Comparisons of the environmental footprint of heavy vehicles in the UK and Switzerland

The European Union project Eureka Logchain Footprint is an ongoing project to identify road and rail vehicles by means of their environmental footprint as characterised by dynamic load, noise, ground borne vibrations and gaseous emissions induced by the vehicle. Part of the project involves the installation of road and rail footprint monitoring stations throughout Europe. This paper presents results of the road stations in Switzerland and the UK. Individual vehicle data from weigh-in-motion and noise are compared. The results indicate that a significant number of vehicles surpass the limits set in both countries. It was shown that the UK sites are generating higher noise levels than their Swiss counterparts; in part due to the much coarser aggregate embedded in the running course of the pavement employed in the UK. Such data can be used to create an incentive for vehicle types with a low footprint and a penalty for vehicles with a large footprint.     

A note on the solution of water wave scattering problem involving small deformation on a porous channel-bed

The solution of water wave scattering problem involving small deformation on a porous bed in a channel, where the upper surface is bounded above by an infinitely extent rigid horizontal surface, is studied here within the framework of linearized water wave theory. In such a situation, there exists only one mode of waves propagating on the porous surface. A simplified perturbation analysis, involving a small parameter ε ( ? 1), which measures the smallness of the deformation, is employed to reduce the governing Boundary Value Problem (BVP) to a simpler BVP for the first-order correction of the potential function. The first-order potential function and, hence, the first-order reflection and transmission coefficients are obtained by the method based on Fourier transform technique as well as Green’s integral theorem with the introduction of appropriate Green’s function. Two special examples of bottom deformation: the exponentially damped deformation and the sinusoidal ripple bed, are considered to validate the results. For the particular example of a patch of sinusoidal ripples, the resonant interaction between the bed and the upper surface of the fluid is attained in the neighborhood of a singularity, when the ripples wavenumbers of the bottom deformation become approximately twice the components of the incident field wavenumber along the positive x-direction. Also, the main advantage of the present study is that the results for the values of reflection and transmission coefficients are found to satisfy the energy-balance relation almost accurately.     

Terminal investment timing decisions in a competitive setting with uncertainty using a real option approach

This paper uses a real option approach to analyze terminal investment timing decisions for situations in which a port faces competition from its rivals in an uncertain market. We propose a network model to describe carriers’ cargo routing decisions and competition among rival ports. We then transform this model into a multicommodity flow problem and use the column generation algorithm to solve it. After obtaining a port’s possible future annual revenues and the potential net present value (NPV) for its terminal construction project through the network model, we adopt the expanded NPV rule and transform the investment timing decision into an optimal stopping problem. A least squares Monte Carlo simulation algorithm is proposed to find the investing probabilities for future years. The proposed models are applied to a steel cargo terminal investment case in the Port of Bengbu in Anhui province of China. The impacts on the investing probability and the expanded NPV of changes in the demand volatility, the initial investment and the port discharging rate are analyzed to provide managerial insights for port managers.     

Elderly travel frequencies and transport mode choices in Greater Rotterdam,the Netherlands

Demographic ageing is a key societal challenge in Europe as well as in many other western and non-western societies. A crucial dimension concerns elderly daily mobility patterns. While still partaking fewer and shorter trips than younger generations, today’s elderly have been found increasingly (auto)mobile. Although the elderly benefit from the independence, freedom of movement, and social inclusion, concerns may rise regarding the environmental and accessibility impacts of this induced mobility. The present study adds to the expanding literature on elderly mobility, an integrated analysis of the effects of socio-demographic, health, trip, spatial and weather attributes on elderly mobility. Utilizing travel diary data for Greater Rotterdam, The Netherlands, trip frequencies and transport mode choices of the elderly are analysed by means of zero-inflated negative binomial models as well as multinomial logit regression models, and contrasted to the non-elderly subpopulation to explore (dis)similarities. While the results show common determinants, the models also highlight important differences in the magnitude of the estimated coefficients and factors only influencing transport patterns for the elderly. Embedded in the context of an aging population, the empirical findings assist policy-makers and planners in several respects: For transportation plans and programs it is critical to recognize mobility needs of the elderly. As the seniors are becoming increasingly automobile, the results call for strategies to encourage older people to use more physically active and environmentally friendly transport modes such as public transport, walking and cycling.     

Long marine shafting alignment and optimization considering propeller hydrodynamic force in wake field北大核心CSCD

[目的]针对计入螺旋桨水动力的舰船轴系校中计算,传统方法通常容易忽略船体伴流场的影响,使得螺旋桨水动力计算的结果与真实值之间存在较大偏差,从而导致轴系校中精度下降。[方法]以某舰船长轴系为对象,建立桨-轴-船一体化有限元模型及其伴流场流域模型,利用CFD数值仿真的叠模方法计算螺旋桨水动力;采用流固耦合法将流体计算结果作用于螺旋桨表面,进行轴系校中计算,并得到螺旋桨水动力对轴系整体挠曲线及各轴承状态参数的影响规律。在此基础上,引入多目标优化算法开展轴系多目标优化校中,来解决轴系末端四套轴承间载荷差值过大的问题。[结果]考虑螺旋桨水动力后,轴系尾部挠度变化减小,越靠近螺旋桨处的轴承其载荷所受影响越大,载荷值随进速系数的增大而减小;对比多目标优化前后的轴系校中状态,轴系各轴承之间的载荷差值明显减小,轴系运行状态得到改善。[结论]所提方法提高了计入螺旋桨水动力的轴系校中计算精度,可为轴系校中质量的提升提供参考。     

Experimental study of controlling tip clearance flow in a pump-jet propulsor北大核心CSCD

[Objective]This paper aims to suppress the adverse effects of tip clearance flow on the hydrodynamic performance and unsteady excitation force of a pump-jet propulsor. [Method]As for the pre-swirl stator pump-jet propulsor, an annular flexible seal structure closely matched with a rotor tip ring is used to study the validity of suppressing the clearance flow on the rotor tip. The rotor thrust and torque of the propulsor are measured by keeping the shroud approximately rigidly fixed, enabling the rotor open water efficiency to be obtained. In addition, the point of cavitation inception at each design condition is observed and recorded carefully with the help of a high-power stroboscope, and the cavitation inception curves of the propulsor with/without tip clearance are obtained through calculation. Finally, tests of shaft vibration acceleration on the pump-jet propulsor with/without tip clearance are conducted under conditions of cavitation and non-cavitation in order to evaluate the effects of diminishing tip clearance. [Results]The results show that the thrust and torque of the rotor of the pump-jet propulsor with a flexible seal structure are significantly increased, which in turn renders open water efficiency significantly increased at low and medium advance coefficients, unchanged near the design point and slightly decreased at the high advance coefficient. Moreover, the cavitation performance of the pump-jet propulsor without clearance is better at a wide range of advance coefficient, 0.85 相似文献