehicle
Vehicle to guideway
Guideway to vehicle
intermode
Equilibrium
Logistics
Congestion reduction
Location
Safety
Capacity
Environmental impacts
Flow relationships
Mode choices
Man-machine interface
Control
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DIRECTIONS IN ENGINEERING RESEARCH
primarily from public (including military) expectations and con-
cerns regarding transportation, the pane! undertook initially to
identify those expectations and concerns shared jointly by the
civilian and defense sectors.
GROWING ISSUES IN TRANSPORTATION
Issues that the pane! expects to be of major concern in the
context of the overall U.S. transportation system in the next 20
years are
general pressure for more elective transportation (better
and more transportation for less money);
increasing traffic congestion (both ground and air);
heightened expectations for improved reliability and dura-
bility;
pressure for lower life-cycle costs;
demands for less negative impacts on the physical environ-
ment (air, water, noise, solid-waste, and aesthetic pollu-
tion);
the need for greater public understanding of safety and/or
risk management; and
the reemergence of energy and material resources as a con-
straint.
IMPACTS ON RESEARCH
Viewed another way, these issues highlight public expectations
of (1) increased safety and convenience for the available modes
of transportation, (2) commercial and industrial needs for lower
costs and more reliable and timely delivery of goods, arid (3)
enormous rn~litary logistics needs in times of national emergency.
These expectations and needs will not be met satisfactorily in
the increasingly crowded future solely on the basis of present
knowledge.
Substantial innovations in transportation systems in the form
of both major improvements and new developments—will be re-
quired to meet these expectations and concerns electively. The
often-noted unpredictability of major innovations argues strongly
for broadly supporting engineering research to provide the store-
house of knowledge on which such breakthroughs can be based. Yet
some engineering research areas deserve special emphasis because
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TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS RESEARCH
291
they are certain to provide part of the background information
essential for future transportation systems.
STRATEGY FOR SELECTION OF CRITICAL RESEARCH AREAS
In order to identify a number of important present or emerging
areas of research that have a high potential for meeting these
needs, the panel examined much of the range of transportation
engineering research. In the process, it identified and considered
more than 50 specific promising areas of research. To reduce
that group to those with the greatest potential impact, the panel
applied certain selection criteria.
A broad criterion was that the research be relevant to the
civilian sector (i.e., including military-related research with direct
civilian applicability). In addition, the pane! weighed the can-
didate areas on the basis of: (1) their perceived importance to
the nation, using the list of needs and concerns expressed previ-
ously; and (2) the perceived potential for payoff, especially in the
medium- to long-term time frame (or at least 10 years away).
Applying these criteria, the panel developed four lists. The
first list consists of five cross-modal engineering research areas
with transportation-wide applicability. The pane] considers these
five research areas as being the most critical ones and as having
the greatest potential for benefiting the nation. The second list
consists of three broad, fundamental research areas of special rel-
evance to transportation but with applications to other fields as
well. The third list consists of mode-specific research topics with
the potential to provide a breakthrough in various modes of trans-
portation. The fourth list simply notes, by title, research areas
of great importance to transportation but that are the primary
concern of other panels of the Engineering Research Board.
Beyond the criteria mentioned previously, the panel focused
on research needs that are novel, or that represent the possibility
of a major, nonmarginal advance. There was a deliberate intent
not to include those research opportunities that are obvious exten-
sions of current knowledge, but that are simply not being funded
despite their evident potential for near-term payoff. To that end,
the panel endorses wholeheartedly the recommendations for near-
term research put forth by organizations such as the Transporta-
tion Research Board, with respect to highway systems, and the
Association of American Railroads, with respect to rail systems.
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DIRECTIONS IN ENGINEERING RESEARCH
governmental research at the federal [eve! on railroad issues not
immediately related to safety.
Guided moderate- to high-speed rail passenger transportation
has been given only sporadic attention in the United States.* The
rail passenger vehicles that move commuters, whether on heavy or
light rail services or as a part of conventional railroad lines using
their right~of-way, are not different in essential detail from those
used decades ago. There ~ very little commitment to research on
the part of either private operators or the federal government.
Air Transportation. The history of research on air trans-
portation has been rather different. Aircraft technology is based,
to a significant extent, on federally financed research carried out
by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
(and its predecessor, the National Advisory Committee for Aero-
nautics), the Air Force, the Navy, and to a lesser extent, the
Army. Armed with this publicly financed work on aerodynamics,
propulsion systems, navigation and communication systems, and
related technical processes, the airlines recognize that they do not
need to support major basic research programs of their own. All
they must do is define, from their commercial perspective, what
their technical requirements are.
