Course-keeping control of underactuated hovercraft

The course-keeping control of underactuated hovercraft with two aft propellers was considered. The control of the heading error and cross-track error was accomplished by the yaw torque merely in this case. The hovercraft dynamic model is nonlinear and underactuated. At first the Controllability of course-keeping control for hovercraft was proved, then a course-keeping control law was derived that keeps hovercraft heading constant as well as minimizes the lateral movement of hovercraft. The proposed law guarantees heading error and sway error all converge to zero exponentially. Simulation tests were carried out to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed control law. For further research, the disturbance influence would be considered in the dynamic equations.     

An approach to estimating the hull girder response of a ship due to springing

This article describes an estimation method for the hull girder response of a ship due to springing. The linear and nonlinear springing effects on the hull girder are evaluated. Previous studies on the springing response focused mainly on the symmetric response, or vertical response. In this article, however, the springing analysis is extended to asymmetric responses, or horizontal and torsional responses. The Timoshenko beam model was used to calculate the hull girder response and the quadratic strip method was employed to calculate hydrodynamic forces and moments on the hull. To remove irregular frequencies, a rigid lid was adopted on the hull free surface level and hydrodynamic coefficients were interpolated for asymptotic values. Applications to two ships for the symmetric and asymmetric responses were carried out and the effect of springing responses is also discussed.     

Factors influencing support for local transportation sales tax measures

Sales tax measures passed at the local level and dedicated to transportation projects have become increasingly popular in the United States. While revenues from fuel taxes stagnate, growth of local transportation sales taxes (LTSTs), most approved in local elections, has led to a gradual shift of the financial base for transportation projects away from user fees and toward broader-based taxes. In this study, the relationship between voter support and the social, political, and geographic characteristics of the voters is explored. Using precinct-level voting data and census demographic data for three local transportation sales tax elections in Sonoma County, in the San Francisco Metropolitan area of California, regression models were constructed to analyze this relationship. In addition, the relationship between the outcomes of the three measures was explored to better understand which transportation projects might have garnered more support for the successful measure. It was found that the closer voters lived to the transportation projects to be funded, the greater their support. Higher incomes were also positively related to support, controlling for other variables. Political leanings were found to affect support, with the direction of the effect dependent upon the project list in each measure’s expenditure plan. Finally, it appears that the latest measure, which passed successfully, benefited greatly from its multi-modal expenditure plan.     

Multigrid fictitious boundary method for incompressible viscous flows around moving airfoils

In this paper, an efficient multigrid fictitious boundary method (MFBM) coupled with the FEM solver package FEATFLOW was used for the detailed simulation of incompressible viscous flows around one or more moving NACA0012 airfoils. The calculations were carried on a fixed multigrid finite element mesh on which fluid equations were satisfied everywhere, and the airfoils were allowed to move freely through the mesh. The MFBM was employed to treat interactions between the fluid and the airfoils. The motion of the airfoils was modeled by Newton-Euler equations. Numerical results of experiments verify that this method provides an efficient way to simulate incompressible viscous flows around moving airfoils.     

Application of H∞ control in rudder/flap vector robust control of a ship＇s course

Given the uncertainty of parameters and the random nature of disturbances that effect a ships course, a robust course controller should be designed on the basis of rudder/flap vector control. This paper analyzes system uncertainty, and the choice of weighting functions is also discussed. When sea waves operate on a ship, the energy-concentrating frequency varies with the angle of encounter. For different angles of encounter, different weighting functions are designed. For the pole of a nominal model existing in an imaginary axis, the bilinear-transform method is used. The ＂2-Riccati＂ equation is adopted to solve the H∞ controller. A system simulation is given, and the results show that, compared with a PID controller, this system has higher course precision and more robust performance. This research has significant engineering value.     

Structural safety assessment of a pontoon-type VLFS considering damage to the breakwater

 A structural safety assessment of a pontoon-type very large floating structure (VLFS) surrounded by a gravity-type breakwater was carried out for extreme wave conditions by considering the damage to the breakwater. Bending and shear collapses are considered to be a failure mode of the floating structure, while overturning damages the breakwater. The probability of the breakwater overturning, and the transmitted wave height before and after damage to the breakwater, are evaluated using design formulae for port and harbor facilities in Japan. The ultimate bending and shear strengths of the floating structure are calculated by the idealized structural unit method (ISUM) and FEM, respectively. The calculated failure probability for the floating structure is compared with the specified target safety level. It was found that the floating structure under consideration is most likely to fail by bending in transverse waves, and that the corresponding failure probability satisfies the target level. Received: September 12, 2002 / Accepted: October 4, 2002 Acknowledgment. The authors are grateful to Dr. Shigeo Ohmatsu, National Maritime Research Institute, Japan, for allowing us to use the program of hydroelastic response analysis. Address correspondence to: M. Fujikubo (e-mail: fujikubo@naoe.hiroshima-u.ac.jp) Updated from the Japanese original, which won the 2002 SNAJ prize (J Soc Arthit Jpn 2002;190:337–345)     

船用热水锅炉腐蚀与防腐蚀措施

锅炉腐蚀的形成很多，其中最为普遍的是锅水对锅炉的腐蚀，烟气的成分及温度的变化等因素对锅炉的腐蚀也有影响，但对于低压辅助锅炉来说，锅水是造成锅炉腐蚀的主要介质。     

Simulation of the mean zero-up-crossing wave period using artificial neural networks trained with a simulated annealing algorithm

The aim of this work was to develop a predictive model to forecast the mean zero-up-crossing wave periods (T _z ) for 3-hourly sea states at a location in the Pacific using artificial neural networks (ANNs). Seven multilayer ANNs were trained with a simulated annealing algorithm. The output of each trained ANN was used to estimate each of the seven parameters of a new distribution called the hepta-parameter spline proposed for the conditional distribution of T _z , given some mean zero-up-crossing wave periods and significant wave heights. After estimating the parameters of the distribution, the model was used to simulate and predict future values of T _z . Forecasting a sea state and developing the joint distribution of sea state characteristics with the help of the simulated characteristics are also discussed in this article.     

我国北方国际航运中心的定位与发展研究

基于我国北方建设国际航运中心的思路,对传统的航运中心的概念进行了分析,并依托于对大连港各方面竞争优劣势的剖析,提出了环渤海湾乃至我国北方地区国际航运中心的新的定义,并对该地区国际航运中心的建设与发展提出了战略性发展的策略研究。     

Performance Design of an Exhaust Superheater for Waste Heat Recovery of Construction Equipment

Although fuel cost has been the largest portion of annual operating costs of construction equipment, it is possible to save the energy and reduce cost using fuel economy enhancement technology. In this study, an organic Rankine cycle is applied to an excavator in order to recover waste heat, reproduce it into electrical energy, and consequently reduce the fuel consumption by 10 %. A design process was carried out to develop an exhaust gas superheater that recovers the waste heat from exhaust gas through a composite-dimensional thermal flow analysis. A one-dimensional code was developed to perform a size design for the exhaust gas superheater. The ranges for the major design parameters were determined to satisfy the target of the heat recovery, as well as the pressure drop at both fluid sides. Performance analysis was done through onedimensional design code results, which were compared with three-dimensional CFD analysis. By utilizing a 3D commercial code, the arrangement of the tubes was selected and the working fluid pressure drop was reduced through a detailed layout design. The design procedure was verified by a performance evaluation of the prototype, which yielded only a 7 % tolerance in heat recovery.