Assessment of alternative ventilation schemes at public transport interchange

The provision of mechanical ventilation in a semi-confined public transport interchange is mandatory in Hong Kong. The authority recommends the general use of low-level-supply and high-level-exhaust airflow schemes that different from the traditional ventilation concept in that low-level emitted vehicle pollutants are best removed at source. Analyses of air quality at typical public transport interchange environments are conducted for the two airflow schemes. The CFD simulations are generalized by studying light and heavy traffic conditions with adjusted ventilation rates to match the change in vehicle emission levels to examine pollutant concentrations at passenger waiting areas and the elevated footbridges. While the conventional high-level-supply and low-level-exhaust scheme could perform better during light traffic loads, the difference diminishes with increased traffic loads during peak hours. On the other hand, the high-level exhaust scheme has an advantage of serving as a smoke extraction system during a fire outbreak.     

Crosswind Feedforward Control - A Measure to Improve Vehicle Crosswind Behaviour

The theory of crosswind feedforward control was explained using the example of a vehicle with active front-wheel steering. Beforehand, the calculation formulas and frequency responses of the transient crosswind force and of the wind yaw moment acting on the vehicle were derived using the example of a simple vehicle fluid model. The influence of the transiency of crosswind disturbance on the dynamic crosswind behaviour of a vehicle was then presented. The results of simulation confirmed the analyses carried out in the frequency domain for feedforward control with front, rear and all-wheel steering. With front-wheel steering, the influence of crosswind on one of the vehicle movement variables (lateral acceleration or yaw rate) could be almost completely compensated by dynamic feedforward control. With rear-wheel steering, it is only possible to compensate directly for the influence on the yawing rate. Due to the setting of the side force in the same direction as the lateral wind force at the start, active rear-wheel steering is not so successful as active front-wheel steering. Nevertheless, the crosswind behaviour of a vehicle can be considerably enhanced by feedforward control with rear-wheel steering. The best crosswind behaviour was obtained with active all-wheel steering: the vehicle hardly responds at all to crosswinds and remains on course despite heavy gusts of wind.     

日本汽车厂商今夏面临紧要关头

不用在意美国之外的最新汽车销售数据；在美国市场，日本汽车生产商正开始获得领先于美国同行的一些重大优势。     

Transport decision-makers speak: the Seaport Development in the European Communities Research Project —Part II

This paper, in two parts, reports on the Seaport Development in the European Communities Research Project wherein forty interviews with decision-makers were held in European seaports, and another forty were held with shipowning organizations. This part of the paper reports on analysis of the open-ended tape-recorded responses of the interviewees to six separate sets of propositions they were shown. The first major conclusion is that decision-makers in the ports and shipping industries have a great deal to offer in helping to shape future EC policies about seaports. The second is that these decision-makers on the whole agree with students of the subject, but outside the industries, that a step-by-step approach is possible towards a Common Seaports Policy. Indeed, without prompting, some respondents even confirmed a previously published suggestion for the first stage of this process—the necessity for an agreed standard basis for ports' accounts. It is believed that a small secretariat within the Brussels Commission could weld representatives of the industries into a working group which could make real progress by consulting their colleagues through interviews similar to those successfully conducted for this project.     

机车轴悬式电机悬挂齿轮副变形的三维有限元分析

本文用三维有限元方法对东风_4型内燃机车的整个牵引电机传动系统进行了计算。其计算模型利用假想的二力杆连接齿轮副的啮合点,人为地造成了均匀传递啮合力的力学条件,从而计算出了合理的齿轮修形量。     

Privatisation and the quality of rail services

Using the concept of generalised costs to reflect quality in rail services, we consider the level of provision and quality of these services in the various forms they may take in a privatised environment within a model where we assume linear and separable demand and cost functions for analytical simplicity. Using the Pareto-efficient output and quality outcomes under a fully integrated system for reference (as well as those for a fully integrated profit-maximising monopolist) we show that if either bilateral monopoly or complementary monopoly emerge as a market structure the output of train services and their quality will generally fall. In the case of the emergence of both bilateral monopoly and complementary monopoly our analysis again suggests poor welfare outcomes. The implication that can be drawn from our analysis is that a regulator of a privatised rail system faces some severe problems if she is to attain the appropriate welfare targets.