Uncertainty analysis of value for money assessment for public-private partnership projects

In recent years, private sectors are encouraged to take an active part in franchising of urban infrastructure investments and operations, which promotes the rapid development of public-private partnership (PPP) in infrastructure and public service supply. Value for money (VFM) assessment has been officially proposed to provide a reference for selection of projects planning to adopt PPP. Based on the bottlenecks of VFM application in China and the uncertainties for urban infrastructure PPP projects, a discounted cash flow (DCF) model is established for VFM of infrastructure PPP projects. Then, a Monte Carlo simulation model is established on the basis of uncertainty factors for VFM. Through the analysis of Huai’an trams PPP project, coping strategies of uncertainties for VFM are put forward. Findings of the research may propel the establishment of a complete VFM evaluation system for PPP projects. Key instructional functions of VFM during the process of decision-making can be brought into full play and PPP may develop orderly.     

钢夹层板数值模拟技术(英文)

Sandwich plate systems (SPS) are advanced materials that have begun to receive extensive attention in naval architecture and ocean engineering. At present, according to the rules of classification societies, a mixture of shell and solid elements are required to simulate an SPS. Based on the principle of stiffness decomposition, a new numerical simulation method for shell elements was proposed. In accordance with the principle of stiffness decomposition, the total stiffness can be decomposed into the bending stiffness and shear stiffness. Displacement and stress response related to bending stiffness was calculated with the laminated shell element. Displacement and stress response due to shear was calculated by use of a computational code write by FORTRAN language. Then the total displacement and stress response for the SPS was obtained by adding together these two parts of total displacement and stress. Finally, a rectangular SPS plate and a double-bottom structure were used for a simulation. The results show that the deflection simulated by the elements proposed in the paper is larger than the same simulated by solid elements and the analytical solution according to Hoff theory and approximate to the same simulated by the mixture of shell-solid elements, and the stress simulated by the elements proposed in the paper is approximate to the other simulating methods. So compared with calculations based on a mixture of shell and solid elements, the numerical simulation method given in the paper is more efficient and easier to do.     

Study on launch dynamics of the tank marching fire

As an army main battle equipment, it is required that the tank should have high firing accuracy and high first round hit probability during marching. The initial disturbance of the projectile is the premier factor that takes effect on the marching fire accuracy of the tank. And the marching fire accuracy of the tank depends on the launch dynamics behaviors of the tank. In this paper, the launch dynamics theory of a tank marching fire is studied, and its launch dynamics model is established. Based on the transfer matrix method for multibody system(MSTMM) and the automatic deduction theorem of overall transfer equations, the overall transfer equation and the overall transfer matrix of a tank multibody system are deduced; the launch dynamics equations of the tank marching fire are deduced, and the dynamic response of the tank system, the motion of projectile in barrel, the initial disturbance of the projectile and the vertical target dispersion are exactly simulated; meanwhile, the results of simulation are verified by tests. This work provides both theoretical foundation and simulation approaches for improving the marching fire accuracy of the tank.     

Fusion of remote sensing images based on nonsubsampled contourlet transform and region segmentation

The purpose of remote sensing images fusion is to produce a fused image that contains more clear, accurate and comprehensive information than any single image. A novel fusion method is proposed in this paper based on nonsubsampled contourlet transform (NSCT) and region segmentation. Firstly, the multispectral image is transformed to intensity-hue-saturation (IHS) system. Secondly, the panchromatic image and the component intensity of the multispectral image are decomposed by NSCT. Then the NSCT coefficients of high and low frequency subbands are fused by different rules, respectively. For the high frequency subbands, the fusion rules are also unalike in the smooth and edge regions. The two regions are segregated in the panchromatic image, and the segmentation is based on particle swarm optimization. Finally, the fusion image can be obtained by performing inverse NSCT and inverse IHS transform. The experimental results are evaluated by both subjective and objective criteria. It is shown that the proposed method can obtain superior results to others.     

Identity-based threshold decryption on access structure

For the applied limitation of the existing threshold decryption schemes based on the (t, n) structure, an identity-based threshold decryption scheme which can be applied on the access structure is proposed through designing a special distribution algorithm of the private key shares. The generation and distribution of private key shares, the encryption, the decryption and the combination are introduced in detail. The validity and security of the scheme are proved and analyzed. Comparisons with the existing schemes show that the proposed scheme is more flexible.     

