Effect of Sea Level Rise and Offshore Wave Height Change on Nearshore Waves and Coastal Structures

In 1994, Townend proposed a method to calculate the relative changes in various wave characteristics and structure-related parameters due to sea level rise for regular waves. The method was extended to irregular waves by Cheon and Suh in 2016. In this study, this method is further extended to include the effect of future change in offshore wave height and the sea level rise. The relative changes in wavelength, refraction coefficient, shoaling coefficient, and wave height in nearshore area are presented as functions of the relative changes in water depth and offshore wave height. The calculated relative changes in wave characteristics are then used to estimate the effect of sea level rise and offshore wave height change on coastal structures by calculating the relative changes in wave run-up height, overtopping discharge, crest freeboard, and armor weight of the structures. The relative changes in wave characteristics and structure-related parameters are all expressed as a function of the relative water depth for various combinations of the relative changes in water depth and offshore wave height.     

Numerical investigation on the dynamic characteristics of an automotive A/C hose

The objective of this study is to investigate the dynamic deformation characteristics of an automotive A/C hose assembly using the finite element method and experimentation. The finite element analysis consisted of two analyses, specifically, a modal and a transient analysis. The dynamic modal analysis was conducted to assess the dynamic characteristics of the A/C hose structure, and the dynamic transient analysis was performed to investigate the dynamic stresses of an automotive A/C hose by dynamic loading with particular emphasis on the reinforced braid. Furthermore, the analyses results are expected to provide useful reference data in the design optimization of the hose layout related to the constrained design space. Modal testing was undertaken to verify the FE model. The FE result was in good agreement with the experimental results. The modal analysis result showed that the bending and swing modes of the hose occurred in the first six natural frequencies. The dynamic transient result showed that the maximum stress in the hose components occurred in the reinforced braid layers, which are particularly damage-prone.     

The drag on an airplane taking off from a floating runway

The motions of an infinitely long, two-dimensional runway subjected to the dynamic moving load imposed by an airplane taking off are investigated. The runway is assumed to be floating in an inviscid fluid and is initially at equilibrium before the plane takes off. The deformation of the runway resulting from the take-off is wave-like and moves in the same direction as the plane. The maximum drag occurs when the plane catches up with the first wave. Three different runway configurations were considered: a baseline and ones which were ten and one hundred times more flexible than the baseline. For these runways, the added drag to the aircraft was very small, ranging from 1% for the stiffest to 10% for the most flexible runway.     

Investigation on the vortex structure of propeller wake influenced by loading on the blade

The vortex structure of the wake behind a marine propeller was investigated in terms of loading variation by using particle image velocimetry. One hundred and fifty instantaneous velocity fields were ensemble averaged to study the spatial evolution of the wake and the behavior of the tip vortices in the region ranging from the trailing edge to one propeller diameter downstream. The trailing vorticity was found to be related to the radial velocity jump, and the viscous wake was affected by the boundary layers developed on the blade surfaces. A vortex identification method using the swirling strength was employed to extract the location of the tip vortex. The loading on the blade made a clear difference to the contraction angles. Slipstream contraction occurred in the very near wake region, and unstable oscillation occurred because of reduced interaction between the tip vortex and the wake sheet behind the maximum contraction point for each loading condition. The maximum tangential velocity around the tip vortex center revealed the average radius of its core, which was used for calculating the vortex strength. Additionally, variation of the average radius of tip vortices with the change of blade loading was related to vortex tube stretching in the wake region. The nearly constant vortex strength continued up to one diameter downstream for light loading and design loading conditions.     

Performance evaluation of slim low-risk-deployment dual-type passenger airbag system with dispersed inflation pressure

Motor vehicle passenger airbags have been proven to be effective for reducing the possibility of passenger injury during a crash. However, the inflation of the airbag sometimes causes serious injury when a passenger is positioned close to the airbag. The United States Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) 208 requires the use of a low-riskdeployment (LRD) passenger airbag system. This paper proposes a newly developed airbag system comprising two slim airbags mounted on the instrument panel. A series of tests were conducted using the FMVSS 208 test procedures to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed system. It was found that the system not only satisfied the injury criteria of FMVSS 208, but was also effective for protecting passengers of all sizes.     

