Integrated approach to an optimal automotive timing chain system design

Ensuring engine efficiency is a crucial issue for automotive manufacturers. Several manufacturers focus on reducing the time taken to develop and introduce brand new vehicles to the market. Thus, a synergic approach including various simulations is generally adopted to achieve a development schedule and to reduce the cost of physical tests. This study involved proposing a design process that is very useful in the preliminary development stage through effective support from simulations. This type of simulation-based design process is effective in developing timing chain drives; the use of this process, based on results from multiple trials, showed improvements in performance including low friction and vibration, improved durability, and cost-effective part design when compared to conventional processes. This study proposes an integrated approach to the preliminary design of an automotive timing chain system. The approach involves structural and dynamic analyses. The details of the design process are described by using the case of a virtual engine. This study conducted and summarized a dynamic and structural analysis as well as topological optimization to describe a process to obtain optimal results. The results of this study indicated the following improvements in overall performance factors: 12.1 % improvement in transmission error, 10.1 % reduction in chain tension, 46 % reduction in tensioner arm weight, and 11 % reduction in transversal displacement.     

Vibration reduction of H/Shaft using an electromagnetic damper with mode change

The objective of this study is to develop a damper that can reduce the amplitude of vibration in various frequency ranges. Previous H/Shaft vibration reduction methods work in a passive way. A dynamic damper reduces the amplitude of vibration at its first mode, but vibration still appears at the second mode. A mass damper or hollow shaft can shift the natural frequency to a lower or higher region. The fixed operating frequency prevents vibration from being reduced outside the operating frequency range. The proposed damper uses electromagnets as either masses or actuators to change the damper mode between dynamic damper mode and mass damper mode. The electromagnetic damper (EMD) can change its mode to respond to the vibration excitation at both low and high frequencies. The vibration reduction performance was evaluated by FRF tests in laboratory and vehicle conditions. The results were compared with those of a dynamic damper and indicate that the amplitude of vibration is reduced by 95.6 % when the EMD is implemented on an H/Shaft, whereas only 61.9 % vibration reduction is achieved by the dynamic damper.     

科考船多波束导流罩线型CFD分析方法与试验验证

针对于科考船多波束导流罩设计和船体线型设计缺少关联分析的主要问题,介绍了一种科考船导流罩线型与船体线型一体化CFD分析方法,综合考虑实船航行过程中船体型线和导流罩型线之间的相互影响。根据这种分析方法,分别对导流罩和船体组合线型的阻力性能和防气泡性能进行了CFD预报,并进行了船模试验。两者吻合良好,验证了此种CFD分析方法的工程实用性。     

Marine accident analysis for collision and grounding in oil tanker using FTA method

In this study, collision and grounding data registered in GISIS (Global Integrated Shipping Information System) were investigated for oil tankers. The database includes the information of the collision and grounding accidents during the period between 1998 and 2010 in oil tankers. The risk assessments were carried out using fault tree analysis (FTA) programme for the incidents as collision and grounding occurred in oil tankers. In this study, we were able to investigate first the potential problems which cause the collision and grounding accidents have been determined, second, the occurrence of accidents has been shown with causal factors by the FTA method, and, finally, the significance degree of the initial events causing occurrence of accidents have been put forth. Collision in oil tanker resulted in economical loss (81%), pollution (6%) and death or injury (13%). Grounding in oil tanker resulted in economical loss (91%) and pollution (9%). According to the FTA results, the main reason for the accidents originating from human error is as follows: for collision accidents, Convention on the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea (COLREG) violation and the lack of communication between vessels; and for grounding accidents, the interpretation failure of the officer on watch and lack of communication in the bridge resource management.     

波浪作用下30万吨级油轮撞击能量研究

通过物理模型试验,研究不规则波作用下30万吨级油轮撞击能量,分析了主要影响因素HT、LB、TT0、D对撞击速度的影响规律。结果表明:撞击速度与HT成正比;与LB成幂次关系;与TT0也成正比,但TT0=1时船舶撞击码头与波浪产生共振,撞击速度出现极大值;压载时的撞击速度大于满载时的撞击速度,撞击速度与吃水成负相关。提出了30万吨级油轮撞击能量的计算公式,与青岛港原油码头三期工程和青岛益佳集团燃油码头工程的物理模型试验结果对比,具有较好的计算精度,可供工程设计参考。     

徐圩防波堤工程桶式基础结构设计

桶式基础结构是一种新型防波堤结构,目前尚没有成熟的设计标准和施工工艺。结合连云港徐圩防波堤工程,介绍此结构的设计荷载工况、结构模型试验、有限元分析方法、配筋方法。通过对比土体-结构相互作用模型和简化独立桶体模型,说明两种分析方法的优劣。以实例对比说明中国规范和美国混凝土学会ACI 318规范关于双向板裂缝宽度的计算方法。     

