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    <title>Transport Research International Documentation (TRID)</title>
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    <copyright>Copyright © 2026. National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.</copyright>
    <docs>http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss</docs>
    <managingEditor>tris-trb@nas.edu (Bill McLeod)</managingEditor>
    <webMaster>tris-trb@nas.edu (Bill McLeod)</webMaster>
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      <title>Transport Research International Documentation (TRID)</title>
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      <link>https://trid.trb.org/</link>
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    <item>
      <title>Healthy Sailing: Prevention, Mitigation and Management of Infectious Disease on Cruise Ships and Passenger Ferries</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/2671066</link>
      <description><![CDATA[COVID-19 revealed a need to address known, expected and emerging infections on large passenger ships. HEALTHY SAILING (Project Nr: 101069764) provides an integrated, methodological approach to address this need. The three-year project is establishing an evidence-base for mechanisms facilitating infection spread onboard passenger ships and effectiveness of prevention, mitigation and management (PMM) measures. Foundational activities in the first year of implementation include systematic reviews, epidemiological studies, surveys and focus groups to identify risk factors, infection frequency, outbreak dynamics, and barriers to compliance with PMM measures. Mathematical models are being developed to predict infection spread onboard and evaluate measures’ impact. Computational Fluid Dynamics modelling explores airborne respiratory pathogen dispersion in ventilated spaces of cruise environments. An Integrated Health E-surveillance System is under development to perform real-time syndromic, laboratory and environmental health surveillance onboard, and will feed an AI Intelligence Immune System to produce health threat alerts, characterize threat levels and recommend/monitor health measures. A toolkit monitoring cleaning and disinfection is being prepared to improve effectiveness of current practices onboard, while a toolkit for technology-induced behavior change is underway, to improve hand hygiene practices onboard.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Tue, 30 Jun 2026 09:45:09 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/2671066</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Decarbonized tourism travel mode: design of river-sea connecting cruise products considering the cumulative utility of tourist experience</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/2709473</link>
      <description><![CDATA[The ‘one-stop’ service and environmentally friendly river-sea connecting cruise travel, which integrates river and sea itineraries seamlessly, is regarded as a promising alternative to the traditional coach-based tours for inbound tourists. Considering the cumulative utility of tourist experiences, this study systematically analyzes inbound tourist preferences for coach-based tours versus river-sea connecting cruises. Subject to waterway capacity and itinerary types, a decision-making model is developed to optimize river-sea connecting cruise itineraries, cabin prices and ship choice, aiming to balance tourist experience and operator profitability, and identifying the optimal product schemes, while also evaluating its potential contributions to tourism decarbonization, especially its adaptability and economic benefits under carbon tax policies. Subsequently, taking Malaysian tourists traveling to China as the target, and attractions along the T-shaped tourism corridor formed by Yangtze River and China’s eastern coastline as destination alternatives, a case study has been done on the segments of Chongqing-Shanghai-Zhoushan and Wuhan-Shanghai-Tianjin. The results reveal that river-sea connecting cruise products with medium travel durations and low cabin prices are particularly appealing to price-sensitive overseas tourists with limited vacation time. Furthermore, river-sea connecting cruise product demonstrates substantial advantages in promoting tourism decarbonization, offering a novel and viable pathway toward a low-carbon transformation.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Tue, 30 Jun 2026 08:51:20 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/2709473</guid>
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    <item>
      <title>On the lightweight design of laminated insulating glass units in cruise ships</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/2643487</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Modern cruise ships employ many large windows to enable passengers to enjoy the marine environment. Most windows are insulating glass units (IGUs) consisting of laminated glass and a hermetically sealed cavity. These laminated IGUs exhibit three physical effects under bending: (1) geometric nonlinearity of the glass panes, (2) shear transfer in the laminated glass, and (3) load sharing due to the hermetically sealed cavity. The Authors have previously studied the (1) and (3) effects on the window mechanical behaviour and glass pane thickness determination. Hence, this paper investigates through optimisation how all these effects together lighten the IGUs, and how the shear transfer affects the IGU mechanical behaviour with the optimised thicknesses. All three combined effects have positive effects on the IGU weight. These results are more pronounced for large and thin IGUs subjected to high design loads. For example, the choice of interlayer material is less important (for optimum weight) for small windows subjected to a low design load. Since all the effects are important, using the finite element method is recommended to achieve a lightweight window design.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Thu, 30 Apr 2026 09:11:45 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/2643487</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>An improved coupled beam method for predicting longitudinal bending behaviour in luxury cruise ships</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/2673068</link>