Effect of regenerative braking energy on battery current balance in a parallel hybrid gasoline-electric vehicle under FTP-75 driving mode

In recent years, a hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) has been considered a successful technology. Especially, in case of a full HEV, the motor can drive the vehicle by itself at low velocity or assist the engine at high load. To improve the hybrid electric vehicle’s efficiency, a regenerative braking system is also applied to recover from kinetic energy. In this study, an experimental control apparatus was set up with a parallel hybrid electric vehicle mounted on a chassis dynamometer to measure ECU (engine control unit) and MCU (motor control unit) signals, including the current and state of charge in the battery. In order to analyze regenerative braking characteristics, user define braking driving cycle was introduced and carried out using different initial velocities and braking times. The FTP 75 driving cycle was then adapted under different initial SOC (state of charge) levels. The experiment data was analyzed in accordance with the vehicle velocity, battery current, instant SOC level, motor RPM, engine RPM, and then vehicle driving mode was decided. In case of braking driving cycle, it was observed that SOC were increased up to 1.5 % when the braking time and the velocidy were 6 second and 60 km/h, respectively. In addition, using the FTP 75 driving cycle, mode 1 was most frequently operated at SOC 65 conditions in phase 1. In phase 2, due to frequent stop-go hills, percentage of mode 1 was increase by 22 %. Eventually, despite of identity, it was shown that the characteristics of phase 3 differed from phase 1 due to the evanishment of the effects of initial SOCs.     

Development of route information based driving control algorithm for a range-extended electric vehicle

A route information based driving control algorithm was developed for an RE-EV which consists of two motorgenerators, MG1 and MG2. A threshold power which controls the engine on/off to charge the battery was obtained by an optimization process using route information, such as the vehicle velocity and altitude. The threshold power allows the vehicle to travel to the final destination while making the final battery SOC close to SOC _low. Using the threshold power, route based control (RBC) was proposed by considering the driver’s characteristics and traffic conditions using the driving data base. In addition, a relationship between the threshold power and various initial battery SOC was obtained by off-line optimization. The performance of the RBC was evaluated by simulation and human-in-the-loop simulation (HILS) for city driving. It was found from the simulation and HILS results that the RBC achieved approximately 4 % to 12 % reduction in fuel consumption compared to the existing charge depleting/charge sustaining (CD/CS) driving control.     

Comparison of computational and analytical methods for evaluation of failure pressure of subsea pipelines containing internal and external corrosions

In the designing stage of subsea pipelines, the design parameters, such as pipe materials, thickness and diameters, are carefully determined to guarantee flow assurance and structural safety. However, once corrosion occurs in pipelines, the operating pressure should be decreased to prevent the failure of pipelines. Otherwise, an abrupt burst can occur in the corroded region of the pipeline, and it leads to serious disasters in the environment and financial loss. Accordingly, the relationship between the corrosion amount and failure pressure of the pipeline, i.e., the maximum operating pressure, should be investigated, and then, the assessment guideline considering the failure pressure should be identified. There are several explicit type codes that regulate the structural safety for corroded subsea pipelines, such as ASME B31G, DNV RF 101, ABS Building and Classing Subsea Pipeline Systems, and API 579. These rules are well defined; however, there are some limitations associated with describing precise failure pressure. Briefly, all of the existing rules cannot consider the material nonlinearity, such as elastoplasticity effect of the pipeline, as well as the actual three-dimensional corrosion shape. Therefore, the primary aim of this study is to suggest a modified formula parameter considering the above-mentioned pipeline and corrosion characteristics. As a result, the material nonlinearity as well as the corrosion configuration, i.e., axial/circumferential corrosion length, width and depth, is reflected in a set of finite element models and a series of finite element analysis considering the operation conditions are followed. Based on the comparative study between the simulation and analytical results, which can be obtained from the classification society rules, the modified formulae for failure pressure calculation are proposed.     

Curbing automobile use for sustainable transportation: analysis of mode choice on short home-based trips

This paper analyzes transportation mode choice for short home-based trips using a 1999 activity survey from the Puget Sound region of Washington State, U.S.A. Short trips are defined as those within the 95th percentile walking distance in the data, here 1.40 miles (2.25 km). The mean walking distance was 0.4 miles (0.6 km). The mode distribution was automobile (75%), walk (23%), bicycle (1%), and bus (1%). Walk and bicycle are found less likely as the individual’s age increases. People are more likely to drive if they can or are accustomed to. People in multi-person families are less likely to walk or use bus, especially families with children. An environment that attracts people’s interest and provides activity opportunities encourages people to walk on short trips. Influencing people’s choice of transport mode on short trips should be an important part of efforts encouraging the use of non-automobile alternatives.

Effect of structural variables on automotive body bumper impact beam

Increasing fuel economy has been a central issue in the development of new cars, and one of the important strategies to improve fuel economy is to decrease vehicle weight. In order to obtain this goal, researchers have sought to make bumpers lighter without sacrificing strength, ability to absorb impact, or passenger safety. In this study, the effects of structural variables on the torsional stiffness of a body bumper impact beam were analyzed for possible weight reduction. To this end, the effects of variation of section height, increase of impact beam thickness and the addition of stays in a bumper impact beam were carefully investigated and compared. Among these, the most effective way to increase the torsional stiffness of the bumper impact beam was found to be increasing the section height. In addition, the potential for overall weight reduction of the impact beam was examined by comparing the crash capability of a bumper using conventional steels with that of high-strength steel (boron steel) with a tensile strength of 1.5 GPa. This analysis could serve as a guide to design for optimal bumper impact beam development.