超空泡航行体加速过程流动特性研究

超空泡航行体加速过程是航行体进入高速巡航状态的重要阶段。为了深入了解超空泡航行体加速过程中的流动特性,文中采用基于欧拉两流体模型的CFD方法以及基于相对运动的源项法对超空泡航行体全沾湿加速过程、通气加速过程进行了数值模拟,其中全沾湿过程主要研究了加速过程附加质量变化规律,通气加速过程研究了通气量、重力效应以及航行体攻角对空泡发展速度的影响。研究结果表明全沾湿加速过程中由于加速度较大,附加惯性力影响不能忽略;通气量、航行体攻角对超空泡生成速度均有较大影响,当速度达到50 m/s以上时,重力效应对空泡生成速度影响可以忽略。     

Factors associated with home-based e-working and e-shopping in Nanjing,China

The widespread adoption of information and communication technology has facilitated frequent e-activities in people’s daily life. From the perspective of individual’s time use on e-working and e-shopping at home, this paper aims to enhance our understanding of the function of home beyond a living space for family life. Using a household survey of 608 full-time paid employees who conducted e-activities at home in Nanjing, China, we investigated the characteristics and patterns of home-based e-working and e-shopping. Only 7.9% of the respondents neither e-shopped nor e-worked at home. We find that the socio-demographic context, Internet use habits, attitudes towards e-working/e-shopping, and geographical accessibility have influenced the patterns of home-based e-working and e-shopping. The results indicate that the rich e-activities taking place at home have changed the time use at home and reinforced the function of home as a multifunctional hub.     

Why is the southwest the most productive region of the East Sea/Sea of Japan?

The East Sea/Sea of Japan is a moderately productive sea that supports a wealth of living marine resources. Of the East Sea subregions, the southwest has the highest productivity. Various authors have proposed coastal upwelling, the Tsushima Current, the Changjiang Dilute Water, eddies, or discharge from the Nagdong River as potential sources of additional nutrients. In this paper, we propose, using satellite data from 1998 to 2006, that the biological productivity of the southwestern region is enhanced mainly by wind-driven upwelling along the Korean coast. Firstly, the climatology of seasonal patterns suggests that the enhanced chlorophyll a along the Korean coast is of local origin. Secondly, coastal upwelling is frequent in all seasons except winter. For example, along the coast of the Ulgi region, enhanced chlorophyll a due to coastal upwelling was observed for 25–92% of the time between Jun and Sep in the period 1998–2006. Thirdly, the advection of upwelled water through various pathways to the deeper basin was observed. Fourthly, there appeared to be a strong correlation between the interannual chlorophyll a variations of the coastal upwelling regions and the Ulleung Basin. The chlorophyll a patterns of both regions were closely related to the wind pattern in the upwelling regions, but not to that in the Ulleung Basin. Finally, changes in advection pathways also appeared to affect the productivity of the Ulleung Basin. Since 2004, there has been a shift in the pathways of upwelled water, and consequent increases in chlorophyll a in the Ulleung Basin were observed. This last observation requires further investigation.     

The importance of oceanographic fronts to marine birds and mammals of the southern oceans

During the last 30 years, at-sea studies of seabirds and marine mammals in the oceans south of the Subtropical Front have described an association with major frontal areas. More recently, the advancement in microtechnology has allowed the tracking of individuals and investigations into how these marine predators actually use the frontal zones. In this review, we examine 1) the relative importance to apex predators of the different frontal zones in terms of spatial distribution and carbon flux; 2) the processes that determine their preferential use; and 3) how the mesoscale dynamics of frontal structures drive at-sea foraging strategies of these predators. We review published results from southern waters and place them in a broader context with respect to what has been learned about the importance of fronts in oceans farther north.Some fronts constitute important boundaries for seabird communities in southern waters. At a mesoscale the maximum values of seabird diversity and abundance correspond to the location of the main fronts. At-sea surveys show a strong curvilinear correlation between seabird abundance and sea surface temperatures. High mean species richness and diversity for whales and seabirds are consistently associated with the southern water mass boundary of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, the Subtropical Front and the Subantarctic Front; in the case of the Polar Front mean seabird densities are more variable. At small-scales, variation in seabird occurrence has been directly related to the processes at fronts in a limited number of cases. A significant positive relation was found between some plankton feeding species and frontal temperature gradient–phytoplankton variables.Telemetric studies have revealed that several apex predators (penguins, albatrosses, seals) perform long, directed foraging trips either to the Subtropical front or Polar Front, depending on locality. Seabirds with low flight costs, such as albatrosses, are able to reach fronts at long distances from colonies, showing variable foraging strategies as a function of the distances involved. Diving birds such as King penguins, that travel at a higher cost and lower speed, rely on the predictable spatial distribution of mesopelagic fish found close to the Polar Front. They may use the currents associated with eddies as oceanographic cues in the active search for frontal zones. Once in these areas they dive preferentially in and below the depth of the thermocline where catches per unit effort are high. Elephant seals concentrate foraging activity principally inside or at the boundary of cyclonic eddies. These mesoscale features appear to offer exceptional productivity favourable for foraging by various diving top predators.The connection between biophysical parameters at fronts and predators is likely to be made through biological enhancement. Top predators appear to forage at locations where prey are advected by physical processes and others where prey are produced locally. Long-term research on at-sea distributions and demographic parameters of top predators are essential to assess the consequences of potential shift in front distributions in relation to global warming. Such environmental changes would add to the impact of fish extraction by the industrial fisheries on the southern food webs.