      <description><![CDATA[This paper describes an improved coupled beam method, designated as MBS-CB, that estimates elastic response in the longitudinal bending of a cruise ship. Initially, the ship structure is discretised into beams, and the coupling relationships between adjacent beams are analysed. Secondly, connector elements with equal stiffness constraints are refined to simulate the coupling behaviour between adjacent beam elements. Meshed beam sections are introduced to simplify the beams involved in total longitudinal bending. A spatial beam system model of the ship structure is established to predict the interaction between adjacent beams and to characterise the longitudinal bending behaviour of the ship. Ultimately, the accuracy of the method is validated through instance analysis. Furthermore, the method is employed to investigate the longitudinal bending characteristics of a large passenger ship, and the participation of different superstructures in the ship's longitudinal bending is obtained through moment distribution coefficients and length proportions.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Wed, 29 Apr 2026 17:04:41 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/2673068</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>A BIM-Based Approach for Smart HVAC Design in Cruise Shipbuilding: Automation and Simulation Insights</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/2693037</link>
      <description><![CDATA[The increasing complexity of shipboard systems and the growing demand for digital integration in marine design have accelerated the need for innovative, model-based engineering solutions. This paper presents a novel methodology for the detailed design of Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning systems in cruise vessels, leveraging Building Information Modelling and parametric modelling within Autodesk® Revit MEP. The approach addresses key limitations of traditional manual workflows by enabling automated duct weight estimation and equipment list generation directly from the model environment. A case study involving two representative shipboard zones—a cabin deck and a galley—was used to compare the proposed methodology with conventional practices. The BIM-based approach demonstrated substantial improvements in efficiency, accuracy, and data reliability. By embedding engineering logic and functional metadata in a 3D parametric model, the methodology supports real-time updates, parallel task execution, and alignment with the project’s Work Breakdown Structure, enhancing information flow between engineering and production. The system is structured to interface with simulation platforms and immersive technologies, facilitating virtual prototyping and laying groundwork for future digital twin integration. The results highlight the method’s potential to drive digital transformation in marine HVAC design.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Mon, 27 Apr 2026 15:01:14 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/2693037</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Reducing the environmental footprint of cruise ships during normal operations: a fuzzy multi-criteria approach</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/2651395</link>
      <description><![CDATA[In the context of sustainability alignment, cruise line companies have a key part of their strategic plan, which is the reduction of the environmental footprint of their ships. An action directly linked to this goal is an investment in new technologies that enable more environmentally friendly cruise ship operations. Until now, the literature has adequately examined the importance of aligning cruise ships with sustainability, but little research has been carried out on (i) the identification of the significant advanced actions for reducing the environmental footprint, (ii) the most significant criteria for ranking these actions and (iii) the final ranking of these actions based on the characteristics of each company. This research paper aims to bridge this gap by realizing a first approach to finding answers to the above research topics. This study employs the thematic synthesis method to derive both the legislative framework that governs the adoption of new environmentally friendly technologies by cruise ships and the mandatory actions for aligning with sustainability. Fuzzy Multi-Criteria Decision Making (FMCDM) methods are implemented as appropriate in this study’s methodology section. Moreover, the outcome of this research could help cruise companies to select the proper strategies to operate efficiently, reducing their environmental footprint.