Sheet metal forming simulation considering die deformation

Due to environmental concerns and safety regulations in the automotive industry, the development of strong and lightweight cars has been a hot issue in the last decade. One solution for this purpose would be to use high-strength steel (HSS) and advanced high-strength steel (AHSS). These materials can make the car lighter while maintaining the crash resistance of the vehicle. HSS and AHSS have more resistance force in the die structure compared with conventional steel due to their higher yield and tensile strength and thus, these materials have a greater effect on die deformation during the sheet metal forming process. As a result, die deformation can affect the blank sheet’s drawn pattern, strain, and stress as well as springback. This study presents a sheet metal forming simulation that considers die deformation. The simulation process was compared with conventional simulation methods. Our results indicate that the sheet metal forming simulation with die deformation consideration provides useful information on the die structure as well as formability and springback.     

结构自诊断沥青混凝土路用性能评价研究

通过马歇尔稳定度、冻融劈裂、车辙以及四点弯曲疲劳试验,对比分析评价了结构自诊断沥青混凝土水稳定性、高温稳定性和疲劳特性等路用性能.结果表明:石墨的掺入会在一定程度上降低结构自诊断沥青混凝土水稳定性能,但是由于同时降低了沥青胶浆的温度敏感性,因而对其高温稳定性具有改善作用;与普通沥青混凝土相比,结构自诊断沥青混凝土的疲劳寿命更短;并且疲劳破坏速率呈现出温度依赖性,在同一应变水平下,温度下降时,传导型沥青混凝土的破坏速率加快,疲劳寿命缩短.     

Comparison of pedestrian trip generation models

Using Poisson regression and negative binomial regression, this paper presents an empirical comparison of four different regression models for the estimation of pedestrian demand at the regional level and finds the most appropriate model with reference to the National Household Travel Survey (NHTS) 2001 data for the Baltimore (USA) region. The results show that Poisson regression seems to be more appropriate for pedestrian trip generation modeling in terms of χ² ratio test, Pseudo R², and Akaike's information criterion (AIC). However, R² based on deviance residuals and estimated log‐likelihood value at convergence confirmed the empirical studies that negative binomial regression is more appropriate for the over‐dispersed dependent variable than Poisson regression. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Effects of changing highway design speed

In an effort to increase the operational efficiency of highways, South Korea has been increasing its design speed recently. However, the use of higher design speed will also increase construction costs. Moreover, increasing the design speed is expected to have an impact on safety. Hence, there is a strong need to demonstrate that the benefits outweigh the cost of having a higher design speed. This study surveyed a sample of design engineers to determine their awareness of the consequences of increasing design speed and their assessment of the right design speed for an actual rural arterial road. In addition to the survey, a case study of three recently upgraded highways was conducted to determine the changes in traffic volumes, speeds, travel times and accidents. The construction costs associated with the upgrades were also reported. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Modelling major traffic incident impacts and estimation of their associated costs

Network area-wide impacts due to major traffic incidents can be assessed using a microsimulation approach. A VISSIM microsimulation model for a motorway network has been developed and is used to quantify impacts of a major incident in terms of associated costs. The modelled results reveal that a 65% capacity reduction results in 36% more incident-induced delay when compared with the application of a 50% capacity reduction assumption for a two-hour incident clearance duration that blocked one lane of a two-lane motorway. Additionally, an incident which caused a full blockage incurred 40 times more associated impact costs when compared with a major incident which caused a one lane blockage. A 23% cost saving can be achieved by clearing one lane of a fully blocked two-hour major traffic incident after 90 minutes, while a 37% cost saving can be achieved by clearing all blockages after 90 minutes.     

