钢结构优化设计的两水平分解法

本文给出了刚架结构优化设计的一种新方法,依据结构可分解的特点,将整体优化设计分解为两个水平上的优化设计,对一个给定的结构,在 botton-level 上,每一个单元是一个子问题,优化设计其横截面尺寸;在 top-level上优化设计其整体几何,算例表明,这种算法是相当有效的.     

Queue-dependent vehicle dispatching with options and optimal fleet size

A queue-dependent vehicle dispatching rule, with options to use special vehicles (rented, reserve, shared etc.) for relieving long waiting lines, is considered. The transportation system under consideration has one source terminal and a fleet of N regular vehicles. Passengers are assumed to arrive individually at the source terminal according to a Poisson process. An efficient recursive algorithm is derived to analyse the performance of the system. An average cost criterion is used to determine the firm's fleet size and dispatching strategy for a simpler system. This is a variant of a “Random vehicle dispatching with options” rule proposed by Zuckerman and Tapiero (1980).     

A Comparison of Tyre Representations in a Simple Wheel Shimmy Problem

A simple system capable of wheel shimmy is analysed in three different ways and the results are compared. The tyre in each case is taken to be representable by a “taut string”, and the three ways involve (a) developing a digital tyre simulation which operates sequentially with a digital simulation of the mechanical system, (b) representing the tyre responses by linear constant coefficient differential equations derived empirically to match the string responses, and (c) as in (b) but employing fundamentally derived equations which approximate the exact string responses. The approximations are shown to give good results at reduced frequencies typical of the wheel shimmy phenomenon.     

Forecasting downtime event durations for the Morgantown people mover

A model was developed to forecast the duration of emergency shut downs of the Morgantown People Mover. An extensive data base of downtime events for a 2 1/2 year period were analyzed. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) methods were applied to determine the significance of five variables which were hypothesized to influence downtime duration, including physical sub-system, restartablity, location of failure, number of vehicles in the system, and level of demand. Results of the analysis enable MPM system operators to provide improved information to system users during downtime events. The forecasting methodology also enables operators to evaluate alternative user management strategies during downtimes.     

Longitudinal Oscillations of Vehicle/Trailer Combinations Induced by Overrun Braking

A mathematical model for the representation of longitudinal oscillations which can occur in car/trailer systems in braking, when the trailer brakes are applied through compression of the towing hitch, is described. The model is used to show how the trailer braking system parameters affect the steady deceleration performance of the vehicle combination, and the stability, in the linear system sense, of the steady motions. The sensitivity of the stability to other system design parameters is also examined.

Digital simulation of the motions occurring in response to a step input of car braking torque is reported, with the results confirming the predictions of the linear stability analysis, and also showing the influence of backlash in the trailer brake actuating mechanism.

The system is shown to be capable of self-excitation in a “shunting” mode, in which the car and trailer motions are in antiphase, with the stability/damping property critically dependent on drawbar damping, and only weakly dependent on other system parameters. The characteristic frequency of the “shunting” mode oscillations is shown to be controllable via the stiffness of the trailer brake linkage, but this frequency is closely related to the steady drawbar deflection which occurs in uniform deceleration.

The model behaviour described provides a basis for the design of relevant systems whose longitudinal dynamic characteristics will be satisfactory.     

Multi-commodity traffic assignment by continuum approximation of network flow with variable demand

Consider a city with several highly compact central business districts (CBD), and the commuters’ destinations from each of them are dispersed over the whole city. Since at a particular location inside the city the traffic movements from different CBDs share the same space and do not cancel out each other as in conventional fluid flow problems albeit travelling in different directions, the traffic flows from a CBD to the destinations over the city are considered as one commodity. The interaction of the traffic flows among different commodities is governed by a cost–flow relationship. The case of variable demand is considered. The primal formulation of the continuum equilibrium model is given and proved to satisfy the user optimal conditions, and the dual formulation of the problem and its complementary conditions are also discussed. A finite element method is then employed to solve the continuum problem. A numerical example is given to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.     

Robust Scalable Vehicle Control via Non-Dimensional Vehicle Dynamics

A temporal and spatial re-parameterization of the linear vehicle Bicycle Model is presented utilizing non-dimensional ratios of vehicle parameters called p-groups. Investigation of the p-groups using compiled data from 44 published sets of Vehicle Dynamics reveals a normal distribution about a line through p-space. The normal distribution suggests numerical-values for an 'average' vehicle and maximum perturbations about the average. A state-feedback controller is designed utilizing the p-space line and the expected p-perturbations to robustly stabilize all vehicles encompassed by the normal distribution of vehicle parameters. Experimental verification is obtained using a scaled vehicle.     

Optimal Control of a Vehicle Suspension Incorporating the Time Delay between Front and Rear Wheel Inputs

An optimal control law for a vehicle suspension is developed using a discrete linear quadratic regulator framework. The time delay between the disturbance due to the road at the front and rear wheels is incorporated into the model, and it is shown that the optimal control law requires information gathered at the front wheels. A comparison is made between the optimal control law and a suboptimal one which does not incorporate front wheel road information.