Experimental and numerical investigation on the derailment of a railway wheelset with solid axle

This paper presents the results of an experimental and numerical investigation on the derailment of a railway wheelset with solid axle. Tests were carried out under quasi-steady-state conditions, on a full-scale roller rig, and allowed to point out the effect of different parameters like the wheelset's angle of attack and the ratio between the vertical loads acting on the flanging and non-flanging wheels. On the basis of the test results, some existing derailment criteria are analysed in this paper and two new criteria are proposed. A model of wheel-rail contact is proposed for the mathematical modelling of the flange climb process, and numerical vs. experimental comparisons are used to obtain model validation.     

A medium-resolution wave hindcast study over the Central and Western Mediterranean Sea

The present study is aimed at determining the confidence limits of design wave parameters derived from numerical modeling—for both extremes and operational conditions—over the Central and Western Mediterranean Sea. The paper presents the methodology and results of an extensive validation activity conducted on a chain of medium-resolution third-generation wave models used for hindcast purposes. The stringent requirements of state-of-the-art coastal and offshore engineering applications over this area make the adoption of medium- or high-resolution hindcast wave and wind models almost mandatory because of the complex coastal geometry, bathymetry, and orography that in turn lead to large variations of the design wave parameters even within small regions. The chains of nested meteorological and wave models used in this hindcast study belong to the ETA and WaveWatch III families, respectively. In this study the wind and wave numerical models have been run over the past 20 years, with increasing resolutions of the wave models from 0.2° up to 0.04°. The results presented herein have 0.1° resolution for both wind and wave models. The wave data obtained are compared with available measurements from 14 wave buoys in coastal zones in the Central and Western Mediterranean Sea.     

An H2 Formulation for the Design of a Passive Vibration-Isolation System for Cars

Optimal design of an active suspension system for road vehicles can be solved using LQR techniques. Such a problem is equivalent, in the frequency domain, to determine the state feedback gain matrix that minimizes the H₂ norm of a suitable transfer matrix.

A passive suspension system can be seen as the physical realization of a suitable state feedback law whose gains are function of the system parameters. This law, and thus the characteristic elements of the passive suspension, can be determined as an approximation of the H₂ optimal solution. This methodology allows one to choose the best controller from a constrained subset (i.e., all possible passive suspensions of a particular form) of all possible controllers.     

Recent developments in Flexible Transport Services

This paper focuses on recent experiences in the evolution of Flexible Transport Services (FTS). It describes how previous manifestations of FTS provided dedicated solutions for special groups, often in parallel to the conventional public transport network, but highlights that in numerous countries across Europe there is now a discernable trend towards open access FTS providing services for the whole community and often feeding the conventional public transport network to provide wider access and opportunities. This is as a result of policies intended to mainstream services for people with disabilities and moves to tackle social exclusion amongst other groups while at the same time reducing the very high costs per trip associated with STS.To meet these policies, and the higher expectations and different travel behaviours of citizens to-day, it is suggested that FTS will need to radically reposition itself in terms of scale, so that there is mass coverage and ability to function as a full transport mode. This will require breakthroughs in concepts; business models; organisational and operational models; and in supporting technologies. A proposed solution to this is the Flexible Agency for Collective Mobility Services (FAMS) which provides an organisational structure and business model for FTS that incorporates the required supporting technologies.     

Ports,external costs,and Northern Italian transport network design: effects for the planned transformation

Modern ports need to be inserted in an efficient network in order to exploit all their potential, positively affecting both the efficiency of the local markets and the external costs of the served industries. Moreover, the role of the ports within the whole supply chain is affected by the location and the organization of intermediate facilities—such as logistics parks or inland ports—that heavily influence both the effectiveness of the logistics corridors and the externalities generated by the transport industry. New and adequate infrastructures can then reduce congestions, pollution, and accidents smoothing the whole logistics chains. The proposed study aims at discussing the effects in terms of rail share of the different planned interventions that are aimed at increasing the rail capacity of the network under investigation. In order to achieve this goal, a network optimization model has been solved by the optimizer solver of a spreadsheet. Outcomes can be used in order to improve current transport policies that might foster a more efficient and less impacting hinterland transport solution.     

Temporal variations of water flow between the Venetian lagoon and the open sea

Long-term measurements of the water flow at three Venice Lagoon inlets with the bottom-mounted ADCPs show that the main part of the variance (>90%) is associated with the tidal variability. Semi-diurnal constituents (mainly M2 and S2) are responsible for about 80% of the flow variance. Phase-lag between the axial current and sea-level is on the order of 2 h for M2 and 4 h for the K1, the maximum inflow leading the sea-level maximum. Phase-difference of tidal flows between inlets shows that Chioggia leads both Malamocco and Lido, suggesting that tidal signal progresses northward, thus in the opposite direction of both the semi-diurnal and diurnal tidal signals in the open Adriatic currents. The sea-level slope between the open sea and the lagoon interior controls the inlet flow, which is due to the time lag being constant for all tidal constituents. It was shown that tidal oscillations at Punta Salute (lagoon interior) lag those in Lido by about 45 min. The pressure gradient due to the sea-level slope generates the flow acceleration. Only for large current speeds (>0.5 m/s), the bottom friction term becomes equally important as the local acceleration and the horizontal pressure gradient terms. Wind effects manifest as a remote forcing through Adriatic seiches at semi-diurnal and diurnal scales, and as a local forcing at very long time scales on the order of a month. This latter mechanism is limited to a winter period (November–January). Seiches are present over the entire year, being however, more energetic and frequent during autumn and winter.     

Farm tractor models for research and development purposes

The modelling problems related to the simulation of the dynamics of farm tractors are dealt with. The aim is to develop reliable mathematical models to speed-up the research and development activities in which farm tractors and their sub-systems (driveline, steering and suspension system, etc.) are to be conceived and designed. Two models of farm tractors have been developed. The first model is based on a proprietary software, able to quickly simulate the motion of a vehicle on smooth or rough soil. The second model has been developed by the commercial software ADAMS/Car^®, which allows to model complicated transmission and suspension systems. In both of the two models, the tyres, the transmission system, the suspension system, the steering system, the engine and the body inertia are carefully described mathematically. Both of the two models are defined in a parametric way. Particular attention has been devoted to the measurements of the tyre characteristic and of the inertia parameters of the farm tractor body. For the measurement of tyre characteristics, a new instrumented wheel hub has been used. The accurate measurement of both the tyre characteristic and body inertia tensor has allowed a good agreement between measured and computed time histories referring to a number of validation manoeuvres performed either on-road or off-road. The derived farm tractor models could simulate the working conditions of a generic farm tractor while hauling a plough or while running at a relatively high speed on a rough soil or while steering on a sloped, soft surface.