The airframe and engine manufacturers, who derive substan-
tial income from military procurement programs along with their
associated direct research and independent R&D, are readily able
to adapt technology from defense and NASA programs to com-
mercial applications. A threat comes, however, from consortia
abroad, when direct governmental funding of research and technic
logical development makes Japanese and European manufacturers
more competitive than American aerospace companies trying to
satisfy a commercial market. Furthermore, the sheer cost of bring-
ing new designs to market has risen to the point that an aircraft
manufacturer or engine manufacturer essentially "bets the com-
pany" on its ability to command a large enough market share
to earn back its applied R&D costs in translating the underlying
technology into a competitive airframe or engine. Competitive
*High-speed ground transportation systems in Japan and Europe con-
tinue to attract attention, although none are able to operate without sub-
stantial government subsidies. Various U.S. operators are considering the
feasibility of adopting these approaches, but they are generally even less eco-
nomically attractive in the special circumstances of distances and population
densities in the United States.
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TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS RESEARCH
311
forces have now narrowed the base of commercial suppliers in the
United States almost to the vanishing point. Nevertheless, the
U.S. aerospace industry is satisfied with the existing arrangement,
there appears to be no change in view for government policy on
research relevant to commercial needs.
The nation's airways and associated control systems are sup-
ported by the federal government, partly for national defense pur-
poses. Major research programs in progress are already looking
at next-generation air traffic control systems designed to increase
flight density without impairing safety.
Pipelines. Pipelines are a very special form of transportation-
and a very successful one. They carry a large percentage of the
liquid fuels that are transported, and account for 18 percent of all
ton-miles of intercity domestic freight. Pipelines are not receiv-
ing significant amounts of research funding. Accordingly, the full
range of opportunities for pipelines to compete with other modes
of transportation has not been explored (see the section on "~den-
tifying Research Needs in Transportations. The use of clifferent
transport media, slurries, and capsules for transport of bulk prod-
ucts warrants considerable study to determine whether the rote of
pipelines in transportation can be expanded. Serious doubt has been
cast on the economic viability of pipelines in some applications,
as a result of the high costs of the Alaskan pipeline. Research is
needed on materials, construction, and inspection technology to
ensure that pipelines can play their proper role in the economy of
the future.
NEED FOR A RETHINKING OF POLICIES
In summary, it is clear that the government does not allocate
equal funding to fundamental or applied research and the develop-
ment of technology across the various modes of transportation. If
a field is obviously and closely related to ongoing, large-scale mil-
itary procurement neecis (e.g., aircraft and spacecraft), it derives
great benefits from the associated government-sponsored research
and development. If the procurement is sporadic, as it is for naval
surface vessels, then governmen~sponsored research activity Is
modest, as is any carryover to commercial shipping. If the connec-
tion to defense is clear, but critical only under wartime conditions
or an imminent threat of war as it is for the highway, railroad,
maritime, and pipeline transportation systems then research is
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DIRECTIONS IN ENGINEERING RESEARCH
left pr~rnarily to the private sector. Yet the private sector cannot
abort to conduct research that addresses defense needs.
As a consequence, the rate of technological advancement dif-
fers significantly from one transportation mode to the next, and the
United States as a whole does not have the benefit of optimum tech-
nology deriving from both private and public investment decisions.
Numerous attempts have been made to address the question of
a national transportation policy. However, none of these stud-
ies has been able to clarify how local governments, states, the
federal government, and the private sector can coordinate or com-
bine their research efforts in pursuit of what should be common
transportation goals.
The United States surface freight transportation system
(truck, rail, and ship) is extremely elective but expensive be-
cause of the substantial duplication of services. That duplication
must be reexamined in the face of much more aggressive interna-
tional econorn~c competition on the one hand and our emergency
national defense needs on the other.
During a national emergency, the nation's transportation sys-
tem must be ready to function efficiently in an entirely different
way. The tranportation problems that would be posed by such an
emergency require research, first to define them, and then to pro-
vide the necessary knowledge base for their solution. The delays
and inadequacies of previous responses provide ample warning of
the need.
With regard to the movement of people, the United States
has unparalleled mobility, but at great expense too great, in the
eyes of some. It is not clear, given the growth and redistribution
of the population and the increasing cost of energy over time, that
the current balance between the private and public transportation
of people represents the optimum national investment. Research
aimed at exploring options is not adequately supported. Accord-
ingly, present and future Sections will have an ad hoc quality.
These decisions will not be systems oriented, as they must be if
efficient and rational choices in the use of resources are to be
proposed and then acted on by the public and private sectors.
