Experimental study of EGR cooler regeneration aided by oxygen-fed NTP and air-fed NTP

Based on non-thermal plasma (NTP) technology fed by oxygen and air as the gas source respectively, the experimental system of exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) cooler regeneration was built to do a study at different regeneration temperatures. By measuring the concentration of main active substance and CO_x in regeneration process, the influence of temperature on regeneration aided by oxygen-fed NTP and air-fed NTP was investigated. The experimental results indicate that EGR cooler can be regenerated both by air-fed NTP and oxygen-fed NTP at a wide temperature range of 18 °C ～ 300 °C. By comparison of the regeneration with oxygen-fed NTP and air-fed NTP, it can be easily known that the regeneration effect is most remarkable at 150 °C with oxygen-fed NTP and at 120 °C with air-fed NTP. In addition, when the temperature is below 150 °C especially at 120 °C, the regeneration efficiency of air-fed NTP is lower than oxygen-fed NTP, nevertheless, when the temperature is above 150 °C, air-fed NTP has a superiority in regeneration and the higher the temperature is, the more obvious the superiority will be.     

Development of an intelligent CAE system for auto-body concept design

The concept design phase is a critical step in auto-body design, as it has a great effect on later design work. This paper describes the implementation of an auto-body structure design in the early stages of a new auto-body developing program. In order to reduce the long design period and analysis error that plagues traditional auto-body concept design, an intelligent CAE system has been successfully developed and implemented based on the UGS NX/API opening platform. This system, the so-called ACD-ICAE (Auto-body concept design-intelligent computer aided engineering) System that means concept design-intelligent computer aided engineering system, employs a fully parametrized template method to build the conceptual auto-body geometry model and FEM model quickly and easily. It also integrates auto-body modeling, analysis and optimization on only one CAD platform via a parametric variables database. Moreover, all parametric variables are shared and updated in different phases of the ACD-ICAE System. A wizard User Interface (UI) based on knowledge of auto-body engineering was developed and used in this system. The procedures implementing the functional diagram of the ACD-ICAE system are also provided. A typical example of a car body concept design with four doors shows that the ACD-ICAE system is efficient and accurate.     

盾构法水下隧道工程技术的发展

盾构是建造穿越江河、海峡水下隧道的主要工法之一,其工程技术的现代发展趋势主要针对隧道大断面、高地下水头和长掘进距离等3大方面。文章就已建成的几大标志性盾构法水下隧道工程（英法海峡隧道、日本东京湾公路隧道、荷兰西斯凯尔特河隧道、德国易北河第四通道隧道、上海崇明长江通道隧道）就其工程规模和技术特点,讨论水下隧道盾构工法的技术发展。     

Vibration transmission reduction from a centrifugal turbo blower in a fuel cell electric vehicle

This paper presents a multi-body flexible dynamic analysis of a centrifugal turbo blower for a fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV) based on the application of computer-aided engineering (CAE) to predict the acceleration at the mount position of the blower. This predicted acceleration is validated by using the measured acceleration data. The numerical simulation for the multi-body flexible dynamics of the blower is used not only to identify the most effective mount among four mounts in an FCEV by controlling the complex stiffness of the isolator, but also to suggest the range of complex stiffness of the isolator at the most effective mount. This numerical simulation technology can be useful for the estimation of the variation of vibration transmission for the structural modification of the turbo blower.     

Robust optimization design method for powertrain mounting systems based on six sigma quality control criteria

This paper presents a robust optimization design method based on Six Sigma quality control criteria to improve the design of a powertrain mounting system (PMS). The powertrain is modeled as a rigid body having six degrees of freedom (DOF) connected to a rigid base by four rubber mounts, and each mount is simplified as a three-dimensional spring-damper element in its local coordinate system (LCS). The calculation method based on energy decoupling is used to estimate the decoupling ratios of a PMS. The location and static stiffness of each mount and the orientations of the two anti-torsion mounts are selected as uncertain design variables, and the nominal values of these design variables are optimized to obtain a robust Six Sigma design for a PMS. The uncertain design variables are characterized by a perturbation or percent variation around their nominal values. The generalized reduced gradient (LSGRG2) optimization method is employed to solve the robust optimization problem, and a second-order Taylor series expansion is used to estimate the statistical properties of the performance constraints and objectives. The optimization results show that the robust design ensures good robustness or high reliability for the natural frequencies, decoupling ratios, and frequency separation constraints of a PMS.     

