An empirical analysis of children’s after school out-of-home activity-location engagement patterns and time allocation

Children are an often overlooked and understudied population group, whose travel needs are responsible for a significant number of trips made by a household. In addition, children’s travel and activity participation during the post-school period have direct implication for adults’ activity-travel patterns. A better understanding of children’s after school activity-travel patterns and the linkages between parents and children’s activity-travel needs is necessary for accurate prediction and forecasting of activity-based travel demand modeling systems. In this paper, data from the 2002 Child Development Supplement of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics is used to undertake a comprehensive assessment of the post-school out-of-home activity-location engagement patterns of children aged 5–17 years. Specifically, this research effort utilizes a multinomial logit model to analyze children’s post-school location patterns, and employs a multiple discrete–continuous extreme value model to study the propensity of children to participate in, and allocate time to, multiple activity episode purpose-location types during the after-school period. The results show that a wide variety of demographic, attitudinal, environmental, and others’ activity-travel pattern characteristics impact children’s after school activity engagement patterns.     

Optimal allocation of turns to lanes at an isolated signal-controlled junction

Conventional design methods require the lane marking patterns, which are painted on ground showing road users the permissible turning directions on different approach lanes, as exogenous inputs to define the traffic stream grouping for analysis. This predefined grouping of traffic movements may restrict the design of signal timings in the optimisation procedures. More recently, a lane-based design method has been developed to relax the lane markings as binary-type control variables in a mathematical programming approach. The lane marking patterns and the signal timings can then be optimised simultaneously in a unified framework. This paper presents an extension work to further relax the numbers of approach lane in traffic arms as new integer variables which can then be optimised to give optimal lane arrangement in various arms of a junction to manage the given traffic demands more efficiently. All well-defined signal timings variables in the phase-based approach as well as the lane marking and lane flow variables in the lane-based approach together with their governing constraints are all preserved in the new formulation for the reserve capacity optimisation of isolated signal-controlled junctions.     

Experimental Investigation of a Hydraulic Turbine for Hydrokinetic Power Generation in Irrigation/Rainfall Channels

The development of microchannels with open flow for use in irrigation and rainy areas is challenged by electricity generation via hydrokinetic devices in shallo...     

A porous cell method for the simulation of fluid-solid interactions

There are many ways of describing a solid,porous or fluid region of the computational domain when solving the Navier-Stokes equations(NSE)for flow motions.Amongst these the porous cell method is one of the most flexible approaches.In this method,a parameter is defined as a ratio of the volume open to water and air in a calculation cell to its cell volume.In the calculation,the same numerical procedure is applied to every cell and no explicit boundary conditions are needed at solid boundaries.The method is used to simulate flow through porous media,around solid bodies and over a moving seabed.The results compare well with experimental data and other numerical results.In our future work the porous cell method will be applied to more complex fluid-solid interaction situations.     

Key Issues in Raise Boring of Super-deep Vertical Shafts of CCS Hydropower Station in Ecuador北大核心CSCD

The CCS Hydropower Station in Ecuador is a water diversion type power station, in which two superdeep vertical shafts with depth of 537.9 m are arranged. After comparison of alternative options, a new type of 1088DC RHINO raise boring machine was chosen to construct the vertical shafts. The construction process with the raise boring machine is divided into 3 stages, i.e. pilot hole construction by forward drilling, pilot shaft construction by reverse expanded excavation and shaft construction by manual expanded excavation. In view of the problems of buried drill bits and pilot hole deflection in the first stage, the problems of shaft collapse and cutter damage in the second stage, and the problems of collapse, water inflow and shaft blocking in the third stage, some preventive and treatment measures were proposed based on causes analysis, and good construction effect was achieved. The success- ful construction of super-deep vertical shafts at CCS hydropower station with raise boring method is significant to improve the construction level of deep shafts of domestic water conservancy and hydropower engineering, and the re- lated research can provide a reference for the similar shaft engineering construction. © 2018, Editorial Office of "Modern Tunnelling Technology". All right reserved.     

Elderly travel frequencies and transport mode choices in Greater Rotterdam,the Netherlands

Demographic ageing is a key societal challenge in Europe as well as in many other western and non-western societies. A crucial dimension concerns elderly daily mobility patterns. While still partaking fewer and shorter trips than younger generations, today’s elderly have been found increasingly (auto)mobile. Although the elderly benefit from the independence, freedom of movement, and social inclusion, concerns may rise regarding the environmental and accessibility impacts of this induced mobility. The present study adds to the expanding literature on elderly mobility, an integrated analysis of the effects of socio-demographic, health, trip, spatial and weather attributes on elderly mobility. Utilizing travel diary data for Greater Rotterdam, The Netherlands, trip frequencies and transport mode choices of the elderly are analysed by means of zero-inflated negative binomial models as well as multinomial logit regression models, and contrasted to the non-elderly subpopulation to explore (dis)similarities. While the results show common determinants, the models also highlight important differences in the magnitude of the estimated coefficients and factors only influencing transport patterns for the elderly. Embedded in the context of an aging population, the empirical findings assist policy-makers and planners in several respects: For transportation plans and programs it is critical to recognize mobility needs of the elderly. As the seniors are becoming increasingly automobile, the results call for strategies to encourage older people to use more physically active and environmentally friendly transport modes such as public transport, walking and cycling.     

