Managing community acceptance of major industrial projects

Abstract

In some cases, the major risk encountered by an industry seeking to site a facility is that of community acceptance. Without community acceptance of a proposed project, construction can be delayed, taxes can be prohibitive, and operations can be prevented through the opposition and influence of local groups. This paper describes the community acceptance risk, the traditional industrial approach to countering local opposition, and a positive approach to achieving community acceptance. This positive approach entails careful site selection; affirmative management of the community acceptance problem, including explicit planning of the community acceptance effort, assignment of staff with specific responsibilities to implement plans, and a budget for mitigating the impacts of the project on the community; acquisition of sufficient land to buffer unavoidable impacts of the project; a carefully formed corporate policy on the public release of information concerning the project; and constructive participation in state and local government policy development.     

The measure of all things: reflections on changing conceptions of the individual in travel demand modeling

Transportation demand modeling has evolved in scope, theory, and practice in the many decades since the US Bureau of Public Roads pioneered home interview transportation studies in metropolitan households in the early 1940s. The major currents of these developments are discussed in the present paper through consideration of the changing role of the individual—as a source of data, as a unit of analysis, and as the intended beneficiary. In addition to reviewing this history we raise, but are unable to resolve, a growing current concern, namely how the public interest can be best served when the transportation data of greatest value is collected by private entities.     

Fatigue and buckling analysis of automotive components considering forming and welding effects

Some vehicle components are developed by setting target weights to the gram level at their design stages to accomplish a lightweight design. Recently, there have been many studies that have focused on lightweight design through the use of ultra-high-strength steels. However, a lightweight design can face many challenges if the reliability of the analysis is not also secured at the design stage. Such challenges include difficulties in coupled analyses when the file formats are different among PAM-STAMP, ABAQUS, and NASTRAN. In this study, we developed a mapping interface that enables mapping between the file formats of various software programs. Buckling analysis was coupled to the forming analysis, in which pre-strain test data were applied in considering the material’s strain hardening, to evaluate the rigidity of the front lower control arm that controls the wheels and transfers loads. The influence of forming effects on endurance was evaluated, and residual stresses around the weld zone were calculated. A comparison of experimental and analytical results indicated that the proposed analysis was highly reliable.     

Electrochemical battery model and its parameter estimator for use in a battery management system of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles

This paper reports the development of a battery model and its parameter estimator that are readily applicable to automotive battery management systems (BMSs). Due to the parameter estimator, the battery model can maintain reliability over the wider and longer use of the battery. To this end, the electrochemical model is used, which can reflect the aging-induced physicochemical changes in the battery to the aging-relevant parameters within the model. To update the effective kinetic and transport parameters using a computationally light BMS, the parameter estimator is built based on a covariance matrix adaptation evolution strategy (CMA-ES) that can function without the need for complex Jacobian matrix calculations. The existing CMA-ES implementation is modified primarily by region-based memory management such that it satisfies the memory constraints of the BMS. Among the several aging-relevant parameters, only the liquid-phase diffusivity of Li-ion is chosen to be estimated. This also facilitates integrating the parameter estimator into the BMS because a smaller number of parameter estimates yields the fewer number of iterations, thus, the greater computational efficiency of the parameter estimator. Consequently, the BMS-integrated parameter estimator enables the voltage to be predicted and the capacity retention to be estimated within 1 % error throughout the battery life-time.     

Reaction characteristics of the diesel oxidation catalyst of particulate matters from the diffusion flame of a oiler burner

The objective of this experimental study is to investigate the characteristics of the size distribution and the number concentration of PM (particulate matters) emitted from the diffusion flame of a boiler burner, which has the same type of combustion as a diesel engine. This study is performed to investigate the emission characteristics of nanoparticles generated from diffusion combustion in diesel fuel, and it considered fuel factors and the reaction characteristics of the nanoparticles on the DOC (Diesel oxidation catalyst). The factors examined in this experiment included the sulfur content in the fuel, the blend of the diesel fuel containing biodiesel and bio-ethanol, and the concentration of engine oil (0.1% and 1.0%) blended with diesel fuel. The particle size distribution of the nanoparticles exhausted from the boiler burner was measured by an SMPS (scanning mobility particle sizer). The number concentration of PM that were smaller than 70 nm in diameter greatly increased in the rear of the DOC when fuel containing 250 ppm of sulfur was used. The experiment also suggested that the particle number concentration in both the front and rear of the DOC was lower when ULSD (ultra low sulfur diesel) fuel blended with biodiesel and bio-ethanol, which are oxygenated fuels, was used than when only ULSD fuel was used. The higher the content of engine oil in the fuel, the higher the particle number concentration was in the front and rear of the catalyst. When the first dilution air temperature is increased from 30°C to 180°C, the nanoparticle number concentration dramatically dropped in the rear of the catalyst when fuel containing 250 ppm of sulfur was used, while the particle size distribution remained almost the same when the fuel with engine oil was used.     

