Development of hydrogen-compressed natural gas blend engine for heavy duty vehicles

Natural gas fuel, as an alternative energy source of transportation, has been used widely since it has an advantage of low emission levels. However, new technologies are required in order to meet the reinforced emission regulations. For this purpose, research into the development of hydrogen-compressed natural gas (HCNG) blend engine was carried out to evaluate its feasibility and emission characteristics. The Engine Research Department at the Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials carried out a large number of tests based on various parameter changes that could affect the performance and emission of HCNG engine in different operating conditions. An earlier stage of the research project focused on the lean combustion of a HCNG engine for heavy duty vehicles to meet the EURO-VI standards. An 11-L/6-cylinder CNG engine was used for the test. The effects of the excess air ratio change were assessed based on various content ratios of hydrogen in the natural gas fuel. In the later part of the HCNG research, a stoichiometric mixture operation was suggested to meet reinforced emission regulation without requiring a De-NOx system. Additionally, an exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) system was introduced for the purpose of improving thermal efficiency and durability. The optimal operating conditions were selected to achieve the best thermal efficiency to meet the required emission levels. In this paper, we demonstrate that a HCNG engine can achieve a significant decrease in NOx emissions, as compared to that of a CNG engine, while meeting the requirements of the EURO-VI standards during a transient mode cycle test. EGR can suppress the weakness of stoichiometric mixture combustion strategy, such as the deterioration of the durability and thermal efficiency, while the emission level can be lowered with the use of a three-way catalyst. The possibility of further reduction of emissions and CO2 with EGR was evaluated to access practical application of a HCNG engine in the field. From that evaluation, the HCNG engine with stoichiometric mixture operation for heavy duty vehicles was developed. The emission levels of HCNG engine were 50 % lower when compared to the EURO-VI standards with a greater than 10 % decrease in CO₂ compared to that of a natural gas engine.     

Grid convergence study in the resistance calculation of a trimaran

As a new type of hull form, trimaran has remarkable excellent performances and has drawn more and more attention. When the viscous CFD technology now available is applied to the research of resistance performance of trimaran, the spatial discretization would usually result in the grid error and uncertainty, and thus the considerable discrepancy between the numerical results and the experimental data. In order to ascertain how much the grid would affect the calculation, the grid convergence should be studied. A mathematical trimaran was chosen as an example, with the commercial code CFX for the simulation, VOF for surface treatment, and the grid study was carried out based on two different turbulence models. It was concluded that carrying out grid study is helpful in estimating the grid error and uncertainty, and indicating the direction of improving the credibility of the numerical calculation, and, in addition to grid errors and uncertainties, the turbulence modeling errors and uncertainties contribute to the simulation errors.     

船体表面矩形块优化敷设设计(英文)

Rectangular tiles can be laid on a ship’s hull for protection, but the sides of the tiles must be adjusted so adjacent tiles will conform to the curvature of the hull. A method for laying tiles along a reference line was proposed, and an allowable range of displacement for the four vertices of the tile was determined. Deformations of each tile on a specific reference line were then obtained. It was found that the least deformation was required when the tiles were laid parallel to a line with the least curvature. After calculating the mean curvature on the surface, the surface was divided into three layout areas. A set of discrete points following the least deformation of the principal curvatures was obtained. A NURBS interpolation curve was then plotted as the reference line for laying tiles. The optimum size of the tiles was obtained, given the allowable maximum deformation condition. This minimized the number of bolts and the amount of stuffing. A typical aft hull section was selected and divided into three layout areas based on the distribution of curvature. The optimum sizes of rectangular tiles were obtained for every layout area and they were then laid on the surface. In this way the layout of the rectangular tiles could be plotted.     

Getting by with a little help from my friends…and family: immigrants and carpooling

While much of the scholarly literature on immigrants’ travel focuses on transit use, the newest arrivals to the United States make over twelve times as many trips by carpool as by transit. Using the 2001 National Household Travel Survey and multinomial logit mode choice models, we examine the determinants of carpooling. In particular, we focus on the likelihood of carpooling among immigrants—carpooling both within and across households. After controlling for relevant determinants of carpooling, we find that immigrants are far more likely to form household carpools than native-born adults and also are more likely than the native-born to form external carpools (outside the household). Moreover, when faced with the options of carpooling and public transit, immigrants—even recent arrivals—appear to prefer carpools over transit more strongly than the native born.     

