平陆运河与沙坪河交汇河段通航水流条件试验研究*

平陆运河沿线支流众多且支干落差大,支流突发洪水对运河通航水流条件影响较大。选取入汇角度大、支干汇流比大、河底落差大的沙坪河入汇河段为研究对象,采用1  50正态河工模型试验,对沙坪河入汇河段通航水流条件进行系统试验研究。模型试验结果表明,受支流突发较大洪水和支干河底落差较大影响,运河航道内横向流速大且流态紊乱,加之支流口上游铁路桥限制,消能措施布置长度有限,不能达到较好的消能效果。分析认为主要问题在于支流洪水汇入运河后运河横向流速较大,因此治理方案主要解决“调顺水流+消能”的问题。在交汇处布置导流堤、透空消能墩、底部斜向透空式隔流堤,在支流内采取消力池、消力槛等消能措施并进行系列方案对比试验,发现优化方案Ⅲ的通航水流满足通航要求且不会对支流内铁路桥造成影响。     

Fuel economy comparison of conventional drive trains series and parallel hybrid electric step vans

A hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) is a vehicle that combines a conventional propulsion system with an on-board rechargeable energy storage system to achieve better fuel economy than a conventional vehicle HEVs do not have limited ranges like battery electric vehicles, which use batteries charged by an external source. The different propulsion power systems may have common subsystems or components. The objective of this study is to compare the fuel economies of a conventional step van, a series hybrid electric step van (HESV), and a parallel HESV by calculating the fuel consumption using the ADVISOR software by NREL. We also showed the results of the vehicles in different driving cycles including the Central Business District bus cycles, the New York City Cycle, and the US EPA City and Highway cycles.     

Reliability-based sensitivity analysis of vehicle components with non-normal distribution parameters

Techniques from the perturbation method, fourth moment method, reliability-based design theory, and sensitivity analysis approach are employed to present a practical and efficient method for testing the reliability sensitivity of vehicle components with non-normal distribution parameters. With the condition that the first four moments of original random variables are known, the reliability sensitivity theory and cases are researched using the presented numerical method. The variation regularities of reliability sensitivity are obtained and the effects of design parameters on reliability of the vehicle components are studied. The sophisticated formulation provided in this paper is easily amenable to computational procedures. The respective program can be used to obtain the reliability sensitivity of vehicle components with non-normal distribution parameters accurately and quickly. The results obtained are perfect and the solutions compared very well with those from Monte Carlo simulation. The method presents a theoretic basis for the reliability design of the vehicle components.     

Grain refinement in bearing steels using a double-quenching heat-treatment process

A double-quenching (D/Q) process is proposed for heat-treating high carbon-chromium bearing steels to improve the fatigue properties through refinement of the microstructure. The new heat treatment method has two steps: The first step is a nitrocarburizing process that results in high surface hardness and lowers the transformation temperature. The second step is the same as in the conventional quenching process but can be conducted at a considerably lower temperature than in conventional quenching. The microstructure in the material that is caused by the D/Q heat treatment is much finer than in the conventional Q/T (quenching and tempering) process. In order to quantify the performance of the proposed heat-treatment process, various mechanical property tests are carried out. The rolling contact fatigue life of double-quenched bearing steels was eight times higher than in bearing steels that were treated by conventional Q/T.     

Job accessibility and joint household travel: a study of Hong Kong with a particular focus on new town residents

Transportation - This study advances understanding of the role of residential location in joint household travel and activities for non-work purposes in an Asian city context. This has been done by...     

北京市铁路噪声特性实例分析研究

通过实际测量及数据分析，认为测量现场昼夜等效声级达到 ７７７ ｄ Ｂ（ Ａ），超过了国家标准；快速列车噪声频谱分布复杂，难以治理；列车鸣笛对铁路噪声超标贡献最大，验证了铁路噪声与列车车速的关系，最后提出控制铁路噪声的建议。     

Real-Time Fuzzy Obstacle Avoidance Using Directional Visual Perception

This paper presents a novel vision-based obstacle avoidance approach for the Autonomous Mobile Robot (AMR) with a PanTilt-Zoom (PTZ) camera as its only sensing modality. The approach combines the morphological closing operation based on Sobel Edge Detection Operation and the (μ-kσ) thresholding technique to detect obstacles to soften the various lighting and ground floor effects. Both the morphology method and thresholding technique are computationaUy simple. The processing speed of the algorithm is fast enough to avoid some active obstacles. In addition, this approach takes into account the history obstacle effects on the current state. Fuzzy logic is used to control the behaviors of AMR as it navigates in the environment. All behaviors run concurrendy and generate motor response solely based on vision perception. A priority based on subsumption coordinator selects the most appropriate response to direct the AMR away from obstacles. Validation of the proposed approach is done on a Pioneer 1 mobile robot.     

Estimation of capacity utilization in world shipping

The surplus of tonnage which has characterized the shipping industry for over a decade has severely affected profitability and investment opportunities in the industry. This has prompted various schemes to reduce the surplus. A proper assessment of the size of the surplus is an essential requirement for sound policy measures. This paper, which focuses on the tanker sector, examines selected methods used to compute surplus tanker tonnage and proposes other methods. It observes that methods currently used give estimates of surplus tonnage which are basically identical to those obtained by using alternative methods. It concludes that while from 1984 the surplus tanker tonnage has been declining, from 1986 the decline has been rather small and the volume of the surplus is likely to stabilize in the next few years at more or less current levels. However, the paper points out conceptual and practical problems of determining the appropriate base periods or base operating conditions upon which surplus tonnage may be computed.     

Handling Capabilities of Vehicles in Emergencies Using Coordinated AFS and ARMC Systems

In this paper, an advanced control technique that can be implemented in hard emergency situations of vehicles is introduced. This technique suggests integration between Active Front Steering (AFS) and Active Roll Moment Control (ARMC) systems in order to enhance the vehicle controllability. For this purpose, the AFS system applies a robust sliding mode controller (SMC) that is designed to influence the steering input of the driver by adding a correction steering angle for maintaining the vehicle yaw rate under control all the time. The AFS system is then called active-correction steering control. The ARMC system is designed to differentiate the front and rear axles' vertical suspension forces in order to alter the vehicle yaw rate and to eliminate the vehicle roll motion as well. Moreover, the operation of the SMC is based on tracking the behavior of a nonlinear 2-wheel model of 2-DOF used as a reference model. The 2-wheel model incorporates real tire characteristics, which can be inferred by the use of trained neural networks. The results clearly demonstrate the enhanced characteristics of the proposed control technique. The SMC with the assistance of the ARMC provides less correction of the steering angle and accordingly reduces the possibility of occurrence of the saturation phenomenon that is likely to take place in the operation of the SMC systems.