A random heaping model of annual vehicle kilometres travelled considering heterogeneous approximation in reporting

Transportation - Annual vehicle kilometres travelled (VKT) is a long used index of car use. Usually, the annual VKT, as reported by respondents, is used for the analysis. But the reported values...     

Direct yaw moment control and power consumption of in-wheel motor vehicle in steady-state turning

Driving force distribution control is one of the characteristic performance aspects of in-wheel motor vehicles and various methods have been developed to control direct yaw moment while turning. However, while these controls significantly enhance vehicle dynamic performance, the additional power required to control vehicle motion still remains to be clarified. This paper constructed new formulae of the mechanism by which direct yaw moment alters the cornering resistance and mechanical power of all wheels based on a simple bicycle model, including the electric loss of the motors and the inverters. These formulation results were validated by an actual test vehicle equipped with in-wheel motors in steady-state turning. The validated theory was also applied to a comparison of several different driving force distribution mechanisms from the standpoint of innate mechanical power.     

Transient responses of a VLFS during landing and take-off of an airplane

The transient elastic deformation of a pontoon-type very large floating structure (VLFS) caused by the landing and take-off of an airplane is computed by the time-domain mode-expansion method. The memory effects in hydrodynamic forces are taken into account, and great care is paid to numerical accuracy in evaluating all the coefficients appearing in the simultaneous differential equations for the elastic motion of a VLFS. The time-histories of the imparted force and the position and velocity of an airplane during landing and take-off are modeled with data from a Boeing 747-400 jumbo jet. Simulation results are shown of 3-D structural waves on a VLFS and the associated unsteady drag force on an airplane, which is of engineering importance, particularly during take-off. The results for landing show that the airplane moves faster than the structural waves generated in the early stage, and the waves overtake the airplane as its speed decreases to zero. The results for take-off are essentially the same as those for landing, except that the structural waves develop slowly in the early stage, and no obstacle exists on the runway after the take-off of airplane. The additional drag force on an airplane due to the elastic responses of the runway considered in this work was found to be small in magnitude.     

Spatial econometric analysis of automobile and motorcycle traffic on Indonesian national roads and its socio-economic determinants: Is it local or beyond city boundaries?

The purpose of this paper is to verify the justification provided for a centralized national road policyin Indonesia, namely, that trips on national roads are typically inter-urban, by measuring the spatialdimensions of automobile and motorcycle trips on national roads in Indonesia. The study finds thatmotorcycle trips are characteristically local; by contrast, automobile trips extend beyond city boundaries,although to a limited extent. The results suggest the decentralization of transportation policies for thedevelopment and maintenance of national roads by granting autonomy to local governments when nofiscal externality exists. The results also indicate that road capacity, gasoline prices, income, populationand worker density, city size, and the number of public buses are strong predictors of vehicle kilometerstraveled.     

Numerical simulation of wave-induced nonlinear motions of a two-dimensional floating body by the moving particle semi-implicit method

The moving particle semi-implicit (MPS) method was applied to compute nonlinear motions of a floating body influenced by the water on deck. To compute the motions of a rigid body, the fluid pressure at the position of each particle on the body surface was directly integrated in space and the equations of translational and rotational motions were integrated in time to determine the correct position of the rigid-body surface at each time step of the time-domain calculation. The performance of this method was validated through a comparison with measured results in an experiment that was newly conducted using a model of a box-shaped floating body with a small freeboard. Although the overall agreement was good, some discrepancies were observed for a shorter wave period, especially for the drift motion in sway. The effect of numerical resolution on the results was checked by changing the number of particles. With a higher number of particles, no obvious improvement was seen in the global body motions, but the resolution of the local free-surface profile, including the water on deck, was improved.     

Two-dimensional numerical simulation and experiment on strongly nonlinear wave–body interactions

A constrained interpolation profile (CIP)-based Cartesian grid method for strongly nonlinear wave–body interaction problems is presented and validated by a newly designed experiment, which is performed in a two-dimensional wave channel. In the experiment, a floating body that has a rectangular section shape is used. A superstructure is installed on the deck and a small floating-body freeboard is adopted in order to easily obtain water-on-deck phenomena. A forced oscillation test in heave and a wave–body interaction test are carried out. The numerical simulation is performed by the CIP-based Cartesian grid method, which is described in this paper. The CIP scheme is applied in the Cartesian grid-based flow solver. New improvements of the method include an interface-capturing method that applies the tangent of hyperbola for interface capturing (THINC) scheme and a virtual particle method for the floating body. The efficiency of the THINC scheme is shown by a dam-breaking computation. Numerical simulations on the experimental problem for both the forced oscillation test and the wave–body interaction test are carried out, and the results are compared to the measurements. All of the comparisons are reasonably good. It is shown, based on the numerical examples, that the present CIP-based Cartesian grid method is an accurate and efficient method for predicting strongly nonlinear wave–body interactions.     