Vertical Vibration Analysis of Vehicle/Imperfect Track Systems

Summary This paper studies the vertical vibration of a vehicle traveling on an imperfect track system. The car body and sleepers are modeled as Timoshenko beams with finite length, and the rail is assumed as an infinite Timoshenko beam with discrete supports. Imperfection of the track system comes from a sleeper lost partial support by the ballast. Since deflection of the rail is limited within a certain interval where the vehicle is passing over, the infinite domain problem can be transformed into a finite domain problem with moving boundary. In this work, the equations of motion of the car body, rail and sleepers are discretized first by the finite element method. The discretized equations of motion for the vehicle and track systems are then assembled, respectively. Finally, the Newmark method is applied to obtain the response of the vehicle and track systems at each time step. The effect of the vehicle speed on the response of the vehicle and track systems is investigated.     

Simulation and Visualisation of the Dynamic Behaviour of an Overhead Power System with Contact Breaking

For high speed rail traffic it is necessary to design overhead power systems which minimize the contact loss between pantograph head and contact wire. To predict how different design solutions will behave it is favourable to model and simulate the dynamic behaviour. In this paper a model of an overhead power system is specified and used in simulation. The model is suitable for simulation with contact loss since it includes specifications of impact conditions between pantograph head and contact wire. Two sets of equations of motion are specified, one for the contact case and one for the non-contact case. The model also includes lateral movement of the wire due to the zigzag span and friction between the pantograph head and the contact wire. It is shown how to make animations of the system behaviour using a MCAE-system. The animations are made using a geometrical model of the system together with results from numerical simulations.

Through the examples provided, use of the mathematical model and the geometrical model is presented. The response is visualised as time histories and phase plane diagrams of different coordinates and as animations of the total system response. The different types of visualisations make an excellent combination when studying the system behaviour of different design solutions.

In one example, simulation using the linearised set of equations gives the same results as simulation using the set of fully nonlinear equations, due to periodic response and the simple alternation of contact conditions. It is shown that the situation when any of the parameters vary suddenly is possible to simulate using the fully nonlinear equations of motion.     

The Influence of In-Plane Tyre Dynamics on ABS Braking of a Quarter Vehicle Model

For efficient analysis it is important to choose the proper model that fits the problem that needs to be solved. This paper discusses three pragmatic simulation models for longitudinal behaviour of a passenger car tyre (Steady State, Transient and Rigid Ring) that may be used in e.g. an ABS simulation. The characteristics of the simulation models are evaluated using some simple simulations. Simulations with a quarter vehicle model that includes load transfer effects are carried out to determine the deviation in results between the mentioned tyre models for an ABS application. The results show that the Steady State model may only be used below 10 Hz and that the Transient model is valid up to about 30 Hz. The results from the ABS simulation with the Rigid Ring model are most reliable and are clearly different from the Steady State and Transient model, which indicates that ABS simulations should be carried out with the Rigid Ring model. Additionally it is demonstrated that for tyre behaviour on uneven roads the influence of the tyre belt cannot be neglected.     

Characterization of Dynamic Vehicle Stability Using Two Models of the Human Pilot Behaviour

This article deals with a study of the stability of the vehicle/pilot system for two different models of human operator behaviour. These models, are the outcome of various.approximations of the precision model for single loop compensatory situations. The vehicle is represented with two degrees of freedom and the pilot is assumed to respond to the lateral displacement and to the lateral velocity with a time delay. The properties of these resulting systems are presented and it is observed that, for any given forward visibility, a critical velocity defines a domain of controllability from a domain of uncontrollability. Furthermore this critical velocity is shown independant of the vehicle/ pilot parameters and may be considered as a possible vehicle safety criterion.     

Analysis of a Passive Sequential Hydraulic Damper for Vehicle Suspension

Vibration isolation characteristics of a sequential hydraulic damper, employing external pressure relief valves, are investigated via analytical means. The sequential hydraulic damper is modelled as a nonlinear dynamical system incorporating nonlinearities due to orifice flows, gas spring and pressure relief mechanisms. The damping characteristics of the sequential hydraulic damper, are compared to those of a constant orifice and a semi-active sequential damper, and discussed in view of their vibration isolation performance. It is established that the performance characteristics of the sequential hydraulic damper are similar to that of a semi-active sequential damper. A tuning methodology to achieve appropriate control of the resonant peak and effective vibration isolation is proposed. The shock and vibration isolation performance of the vehicle model employing a sequential damper are evaluated and compared to those of the vehicle model employing a constant orifice hydraulic damper. It is concluded that the vehicle ride performance can be improved considerably using an adequately tuned sequential damper.