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Wed, 22 Apr 2026 16:15:28 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/2651395</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Understanding unexplained crew disappearances at sea: A data-driven Bayesian risk assessment</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/2682793</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Unexplained disappearance accidents represent a critical yet underexplored safety issue in the marine industry. Despite severe human, legal, and economic consequences, such events remain insufficiently reported and poorly understood due to inconsistent documentation and limited empirical research. To address this gap, this study develops a data-driven Bayesian Network model to examine risk-influencing factors associated with disappearance and overboard accidents, mapping their spatial distribution globally. To the authors’ knowledge, this represents the first systematic risk assessment of disappearance accidents. The model demonstrated high predictive accuracy (87.18%) in classifying accidents. Analysis reveals disappearances occur predominantly within the first two months after embarkation, most frequently on cruise vessels, with elevated risks in specific sea areas. Based on these findings, the study proposes evidence-based policy recommendations, including internationally harmonized reporting protocols, enhanced detection technologies, and structured psychological screening programs, contributing to improved maritime safety management and risk mitigation strategies.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Wed, 25 Mar 2026 11:44:53 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/2682793</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Modeling and experimental study of pedestrian zipper merging behavior in narrow T-junctions areas of ships</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/2679768</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Evacuation efficiency in large passenger ships is often constrained by bottlenecks at T-junctions, while most existing simulation models oversimplify pedestrian merging as single-lane flow. To address this limitation, controlled walking experiments were conducted in ship-relevant T-junctions with corridor widths ranging from 0.8 to 1.2 m. Trajectory-based indicators, including zipper-merging frequency and speed-deviation angles, were extracted to characterize merging mechanisms. A critical width of approximately 1.0 m was identified. In the 1.0–1.2 m range, each 0.1 m increase in width reduced evacuation time by 2–6%, whereas the transition from single-lane to stable two-lane flow resulted in a pronounced reduction of 25–30%. Based on these findings, a Prospect-Theoretic Zipper Merging Model (PTZM) was developed by extending the RVO framework with loss aversion and asymmetric yielding behavior. The model was validated against experimental results and simulations using Pathfinder. Deck-scale simulations of a 516-passenger accommodation deck further revealed recurrent congestion at T-junctions and stairwells, with evacuation times varying by up to 20% across different corridor widths and passenger distributions. The results provide practical guidance for shipboard corridor design, lane-guidance strategies, and staged evacuation planning.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Wed, 25 Mar 2026 11:44:48 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/2679768</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Spatial and operational interventions for healthy cruise ship design using agent-based modelling</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/2652334</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Cruise ship environments have been identified as high-risk settings for communicable disease outbreaks. The severe COVID-19 outbreaks aboard several cruise ships have further intensified concerns about transmission in these confined, densely populated environments. Although some behavioural interventions have been studied, the influence of spatial and operational design on transmission risk remains under explored.To address this gap, this study applies agent-based modelling (ABM) to simulate passenger movement patterns on mixed-use cruise ship decks as a surrogate for infection transmission. By modelling individual movement behaviours and collisions (close-contact exposure) within the mixed-use decks, the ABM approach supports the development of spatial design and operational strategies that can reduce transmission risk and improve the efficiency and healthiness of onboard circulation. We conducted verification and parametric tests to assess model performance and designed three experiments to evaluate the effects of varying occupancy levels, infection prevalence, spatial layouts and access restriction strategies with 1181 simulation runs, the simulation results are complemented by spatial analyses of deck plans to inform evidence-based recommendations for safer cruise ship environments.We identified three key spatial drivers of disease transmission risk on cruise ships. First, higher occupancy density and compact layouts significantly increased close-contact events, as passengers navigated narrow, poorly connected corridors. Second, the effectiveness of quarantine interventions depended not just on their presence but on their spatial placement: centrally located restrictions amplified congestion, while peripheral placement helped alleviate it. Third, simple passive design changes—such as widening corridors or enhancing internal connectivity—reduced movement bottlenecks and collisions, without requiring behavioural adaptation. Together, these findings demonstrate that spatial configuration is not merely a backdrop but a powerful determinant of health resilience in high-occupancy environments.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Wed, 25 Mar 2026 08:40:04 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/2652334</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Vibroacoustic performance of lightweight C-shaped core sandwich panels for cruise-ship cabins</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/2644316</link>
