Distributions of queue lengths at fixed time traffic signals

This paper presents a new model which studies probability distributions of queue lengths at fixed time traffic signals. It extends Haight's model for Poisson arrivals that the arrival distribution during the effective red period is general and the headway between two successive departures is not less than the minimum departure headway. Moreover, the probability generating function of the queue length, at the end of the effective red period, is derived. The probabilities of the queue lengths, at the ends of the effective green, actual red and amber periods, are also obtained. Comparison is made with Haight's model. Finally a case study for the proposed model is reported.     

The impact of US regularory practices on the productivity of ocean liner services?

This United States stands alone amongst the nations of the world in its attempt to unilaterally regulate transnational ocean linear services. The major reason for current US regularity policies with regard to scheduled ocean transportation lies in its fundamental distruct of any form of co-operation amongst competitors as demonstrated by its history of antitrust legislation.

The linear industry, because of its unique technical and economic charectersitics has given rise to the establishment of ocean conferences—co ordinating sgreements between the operators of linear vessels. Whilst ocean conferences are permitted—even encouraged—by the their most diluted form, the so-called 'open conferences.

This Paper offers a critical review of Successive US regulatory practices in maritime transport. It is argued that these practices result in excess costs in US trades to the order of $1 billion annually, and that the linear industry's efficient functioning is seriously impaired by these rules-rules imposed by a government administration which fails to recognize that the linear industry's technical efficiency is of far greater importance than its market performance.     

Short run supply functions with decreasing user costs

This note shows, with an example, that user costs on transportation systems need not remain constant or increase with increasing volume, even with design and operational options fixed.     

Fatigue analysis for a multi-lap spot welded joint of high strength steel using quasi static tensile-shear test

The welding quality of spot weldment is an important factor that significantly affects the strength, stiffness, safety, and other performance characteristics of vehicles. Therefore, quality control and fatigue life evaluation of spot weldment are necessary processes. This paper presents a method for determining the fatigue life of multi-lap spot weldment of a high strength steel sheet. In this method, the fatigue life is estimated using the lethargy coefficient, which is the total defect coefficient according to rupture stress and time obtained by the quasi static tensile-shear test. The DC potential drop method was used to check initiation and propagation of cracks in addition to the test. Also, in this study, we modified the lethargy coefficient by using the welding current. Furthermore, we define a specific lapping constant, which is a characteristic constant of 2 or 3 lap weldments. The fatigue life obtained by the fatigue estimate equation, which contains a specific lapping constant was compared and verified with an experimental value. Finally we analyzed the relation of lap number, welding current and fatigue life. This method can save processing time and cost for predicting the life cycle of a structure.     

Design of a forced control system for a dynamic road simulator using QFT

This paper presents the road simulator control technology for reproducing a road input signal to implement real road data. The simulator consists of a hydraulic pump, a servo valve, a hydraulic actuator and its control equipment. QFT (Quantitative Control Theory) is utilized to control the simulator effectively. The control system illustrates a tracking performance of the closed-loop controller with a low order transfer function G(s) and a pre-filter F(s) for a parametric uncertainty model. A force controller is designed to communicate the control signal between the simulator and digital controller. Tracking specification is satisfied with upper and lower bound tolerances on the steep response of the system to the reference signal. The efficacy of the QFT force controller is verified through the numerical simulation in which combined dynamics and actuation of the hydraulic servo system are tested. The simulation results show that the proposed control technique works well under an uncertain hydraulic plant system. The conventional software (Labview) is used to make up for the real controller on a real-time basis, and the experimental works show that the proposed algorithm works well for a single road simulator.     

Development of the brake system design program for a vehicle

It is quite challenging to estimate the braking performance of a vehicle because the brake system is comprised of many parts, including a booster, master cylinder, and caliper. Calculation of characteristics such as braking force through vehicle tests requires much time and money. Therefore, the development of a method to estimate the braking performance of a vehicle using qualitative methods is beneficial. In this study, a program that can analyze the braking capabilities of a vehicle such as pressure, efficiency, and pedal travel is presented. The increase in disc temperature during braking as well as the properties of various boosters can be calculated using the proposed program. Dynamic characteristics of a vehicle equipped with a Load Sensing Proportional Valve (LSPV) were computed more precisely by obtaining the change in valve pressure according to the displacement of a suspension system. Since all input and output files are composed in the Microsoft Excel format, both design data management and database construction can easily completed.     

Experimental investigation of abrasive flow machining effects on injector nozzle geometries,engine performance,and emissions in a di diesel engine

The effects of the Abrasive Flow Machining (AFM) process on a direct injection (DI) Diesel engine fuel injector nozzle are studied. Geometry characterization techniques were developed to measure the microscopic variations inside the nozzle before and after the process. This paper also provides empirically-based correlations of the nozzle geometry changes due to the AFM process. The resulting impact of the process on the engine performance and emissions are also assessed with a DI Diesel engine test setup. This study shows that properly AFM-processed injectors can enhance engine performance and improve emissions due to the improved quality of the nozzle characteristics. However, an extended process can also cause enlargement of the nozzle hole as a side effect, which can adversely affect emissions. Emission measurements show the trade-off for the minimum levels as the process proceeds. Since the enlargement of the hole during the AFM process is not avoidable and must be minimized, strict control over the process is required. This control can be enforced by either limiting the AFM processing period, or by properly preparing the initial hole diameter so as to accommodate the inevitable changes in the nozzle geometry.     

Experimental study on macroscopic spray characteristics after impingement in a slit-type GDI injector

In this paper, an experimental study on the wall-impinging spray of the slit-type GDI injector is presented. To examine the effects of various factors on the development of a spray impinging on the wall, experiments were conducted at various injection pressures, ambient pressures, wall distances from the injector tip, wall temperatures, and wall inclination angles. Behavior of the impinging spray was visualized using a planar laser scattering method. It is shown that the spray path penetration of the wall-impinging spray increases with increases in injection pressure, wall distance, wall temperature, or wall angle. On the other hand, the spray path penetration of the wall-impinging spray decreases with increases in ambient pressure. The predicted spray path penetration calculated by the empirical equation estimates the spray path penetration in all cases, and the empirical equation is optimized for the total injection pressure.     

Analysis of the transient atomization characteristics of diesel spray using time-resolved PDPA data

The transient atomization characteristics of a single-hole diesel spray were investigated to clarify the time-dependent droplet formation process of the spray through time-resolved analysis of the droplet size data acquired by using a 2-D PDPA (phase Doppler particle analyzer). Comparisons among the three single-hole diesel nozzles on the atomization characteristics were made to confirm the effects of the hole-diameter. The hole diameter of the single-hole diesel nozzles varied with d_n=0.22, 0.32 and 0.42 mm. The time-resolved diameter, SMD (Sauter mean diameter) and AMD (arithmetic mean diameter) of droplets in diesel spray injected into still ambient air were measured. The SMD and AMD decreased with decreasing nozzle hole diameter. The SMD distribution along the spray centerline steeply decreased with increasing axial distance before reaching a constant value. In the time-dependent analysis of the SMD of the whole flow field, the SMD gradually increased with time after the initiation of injection, reached a maximum value, and then decreased.