A numerical approach to trajectory planning for yoyo movement

Based on nonlinear trajectory generation (NTG) software package, a general approach (i.e. numerical solution) to trajectory planning for yoyo motion is presented. For the real-time control of such periodical dynamic system, a critical problem is how to implement fast solving the optimal trajectory, so as to meet the real-time demand. However, traditional numerical solution methods are very time-consuming. In this paper, the optimization problem is solved by mapping the problem to a lower-dimension space. And combined with multithread programming technology, the computation time for solving the optimal trajectory is greatly reduced. Simulation results show that the numerical solution is identical to the analytic one, which demonstrates the correctness of the proposed method. The computation time of one cycle of yoyo simulation is about 10 ms, which shows that the proposed numerical method can be applied to the real-time control of yoyo playing.     

A low-cost testbed of underwater mobile sensing network

Comprised by a swarm of acoustically linked and cooperative autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) with onboard sensors, an underwater mobile sensing network (UMSN) will be a complementary means to fixed observatory networks, e.g. seafloor observatory networks and moored buoy arrays. It has obvious advantages over a single large AUV in higher efficiency due to parallel observation, stronger robustness to vehicle failures and lower cost. Although an UMSN can be viewed as a counterpart of wireless mobile sensing networks for air and terrestrial applications, it is much more challenging due to poor performance of underwater acoustic communication, poor performance of underwater positioning and high degree of uncertainty in vehicle dynamics and underwater environment. In order to verify key technologies involved in an UMSN, e.g. cooperation of multi-AUVs based on acoustic communication, a low cost testbed has been developed for experimental study. The design of both hardware and software is introduced. Also the results of a functional test for verification of the effectiveness of the testbed are presented.     

Determining the hydrodynamic forces on a planing hull in steady motion

A combination of methods was developed that can determine hydrodynamic forces on a planing hull in steady motion. Firstly, a potential-based boundary-element method was used to calculate the hydrodynamic pressure, induced resistance and lift. Then the frictional resistance component was determined by the viscous boundary layer theory. Finally, a particular empirical technique was applied, to determine the region of upwash geometry and determine spray resistance. Case studies involving four models of Series 62 planing craft were run. These showed that the suggested method is efficient and capable, with results that are in good agreement with experimental measurements over a wide range of volumetric Froude numbers.     

当前浮式平台船体结构分析的方法与重点综述(英文)

浮式平台概念的选择及其结构设计是深水工程项目的关键环节之一.它决定了平台在波浪载荷作用下的动力学响应、立管在深水条件下的运动以及进行平台建造与安装的技术难度等.结构强度、结构的抗疲劳性能以及结构的整体和局部稳定性能是浮式平台设计必须重点考虑的三个主要方面.总结了当前浮式平台设计的主要方法和它的主要任务以及技术要求,着重分析了设计过程中的主要技术难点及重点;最后,讨论了浮式平台结构设计的潜在发展趋势.     

An analysis of bicycle route choice preferences in Texas,US

In the US, the rise in motorized vehicle travel has contributed to serious societal, environmental, economic, and public health problems. These problems have increased the interest in encouraging non-motorized modes of travel (walking and bicycling). The current study contributes toward this objective by identifying and evaluating the importance of attributes influencing bicyclists’ route choice preferences. Specifically, the paper examines a comprehensive set of attributes that influence bicycle route choice, including: (1) bicyclists’ characteristics, (2) on-street parking, (3) bicycle facility type and amenities, (4) roadway physical characteristics, (5) roadway functional characteristics, and (6) roadway operational characteristics. The data used in the analysis is drawn from a web-based stated preference survey of Texas bicyclists. The results of the study emphasize the importance of a comprehensive evaluation of both route-related attributes and bicyclists’ demographics in bicycle route choice decisions. The empirical results indicate that travel time (for commuters) and motorized traffic volume are the most important attributes in bicycle route choice. Other route attributes with a high impact include number of stop signs, red light, and cross-streets, speed limits, on-street parking characteristics, and whether there exists a continuous bicycle facility on the route.

A traffic analysis zone definition: a new methodology and algorithm

This paper develops a comprehensive approach to the definition of transportation analysis zones (TAZ), and therein, presents a new methodology and algorithm for the definition of TAZ embedded in geographic information systems software, improves the base algorithm with several local algorithms, and comprehensively analyses the obtained results. The results obtained are then compared to these presently used in the transportation analysis process of the Lisbon Metropolitan Area. The proposed algorithm presents a new methodology for TAZ design based on a smoothed density surface of geocoded travel demand data. The algorithm aims to minimise the loss of information when moving from a continuous representation of the origin and destination of each trip to their discrete representations through zones, and focuses on the trade-off between the statistical precision, geographical error, and the percentage of intra-zonal trips of the resulting OD matrix. The results for the Lisbon Metropolitan Area case study suggest a significant improvement in OD matrix estimates compared to current transportation analysis practises based on administrative units.