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TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS RESEARCH
Trues Affecting the Health of
Transportation Systems Research
.
FUNDING
313
For an activity that accounts for between 20 and 25 percent
of the national economy, and that is critical for national defense,
transportation systems have remarkably little research backup out-
side of the aerospace field. Some years ago, a systematic study of
the allocation of federal resources to research revealed that about
10 percent of the budget of the national security program was
devoted to research. Agencies participating in the national se-
curity program include the Department of Defense, that part of
the Department of Energy related to nuclear systems, and NASA.
The remaining federal government agencies allocated an average
of about 1 percent of their budgets to research. Of civilian mission
agencies involved in transportation, however, less than 0.5 percent
of budgeted funding is for research. According to NSF data, only
2 percent of federal support of engineering research comes from
the DOT—about $80 million (or less than half the outlay of the
Nuclear Regulatory Commission for engineering research).
Elements of transportation that are predominantly civilian in
times of peace have generally been Delved as a private sector con-
cern. As a result' much of the transportation field does not have a
healthy research base. The private sector as a whole allocates only
about 0.1 percent of its combined budget to research. However,
there is a broad range here. Some parts of the private sector al-
locate 10 percent or more of gross revenues to research, whereas
others allocate less than 0.01 percent. This creates disproportion-
ate technical capabilities in various parts of the economy. The
same uneveness is reflected ~ the transportation. Airborne sys-
tems, for example, are supported by significant levels of research—
both industry- and government-sponsored—on military systems,
communications, and other applicable areas. Thus, technology
transfer is feasible and can be pursued aggressively by organiza-
tions committed to commercial applications. In the very broadest
sense, then, research in the aviation and space fields can be consid-
ered healthy on the basis of the number of parallel activities being
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DIRECTIONS IN ENGINEERING RESEARCH
pursued although, as mentioned earlier, the cost of development
is high.
By contrast, there is virtually no federal commitment to
guided ground passenger transportation. At the same time, the
industry is allocating less than the "standard" 0.1 percent of its
total budget to research. Therefore, although there is not a total
absence of new ideas in this field, there is insufficient research
to permit a fully informed choice among alternative propulsion
systems, guidance and control systems, information management
and decision-making systems, vehicles, materials, materials fabri-
cations, materials inspection systems, and so on. Indeed, there is
too little research funding available to permit either the substan-
tial improvement of existing systems or the development of new
ones.
For highway transportation, apart from vehicles, the fraction
of dollars allocated to research and development is relatively small.
As a consequence, issues of design and construction, fabrication
technology, maintenance technology, inspection technology, and
control technology are poorly understood. In addition, the tech-
nologies are applied by a multitude of government organizations
and their contractors. Because of these factors, the practitioners
of these arts are not sufficiently exposed to opportunities arising
from research to take full advantage even of what is already in
place.
This argument applies with equal force to water-borne com-
mercial transportation as distinguished from naval vessels. In
maritime transportation there are very few options available to
a designer or an operator because of the lack of exploration and
aggressive consideration of new ideas and new concepts. The aca-
demic community has few opportunities to pursue research in these
fields. Thus, the applied R&D community ~ presented with~few
ideas for new options. Operators are not able to look at totally
different ways of providing necessary services because there are so
few applicable research findings.
This situation does not necessarily justify a large increase in
federal funding for transportation R&D. The federal government
has not shown itself to bee effective in dealing with the interface
between RED in relationship to specific needle of the economy.
There have been failures in both the transit car and bus arenas,
in which federal funding for development actually impeded rather
than facilitated the delivery of better services by the private sector.
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TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS RESEARCH
315
A principal option that should be explored is for changes in tax
policy, antitrust controls, and regulatory policies so as to facilitate
and encourage private sector investment.
Another major option would be to expand the federal role
in supporting fundamental research on which the private sector
could build its applied R&D programs. In the 1970s, the DOT
had two university research programs, one in the office of the
secretary (later in Research and Special Programs Adrn~nistration)
and one in the Urban Mass Transportation Administration. Both
programs have since been dismantled. Nevertheless, the DOT is
one of the two agencies (along with the NSF) best suited to support
fundamental research in transportation, especially at universities.
Changes in tax and other policies should be explored continu-
ously to facilitate and encourage private sector investment in the
universities for support of research applicable to transportation
systems.
