The authors in this issue

This paper considers the main road-traffic parameters that determine air pollution, i.e. the total volume of traffic, road speeds and the composition of the vehicle fleet. Changes in the amounts of pollutants emitted, and the importance of each of the three parameters, have been computed by using a traffic assignment model, which also represents emission factors. The types of policies that may be implemented to reduce the environmental impact of transport are then considered. The study demonstrates, for example, that the impact of a deterioration in traffic conditions is limited in comparison with the effect of forecast increases in traffic and improvements in the environmental performance of vehicles. As a consequence, if cities and urban transport are to achieve sustainable development, urban expansion must take place in a controlled way.     

About Multi-Hertzian-Contact Hypothesis and Equivalent Conicity in the Case of S1002 and UIC60 Analytical Wheel/Rail Profiles

In a previous paper [1], a new method using 'multi-Hertzian' elasticity for identifying equivalent parameters of railway wheelsets rolling on defined tracks was presented. Another method also using Hertzian elasticity [2] has produced different results. Without knowing the origin of these discrepancies, the question was asked whether any of these methods could adequately describe actual non-Hertzian contacts. This paper, using as a basis Kalker's 'Contact' software which solves the non-Hertzian case for normal and tangential forces, answers this question, demonstrating that the assumption of summing Hertzian contacts is realistic provided that enough ellipses are considered. On this basis, the 'equivalent conicity' of the standard wheelset equipped with S1002 profiles rolling on UIC60 (1/40) rails is analysed in the range of small lateral displacements: around 2 mm it amounts to between 0.13 and 0.16. It is demonstrated that, due to actual wheel and rail elasticity, linearization of rigid profiles conicity, whatever method being used, is not realistic in practice.     

岩石对公路防护顶棚冲击的有限元分析

为了研究抗岩石崩落的结构的耗能特性,Fabien Delhomme建立了一个基于ANSYS软件的计算模型。该文的目的在于论证这个模型的可行性及其计算精度,然后将其应用到更广泛的范围。在分析该模型所提供结果的基础上,提出了多种用于分析和展示这个模型的数据结果的方法和手段。     

On the convergence of the algorithm for bilevel programming problems by Clegg and Smith

In Clegg and Smith [Transportation Research B 35 (2001) 71–82] and Battye et al. [in: M. Patriksson, M. Labbe (Eds.), Transportation Planning – State of the Art, Proceedings of the 6th Meeting of the EURO Working Group on Transportation, Gothenburg, Sweden, September 9–11, 1998, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht], Smith and colleagues present an algorithm for solving the bilevel programming problem. We show that the points reached by the algorithm are not stationary points of bilevel programs in general. We further show that, with a minor modification, this method can be expressed as an inexact penalty method for gap function-constrained bilevel programs.     

Effects of antenna position on readability of RFID tags in a refrigerated sea container of frozen bread at 433 and 915 MHz

Perishable foods are frequently exposed to temperature abuse during transportation and distribution. The use of traditional data loggers do not permit the instantaneous data transmission that radio frequency technology offers. Temperature has a major impact on food quality and safety, particularly when long transit times are imposed. Consequently, using radio frequency identification (RFID) to track and monitor temperature in perishable shipments will bring significant benefits to the cold chain. The goal of this study was to determine the optimal RF antenna placement to achieve full RFID tag readability inside a sea container. Testing was made at two different frequencies (915 and 433 MHz) while the refrigeration unit was running at −25 °C and the container was fully loaded with frozen bread. The sea container was instrumented with eight RFID antennas, three of which were tuned for 433 MHz and five for 915 MHz. All antenna wires exited the container via the forward drain holes. The RFID readers were outside the container and connected to their respective antennas, one at a time. Thirty eight RFID tags were evenly distributed onto the pallets of frozen bread. All RFID tags were active tags capable of reading and recording temperature. Results at 915 MHz showed readability levels between 47% and 79%, with an average of 68.4%, whereas 433 MHz demonstrated 100% readability at all antenna positions. In conclusion, the 433 MHz RFID system appears suitable for real time temperature monitoring of frozen bread inside a sea container. This technology could be applied to other food items similar to frozen bread.     

Solution of the Multiple Wheel and Rail Contact Dynamic Problem

An unconventional method for calculating the forces developing in the wheel and rail contact patches of a railway vehicle has been implemented at the New Technology Laboratory of INRETS. It takes into account the elastic deformations of the materials in the Hertzian elliptical contact areas; the possibility of having simultaneously several contact patches on each wheel, is introduced in the simulation of the dynamic phenomena.

The theory is applied for a high speed bogie running on a perfectly straight track.     

OSCAR statement of methods

OSCAR (Outil de Simulation du CAptage pour la Reconnaissance des défauts) is the pantograph–catenary dynamic software developed by Société Nationale des Chemins de fer Français (SNCF) since 2004. A three-dimensional finite element (FE) mesh allows the modelling of any catenary type: alternating current (AC) or direct current (DC) designs, and conventional or high-speed lines. It is a representative of the real overhead line geometry, with contact wire (CW) irregularities, staggered alignment of the CW, dropper spacing, wire tension, etc. Nonlinearities, such as slackening of droppers and unilateral contact between the pantograph and the CW, are taken into account. Several pantograph models can be used, with a complexity level growing from the three-lumped-mass model to the multibody model. In the second case, a cosimulation between the FE method catenary and the multibody pantograph models has been developed. Industrial features for pre- and post-treatments were developed to increase robustness of results and optimise computation time. Recent developments include volume meshing of the CW for stress computation or statistical analysis and lead to new fields of studies such as fatigue failure or design optimisation. OSCAR was fully validated against in-line measurements for its different AC and DC catenary models as well as its different pantograph models (with independent strips for instance) and has continuously been certified against EN50318 since 2008.     

Solving conformal contacts using multi-Hertzian techniques

Recently, publications aiming at wheel–rail contact surveys let readers think that multi-Hertzian methods present severe drawbacks with respect to ‘virtual penetration’ methods. These surveys criticise multi-Hertzian solutions mainly because presenting ‘larger contacts overlaps’ and ‘frequent secondary contacts near the border of the first contact’, both obvious geometric possibilities of which the practical occurrence and eventual inconvenience would remain purely theoretical unless established over definite methods demonstrating poor practical results. Recent surveys all quote Piotrowski–Chollet 2005 survey of wheel–rail contact models that attempted to illustrate defective multi-Hertzian techniques by concentrating on the method initiated by Sauvage in the 1990s and further developed by Pascal. The 2005 paper not only gives no evidence of practical inconveniences of Sauvage’s method but also confuses static geometric contact overlaps with the dynamical overlapping of forces. In reality it mixes Sauvage method up with a quite different technique. Thus a clarification is now necessary by reminding what the proper Sauvage technique really is and by showing some of its practical successful applications. The present paper, focusing on determination of normal contact forces in conformal situations, intends to explain clearly the advantages of the unequivocal localisation of secondary ellipses in that multi-Hertzian method which has been developed in INRETS VOCO codes in the 1990s and successfully used by SNCF and ALSTOM in the INRETS-SNCF code, VOCODYM, and later in Pascal’s online calculation of railway elastic contacts code. It proved its effectiveness for studying freight wagons derailments as well as rail wear and head-check, unrounded wheels wear, high-speed lines’ deformations or TGV comfort. While simulating American ACELA trainsets’ behaviour on the US North-East Corridor tracks, prior to actual tests, as part of the commercial contract. It has been also a major tool for bringing back together French and American Safety Standards.