Network structure,capacity growth and route hierarchies: the case of China’s air traffic system revisited

This paper examines air traffic patterns among China’s scheduled airlines in January 2006 and January 2011, using Official Airline Guide data on carrier schedules. The author classifies Chinese carriers into one of four classes. Airports are also organized into a classification scheme based on several criteria related to the total volume of traffic, the carriers serving the airports and the nature of the airports to which they are connected. Counts, sums, percentage shares and changes in these calculations between 2006 and 2011 are presented in tabular form. Inferences about the fundamental structure and future patterns of capacity growth for the yet not fully emerged Chinese air traffic system can be drawn.     

Cultural heritage connectivity. A tool for EIA in transportation infrastructure planning

The paper is concerned incorporating landscapes’ ecological and cultural values in infrastructure planning. We focus on cultural heritage connectivity in the context of environmental impact statements in transportation infrastructure planning. Using a case study from south-central Sweden cultural heritage indicators from maps were defined, and a GIS-based automated search tool is developed for analysing cultural heritage connectivity from an antiquarian perspective. Analyses of cultural heritage connectivity can inform about the historical and/or present function of the landscape and its social and economic conditions. While this type of connectivity can be searched out using information from maps, a difficulty lies in communicating the knowledge in an interesting way to non-experts.     

Description of a flexible and extendable physical–biogeochemical model system for the water column

A modelling system for coupled physical–biogeochemical simulations in the water column is presented here. The physical model component allows for a number of different statistical turbulence closure schemes, ranging from simple algebraic closures to two-equation turbulence models with algebraic second-moment closures. The biogeochemical module consists of models which are based on a number of state variables represented by their ensemble averaged concentrations. Specific biogeochemical models may range from simple NPZ (nutrient–phytoplankton–zooplankton) to complex ecosystem models. Recently developed modified Patankar solvers for ordinary differential equations allow for stable discretisations of the production and destruction terms guaranteeing conservative and non-negative solutions. The increased stability of these new solvers over explicit solvers is demonstrated for a plankton spring bloom simulation. The model system is applied to marine ecosystem dynamics the Northern North Sea and the Central Gotland Sea. Two different biogeochemical models are applied, a conservative nitrogen-based model to the North Sea, and a more complex model including an oxygen equation to the Baltic Sea, allowing for the reproduction of chemical processes under anoxic conditions. For both applications, earlier model results obtained with slightly different model setups could be basically reproduced. It became however clear that the choice for ecosystem model parameters such as maximum phytoplankton growth rates does strongly depend on the physical model parameters (such as turbulence closure models or external forcing).     

The role of individual characteristics in car ownership shortly after relationship dissolution

The dissolution of a relationship is a life event that often coincides with many other changes in life, such as a decline in income level or household size or a change in place of residence. This study aims to provide more insight into the ways in which circumstances shortly following the disruption of a relationship affect travel behaviour. Register data that combines information on the Dutch population, income and vehicle registration are used to understand how personal situations that are closely related to relationship disruption affect car ownership. The study shows that several characteristics of singles and single partners shortly after a breakup negatively affect car ownership. For instance, a relatively low income level, unemployment, living in a city or a residential move all affect car ownership negatively. This study focuses on the role of circumstances shortly after relationship disruption, demonstrating the importance of such an event.     

Approximate Dynamic Shimmy Response of Pneumatic Tires*

An improved approximation of the theory of the dynamic frequency response of side force and aligning torque acting upon the rolling wheel when the latter is moved laterally and swivelled about the vertical axis, is presented. The method is particularly suitable for application in vibration problems of steering and suspension systems of automobiles and aircraft where relatively high speed and high frequency phenomena play a role. The theoretical results show satisfactory agreement with experimental data. Calculations indicate that the inertia of the tire decreases the tendency to shimmy at higher frequencies and speeds of travel. For castered wheels however, tire inertia may have an adverse effect due to its unfavorable influence upon the side force response to swivel motions.     

Numerical Investigation of Sloshing Under Roll Excitation at Shallow Liquid Depths and the Effect of Baffles

Sloshing is relevant in several applications like ship tanks, space and automotive industry and seiching in harbours. Due to the relationship between ship and s...     

India’s air traffic: towards an empirical framework for systems analysis

The paper explores patterns of flows within India’s Air Traffic System through the lens of carriers’ networks and route structures between 2006 and 2014. Through observations of frequency distributions and their distinct patterns an analytic framework is derived heuristically by means of classification and aggregation. The well-known skewed traffic distribution which spatially concentrates traffic around relatively few airports serves as the starting point for decomposing the air traffic system (ATS) into its constituent route types. Airline operations along distinct route classes allows for classifying individual carrier’s network features as an embedded part of the system. Discussion of their role includes a spatial component. Inferences about development paths – past, present, future – of the Indian commercial ATS can be made.     

Optimisation of laser-welded sandwich panels with multiple design constraints

This paper investigates the possibilities for structural optimisation of laser-welded sandwich panels with an adhesively bonded core and uni-directional vertical webs. Closed form expressions for the equivalent stiffness and elastic buckling strength of laser-welded sandwich panels are discussed and numerically evaluated to demonstrate the effect of parameter variations on stress and deflection. Due to the number of design variables and constraints a structural optimisation method based on the method of moving asymptotes (MMA) is implemented and used to minimise the structural weight per square meter of panel for a typical accommodation deck configuration. It is concluded that, within the span of production parameters and rule requirements, substantial improvements can be made with or without an adhesively bonded core. Without core material and without any changes to the surrounding structure the structural weight for standard production panels can be reduced considerably, by reducing the face plate thickness and by using thinner and fewer webs. Additional weight can be saved by removing all but a few webs and injecting low-cost polyurethane foam into the cavities, giving added thermal–acoustic insulation, or by incorporating a more structural core with greater thickness and higher density, by which the free span of the sandwich panel can be increased.     

Can passenger flow distribution be estimated solely based on network properties in public transport systems?

Transportation - We present a pioneering investigation into the relation between passenger flow distribution and network properties in public transport systems. The methodology is designed in a...