Comparative analysis of household car,motorcycle and bicycle ownership between Osaka metropolitan area,Japan and Kuala Lumpur,Malaysia

The interactions among different types of vehicle ownership including car, motorcycle and bicycle are examined by developing simultaneous vehicle ownership models in this study. Large scale person trip survey data for Osaka metropolitan area, Japan and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia are used for empirical analysis. The results suggest that population density at residential area significantly and negatively affects car ownership for both areas, and that the effects are larger for Osaka metropolitan area than for Kuala Lumpur. Also, bicycle ownership becomes higher at higher population density area for Osaka area, while higher at lower population density area for Kuala Lumpur, which represents the different usage patterns of bicycle between the two areas.

Effect of pitting corrosion on local strength of hold frames of bulk carriers (2nd Report)—Lateral-distortional buckling and local face buckling

Pitting corrosion is typical corrosion observed on coated hold frames of bulk carriers which exclusively carry coal and iron ore. In order to secure the safety of these types of bulk carriers, it is important to understand the effect of pitting corrosion on local strength of hold frames.

In order to investigate this effect, a series of 4- and 3-point bend tests on structural models which consist of web, shell and face plates has been carried out. Artificial pitting was created on the web plate to simulate pitting. In the 4-point bend tests, two equal concentrated loads have been applied vertically at the one-third points of simply supported models so that compression load due to bending would act on the face plate. In this testing condition, lateral-distortional buckling occurred before reaching the ultimate strength and local buckling of the face plate was observed after reaching the ultimate strength. The effect of web plate pitting on the lateral-distortional buckling strength was found to be small but the ultimate strength decreases with increase in the degree of pitting intensity. In the 3-point bend tests, concentrated load has been applied vertically at the center of simply supported models so that compression load due to bending would act on the face plate. In this testing condition, local face buckling occurred just after reaching the ultimate strength. The ultimate strength is found to be decreasing with increase in the degree of pitting intensity.

A series of non-linear FE analyses has been performed to simulate the deformation behavior observed in the tests. It has been revealed that even in the case of randomly distributed pitting corrosion the ultimate strength of the structural models was almost the same as that of the structural models with uniform corrosion corresponding to the average thickness loss.     

Development of a hull form definition tool with a related knowledge-based advisory system

The development of a parametric hull form design system utilizing combined knowledge-based and objectoriented methodologies, approaches, and techniques is the major purpose of this research. One objective was the development of a powerful, intuitive, and parameter-based hull definition system with a related hull definition advisory system that would provide useful and necessary advice to the user. Object and knowledge modeling activities were conducted during the analysis and design stage to facilitate the implementation of a hull design program and advisory system. The hull design system includes the generation of a geometric model from a process of aggregating simple user-selected shapes representing different boundaries. Design involves the capability to vary simple parameters such as entrance angles, length-breadth ratios, and radii to define local and general surface geometries. Hydrostatic calculations are included for analysis; results are referred to an advisory system for evaluation and the determination of the acceptability of parameters and analysis results. The advisory system includes a knowledge bases consisting of hull form databases, results of the statistical analysis of data, design parameter constraints, and expert knowledge acquired from designers, reference materials, and technical reports. Use of the design tool with the advisory system results in the rapid generation of hull forms and associated design evaluations. Flexibility in decision making results from the separation of the design system from the advisory system. The independence of the two systems allows for a wide range of user experience with experts using the design tool with minimal reference to the advisory system. On the other hand, the expertise and knowledge stored in the advisory system is fully available to inexperienced designers and users.     

Numerical analysis of the hydroelastic behavior of a vertical plate due to solitary waves

Interactions of a vertical elastic plate with fully nonlinear water waves were simulated. Utilizing the mixed Eulerian Lagrangian method for the free-surface flow and the finite element method for the deflection of an elastic plate, a fully coupled scheme for accurately determining fluid–plate motions was developed. Using this scheme, some modifications to the solvers for both fluid and plate were made. A hybrid wave-absorbing beach was installed to prevent wave reflection from the end of the wave tank. A fourth-order Runge–Kutta time-marching scheme with a uniform time step was applied to achieve numerical stability. The method was validated by simulating the wave generated by the initial deformation of a vertical plate and comparing the result with the corresponding analytical solution. For further validation, the hydroelastic behavior of a vertical plate induced by a pulse-type wave (where the initial pulse-type elevation of the free surface is specified) was computed, and the result was compared with another numerical result from a mode-expansion method. The interaction of a surface-piercing plate with nonzero initial free surface was then simulated, and the result was compared with the corresponding linear analytical solution. Finally, the hydroelastic response of a surface-piercing vertical plate due to a solitary wave (generated by actuating the vertical plate at the right end of the tank only at the beginning) was computed and investigated systematically.