Ground-truthing social vulnerability indices of Alaska fishing communities

Abstract

Community vulnerability is increasingly evaluated through quantitative social indices, typically developed using secondary data sources rather than primary data collection. It is necessary to understand the validity of these indices if they will be used to inform policy and decision making. This paper presents a ground-truthing effort to validate quantitative indices that characterize the well-being of Alaska fishing communities. We utilized ethnographic data collected from 13 representative communities and a capital assets framework to ground-truth the indices, in which qualitative ranks of vulnerability were compared against quantitative indices. The majority (73.8%) of ranks were in complete or moderate agreement and the results indicate that most of the indices are representative of community vulnerability; yet some variables utilized to create the indices could be modified to better reflect realities in Alaska. Indices of commercial fishery engagement and reliance appeared to be more reliable than socio-economic indicators, particularly for smaller fishing communities. We also confirmed that the indices do not capture political, or ecological factors that affect levels of community vulnerability. We conclude that quantitative indices of community vulnerability are useful rapid assessment tools; however, they should be validated, and complemented with ethnographic data prior to their implementation as policy making and management tools.     

Demonstration of vehicular visible light communication based on LED headlamp

With the emergence of LED lighting, IT convergence technology using the visible spectrum of LEDs, such as Visible Light Communication (VLC), has been highlighted. Among the many VLC applications, vehicular VLCs based on LED headlamps and transportation lighting infrastructure, such as street lamps, traffic lights, etc., are considered good alternatives for Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) or Active Safety applications. This paper introduces a demonstration system of vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) VLC based on LED headlamps. By applying an inverse 4-PPM modulation scheme satisfying a 75 % dimming level under the light distribution regulation of LED headlamp, the proposed system showed its capability for V2V VLC with a 10 kbps data rate for more than 30 m under day time conditions. By measuring the BER performance according to distance, outdoor V2V VLC was possible for more than 30 m even in the day time.     

Optimal solution to the vehicle routing problem by adopting a meta-heuristic algorithm

The delivery service provided by large-scale retailers continues to grow as online sales occupy an increasingly large share of the market. This study aims to tease out efficient vehicle scheduling times as well as optimal delivery routes by applying meta-heuristic algorithms. Monthly data on existing routes were obtained from a branch of Korea’s leading large-scale online retailer. The first task was to examine the status of existing routes by comparing delivery routes created using Dijkstra’s algorithm with existing delivery routes and their vehicle scheduling. The second task was to identify optimal delivery routes through a comparative analysis of the genetic algorithm and Tabu search algorithm, known for its superior applicability amongst other meta-heuristic algorithms. These findings demonstrate that the optimal vehicle routing problem not only has the potential to reduce distribution costs for operators and expedite delivery for consumers, but also the added social benefit of reduced carbon emissions.     

Optimal design of the exhaust system layout to suppress the discharge noise from an idling engine

At the idle engine speed, the exhaust discharge noise is influenced by resonances in the whole system, which is composed of connecting pipes and silencers. This pipe resonance radiates a high level of low frequency discharge noise, which is dominated by the low order harmonics of the engine firing frequency. This low frequency noise deteriorates the vehicle’s interior noise level and quality. The following study attempted to optimize the layout of an exhaust system to minimize low frequency noise by changing the position of silencers and the lengths of inlet and outlet pipes in each silencer. After modeling the exhaust system using four-pole parameters, the acoustical performance of the system was evaluated using the system insertion loss. In the optimization, the virtual attenuation coefficient, which corresponds to the amount of attenuation coefficient required for the silencers, was calculated to find a minimum value for the layout. The simulated annealing method, which is also known as finding an optimal, was employed in searching for the optimized exhaust layout. Test examples of two cases, for two and six design variables, were used. When the number of design variables was two, the positions of the center and rear silencers were considered. When the number of design variables was six, the positions of the two silencers and the lengths of the inlet and outlet pipes were considered. Three typical layouts for the exhaust system of each case were designed, including the given system and an optimal system. By comparing the predicted and measured discharge noise level, it was confirmed that the optimized exhaust layout has a higher noise reduction than the other layout designs.