An activity-based approach of investigating travel behaviour of older people

The paper presents the results of an investigation on daily activity-travel scheduling behaviour of older people by using an advanced econometric model and a household travel survey, collected in the National Capital Region (NCR) of Canada in 2011. The activity-travel scheduling model considers a dynamic time–space constrained scheduling process. The key contribution of the paper is to reveal daily activity-travel scheduling behaviour through a comprehensive econometric framework. The resulting empirical model reveals many behavioural details. These include the role that income plays in moderating out-of-home time expenditure choices of older people. Older people in the highest and lowest income categories tend to have lower variations in time expenditure choices than those in middle-income categories. Overall, the time expenditure choices become more stable with increasing age, indicating that longer activity durations and lower activity frequency become more prevalent with increasing age. Daily activity type and location choices reveal a clear random utility-maximizing rational behaviour of older people. It is clear that increasing spatial accessibility to various activity locations is a crucial factor in defining daily out-of-home activity participation of older people. It is also clear that the diversity of out-of-home activity type choices reduces with increasing age and older people are more sensitive to auto travel time than to transit or non-motorized travel time.     

Modeling and simulation of a counter-rotating turbine system for underwater vehicles

The structure of a counter-rotating turbine of an underwater vehicle is designed by adding the counter-rotating second-stage turbine disk after the conventional single-stage turbine. The available kinetic energy and the absorption power of the auxiliary system are calculated at different working conditions, and the results show that the power of the main engine and auxiliary system at the counter-rotating turbine system matches well with each other. The experimental simulation of the lubricating oil loop, fuel loop, and seawater loop are completed right before the technology scheme of the counter-rotating turbine system is proposed. The simulation results indicate that the hydraulic transmission system can satisfy the requirements for an underwater vehicle running at a steady sailing or variable working conditions.     

Real-Time Fault Diagnosis for Gas Turbine Blade Based on Output-Hidden Feedback Elman Neural Network

In order to remotely monitor and maintain large-scale complex equipment in real time, China Telecom plans to create a total solution that integrates remote data collection, transmission, storage, analysis and prediction. This solution can provide manufacturers with proactive, systematic, integrated operation and maintenance service, and the data analysis and health forecasting are the most important part. This paper conducts health management for the turbine blades. Elman neural network, and improved Elman neural network, i.e., outputhidden feedback (OHF) Elman neural network are studied as the main research methods. The results verify the applicability of OHF Elman neural network.     

Design of car battery protection device based on torsion spring

In recent years, electric vehicles are developing rapidly in automotive industry. When involved in accidents, if the batteries of electric cars break, it is likely to cause a short circuit and start a fire. Aimed at this issue, a car battery protection device based on torsion spring has been designed. The car battery protection device can deform in a particular pattern in a collision accident. Impact energy of the accident is absorbed by the deformation, which can significantly reduce impact force on the batteries. Meanwhile, based on the principle of maximum energy absorption, some crucial parameters of the device can be determined. Furthermore, an impact simulation conducted on ANSYS software shows that maximum safety factors can be obtained when the material of car battery protection device is carbon steel. The analysis of “safe space” in the car battery protection device shows that the device can prevent battery damage effectively in general circumstances, which means the reliability of the device has been verified. Therefore, when applied to electric vehicles, the car battery protection device, which can prevent secondary accidents, significantly improves the vehicle security in accidents.     

Experimental study on performance of combined cambered-type wave absorbing beach

Wave simulation performance and its quality are key factors to reflect the overall capacity and level of an ocean engineering basin. They include wave simulating and absorbing capacity of reflected waves. In order to reduce the influence of reflected waves, various wave absorbing devices are equipped in ocean engineering basins across the world. The experimental investigation into the performance of combined cambered-type wave absorbing beach (CCTWAB) with damping bars equipped in Deepwater Offshore Basin is conducted. The experiment adopts the two-point method. The reflection coefficients are calculated by the method, in which the incident and reflected waves can be separated from the physically simulated composite waves with different periods and wave heights in the time domain. The experimental results indicate that in the range of normal wave heights and periods for model tests, the CCTWAB with damping bars is excellent in eliminating the reflected waves.     

Dynamic Behavior of Two Part Towing Cable System During Turning

An improved numerical method is used to simulate the dynamic behavior of a two part towing cable systems during turnings. In U turns and full turns, periodical heave motions are found both for the towed vehicle and for the depressor. Periodic motions of the subsea units and of the cable surface tension are closely related to the turning parameters, such as turning velocity and turning radius. System parameters, such as length of the second cable and the vehicle hydrodynamics, also damp turning instability.     

Are we ready to embrace connected and self-driving vehicles? A case study of Texans

While connected, highly automated, and autonomous vehicles (CAVs) will eventually hit the roads, their success and market penetration rates depend largely on public opinions regarding benefits, concerns, and adoption of these technologies. Additionally, the introduction of these technologies is accompanied by uncertainties in their effects on the carsharing market and land use patterns, and raises the need for tolling policies to appease the travel demand induced due to the increased convenience. To these ends, this study surveyed 1088 respondents across Texas to understand their opinions about smart vehicle technologies and related decisions. The key summary statistics indicate that Texans are willing to pay (WTP) $2910, $4607, $7589, and $127 for Level 2, Level 3, and Level 4 automation and connectivity, respectively, on average. Moreover, affordability and equipment failure are Texans’ top two concerns regarding AVs. This study also estimates interval regression and ordered probit models to understand the multivariate correlation between explanatory variables, such as demographics, built-environment attributes, travel patterns, and crash histories, and response variables, including willingness to pay for CAV technologies, adoption rates of shared AVs at different pricing points, home location shift decisions, adoption timing of automation technologies, and opinions about various tolling policies. The practically significant relationships indicate that more experienced licensed drivers and older people associate lower WTP values with all new vehicle technologies. Such parameter estimates help not only in forecasting long-term adoption of CAV technologies, but also help transportation planners in understanding the characteristics of regions with high or low future-year CAV adoption levels, and subsequently, develop smart strategies in respective regions.     

Vortex-induced vibration of a tension leg platform tendon: Multi-mode limit cycle oscillations

This paper studies the application of mathematical models to analyze the vortex-induced vibrations of the tendons of a given TLP along the Indian coastline, by using an analytical approach, analyzed using MATLAB. The tendon is subjected to a steady current load, which causes vortex-shedding downstream, leading to cross-flow vibrations. The magnitude of the excitation (lift and drag coefficients) depends on the vortex-shedding frequency. The resulting vibration is studied for possible resonant behavior. The excitation force is quantified empirically, the added mass by potential flow hydrodynamics, and the vibration by normal mode summation method. Non-linear viscous damping of the water is considered. The non-linear oscillations are studied by the phase-plane method, investigating the limit-cycle oscillations. The stable/unstable regions of the dynamic behavior are demarcated. The modal contribution to the total deflection is studied to establish the possibility of resonance of one of the wet modes with the vortex-shedding frequency.