Probabilistic Fatigue Failure Analysis of a Railroad Freight Car

The critical components of railroad fraight cars are subjected to fluctuating stresses and, therefore, vulnerable to fatigue damage. These fluctuating stresses result from different motions of the car when it travels along a track and is subjected to various track irregularities. Both the track irregularities and corresponding motions are highly random. Therefore, the fatigue damage can only be determined by means of a percentage probability level. This paper describes a probability-based method for evaluating fatigue damage in a freight car. The effect of uncertain boundary conditions for the car in the calculations of fatigue damage is also discussed. The applications of the method to carbody design and assessment of fatigue life are also explained     

Airline productivity redefined: An analysis of U.S. and European carriers

Productivity, in terms of net value added per man-year of labor and capital input, provides a more useful yardstick of airline efficiency than the widely used indices representing average unit costs or labor productivity. Large variations in productivity between airlines, in particular between U.S. and European airlines, can be explained almost entirely by differences in level of service, demand patterns and route characteristics. A regression model calibrated on 1975 data for fourteen U.S. and fourteen European scheduled airlines indicates that productivity could be increased by changes in network shape though a more liberal exchange of traffic rights, greater specialization (in particular the limited involvement of scheduled airlines in the very low yield charter market) and consumer choice — by offering higher frequency, multi-city services.     

A combined activity/travel choice model for congested road networks with queues

This paper presents a combined activity/travel choice model and proposes a flow-swapping method for obtaining the model's dynamic user equilibrium solution on congested road network with queues. The activities of individuals are characterized by given temporal utility profiles. Three typical activities, which can be observed in morning peak period, namely at-home activity, non-work activity on the way from home to workplace and work-purpose activity, will be considered in the model. The former two activities always occur together with the third obligatory activity. These three activities constitute typical activity/travel patterns in time-space dimension. At the equilibrium, each combined activity/travel pattern, in terms of chosen location/route/departure time, should have identical generalized disutility (or utility) experienced actually. This equilibrium can be expressed as a discrete-time, finite-dimensional variational inequality formulation and then converted to an equivalent "zero-extreme value" minimization problem. An algorithm, which iteratively adjusts the non-work activity location, corresponding route and departure time choices to reach an extreme point of the minimization problem, is proposed. A numerical example with a capacity constrained network is used to illustrate the performance of the proposed model and solution algorithm.     

Improvement of Vehicle Maneuverability by Direct Yaw Moment Control

This paper deals with a study to theoretically formulate an effective method of improving vehicle performance, particularly, its characteristics in the nonlinear region, and to verify the feasibility of the proposed method by calculations and examinations. In order to analyze vehicle characteristics in the nonlinear region, a new method of analysis was developed for determining yaw moment and side force of the vehicle with a parameter of the side slip angle at the center of gravity when its center of gravity point was fixed. The study with this new method found that direct yaw moment control by proper distribution of traction and braking forces on the right and left tires could provide a very effective means of stabilizing vehicle characteristics, specifically for acceleration and deceleration, and enlarging the limit of vehicle maneuverability.     

Effect of Frame Compliance on the Lateral Dynamics of Motorcycles

The lateral dynamics of an uncontrolled motorcycle, running on a straight, level road surface, is investigated in this paper. The structural compliances in the front and the rear frames of the motorcycle are taken into account by introducing additional degrees of freedom in the analysis. The kinematics of the tires is represented by linear differential equations which are based on the taut-string model of pneumatic tires. The linear differential equations of motion are solved to yield the eigensolutions of the system. Numerical results, obtained for parameters corresponding to a Honda CB750 motorcycle, are presented and discussed.     

A model for allocating car parking spaces in universities

In this paper a linear programming model has been presented for determining the optimum allocation of existing car parking facilities for different classes of users within a closed community, of which a university is a typical example.     

轨道运输噪音改善研析与对策——以台北捷运地下隧道为例

台湾因人口集中都会区且道路年增率远不及车辆年增率,形成都会区内及城际道路交通日益频繁与拥塞,台湾目前陆运交通主流与世界趋势相同,主要以轨道运输系统为陆运交通主要解决方案,同时近年来在降低环境污染及增加能源使用效能之呼声下,更使得铁路运输亦再度成为最佳解决方案.近年来台北捷运系统中和线古亭站穿越民房下方潜盾隧道段、维修线中华路区段及板桥线西门站至龙山寺站地下隧道,沿线接获越来越多居住其上的居民对振动噪音污染生活质量之抱怨与不满,同时因民众环保意识的日渐抬头,民众对捷运行驶的噪音愈来愈不能忍受,噪音陈情的地点也愈来愈多,目前虽采取许多改善措施,但似乎不能满足沿线居民的需求.此篇论文即针对轨道运输系统中台北捷运地下隧道分轨道噪音之成因进行分析,并经分析评估,拟定出各轨道噪音案在地下隧道的防治对策,并对部分防治对策做-长期监测,并对部分监测数据进行初步分析比对,厘清对策与成因在理论上及实务上之成效比对,从而进行设计上之回馈,以提供轨道运输在环境噪音防治之最佳方案.     

轨道运输隧道安全疏散系统——以台北捷运为例

台湾近年来新兴轨道运输系统方兴未艾,都市轨道运输系统,因其路线多经过都市闹区,故常采用地下型式兴建,当发生意外事故或灾变时,乘客能否安全逃生必须倚赖系统对隧道内与地下车站之乘客安全疏散所设计的逃生设备及事前完备规划的操作程序;目前台北捷运系统在隧道段及地下车站之灾害处理对策部份,已属成熟,由于台北捷运系统为台湾都会区轨道运输系统最先施作者,其规划设计除参考国外捷运系统之相关规划设计准则外,并融合台北都会区域活动特性而订定了台北捷运系统地下隧道乘客逃生操作程序,本文将台北捷运系统规划隧道安全疏散程序及地下车站乘客疏散原则,作一全面性说明及分析,希望能提供国内其它轨道运输隧道系统安全规划之案例参考.     

Vehicle dynamics integrated control for four-wheel-distributed steering and four-wheel-distributed traction/braking systems

In this article, vehicle dynamics integrated control algorithm using an on-line non-linear optimization method is proposed for 4-wheel-distributed steering and 4-wheel-distributed traction/braking systems. The proposed distribution algorithm minimizes work load of each tire, which is controlled to become the same value. The global optimality of the convergent solution of the recursive algorithm can be proved by extension to convex problems. This implies that theoretical limited performance of vehicle dynamics integrated control is clarified. Furthermore, the effect of this vehicle dynamics control for the 4-wheel-distributed steering and 4-wheel-distributed traction/braking systems is demonstrated by simulation to compare with the combination of the various actuators.