Browsing by Author "Saparamadu, S"

Now showing 1 - 8 of 8

item: Conference-Abstract
Application of level of service facilities for sidewalk assessment
(Department of Civil Engineering, University of Moratuwa., 2018-09) Hewawasam, C; Saparamadu, S; Pasindu, HR
The model share of pedestrians, in developing cities has the tendency of being very high, as opposed to developed cities. For example, between 25-50% of trips in major Indian cities, and about 50% of all trips in major African cities, are made entirely on foot. However, though such is the case, in majority of developing cities, pedestrian infrastructure, amenities, and services are often neglected in municipal planning and budgets (Fang, 2005). Improved walking facilities not only will generate new pedestrian flows, but will also increase the comfort of the current walking population. Consequently, it will result in an increase in the public transit usage and a decrease in private vehicle trips. Accordingly, a need has arisen to measure the performance of pedestrian facilities for improvements and priority setting. Traditionally, pedestrian facility operations were evaluated on the basis of the level of-service (LOS) concept. Therefore, the LOS methods used in the assessment of pedestrian facilities are to be examined in detail, to identify what is to be added or improved in the South Asian context. In response, this paper aims to study the current status of the sidewalks in Sri Lankan urban areas for the estimation of the sidewalk level of service. It reveals that the current level of services methodologies are lacking, as they address western conditions rather than the prevailing conditions in Sri Lanka. So, this study intended a review of existing methodologies by evaluating the existing sidewalks, and a combination of most appropriate factors for Sri Lankan conditions were selected. As for the review of existing methodologies, recent methodologies that developed at an international level have been selected. They are included in Table1. This study is at the initial stage and is to be developed as an “all-inclusive pedestrian facilities Level of Services methodology for South Asian Countries”.
item: Conference-Full-text
Climate-resilient cities: temporal analysis of urban land changes, and percapita: green spaces from 1993 to 2023: case study of Colombo, Sri Lanka
(Faculty of Architecture Research Unit, 2024) Abeysinghe, UM; Hewawasam, HUCP; Saparamadu, S
There is a dearth of research on how urban expansion and the reduction of green cover affect fast-growing cities in the Global South. This study conducted a time series analysis of changes in urban land use and land cover (LULC) in relation to per capita green space (GS) in Colombo, Sri Lanka, over a 30-year period (1993–2023) using Landsat satellite image analysis. It provides an in-depth exploration of the relationship between urban LULC and per capita GS reduction in a rapidly growing city within a tropical context. The study utilized the support vector machine technique for satellite image analysis and categorized five land use types: water bodies, built-up areas, bare lands, trees and shrubs (dense vegetation), and grasslands and lawns (sparse vegetation). The study found a clear decline in GS and an increase in built-up areas in Colombo; however, it also highlighted some positive changes due to the Colombo city remodelling program. Additionally, the study analysed Colombo’s position compared to international per capita GS standards and proposed necessary actions for future improvement
item: Conference-Full-text
Estimating passenger delays at airport terminal service centers
(IEEE, 2021-07) Saparamadu, S; Bandara, S; Adhikariwatte, W; Rathnayake, M; Hemachandra, K
Air passengers encounter many difficulties at different mandatory service centers at the airport. To enhance the functionality of the service centers available literature highlights several simulation and analytical models to minimize the delays and queues at mandatory service centers. A different mechanism of placing frictions between the mandatory service centers to optimize the passenger delays is used in this research. It helps when the departure rate of the first service center is greater than the service rate of the second service center. This research can be used to find expected delays at service centers. Furthermore, this can be utilized to decide on the placement of suitable frictions before mandatory service centers in a proper manner to suit the arrival and departure procedures to minimize overall passenger delays.
item: Conference-Full-text
Influence of the safety-security attributes on the walkability of university students in Sri Lanka
(Sri Lanka Society of Transport and Logistics, 2023-08-26) Abeysinghe, U; Saparamadu, S; Hewawasam, C; Gunaruwan, TL
Walking is the most common, and sustainable mode of transportation, which gives numerous health benefits as well. The relationship between pedestrian safety-security and walking preference is equally important in micro-environments like university neighborhoods, as in macro-environments, such as large cities. A framework has developed based on safety-security attributes [3] and elements [14] and a regression model was developed. The findings of this study could support to define walkability framework as a model which can be adopted in pedestrian planning in other city campuses and will promote walkability.
item: Conference-Abstract
Optimal terminal configuration for minimizing passengers’ waiting time
(2017) Saparamadu, S; Bandara, S
Irrespective of the friction arrangement for a given terminal size, there will be a geometry that will be optimum with respect to passenger waiting. Quantitative methodology is used to select a suitable terminal configuration with frictions for a piertype airport terminal. Passenger waiting time at a terminal depends on several factors: service and arrival behavior of service centers, the manner of placing frictions in between service centers, number of gates, the manner of placing frictions (washroom, food cabin, shops, etc.). in between gates, percentage of passengers going through the different frictions, processing time for frictions and gates, number of piers and gate spacing. Probability of passengers’ arrival at frictions and passengers’ arrival from one friction to another friction, total passenger arrival rate to the piers and arrival rates and service rates of the frictions are considered to place proper frictions in between the gates at the pier. This paper presents a methodology to determine the optimal terminal configuration that minimizes the passengers’ delays at gates by placing proper frictions in between gates. The optimum terminal configuration appeared to be the terminal with three piers holding an unequal number of gates.
