Exploring the impact of walk–bike infrastructure,safety perception,and built-environment on active transportation mode choice: a random parameter model using New York City commuter data

This study estimates a random parameter (mixed) logit model for active transportation (walk and bicycle) choices for work trips in the New York City (using 2010–2011 Regional Household Travel Survey Data). We explored the effects of traffic safety, walk–bike network facilities, and land use attributes on walk and bicycle mode choice decision in the New York City for home-to-work commute. Applying the flexible econometric structure of random parameter models, we capture the heterogeneity in the decision making process and simulate scenarios considering improvement in walk–bike infrastructure such as sidewalk width and length of bike lane. Our results indicate that increasing sidewalk width, total length of bike lane, and proportion of protected bike lane will increase the likelihood of more people taking active transportation mode This suggests that the local authorities and planning agencies to invest more on building and maintaining the infrastructure for pedestrians. Further, improvement in traffic safety by reducing traffic crashes involving pedestrians and bicyclists, will increase the likelihood of taking active transportation modes. Our results also show positive correlation between number of non-motorized trips by the other family members and the likelihood to choose active transportation mode. The model would be an essential tool to estimate the impact of improving traffic safety and walk–bike infrastructure which will assist in investment decision making.     

Tool for Predicting the Ultimate Bending Moment of Ship and Ship-Shaped Hull Girders

The present paper presents a historical review associated with the research works on hull girder strength of ship and ship-shaped structures. Then, a new program is developed to determine the ultimate vertical bending moment of hull girder by applying direct method, stress distribution method, and progressive collapse analysis method. Six ships and ship-shaped structures used in the benchmark study of International Ship and Offshore Structures Congress (ISSC) in 2012 are adopted as examples. The calculation results by applying the developed program are analyzed and compared with the existing results. Finally, the roles of the developed program and its further development are discussed.     

A Simplified Model for the Effect of Weld-Induced Residual Stresses on the Axial Ultimate Strength of Stiffened Plates

The present work investigates the compressive axial ultimate strength of fillet-welded steel-plated ship structures subjected to uniaxial compression, in which the residual stresses in the welded plates are calculated by a thermo-elasto-plastic finite element analysis that is used to fit an idealized model of residual stress distribution. The numerical results of ultimate strength based on the simplified model of residual stress show good agreement with those of various methods including the International Association of Classification Societies (IACS) Common Structural Rules (CSR), leading to the conclusion that the simplified model can be effectively used to represent the distribution of residual stresses in steel-plated structures in a wide range of engineering applications. It is concluded that the widths of the tension zones in the welded plates have a quasi-linear behavior with respect to the plate slenderness. The effect of residual stress on the axial strength of the stiffened plate is analyzed and discussed.     

Space enterprise strategy guiding-based study on project portfolio management and flow optimization

Project portfolio management (PPM) is the centralized management method, process and technology in multiple projects. When multiple projects in the space industry are implemented, it provides an effective methodology to resolve the problems at the same time such as conflicts among models, decrease in design efficiency, and increase in target deviation. Hence, a PPM dedicated to multiple projects management in space enterprise is presented in this paper. Firstly, an analysis of features and contents in space enterprise portfolio management mode is performed by using PPM based on its specific strategic characteristics. Then, the principle and selection methods of PPM are provided as a reference for the future development of an enterprise. Finally, a multiple-level organization architecture including decision making layers, function management layers and project execution layers is proposed so as to adapt to possible changes in the multiple projects and correspond to the strategic development. As a consequence, a perfect matching mechanism to fit the changes in PPM modes is reached. In addition, the flow chart of PPM is designed and optimized by analyzing the implementation procedure of strategic target and project portfolio life-cycle, which is expected to realize the purpose of improving space enterprise management efficiency, project management capacity, innovation development and economic benefits.     

Analysis of the effectiveness of control measures to mitigate road dust emissions in a regional network

The effectiveness of control measures to reduce road dust emissions is analyzed using a year’s data of road dust emissions collected with a mobile sampling platform and a survey of road maintenance practices in the Lake Tahoe Basin of Nevada and California US. Attributes such as sweeping practices, anti-icing, shoulder improvement, pavement condition, trackout, and abrasive material from road segments were analyzed with a feature subset selection algorithm. Street sweeping was found to be an effective means of controlling dust emissions from roads. Road dust from dirty tertiary roads served as a continuous source of suspendable material for adjacent high-speed roads in the winter time. To be most effective, emission control strategies require that not only primary roads, but all roads be swept after snow storms to recover applied abrasive material.     