      <description><![CDATA[As passenger-comfort requirements in the cruise industry continue to rise, lightweight, high-strength sandwich panels with enhanced acoustic performance have attracted considerable attention. In this study, a C-shaped sandwich panel (C-SSP) is proposed to improve the cabin sound-insulation characteristics of cruise ships. The conventional stiffened plate is replaced with the C-SSP under an equal-mass constraint, and the superiority of the new configuration is demonstrated through comparative analysis. A theoretical sound-insulation model for the C-SSP is developed by combining the space-harmonic method with the principle of virtual work; its predictions show good agreement with numerical simulations, confirming the model's validity. Sensitivity analyses reveal that the elastic modulus of the face sheets and a moderate panel spacing exert the greatest influence on the cabin's acoustic performance. Moreover, the sound-transmission loss increases as the stiffener spacing and stiffener thickness decrease. To assess ship-scale applicability, a hybrid FE–SEA (finite element–statistical energy analysis) model of a cruise-ship cabin is built in VA One, and the feasibility of substituting the original deck with C-SSPs is investigated. Overall, the C-SSP achieves an improved balance between structural mass and acoustic insulation, offering a practical solution for next-generation cruise-cabin design.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Tue, 17 Mar 2026 09:48:46 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/2644316</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Evacuation time prediction method for large cruise ships based on a deep extreme learning machine</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/2637888</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Evacuation time prediction is crucial for large-scale emergency evacuation management and ship layout optimization. This study proposes a method for predicting personnel evacuation times based on a deep extreme learning machine (DELM). First, the weighted mean of vectors algorithm is improved by incorporating opposition-based learning and a dynamic candidate mechanism to avoid local optimums and accelerate algorithm convergence. Then, a data set of personnel information related to the evacuation time is generated by simulating personnel evacuation on a large cruise ship. Finally, the evacuation time is predicted using the personnel information data set and the DELM optimized by the Improved weighted mean of vectors algorithm (INFO). The experimental results show that the mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) of IINFO-DELM with test data is 2.09 %. The results show that the IINFO-DELM can efficiently and quickly predict evacuation times.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Tue, 10 Mar 2026 09:55:43 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/2637888</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Smooth Sailing: Prevention’s role in the Southeast Alaskan cruise industry</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/2669884</link>
      <description><![CDATA[At the peak of the April to October cruise season in Southeast Alaska, upwards of 30 cruise ships per day navigate the dramatic, glacier-cut fjords of the Inside Passage. The U.S. Coast Guard Sector Southeast Alaska’s Prevention Department plays a crucial role in keeping the thousands of passengers safe. The Prevention Department’s vessel inspectors, facility inspectors, investigators, and waterways management experts all work together to examine cruise ships, inspect local tour boats that cater to cruise passengers, investigate accidents, enforce port security standards, maintain the navigation aids that mark safe passages, and evaluate the navigational risks posed by expanding port infrastructure projects. In the case of a significant incident involving a cruise ship, Sector Southeast Alaska’s Response Department and Command Center stand ready to coordinate with a network of federal, tribal, state, and local partners to exert maximum effort to mitigate harm to life, property, and the environment. Nevertheless, the Prevention Department team strives to ensure that travelers embarking on a once-in-a-lifetime voyage through one of the world’s most uniquely beautiful places experience nothing but smooth sailing.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Wed, 18 Feb 2026 13:22:47 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/2669884</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Healthcare Planning and Control on Cruise Ships as a Safety Factor</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/2665637</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Healthcare is vital to quality of life in any context, including on-board cruise ships, a key segment of nautical tourism. Cruises have grown in popularity as a leisure activity, leading to the hierarchical development of management within the cruise industry, from corporate levels to individual ships. Each ship operates a chain management system where the infirmary and pharmacy are central to ensuring passenger health and safety. This raises questions about the quality and capacity of healthcare services aboard, particularly