Numerical evaluation method of lightning rod protection probability北大核心CSCD

［Objectives］Aiming at the current situation in which it is difficult to efficiently evaluate protection probability through traditional lightning rod evaluation methods, an efficient numerical evaluation algorithm is developed on the basis of an electrogeometric model (EGM) and attractive volume to realize the efficient calculation of lightning protection probability at any point in space.［Methods］This method first determines the attractive volume boundary of the lightning rod and protection object according to the interception process of the upward and downward leaders. The collection surface and exposure arc of the lightning stroke distance are then calculated, enabling the attractive risk and interception effect of the lightning rod to be quantified. Finally, the attraction and interception characteristics of the lightning rod are integrated to establish a numerical evaluation model of protection probability. To verify the accuracy of this method, the general rule of lightning rod protection probability is analyzed and the results compared with the existing analysis method.［Result］The evaluation results of this method show good agreement with those of classical leader progression model (LPM) theory.［Conclusions］ The method proposed herein has a high degree of quantification and can realize the efficient calculation of lightning protection probability at any point in space, which can provide useful references for lightning protection design work. © 2023 Authors. All rights reserved.     

Influence of external restraint distribution on welding buckling of thin plate butt joint北大核心CSCD

［Objectives］It is easy to produce buckling distortion when welding thin plate butt joints, which affects the construction period, cost and performance, but this can be controlled by applying external restraints. ［Methods ］ First, a butt welding test of a thin plate under external restraints is carried out, and the out-of-plane deformation is measured by the optical surface scanning method. At the same time, finite element (FE) models in a free state and external restraint state are established, and the thermal mechanical phenomena of the two models are subjected to thermal-elastic-plastic FE analysis (TEP FE). The influence of different external restraint distributions on the welding buckling distortion of the joints is then studied, and reasons for controlling welding buckling distortion are analyzed from the perspective of longitudinal plastic strain and longitudinal contraction force.［Results ］ The out-of-plane deformation of the corresponding model is in good agreement with the measured results, and milder than the out-of-plane deformation of the model in a free state. When external restraints are applied, the longitudinal plastic strain of the weld and its adjacent metal decreases, and the longitudinal contraction force of the thin plate also decreases.［Conclusions ］ The results verify that external restraints can effectively control welding buckling distortion, and the control effects are different depending on the external restraint distribution. © 2023 Chinese Journal of Ship Research. All rights reserved.     

Obstacle avoidance of unmanned ship swarm based on virtual navigator and improved Hooke's law北大核心CSCD

[目的]针对无人船集群规避障碍物的问题,提出一种基于虚拟领航者和改进胡克定律的弹性集群编队控制方法。[方法]首先,根据障碍物的长和宽得到其外接椭圆,按照长宽比向外扩展出虚拟碰障区、避障反应区、自由航行区,实现水面避障物模型的简化;其次,基于虚拟领航者和改进胡克定律,对编队各成员之间、各成员虚拟领航者之间的相对距离和速度予以约束,采用坐标形式设置编队队形,构建弹性编队模型,并基于障碍物的环形斥力场来实现单无人船的避障,以及在弹性集群编队的组织下实现无人船集群的避障;然后,通过优化处理无人船的航行过程,消除编队及避障过程中的“徘徊”和“振荡”等现象,使各无人船的运动更加平滑;最后,运用Matlab软件对由4艘无人船组成的集群编队进行仿真实验。[结果]实验结果表明,编队可成功绕过设置的所有障碍物,验证了所提方法的有效性和可行性。[结论]该方法可实现无人船集群对水面障碍物的规避,具备在一定复杂环境下的通过能力,可为无人船集群避障的应用及研究提供参考。     

Ultimate strength analysis of composite stiffened panels based on multi-scale approach北大核心CSCD

［Objectives］As composite materials have varied internal structures, an in-depth analysis of the damage mechanisms of their component materials can provide a research foundation for the ultimate strength analysis of composite stiffened panels. ［Methods］The microscopic, mesoscopic and macroscopic mechanical analyses of marine glass fiber reinforced plastic (GFRP) composite stiffened panels are carried out using a multi-scale approach. Microscopic and mesoscopic representative volume element (RVE) models of chopped strand mat (CSM) and woven roving (WR) materials are established, and the macroscopic equivalent stiffness is obtained by homogenizing the RVE models. The ABAQUS VUMAT subroutine is used to code the progressive damage evolution model of the composite materials to derive the damage evolution mechanism of the microscopic and mesoscopic models respectively. The equivalent strength of macroscopic laminates is also obtained. ［Results］The multi-scale approach can be used to accurately evaluate the macroscopic mechanical properties of composite materials, and the ultimate strength of composite stiffened panels is mainly determined by fiber bundle failure. ［Conclusions］The obtained macroscopic material parameters can be used to calculate the ultimate strength of composite stiffened panels, while the parametric study of the mesomechanics of composite materials can provide an analysis tool for investigating the influence of material processing technology. © 2023 Chinese Journal of Ship Research. All rights reserved.