Effect of interference fits on the fatigue lives of bolted composite joints

The effect of interference fits on the fatigue lives of bolted composite joints is investigated by conducting mechanical tests. Static and fatigue tests are carried out on specimens made of carbon-bismaleimide composites joined together as double-lap single-bolt joints. The bolts having interference fits ranging of 0 (neat fit), 0.5%, 0.75% and 1% are performed. The results demonstrate the relationship between fatigue life and different values of interference fits. After the fatigue tests, non-destructive evaluation (NDE) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) are used to observe the damage of the surrender and surface of the hole. The test results show that the interference fitted specimens have improved fatigue life compared to the neat fitted specimen. The NDE and SEM results reveal that the damage degree of interference fitted specimen is weaker than that for the neat fitted one.     

Delivering mobility as a service (MaaS) through a broker/aggregator business model

Transportation - Mobility as a service (MaaS) promises a bold new future where bundled public transport and shared mobility options (carsharing, ridesharing, bikesharing and microtransit) will...     

Two degree of freedom flow-induced vibration of cylindrical structures in marine environments: frequency ratio effects

The flow-induced vibration of a cylindrical structure is a very common problem in marine environments such as undersea pipelines, offshore risers, and cables. In this study, the vortex-induced vibration (VIV) of an elastically mounted cylinder at a low Reynolds number is simulated by a transient coupled fluid–structure interaction numerical model. Considering VIV with low damping ratio, the response, hydrodynamic forces, and vortex shedding modes of the cylinder is systematically analyzed and summed up the universal rule under different frequency ratios. On the basis of the analysis, we find that the frequency ratio α is a very important parameter. It decides the locked-in, beat, and phase-switch phenomena of the cylinder, meanwhile, it also influence the vortex mode of the cylinder. The trajectory of the two degrees of freedom (2 DOF) case at different natural frequency ratios is discussed, with most trajectories having a “figure of 8” shape and a few having a “crescent” shape. A fast Fourier transformation technique is used to obtain the frequency characteristics of the vibration of the cylindrical structure. Using the 2 DOF cylinder model in place of the 1 DOF model presents several advantages in simulating the nonlinear characteristics of cylindrical structures, including the capacity to model the crosswise vibration generated by in-line vibration.     

New procedure for the analysis of speed trial results,with special attention to the correction of tidal current effect

Almost all the existing analysis methods of speed trial results were proposed before 1970s, and the actual analysis procedures are very old-fashioned with instructions like “plot the results on a chart and draw a smooth mean line”, “read a value from the mean line” and so on. Such instructions not only show up the analysis procedures old-fashioned, but also make them very ambiguous and unclear. They should be up-dated to a method which is clear not only in logic but also in calculation procedure, and also fits the present computing technology. At first, the author reviewed the major analysis methods and concluded that the logic of the up-dated analysis procedure can be composed of the logics of the existing ones. Then, the analysis procedure is composed of three stages; namely (1) correction of power and propeller revolution to the ones corresponding to no air condition, (2) correction of tidal current effect, and (3) correction of power and propeller revolution to the ones corresponding to no wind condition. For the stages (1) and (3), there seems to be no big issue except the estimation of the amount of environmentally added resistance in the stage (1). Then, the author focused on the correction of tidal current effect in this paper. For the correction of tidal current effect, the author considers the essential points for the up-date are in the direction of finding out appropriate functions for the variation of tidal current velocity and the ship speed through the water. Then, he investigated to find out such functions and made his proposal. Finally, the applicability of the new procedure is assessed by the analysis of simulated speed trial results of a VLCC.     

A finite pointset method for the numerical simulation of free surface flow around a ship

In this paper, we present a Finite pointset method (FPM) for the numerical simulation of free surface flow around a ship in calm water. It is a Lagrangian and meshless particle scheme which is applied to the projection method for the incompressible governing equations. This requires the solution of Poisson problems in each time step, so a moving least squares (MLS) interpolants is used for the spatial derivatives in order to discretize the Poisson equation with pressure-Dirichlet condition of free surface flow in meshless structure. Meanwhile, an additional problem of the periodic particle locations redistribution in the present approach is still handled by MLS interpolants. With the proposed FPM technique, problems associated with the free surface flow around a ship are circumvented. A verification of numerical modeling is made using the Wigley hull and the validity of the proposed methodology is examined by comparing the detail of wave profile and wave-making resistance with Series 60 model. The results demonstrate that FPM is able to perform efficient and stable simulations of free surface flow around a ship.