The perception and image of shipping

The image of the shipping industry plays a vital role in developing maritime transport as a major future, sustainable transport alternative. In particular, it is crucial to understand the image the shipping industry has among young people and the anatomy of the concept in order to be able to effectively promote careers in shipping, to cultivate shipping as an attractive labour market and to develop attractive educational programmes. The focus of this paper is the image of the shipping industry. This study reports on the findings of a large-scale survey of the image of shipping- and image-related concepts among upper secondary school pupils in Sweden, Norway and Greece. We define and analyse empirically by means of multivariate statistical analysis the anatomy of the image concept. We identify various image dimensions, estimate how young people rate the shipping industry along these dimensions and estimate their relative importance to young people who are planning their future careers. The results from this study can be used as a base for describing and explaining the images that young people have of the shipping industry. Such knowledge is fundamental for deriving and developing constructive strategies to promote careers in shipping, to adapt shipping to the expectations of young people and to develop creative and relevant educational programmes. Finally, understanding the image of shipping among young people is important not only for the shipping industry, but for other stakeholders as well, such as ship-owners associations, trade associations, labour unions, transport authorities and administrations and policy makers at the national and supra-national level.     

Operating costs in Norwegian toll companies: a panel data analysis

The objective of this paper is to ease the planning of new toll projects by providing estimates of operating costs, and to help us make better informed decisions about the design of toll collection systems. To do so we use panel data for Norwegian toll companies to estimate average cost functions. The main results can be summarised as follows. We provide evidence of very important unexploited economies of scale. The estimated cost curves are very steep for traffic levels below the sample mean, and become almost entirely flat over a wide range above the sample mean. A higher share of vehicles using on board units will significantly reduce average costs. Competitive tendering will significantly reduce average operating costs by as much as 25%. Our results also suggest that increased number of lanes, higher debt and passenger charging will increase average operating costs whereas average operating costs are lower for toll cordons compared with other projects.

Numerical evaluation method of lightning rod protection probability北大核心CSCD

［Objectives］Aiming at the current situation in which it is difficult to efficiently evaluate protection probability through traditional lightning rod evaluation methods, an efficient numerical evaluation algorithm is developed on the basis of an electrogeometric model (EGM) and attractive volume to realize the efficient calculation of lightning protection probability at any point in space.［Methods］This method first determines the attractive volume boundary of the lightning rod and protection object according to the interception process of the upward and downward leaders. The collection surface and exposure arc of the lightning stroke distance are then calculated, enabling the attractive risk and interception effect of the lightning rod to be quantified. Finally, the attraction and interception characteristics of the lightning rod are integrated to establish a numerical evaluation model of protection probability. To verify the accuracy of this method, the general rule of lightning rod protection probability is analyzed and the results compared with the existing analysis method.［Result］The evaluation results of this method show good agreement with those of classical leader progression model (LPM) theory.［Conclusions］ The method proposed herein has a high degree of quantification and can realize the efficient calculation of lightning protection probability at any point in space, which can provide useful references for lightning protection design work. © 2023 Authors. All rights reserved.     

Influence of external restraint distribution on welding buckling of thin plate butt joint北大核心CSCD

［Objectives］It is easy to produce buckling distortion when welding thin plate butt joints, which affects the construction period, cost and performance, but this can be controlled by applying external restraints. ［Methods ］ First, a butt welding test of a thin plate under external restraints is carried out, and the out-of-plane deformation is measured by the optical surface scanning method. At the same time, finite element (FE) models in a free state and external restraint state are established, and the thermal mechanical phenomena of the two models are subjected to thermal-elastic-plastic FE analysis (TEP FE). The influence of different external restraint distributions on the welding buckling distortion of the joints is then studied, and reasons for controlling welding buckling distortion are analyzed from the perspective of longitudinal plastic strain and longitudinal contraction force.［Results ］ The out-of-plane deformation of the corresponding model is in good agreement with the measured results, and milder than the out-of-plane deformation of the model in a free state. When external restraints are applied, the longitudinal plastic strain of the weld and its adjacent metal decreases, and the longitudinal contraction force of the thin plate also decreases.［Conclusions ］ The results verify that external restraints can effectively control welding buckling distortion, and the control effects are different depending on the external restraint distribution. © 2023 Chinese Journal of Ship Research. All rights reserved.     

Obstacle avoidance of unmanned ship swarm based on virtual navigator and improved Hooke's law北大核心CSCD

[目的]针对无人船集群规避障碍物的问题,提出一种基于虚拟领航者和改进胡克定律的弹性集群编队控制方法。[方法]首先,根据障碍物的长和宽得到其外接椭圆,按照长宽比向外扩展出虚拟碰障区、避障反应区、自由航行区,实现水面避障物模型的简化;其次,基于虚拟领航者和改进胡克定律,对编队各成员之间、各成员虚拟领航者之间的相对距离和速度予以约束,采用坐标形式设置编队队形,构建弹性编队模型,并基于障碍物的环形斥力场来实现单无人船的避障,以及在弹性集群编队的组织下实现无人船集群的避障;然后,通过优化处理无人船的航行过程,消除编队及避障过程中的“徘徊”和“振荡”等现象,使各无人船的运动更加平滑;最后,运用Matlab软件对由4艘无人船组成的集群编队进行仿真实验。[结果]实验结果表明,编队可成功绕过设置的所有障碍物,验证了所提方法的有效性和可行性。[结论]该方法可实现无人船集群对水面障碍物的规避,具备在一定复杂环境下的通过能力,可为无人船集群避障的应用及研究提供参考。     

Ultimate strength analysis of composite stiffened panels based on multi-scale approach北大核心CSCD

［Objectives］As composite materials have varied internal structures, an in-depth analysis of the damage mechanisms of their component materials can provide a research foundation for the ultimate strength analysis of composite stiffened panels. ［Methods］The microscopic, mesoscopic and macroscopic mechanical analyses of marine glass fiber reinforced plastic (GFRP) composite stiffened panels are carried out using a multi-scale approach. Microscopic and mesoscopic representative volume element (RVE) models of chopped strand mat (CSM) and woven roving (WR) materials are established, and the macroscopic equivalent stiffness is obtained by homogenizing the RVE models. The ABAQUS VUMAT subroutine is used to code the progressive damage evolution model of the composite materials to derive the damage evolution mechanism of the microscopic and mesoscopic models respectively. The equivalent strength of macroscopic laminates is also obtained. ［Results］The multi-scale approach can be used to accurately evaluate the macroscopic mechanical properties of composite materials, and the ultimate strength of composite stiffened panels is mainly determined by fiber bundle failure. ［Conclusions］The obtained macroscopic material parameters can be used to calculate the ultimate strength of composite stiffened panels, while the parametric study of the mesomechanics of composite materials can provide an analysis tool for investigating the influence of material processing technology. © 2023 Chinese Journal of Ship Research. All rights reserved.