Among federal agency program heads, as well as in Congress,
there has been little understanding of the distinctions and interre-
lations among fundamental engineering research, applied research,
development, and the performance and productivity of transporta-
tion systems. There has been little attention to medium- and long-
range research, and almost no focus on the intermodal questions
that have become more crucial as energy costs have risen and for-
eign competitiveness has intensified. These are precisely the kinds
of research that industry is least likely to fund without specific
incentives for doing so.
When a component of a transportation system is in the pub-
tic BectoT {as it is generally for the aerospace mode), government
funding of engineering research should be directed at both funda-
mental and applied research. For all other components, it should be
directed primarily at fundamental research. The NSF should ini-
tiate a significant and broad program of fundamental engineering
research in transportation.* The DOT should resume and expand
its programs in support offundamental research across the spectrum
of transportation, with universities as the principal performers of
this research.
*There is already movement within the NSF toward establishing such
a program. See, for example, the summary of an NSF Conference on
Transportation Research State of the Art and Research Opportunities;
Special Issue, Transportation Research l9A (5/6), 1985, D. E. Boyce, editor.
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316
DIRECTIONS IN ENGINEERING RESEARCH
ROLE OF UNIVERSITIES IN TRANSPORTATION
ENGINEERING RESEARCH
The total national R&D effort in 1984 for all fields is esti-
mated at $98 billion. Industry, the federal government, universi-
ties, and others are estimated to contribute by performance 75, 11,
8, and 6 percent, respectively, to this total. Universities (repre-
senting 8 percent of the total R&D effort) are unique in that their
primary emphasis is on fundamental research and their primary
output, apart from research results, is educated students. (Uni-
versities perform about 25 percent of all research and nearly 50
percent of all basic research.*)University research is also generally
characterized—in part because of its close coupling with graduate
education- as being long term, with an emphasis on originality;
it is also relatively inexpensive. In addition, the diverse nature
and openness of the university allows a greater cross-fertilization
of fundamental research ideas than normally occurs in either in-
dustry or government laboratories.
These factors make the universities indispensable in providing
much of the basis for advancements in the hardware, software,
and methodology of technology-based fields. University research
can be uniquely helpful when complex systems such as the trans-
portation network, with its intermodal problems and linkages to
other industries, are at issue. However, it is not sufficient to speak
only of research. Research results wit! not lead to improvements
in the transportation system unless those results are effectively
transmitted to the relevant user organizations. At present, the
coupling between universities and operating agencies—- whether in
the public or private sector is generally inadequate. There must
be accommodations on both sides, in attitudes as well as in prac-
tices, if the linkage is to be improved.
TRAINING AND EDUCATION
An important indicator of the health of research in any engi-
neering field is the production of highly qualified researchers and
practicing engineers—specifically, Ph.D. output. The pane] at-
tempted to assess Ph.D. output in the transportation field, using
published dissertations as a measure. However, definitional incon-
sistencies in the labeling of degrees and the description of thesis
*Science Indicators, 1982. National Science Foundation, 1983.
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TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS RESEARCH
317
topics made this an impossible task. The difficulty was more
pronounced for hardware-oriented Ph.D.s than it was for those
concerned with methodological aspects of transportation research.
A complicating factor is that almost anyone with a doctoral degree
who works in transportation has a degree with another label (e.g.,
aeronautical, chemical, civil, electrical, and mechanical engineer-
ing; computer science; mechanics; or operations research).
On an empirical basis, pane} members in industry (e.g., in
the automotive industry) report that the demand for recent Ph.D.
graduates in every aspect of transportation technology exceeds the
supply. Transportation faculty members at universities around
the country report that doctoral-degree enrollment in transporta-
tion programs particularly of U.S.-born students is declining
steadily. It appears likely that there wit! be a shortfall of suit-
ably trained cloctoral researchers and practitioners relative to future
demand by universities, government, and industry.
Declining research support is certainly a major factor here.
Current research projects being funded by the federal government
(Federal Highway Administration) and by the National Coopera-
tive Highway Research Program are usually so large and require
such elaborate proposals that many universities cannot compete
successfully for this research. Another important factor is the rel-
atively greater attractiveness to students of other fields at present.
The key problem, again, Is that for most transportation doctoral
students, transportation is an area of specialization in a larger
field. These students are presently less inclined to consider trans-
portation as an area ~ which to specialize. As a result, some
~marketing" of the field to graduate students may be needed.
However, with inadequate funding for research, there is lit-
tIe to market except enthusiasm. More than 20 universities have
transportation research centers and currently offer graduate de-
grees (including master's degrees) in transportation.* This is a
strong infrastructure for teaching. Yet as enrollment drops, the
falling student/faculty ratio is beginning to necessitate a shift
of faculty to other areas of engineering. This is not a healthy
trend, except to the extent that it demonstrates the flexibility of
researchers in this field.
