Engine performance and toxic gas analysis of biobutanol-blended gasoline as a vehicle fuel

A comprehensive study evaluating the performance of biobutanol-blended gasoline in passenger cars was conducted because biobutanol is considered a better biofuel than bioethanol as it has no water solubility and it has a higher caloric value, giving it a higher energy value. Several kinds of samples—suboctane gasoline, 8 volume percentage and 16 volume percentage biobutanol—blended gasoline, and a 10 volume percentage MTBE-blended market sample (as the oxygencontaining gasoline)-were tested to evaluate the engine performance in terms of the detergency of the intake valves and combustion chambers, power, emissions, and fuel efficiency. Additionally, the toxicity of the emissions from these biobutanolblended samples was tested in order to assess the viability of biobutanol as one of the competitive potential substitutes for MTBE as an oxygenator in the near future. The results show that biobutanol-blended gasoline samples had relatively better detergency, relatively higher power, and similar levels of emissions compared with those of MTBE-blended gasoline. Formaldehyde was emitted from all of the samples at almost the same levels and within the error range, whereas biobutanolblended gasoline samples emitted approximately three times the amount of acetaldehyde than did the suboctane gasoline. This study shows that biobutanol is one of the best alternative bioalcohol fuels for use in the near future.     

Second-order perturbation added mass fluctuation on vertical vibration of tension leg platforms

Total motion in waves can be considered as a superposition of the motion of the body in still water and the forces on the restrained body. In this study the effect of added mass fluctuation on vertical vibration of tension leg platforms (TLP) in the case of vibration in still water for both free and forced vibration subjected to axial load at the top of the leg is presented. This effect is more important when the amplitude of vibration is large. Also this is important in fatigue life study of tethers. The structural model used here is very simple. Perturbation method is used to formulate and solve the problem. First- and second-order perturbations are used to solve the free and forced vibrations, respectively.     

On the use of mathematical programming in the evaluation of transport policies

This paper focuses on the evaluation processes by which decisions regarding transportation alternatives can be assisted. A multidimensional approach usually called multiple criteria decision making is required to represent the complexity of transportation policy and systems.

The multiple criteria decision making techniques can be divided into two groups. The first is based on a ranking scheme approach and the second on a mathematical programming approach.

A multiple objective mathematical programming procedure known as Goal Programming is presented. The authors examined the use of that procedure in real transportation problems.

The results suggest that multiple objective mathematical programming techniques in general do not appear to be appropriate in transportation policy analysis involving mutually exclusive alternatives. Their use can be limited to special cases in the private sector.     

Valuation of environmental externalities: from theory to decision‐making

Valuation of externalities is a condition for correct investment and pricing decisions in transport. This paper provides a brief survey of the main studies achieved in OECD countries in order to get these valuations. Numerical values for the average social cost of transport are presented. The procedures according to which environment is taken into account in France and Italy are analyzed, and the importance of valuation in these procedures is assessed. Finally, prospects for further research and new developments are expressed.     

软土刀具的磨损预测——一种研究刀具磨损系统中主要影响因素的新方法

硬岩隧道掘进机的性能很大程度上取决于其切削刀具的磨损情况。刀具的磨损会降低掘进速度,进而导致掘进时间延长、项目成本增加。通常在隧道项目的规划阶段使用预测模型来进行磨损预测,而常规的磨损试验对磨损系统的考虑还不够准确,并没有考虑到刀具/土体的相互作用、周围介质（水、膨润土）以及掘进过程中的荷载等因素。针对该问题,专门设计了一个水平放置的磨损试验设备。本文介绍了该试验方法,研究并讨论了磨损系统相关因素对磨损率的影响。结果表明,该设备可模拟真实的掘进过程,很好地解决了上述问题,达到了高效、准确预测磨损的效果。     

Active Roll Control of Single Unit Heavy Road Vehicles

Summary Strategies are investigated for controlling active anti-roll systems in single unit heavy road vehicles, so as to maximise roll stability. The achievable roll stability improvements that can be obtained by applying active anti-roll torques to truck suspensions are discussed. Active roll control strategies are developed, based on linear quadratic controllers. It is shown that an effective controller can be designed using the LQG approach, combined with the loop transfer recovery method to ensure adequate stability margins. A roll controller is designed for a torsionally flexible single unit vehicle, and the vehicle response to steady-state and transient cornering manoeuvres is simulated. It is concluded that roll stability can be improved by between 26% and 46% depending on the manoeuvre. Handling stability is also improved significantly.     

Direct resolution of the pitch of DNA on positively charged lipid bilayers by frequency-modulation AFM

High resolution structural studies of DNA and DNA binding proteins by atomic force microscopy (AFM) require well-bound samples on suitably flat substrates. Adsorbing the DNA onto a positively charged supported lipid bilayer has previously been shown to be a potentially effective strategy for structural studies with AFM. Here, using our home-built frequency-modulation AFM (FM-AFM), we show that these bilayer substrates are only maximally effective for high resolution AFM when the samples are short, linear DNA, compared with circular plasmid DNA. We find that, with the former sample, the measured width of the DNA is about 2 nm, the known DNA diameter, and there is a clear height modulation along the length of the DNA with a periodicity of about 3.4 nm, in excellent agreement with the known pitch of the double helix. This sample preparation strategy is expected to enable higher resolution studies of DNA and DNA binding proteins with FM-AFM than that can presently be achieved.     

Quantifying travel time variability at a single bottleneck based on stochastic capacity and demand distributions

Travel time reliability, an essential factor in traveler route and departure time decisions, serves as an important quality of service measure for dynamic transportation systems. This article investigates a fundamental problem of quantifying travel time variability from its root sources: stochastic capacity and demand variations that follow commonly used log-normal distributions. A volume-to-capacity ratio-based travel time function and a point queue model are used to demonstrate how day-to-day travel time variability can be explained from the underlying demand and capacity variations. One important finding is that closed-form solutions can be derived to formulate travel time variations as a function of random demand/capacity distributions, but there are certain cases in which a closed-form expression does not exist and numerical approximation methods are required. This article also uses probabilistic capacity reduction information to estimate time-dependent travel time variability distributions under conditions of non-recurring traffic congestion. The proposed models provide theoretically rigorous and practically useful tools for understanding the causes of travel time unreliability and evaluating the system-wide benefit of reducing demand and capacity variability.