the ship's ability to manage complex medical conditions and injuries, as well as its connection to onshore healthcare facilities. Ship infirmaries have inherent limitations in addressing all possible medical scenarios, emphasizing the need for efficient links with port-based healthcare services. Equally important are the capabilities of the infirmary during voyages when shore-based medical help is unavailable. To explore these issues, the research has included desk studies and sample-based statistical analysis. Findings reveal that on-board healthcare and pharmaceutical services meet high standards, supported by effective collaboration with ports and hospitals at destinations. This collaboration ensures passenger confidence, with the availability of healthcare services on-board having minimal impact on the decision to cruise. Surveys indicate high levels of satisfaction with infirmary and pharmacy services, along with efficient connectivity to shore-based facilities. However, disparities in healthcare quality across various global ports raise concerns about accessibility and adequacy of medical services in less developed regions. To address these challenges, cruise management employs a control-oriented system emphasising continuous monitoring and planning. This approach ensures consistent healthcare quality, sustaining passenger confidence and satisfaction during voyages. By integrating on-board systems with onshore resources, cruise liners maintain high service standards, despite the varying healthcare infrastructure in different regions. © 2025, Faculty of Maritime Studies. All rights reserved.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Tue, 17 Feb 2026 13:11:25 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/2665637</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Data-driven surface reconstruction for assessing welding-induced distortions in ship-deck panels</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/2630590</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Increasingly stringent regulations on greenhouse gas emissions have sparked interest in lightweight, thin-walled deck panels for cruise ship superstructures. Throughout the ship assembly, irregular welding-induced distortions accumulate on thin plates, affecting their load-carrying capacity significantly. Due to complex geometries, the assessment of distorted thin-walled panel units relies on accurate finite element modeling based on high-density optical scanning measurements, provided as unorganized point clouds (PC). This poses challenges in terms of processing of the data for surface reconstruction and data storage. This paper presents a computationally efficient, iterative B-spline surface fitting procedure for surface reconstruction from an unorganized 3D PC for the finite element analysis of distorted thin-deck panels. The method achieves a minimum geometric reconstruction accuracy of 0.08 mm and structural strain predictions mostly within 89% accuracy, validated against uni-axial monotonic tensile experiments on full-scale panels. Additionally, the proposed procedure reduces the file size to less than 1% of the original, thus representing a valuable solution for the handling of large sets of data from the scanning of multiple decks in ship superstructures. These results highlight the method’s potential for improving the assessment and quality control of thin-walled ship superstructures.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Mon, 09 Feb 2026 08:43:03 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/2630590</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Integrated cruise fleet deployment and itinerary scheduling problem: An enhanced Benders decomposition approach</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/2604745</link>
      <description><![CDATA[With the growing popularity of cruise tourism, the issue of comprehensive and precise cruise management is emphasized by the industrial field, which demands effective strategies in both tactical-level cruise deployment and operational-level itinerary scheduling. This rising concern and the expectation of integrated decision, however, increase the complexity of the problem and the difficulty of optimization. This paper provides a cohesive framework and scalable algorithms for the integrated cruise fleet deployment and itinerary scheduling problem. First, to address this problem, we propose an integer programming model based on a time-expanded network that captures the movement dynamics of cruises over a planning horizon. Several problem-specific reformulations including cumulative-flow-based variables and route-based time-expanded network representation are introduced, based on which, we prove that the itinerary scheduling problem is totally unimodular and the integer variables can be relaxed. Second, we introduce a tailored Benders decomposition approach augmented by the simultaneous Magnanti–Wong method, where a valid and pre-obtainable Magnanti–Wong bound is designed, yielding Pareto-optimal cuts in small computation time in each iteration. Finally, we validate our approach using extensive numerical experiments on both simulation instances and a real case study. The results demonstrate the effectiveness of our integrated solving scheme and the practical applicability of our advanced decomposition method, marking a significant advancement in the field of cruise fleet management.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Mon, 22 Dec 2025 16:07:14 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/2604745</guid>
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