*From data provided by the Council of University Transportation
Centers.
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318
DIRECTIONS IN ENGINEERING RESEARCH
The pane! believes that under the current circumstances there
is cause for concern about the future of the researcher pool in
transportation. An improved outlook for sustained research sum
port could do much to reverse these trends. Thus, research funding
by the government should be apackaged" in sizes suitable for uni-
versities with Ph.D. programs in transportation. Additional NSF
funding for fundamental research, recommended earlier, would
permit universities to attract larger numbers of highly qualified
U.S.-born graduate students.
Bibliography
America's Highways: Acocicrating the Search for Innovation. Transportation
Research Board, Washington, DC: National Research Council, 1984.
Harris, W. J., Jr. Progress in Railroad Research: The Program of the Research and
Scat Department, 1982-1988. Washington, DC: Association of American
Railroads, 1985.
Kiss, R. K. The SNAME Technical and Research Program of 1984. Transac-
tion of the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers. Vol. 92,
1984; pp. 151-184.
Mahoney, J. Intennodal Freight 1Pan~portahon. Westport, CT: Eno Foundation
for Transportation, Inc., 1985.
National Airspace System Plan. Engineering and Dcvelopmerd. U.S. Department
of Transportation, Federal Aviation Administration. Washington, DC,
April 1984.
OSTP. National Aeronautical ROD Goals: Technology for America's Future. Exec-
utive Office of the President, Oflice of Science and Technology Policy.
Washington, DC, March 1985.
U.S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment. An Aseceamcnt of Maritime
Made and Technology (OTA-0-220~. Washington, DC: OTA, 1983.
U.S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment. A Technology Aeecsemcnt of
Coal Slurry Pipclinca. U.S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment,
March, 1978. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1983.
Zandi, I. Freight pipeline. Journal of Pipelines 2~2~:77-93, 1982.
OCR for page 319
TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS RESEARCH
Appendix A
Responses to the Engineering Research
Board's Request for Assistance from
Universities, Professional Societies, and
Federal Agencies and Laboratories
319
Requests for assistance were sent by the Engineering Research
Board to a number of universities, recipients of Presidential Young
Investigator Awards, professional societies, and federal agencies
and laboratories in order to obtain a broader view of engineering
research opportunities, research policy needs, and the health of the
research community. Some of the responses included comments on
engineering research aspects of transportation systems research;
these were reviewed by this pane! to aid in its decision-making
process. The pane! found the responses to be most helpful and
wishes that it were possible to individually thank all those who
took the time to make their views known. Because that is not
practical, we hope nevertheless that this small acknowledgment
might convey our gratitude.
Responses on aspects of transportation systems research were
received from individuals representing 36 different organizations,
listed in Table A-1: 17 universities (including 2 represented by
recipients of NSF Presidential Young Investigator Awards), 9 pro-
fessional organizations, and 10 federal agencies or laboratories.
Some comments covered specific aspects of the panel's scope of
activities, whereas others provided input on a variety of subjects.
Although most of the responses addressed priority research
needs, several respondents did reflect on policy issues. Many of
the research needs and issues of policy and health addressed by the
respondents were similar to those noted by panel members. The
broadened perspective provided by the responses to the survey
was most beneficial in the Panel's deliberations.
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320
DIRECTIONS IN ENGINEERING RESEARCH
TABLE A-1 Organizations Responding to Information Requests Relevant to
Transportation Systems Research
UNIVERSITIES
Carnegie-Mellon University
Clarkson University
Georgia Institute of Technology
Northwestern University
Old Dominion University
Oregon State University
Princeton University
Purdue University
State University of New York,
Buffalo
University of Hawaii
University of Illinois—Urbana/Champaign
University of Michigan
University of Minnesota
University of Oklahoma
University of Pennsylvania
University of Utah
Washington University at St. Louis
PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
American Institute of Aeronautics
and Astronautics
American Institute of Chemical
Engineers
American Society of Civil Engineers
American Society of Mechanical
Engineers
Association of American Railroads
Industrial Research Institute
Institute of Industrial Engineers
Society of Engineering Science, Inc.
Society of Naval Architects and Marine
Engineers
AG ENCIES AND LAB ORATORIES
Air Force Institute of Technology
Air Force Office of Scientific
Research
Brookhaven National Laboratory
NASA Ames Research Center
NASA Langley Research Center
NASA Lewis Research Center
National Center for Atmospheric
Research
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Sandia National Laboratory
)
Representative terms from entire chapter:
research board
