A new model for soil consolidation based on microstructure

This paper introduces a new means to predict consolidation deformation of soil from its microstructure. Based on a kind of pore-size distribution density function, a fractal model for soil consolidation is established. Through this model, the relation between macroscopic deformation and microcosmic pore property of soil is founded. In order to justify this proposed model for soil consolidation, consolidation experiments of soft clay are performed. Afterward, the microstructure of soft clay unconsolidated and consolidated under every pressure is studied by a scanning electron microscope (SEM). The results show that the proposed model for soil consolidation is valid in predicting consolidation deformation.     

Numerical simulation of non-destructive testing of stainless steel composites plate by infrared thermography

The non-destructive testing (NDT) of debonding in stainless steel composites plate (SSCP) is performed by infrared thermography, finite element analysis (FEA) software ANSYS is taken as the simulative tool, and 2D simulative model has been set up to investigate effect of the thickness of coating and/or substrate on the detectibility of debonging in SSCPs. Two parameters, namely the maximum defect temperature difference and defect appearing index, are defined to evaluate the detectivity of defects, and their computational methods and formulas are given respectively. The preliminary changing tendency of the maximum defect temperature difference and defect appearing index with the thickness of coating and/or substrate is found by numerical simulation.     

Simulation of unsteady free-surface flow around a ship hull using a fully coupled multi-phase flow method

An accurate, efficient algorithm for solving free surface flows around ship hulls is described. Accuracy is achieved using a compressive advection discretization which maintains a sharp free surface interface representation without relying on a small time step. Efficiency is obtained using a solution algorithm which implicitly couples velocity, pressure, and volume fractions. The algorithm has been implemented in a computational fluid dynamics code called CFX and is validated by means of a comparisonwith experimental data of benchmark cases in both steady and transient conditions.     

A comparative analysis of the European and North-American approaches to dealing with major oil spills

Background  

The question of what should be the right level of preparedness to react to a major oil spill (i.e. the EXXON VALDEZ spill, the ERIKA spill, and the PRESTIGE spill) is highly debated, especially in the aftermath of such spills. Little research, however, has been conducted with the aim to identify and compare governments’ best practices not only to fund preparedness measures but also to assess the countries’ ability to respond effectively to catastrophic oil spills. It is the author’s belief that important lessons can be learnt from a comparative analysis of countries’ best practices.     

Numerical analysis of crack under compression by 3D displacement discontinuity method

A 3D displacement discontinuity method is applied to solve the fracture mechanics problems of the mixed mode crack under compression. Friction between the surface of the closed crack is considered by establishing a simple and efficient iterative algorithm based on method of contact resistance mitigation. On the surfaces of the closed crack, the Mohr-coulomb rule is satisfied by iteration when the crack is in condition of sliding. The stress intensity factors are obtained using displacement fitting method. It is shown that the numerical results agree with the experimental results well and that friction plays an important role in resisting crack propagation.     

Experimental study on the liquid slug of cryogenic slug flow in inclined tubes

An experimental study was carried out to understand the phenomena of the boiling flow of liquid nitrogen in inclined tubes with closed bottom by using a high speed motion analyzer.The experimental tubes are 0.018 and 0.014 m inner diameter(ID) and 1.0 m in length.The range of the inclination angle is 45°-90° from the horizontal.The experimental observation on the liquid slug was carried out along the tubes.Statistical method was employed to analyze the experimental data.The experiment analyzed the influences of the inclination angle and the tube diameter on the liquid slug length and velocity.The results show the liquid slug propagation velocity increases with the decrease of inclination angle θ.For all cases,the maximum values of the mean liquid slug lengths were obtained at θ = 60°.The mean liquid slug lengths were greater for large tube at higher tube position.These conclusions provide a basis for further study liquid slug of cryogenic two-phase undeveloped slug flow.     

“Turn on the radio,bust out a song”: the experience of driving to work

Though driving to and from work has become a prevalent experience in the lives of individuals in every metropolitan region in the US, much remains to be learned about the activity from the perspective of the drivers. To increase our understanding of the motivation for certain travel behaviors, we must first know something about what those drivers experience. The existing literature explains much, but the application of new methodologies could improve our ability to explain the willingness of individuals to choose to drive through increasingly congested road networks. The results of this study of oral histories of 12 women commuters underscore the idea that commute should be seen as a set of subjective behaviors that contradict some existing assumptions about why individuals commute.     

Threshold controlled scheme of difference expansion techniques for reversible watermarking

Since Tian Jun proposed the difference expansion embedding technique, based on which, many reversible watermarking techniques were proposed. However, these methods do not perform well when the payload is high. In this paper, we proposed an expandable difference threshold controlled scheme for these three methods. Experiments show that our scheme improves the performance of these three methods for heavy payload.     

Simulation optimization of the berth allocation in a container terminal with flexible vessel priority management

ABSTRACT

Solving the berth allocation problem (BAP) in ports is not trivial where the berth resources are limited and various sizes of vessels arrive with dramatically dissimilar loads. Especially in real scenarios, arriving vessels are accepted for a berth with the first come first served (FCFS) priority rule. This study proposes a decision support system coupled with a simulation optimization module based on the swarm-based Artificial Bee Colony optimization algorithm for solving the BAP. The proposed methodology was implemented for the Izmir port in Turkey. To investigate the influences of the vessel priorities on the BAP, four different experimental scenarios based on the single (SQM) and multiple queue models (MQM) were coupled with FCFS and proposed hybrid queue priority (HQP) rule. The results indicated that SQM scenarios were superior to MQM scenarios in a manner of minimizing the average vessel waiting times and the implementation of a dynamic berth allocation strategy for the MQM significantly decreases the vessel waiting times. Results of the SQM also imply that utilization of the HQP approach further minimizes the average vessel waiting times and increases the berth utilization and port throughput without yielding excessive waiting times for the larger vessels compared with the FCFS priority rule.     

Load-leveling suspension system with a magnetorheological damper

In this paper, a load-leveling suspension system with a magnetorheological (MR) damper is investigated. In this suspension system, the MR damper is connected to a spring to form a load-leveling suspension system. The system effective stiffness and damping can be adjusted by controlling the MR damper. The characteristics of a load-leveling suspension system are studied first. When the linear damper is replaced with an MR damper, the averaging method is adopted to obtain the steady-state response of the nonlinear system. A comparison demonstrates that the results of the averaging method are in good agreement with those obtained by numerical simulations. The analytical results are then verified experimentally. The load-leveling suspension system studied here is able to adjust both suspension stiffness and damping and, hence, it may provide more effective vibration control in a wider frequency range, when the damper is controlled.