Design Synthesis of a Vehicle Suspension System Using Multi-Parameter Qptimization

The transmission of road-generated vibrations into a vehicle body is treated as a source-path-receiver problem. The suspension system acts as the path, and improved isolation can be achieved by having a single compliant bushing at the connecting point of the shock absorber to the body with none at the other end. A mathematical model is derived for such a system which would enable detailed parameter investigation to be undertaken using the gradient method of optimization. An expression for the absolute displacement transmissibility of the body is derived and the optimization procedure is applied in order to evaluate the optimum values of the non-dimensional variables involved. This minimizes the maximum motion transmitted to the body from the road surface over a broad frequency range. Design data which are presented non-dimensionally for parameter variations show the influence of three variables: the bushing stiffness, the resonant frequency ratio and the damping coefficient upon the transmissibility.     

Engine performance and toxic gas analysis of biobutanol-blended gasoline as a vehicle fuel

A comprehensive study evaluating the performance of biobutanol-blended gasoline in passenger cars was conducted because biobutanol is considered a better biofuel than bioethanol as it has no water solubility and it has a higher caloric value, giving it a higher energy value. Several kinds of samples—suboctane gasoline, 8 volume percentage and 16 volume percentage biobutanol—blended gasoline, and a 10 volume percentage MTBE-blended market sample (as the oxygencontaining gasoline)-were tested to evaluate the engine performance in terms of the detergency of the intake valves and combustion chambers, power, emissions, and fuel efficiency. Additionally, the toxicity of the emissions from these biobutanolblended samples was tested in order to assess the viability of biobutanol as one of the competitive potential substitutes for MTBE as an oxygenator in the near future. The results show that biobutanol-blended gasoline samples had relatively better detergency, relatively higher power, and similar levels of emissions compared with those of MTBE-blended gasoline. Formaldehyde was emitted from all of the samples at almost the same levels and within the error range, whereas biobutanolblended gasoline samples emitted approximately three times the amount of acetaldehyde than did the suboctane gasoline. This study shows that biobutanol is one of the best alternative bioalcohol fuels for use in the near future.     

Devising business strategy for railways

This paper presents a case study which tackles a general problem for railway management, namely the formulation of a strategy to improve business financial performance. This is prefaced, in Section 2, by discussion of general principles - concerning the type of information system required, investigations to be conducted and associated measurement needs. The case study, of Section 3, concerns our investigations of VicRail's total business and its constituents. The task of financial improvement is revealed from an assessment of sectors' current cost-recovery positions and the identification of system joint costs. For freight sectors, future traffic prospects, pricing possibilities and the scope for more efficient operations are then considered, and the implications traced for overall deficit reduction and the development of business strategy. The concluding section draws some general lessons for railway managements.A fuller discussion by the authors of the theoretical framework employed, and particularly of the case study application, is contained in a complimentary publication: Improving Railway Financial Performance, published by Gower in January 1985.Transmark is a subsidiary of the British Railways Board, acting as its international consultancy. The authors, who were respectively study director and manager, wish to thank Bernard Warner (an independent consultant), Richard Eccles (of Transmark) and Adrian Balkyn-Rackowe (of British Rail) for their valuable contributions. The study report, titled Rail Cost — Pricing Options, was released by the Minister in April 1981.     

A reduced-gravity model of the Catalan Sea

A reduced-gravity model is used to study the effects of the wind on the upper layer circulation in the Catalan Sea. The model parameters were set by observed features of the circulation in the basin. It is shown that the results are particularly sensitive to the open sea boundary conditions. Simulations were done using the following boundary fluxes: (i) mean values estimated by Bethoux (1980) and (ii) more recent geostrophic transports computed from hydrographic data by Font et al. (1988). The latter seem to lead to more realistic circulation patterns. The influence of seasonal winds (climatological data) on the dynamics is clear, especially during the winter.     