Tool sequence optimization based on three logical modes of robot control via CPLEX optimization

Cluster tools have advantages of shorter cycle times, faster process development, and better yield for less contamination. The sequence of dual-arm cluster tools is a complex logistics process during the semiconductor production. Efficient use of cluster tools is naturally very significant to competitive fab operations. Generating an optimized sequence in a computationally efficient manner and assessing the quality of the requirements to improve the fab production are the key factors for semiconductor manufacturing productivity. The Petri net modeling is introduced to minimize the makespan of the process for the three different logical modes and select a better mode after comparing the makespan among the three logical modes. The tool sequence optimization problem is formulated as optimization firing transition sequences based on the Petri net and then the formulation is converted to be linearly solved by the branch-and-cut method in the standard commercial solver CPLEX. Special methods for the linear conversion are highlighted. Due to the limited calculation time requirement for the real production and the large scale of the problem, special methods for the efficiency tuning are applied according to the characteristics of the problem. Numerical testing is supported by one of the most advanced semiconductor enterprises and the computational results show significant improvement compared with the traditional manual sequence results.     

Poisson noise removal based on nonlocal total variation with Euler’s elastica pre-processing

An enhancement-based Poisson denoising method for photon-limited images is presented. The noisy image is firstly pre-processed for enhancing incomplete object information, and then it is denoised while preserving the restored structural details. A variational regularization model based on Euler’s elastica (EE) is proposed for image enhancement pre-processing. A nonlocal total variation (NLTV) regularization model is then employed in the second stage of image denoising. The above two optimization problems are solved by the alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMM). For Poissonian images with low image peak values, experiments demonstrate the validity and efficiency of the proposed method for both restoring geometric structure and removing noise.     

Effective method for knock signal denoising in internal combustion engine

Uncontrolled expansion of combustion wave in spark ignited internal combustion engine causes knock effect which seriously degrades efficiency and lifetime of the engine. Thus, accurate knock detection and control are essential for obtaining a desired performance from the engine. Usually, knock sensor is used to detect this phenomenon but it has limited accuracy especially at engine high-speed rotations because of natural vibration and external noises. In this study an effective method based on Non-Local Mean (NLM) algorithm has been proposed to improve the knock detection accuracy. This method is evaluated based on four different indicators and four engine cylinders. The results show 52.9 % improvement in knock detection. Also feasibility of real time execution of this method based on embedded hardware has been studied.     

Influence of temperature on the tyre rolling resistance

Temperature is a very important factor controlling rolling resistance of road vehicle tyres. There are at least three different temperatures that may be considered as important factors controlling thermal conditions of the rolling tyre. The most common measure of the thermal conditions during tyre rolling is ambient air temperature. The other two are: pavement temperature and “tyre” temperature. Tyre temperature is the most difficult to establish, as temperatures of different parts of rolling tyres differ considerably, thus there is a problem to obtain representative values. In the authors’ opinion, air temperature is the most universal and reliable parameter to measure. The article presents results obtained in the Technical University of Gdańsk during laboratory and road measurements of different car tyres rolling on different pavements. The knowledge of rolling resistance characteristics is important for modelling car dynamics as well as fuel consumption. It is also necessary to establish proper test conditions in the future standardized on-road method of measuring rolling resistance. The results indicate that generally each tyre and pavement combination is influenced by the air temperature in a unique way, but at the same it is possible to propose some general influence factors that may be used to normalize measurements to the standard temperature of 25 °C.     

Wave propagation in head on bonnet impact: Material and design issues

Head on bonnet impact is becoming more and more important in automotive design as regulations on pedestrian safety become more demanding. Despite the relatively low amount of energy involved, these impacts are truly dynamic phenomena as the event duration is comparable with the traveling time of the different wavefronts generated by the impact. In this paper, we show that we can build up a simplified model for the impact based on wave propagation analysis. Using this model, we can analyze head acceleration on existing bonnets or predict it on new ones. Head acceleration in a bonnet impact can thus be estimated over the whole area of the bonnet with a few minutes of CPU.