Computational fluid dynamics-based multiobjective optimization of a surface combatant using a global optimization method

The main objective of this article is to describe the development of two advanced multiobjective optimization methods based on derivative-free techniques and complex computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis. Alternatives for the geometry and mesh manipulation techniques are also described. Emphasis is on advanced strategies for the use of computer resource-intensive CFD solvers in the optimization process: indeed, two up-to-date free surface-fitting Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equation solvers are used as analysis tools for the evaluation of the objective function and functional constraints. The two optimization methods are realized and demonstrated on a real design problem: the optimization of the entire hull form of a surface combatant, the David Taylor Model Basin—Model 5415. Realistic functional and geometrical constraints for preventing unfeasible results and to get a final meaningful design are enforced and discussed. Finally, a recently proposed verification and validation methodology is applied to assess uncertainties and errors in simulation-based optimization, based on the differences between the numerically predicted improvement of the objective function and the actual improvement measured in a dedicated experimental campaign. The optimized model demonstrates improved characteristics beyond the numerical and experimental uncertainty, confirming the validity of the simulation-based design frameworks.     

Risk and reward in public transportation contracting

The workshop discusses and documents a number of countries’ experiences regarding risk and reward in the delivery of public transport and determines the way in which competitive pressures actually work (or not) to deliver efficient and effective services. Papers are grouped into three main themes, i.e., public versus private management; negotiated versus competitively tendered contracts; and measures to improve performance. This chapter begins with a brief overview of each of the eight papers. This is followed by a section that out the discussions that emanated from the papers. Finally, the main policy and research recommendations are presented.     

桥梁用附加装置的发展和创新

超大跨径桥梁或强风、强震区的大跨径桥梁，其的静力、动力响应对桥梁结构设计往往成为控制因素，运用缓冲器、阻尼器和弹性连接等附加装置能有效地改善大跨径桥梁结构受力。在苏通大桥结构体系研究的一些思路和国内外有关资料的基础上，将十多年来应用的一些装置从性能、特征参数和工程应用理念等方面加以较系统地叙述，希望为我国桥梁在这方面的应用提供一些有益的帮助。     

Overview of public transport policy developments in South Africa

In South Africa, a restructuring of the public transport system is currently under way. In the bus industry the tender for contract system is being implemented, the commuter rail sector is being recapitalised and the minibus taxi industry recapitalization programme is in its early stages. Progress with policy implementation across the modes of transport, modal split trends and issues that hamper the full development of the public transport industry are discussed in this paper. Medium to long term policy and strategy initiatives that will further inform the development of the industry are also highlighted in this chapter.     

Fast computing and approximate fuel consumption modeling for Internal Combustion Engine passenger cars

This article presents a fuel consumption model, SEFUM (Semi Empirical Fuel Use Modeling), and its comparison with three models from the literature on a 600 km experimental database. This model is easy to calibrate with only a few required parameters that are provided by car manufacturers. The test database has been built from 21 drivers who drove in two conditions (normal and ecodriving) on a 15 km trip. For the model evaluation, three indicators have been selected: instantaneous fuel use root mean square error, cumulated error and computation time in order to evaluate the accuracy both in cumulated and instantaneous fuel use and to estimate computation time of each model. Results tend to prove that the model is able to compute rapidly (maximum of 1500 simulated kilometers under Matlab) in comparison to all other models while ensuring a high accuracy and precision for cumulated and instantaneous fuel use.     

计算机联锁仿真试验自动执行平台研究

介绍车站计算机联锁仿真试验通过计算机技术模拟人工操作,实现仿真试验自动执行平台的方案。通过分析当前计算机联锁仿真试验的现状,提出采用自动执行平台的解决方案,从平台任务设计、功能接口、执行流程等主要方面论述平台的方案实现,最后通过平台初版的示例站应用验证方案的效果,分析平台研究的下一阶段目标及未来价值。     

Experimental analysis of exhaust gas after treatment system using water scrubbing in a single cylinder diesel engine for diesel and biofuel blends

A low-cost exhaust gas after treatment system called water-scrubbing is attempted in this paper. An emission treatment setup is fabricated, which is installed in the exhaust of the engine. This takes the exhaust gas and sprays water in the exhaust and passes it through the chamber containing silica gel. An attempt is made to investigate experimentally the performance and emission characteristics of a direct injection (DI) diesel engine, with and without water injection at the exhaust using diesel fuel (DF), diesel-Karanja oil blend (DKB) and diesel-Jatropha oil blend (DJB). The exhaust gas after treatment system helps to reduce NOx, CO and Particulate matter. The performance of the engine has also been monitored to determine whether the engine has any decrease in performance when the setup is used and it is found that there is no change in the engine performance.     

浅析如何制定项目管理人员绩效考核指标

对企业管理人员和项目管理人员进行绩效考核的最终目的是为了提高和改进管理人员的绩效，充分调动他们的积极性，为实现企业的发展目标和项目的经济效益提供重要的人才支撑，为企业的可持续发展增强动力。此文围绕企业发展战略如何制定绩效考核指标，如何科学设定关键绩效考核指标，如何结合项目类型确定绩效考核指标权重，如何结合项目特征确定绩效考核者间的关系进行论述。     

The application of reliability methods in the design of tophat stiffened composite panels under in-plane loading

Composite materials have been widely used in modern engineering fields such as aircraft, space and marine structures due to their high strength-to-weight and stiffness-to-weight ratios. However, structural efficiency gained through the adoption of composite materials can only be guaranteed by understanding the influence of production upon as-designed performance. In particular, topologies that are challenging to production including panels stiffened with pi or tophat stiffeners dominate many engineering applications and often observe complex loading. The design of stiffened composite panels against buckling is a key point of composite structures. While a growing number of studies are related to the reliability analysis of composites few of these relate to the local analysis of more complicated structures. Furthermore for the assessment of these structures in a design environment it is important to have models that allow the rapid assessment of the reliability of these local structures. This paper explores the use of a stochastic approach to the design of stiffened composite panels for which typical applications can be found in composite ship structures. A parametric study is conducted using Navier grillage theory and First-order Reliability Methods to investigate any detectable trend in the safety index with various design parameters. Finally, recommendations are made to provide guidance on applications.     

Interactive image-based information visualization for aircraft trajectory analysis

Objectives: The objective of the presented work is to present novel methods for big data exploration in the Air Traffic Control (ATC) domain. Data is formed by sets of airplane trajectories, or trails, which in turn records the positions of an aircraft in a given airspace at several time instants, and additional information such as flight height, speed, fuel consumption, and metadata (e.g. flight ID). Analyzing and understanding this time-dependent data poses several non-trivial challenges to information visualization.Materials and methods: To address this Big Data challenge, we present a set of novel methods to analyze aircraft trajectories with interactive image-based information visualization techniques.As a result, we address the scalability challenges in terms of data manipulation and open questions by presenting a set of related visual analysis methods that focus on decision-support in the ATC domain. All methods use image-based techniques, in order to outline the advantages of such techniques in our application context, and illustrated by means of use-cases from the ATC domain.Results: For each considered use-case, we outline the type of questions posed by domain experts, data involved in addressing these questions, and describe the specific image-based techniques we used to address these questions. Further, for each of the proposed techniques, we describe the visual representation and interaction mechanisms that have been used to address the above-mentioned goals. We illustrate these use-cases with real-life datasets from the ATC domain, and show how our techniques can help end-users in the ATC domain discover new insights, and solve problems, involving the presented datasets.