基于时空GPSO-SVM的短时交通流预测

为了提高城市道路短时交通流预测的精度,提出了一种基于时空遗传粒子群支持向量机的短时交通流预测模型.通过主成分分析法对路网原始交通流量进行时空相关性分析,用较少的主成分代替原始交通流量并作为预测因子,在粒子群算法中引入遗传算法的交叉和变异因子,避免粒子群算法陷入局部最优.利用改进后的粒子群算法优化支持向量机参数,得到最优的支持向量机模型,并实现城市道路的短时交通流预测.以长春市路网的实测数据为基础进行了实例验证,结果表明,优化支持向量机参数时,遗传粒子群算法不会陷入局部最优,优化效果更好;与粒子群支持向量机模型和遗传粒子群支持向量机模型相比,所提出预测模型的相对误差波动较稳定,平均预测精度分别提高了4.96%和3.41%.     

Growth of urban transportation: Peoples republic of China

The Peoples Republic of China, with its great urban populations, is finding it necessary to develop a range of strategies to deal with increasing demand for goods and people movement, increasing motorization and the increasing congestion that results from the increasing travel demand. This paper discusses strategies being adopted in two northern cities, Changchun and Shenyang. Both transit and roadway programs are examined for Changchun. Problems and successes of a new toll road are examined for Shenyang. Sustained infrastructure investment is essential to assure the necessary mobility for economic growth.     

主动和被动的冻土地温控制方法和技术

研究目的：主动和被动地温控制是冻土地温控制的基本方法。但如何对主动和被动的概念进行准确区分,目前在国内外却有所混淆,因此对主动和被动地温控制技术提出明确的划分显得尤为重要。研究结论：国际上普遍从能量的观点来区分——被动地温是在运行期问不需人为提供动力,也没有任何不停运动的机械部件,是冻土地温控制最常用的技术;而主动地温控制方法,需要动力支持或温控系统中有持续运动的部件,其显著的特点在于对冻结过程的人为可控制性和提供能量消耗。冻土地温控制的计算,有许多长期以来的研究公式及图表,但更为精确的计算,要利用一些成熟的模型进行模拟。     

Origin–destination synthesis for aviation network data: examining hub operations in the domestic and international US markets

Hub‐and‐spoke networking is a key feature of current aviation markets in which hubs, as connecting points, function to consolidate and redistribute flows. This indicates that observation of traffic on a segment does not necessarily convey information about the origin to destination routing of passenger journeys because of the unavoidable detours in the system. This paper examines the heterogeneity of the flow composition in domestic and international US markets, which in turn allows us to observe the variation of operations across major hubs. A modified Route Flow Estimator for origin–destination synthesis (or origin–destination matrix estimation) is designed to decompose the segment traffic into itinerary‐based passenger trips. Several public and commercial databases, which are easily accessible, are exploited (and reconciled) for the model in order to (i) generate possible trip itineraries using those segment markets, and (ii) link data‐driven operational conditions with the underlying segment flows. The results are validated with US domestic trip observations and empirical knowledge related to the air transportation system. Then, the variability of the hub operations is examined based on sensitivity tests using the model parameters. From the resolution of itinerary‐based estimates, we observe that major airports' hub operations are spatially uneven, particularly with respect to domestic and international connecting passengers. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The influence of the Agulhas Current on the adjacent coastal ocean: possible impacts of climate change

The dynamics of the coastal ocean along the southeastern coast of Africa is dominated by a strong and intense western boundary current, the Agulhas Current. With a near-uniform, narrow continental shelf and a steep shelf slope that stabilizes this current, the trajectory of the Agulhas exhibits great stability. The only substantial perturbation occurs with the irregular passage of a Natal Pulse, a soliton meander. The initiation of this meander at the Natal Bight is due to a barotropic instability when the intensity of the landward border of the current exceeds a certain threshold value. This may come about with natural fluctuations in the current or with the adsorption of deep-sea eddies onto the current. Under a climate change scenario of altered wind stress curl over the South Indian Ocean it is conceivable that the threshold for the triggering of a Natal Pulse will occur more frequently. This will lead to a situation where the current axis on average lies further offshore. The possible consequences of such a situation on the rainfall of the coast, on the ecology of estuaries and the coastal ocean, and on the socio-economics of the region is discussed.     

某型舰炮武器模拟训练系统设计

以军事需求为依据,提出了基于HLA的某型舰炮武器模拟训练系统的功能性能需求,描述了运行体系和支持条件等仿真环境,设计了软硬件实施方案和系统运行流程.实践证明该方案设计合理,可操作性强,能够达到武器系统仿真要求.