Advances in port studies: the contribution of 40 years Maritime Policy & Management

Port economics, management and policy have progressively emerged as a distinctive research field, and a core part of maritime economics. This paper provides an analysis of all the 267 port studies published in Maritime Policy & Management (MPM) since its inception in 1973. This paper provides a content analysis for seven interrelated research theme categories including main research topics and methods, authorship distribution and citation counts. It is demonstrated that MPM played, and continues to play, a key role in publishing research on seaports. The published research increasingly applies established analytical frameworks to ports. The paper concludes with a discussion on current challenges for port-related research.     

Evaluation of Potentially Successful Barge Innovations

Abstract

The main objective of this article is to analyse the changes in productivity of the Taiwan Bus Transit System (TBTS) before and after the execution of the ‘Alternatives for Promoting the Development of the Public Transportation Sectors’ (APDPTS), which is designed to provide a better operating environment for the public transport sector in the provision of public transit services. We use a decomposition of the Malmquist productivity index to locate the sources of productivity growth, namely technical change and efficiency change. The former is further decomposed into an output bias, an input bias and a magnitude term to test neutrality. The latter is also decomposed into changes in pure technical efficiency and scale efficiency. In our case, between the pre‐ and post‐APDPTS periods, the efficiency increased only marginally. As a result of a five‐year enhancement programme, the technical regress slowed down slightly, and inward neutral shifts of a transformation frontier were interpreted as being the main contributor to technical regress. In particular, evidence of biased technical change was found, i.e., the effects of output capability increased slightly, but the efficient use of inputs declined during the post‐APDPTS period.     

Synchronized Production and Transportation Planning Using Subcontracted Vehicles in a Production-Distribution Network

Abstract

Effective management of interfaces between procurement, supply, production and distribution for higher efficiency in the supply chain is an important issue in global manufacturing, where the synchronization of production and transportation planning represents important savings in operational costs. This paper focuses on the synchronization of production planning and transportation planning in a production distribution network, where transportation is subcontracted to a professional transportation enterprise (PTE) for vehicle-hiring. Dynamic and flexible numbers of vehicles are used to cater for fast changing market demands. Thus, the number of vehicles to be hired is viewed from the planning point of view as an operational decision considered simultaneously with production and transportation planning. A mathematical model – SPTP/MTDS – for synchronized production and transportation planning under multiple times and direct shipping strategy (MTDS) is discussed, and a Lagrange relaxation decomposition-based two layer decision procedure (LRD-TLDP) is developed. By introducing artificial decision variables and Lagrange multipliers, SPTP/MTDS is decomposed into a production decision sub-problem (SPTP-PD), and a distribution decision sub-problem (SPTP-DD). A priority-based assignment heuristic and a partial chain-based genetic algorithm are developed to solve SPTP-PD and SPTP-DD, respectively. An illustration of the application of the model in an electronic appliance manufacturing enterprise in China is presented.     

Urea-SCR system optimization with various combinations of mixer types and decomposition pipe lengths

The demand for NO_x after-treatment system has increased dramatically due to the stricter NO_x emission regulations for diesel vehicles. The urea-SCR system is one of the NO_x after-treatment methods found to be quite effective to meet the regulation requirement enforced by various authorities including the Euro-6. In order to develop an effective urea-SCR system, it is critical to establish an even distribution of reductant over the catalyst surface since this favorable distribution can increase reduction reaction and in turn, improve NO_x conversion efficiencies. In the current study, a number of design variations of the urea-SCR system which included two mixer types and three decomposition pipe lengths, were evaluated systematically using CFD analysis and experimental measurements. The purpose of the CFD analysis was to estimate the distribution of reductant within the urea-SCR system with a specific configuration and the purpose of the engine emission test was to measure the amount of NO_x reduction, respectively. The results from the systematic analysis revealed the relation between the reductant distribution over the SCR and the performance of the NO_x reduction.     

Exploring the role of individual attitudes and perceptions in predicting the demand for cycling: a hybrid choice modelling approach

Cycling is often promoted as a means of reducing urban congestion and improving health, social and environmental outcomes. However, the quantification of these potential benefits is not well established. This is due in part to practical difficulties in estimating cycling demand and a lack of sound methodologies to appraise cycling initiatives. In this paper we attempt to address this need by developing predictive models of cycle demand, relative to other transport modes, that capture not only the impacts of observed characteristics such as age and travel time but also the role of attitudes and perceptions. Using data from a stated preference survey, we estimate a hybrid choice model for cycle use that incorporates the role of attitudes towards cycling, perceptions of the image associated with cycling, and the stress arising from safety concerns. Model results indicate that the latent attitudes and perceptions explain an important part of the non-observable utility in a simple multinomial logit choice model. We also demonstrate policy analysis using the hybrid choice model, which allows comparisons of ‘hard’ policies such as the provision of parking facilities against ‘soft’ measures such as cycle promotion schemes.