item: Conference-Abstract
Optimizing passenger and baggage flow in an airport terminal
(Department of Civil Engineering, University of Moratuwa., 2012-07) Saparamadu, S; Bandara, S; Pasindu, HR
Air travel is very important mode of transport, especially for long distance travel. It opens up greater horizons for exploration for many people, permitting modern citizens to become significantly well-traveled than their predecessors. But considering air travels, passengers sometimes have to move through complicated airline terminals and negotiate crowded hallways during peak hours. They must drag along heavy baggage and perhaps travel up and down stairs to reach their gate or board their plane. They must reach their desired gate by a certain deadline or miss their flight, resulting in a loss of time and money. This situation is very complicated because it is compounded by connecting flights, travelers must reach another gate in an airport in a shorter time frame and also an airport is totally unfamiliar to them. According to airport records, in Sri Lankan airports passengers must spend around 3 hours at the terminals and also spend around 1- 1 ½ hours at the boarding gate. Normally they walk around 800m from the entrance to the plane and they walk around 400m with baggage. Minimizing time spent and distance walk through airport terminal will help improving the capacity while providing a level of service to the users. There is a need to study and understand overall flow movement of passengers and baggage through airport terminals. Many attempts have been made to model airport operations, passenger/baggage flow through specific terminal facility such as ticket counters, immigration etc. and or model specific terminal configuration situation. This paper presents an overview of exiting literature on passenger or baggage flow in airport terminal and proposes a methodology to develop a mathematical model to study the overall passenger/baggage flow through an airport terminal.
item: Article-Full-text
Optimum positions for frictions between service centers to minimize passenger delays
(Elsevier, 2018) Saparamadu, S; Bandara, S
Waiting time and walking distances for passengers are major considerations to determine the geometry of an airport terminal configuration. Based on a study of passenger arrival and waiting patterns at terminal service centers in an airport, such as: ticket counters, immigration, baggage claim and security checks, this paper is about the effect of placing other frictions such as shops, washrooms, food cabins and internet accesses between mandatory service centers. Going by the information collected the best positions for frictions between service centers were decided on to minimize passengers’ waiting time. With regard to the best positions, the first consideration related to the distributions of arrival and waiting patterns at mandatory terminal services. Then, the effects of the distributions for frictions were incorporated separately to find out the change of distributions with the inter change in frictions. Next, the best suitable positions for frictions and services centers were determined from among all combinations of combining frictions and service centers. The frictions placed between the mandatory services centers depend on the means and variances of the frictions. The percentages of passengers going through the frictions were also considered to find out the optimum positions for frictions between service centers. Analytical solutions for optimum positions for frictions between service centers to minimize passenger delays were realized after analyzing the data for frictions and mandatory service centers. Simulation models were used to verify these analytical solutions.
item: Conference-Abstract
Review of walkability enhancing neighbourhood environment attributes in urban tropics
(Transportation Engineering Group, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Moratuwa, 2023-12-08) Abeysinghe, U; Saparamadu, S; Hewawasam, C; Jayantha, WRAN
The usage of private vehicles has grown rapidly, especially in urban areas of developing countries, which has led to many environmental and socio-economic issues such as congestion, high fuel consumption, and air pollution. Traffic congestion and delays continue to be a problem in mega, large, and even small cities due to the excessive volume of private cars. An important strategy to reduce the use of private cars is by offering high-quality public transport services and by encouraging pedestrian mobility. Improving walkability could discourage the use of motorized vehicles, and that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions, improve air quality, decrease congestion, and be beneficial for human health. Walkability is defined as the quality of a neighbourhood that supports and encourages people to access their destinations on foot. A better understanding of what factors create a more walkable environment would enable planners and engineers to develop more comprehensive and practical urban transportation plans that ultimately lead to a user-friendly city for walking, which is lagging in developing countries. The objectives of the study are to explore the most significant walkability-enhancing Neighborhood Environment Attributes (NEAs) in urban areas of Sri Lanka. To identify the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) in existing transportation policies in the country for effective integration of walkability-enhancing NEAs. Proposing how to integrate them into transport planning. As the literature review, SCIENCEDIRECT and GOOGLE SCHOLAR databases were chosen to study the peer-reviewed documents published between 1993 and 2021 May in the tropical context. The first step in the selection involved literature on walking/ walkability research. Then, articles that related to NEAs on walking preference/ influence were selected. A brief review of the abstracts and introductions served to exclude non-related articles. Thirdly, screened articles were thoroughly studied, and a set of NEAs were identified using 56 published research papers. As the fourth step, a field survey was conducted at Nugegoda, Wijerama (n=372), and a set of significant attributes and elements were identified. Pedestrians were randomly stopped and were asked to scale NEAs identified from the literature review from 1 to 5 (1=strongly disagree to 5=strongly agree), with higher scores indicating a more favourable value. Photographing was avoided during the field observation and surveying since it might hinder the privacy of the participants, and photographs were taken on separate occasions. The 3 main attributes and 24 elements under them were identified as the most significant NEAs in the urban Sri Lankan context. The road is safe from crime (53.5%), the road is full of people (48.4%), and the availability of residences along the street (39.5%), were identified as the most significant factors as most participants strongly agreed (5) which encourage the walkability, while block size, block length, and number of dead ends, were identified as insignificant. A comprehensive review of existing urban and transport policies, acts, and plans was reviewed, and a SWOT analysis was conducted. Based on the findings, an innovative framework was proposed to integrate walkability-enhancing NEAs into urban planning in Sri Lanka effectively. The review could be helpful for researchers and urban planners in developing walkability studies and in defining policies to improve walkability. Further, this will provide additional insights into how built NEAs influence walkability and identify gaps and issues that should be analyzed in-depth in the future. Nevertheless, results can be utilized to develop a walkability index for the country as well.