Rational Design of T-Girders via Finite Element Method

The main configuration of ship construction consists of standard and fabricated stiffening members, such as T-sections, which are commonly used in shipbuilding....     

Understanding the impacts of a combination of service improvement strategies on bus running time and passenger’s perception

Transit agencies implement many strategies in order to provide an attractive transportation service. This article aims to evaluate the impacts of implementing a combination of strategies, designed to improve the bus transit service, on running time and passenger satisfaction. These strategies include using smart card fare collection, introducing limited-stop bus service, implementing reserved bus lanes, using articulated buses, and implementing transit signal priority (TSP). This study uses stop-level data collected from the Société de transport de Montréal (STM)’s automatic vehicle location (AVL) and automatic passenger count (APC) systems, in Montréal, Canada. The combination of these strategies has lead to a 10.5% decline in running time along the limited stop service compared to the regular service. The regular route running time has increased by 1% on average compared to the initial time period. The study also shows that riders are generally satisfied with the service improvements. They tend to overestimate the savings associated with the implementation of this combination of strategies by 3.5-6.0 min and by 2.5-4.1 min for both the regular route and the limited stop service, respectively. This study helps transit planners and policy makers to better understand the effects of implementing a combination of strategies to improve running time and passenger’s perception of these changes in service.     

Dynamic response of offshore jacket structures under random loads

In this paper, the dynamic response of a scale model of a jacket offshore structure is investigated both theoretically and experimentally. The experiments were conducted both in air and in water. The in-water experiments were done in the towing tank of Memorial University to simulate the realistic operating conditions. The model was subjected to random wave loads. Froude's law of modeling was used to obtain the dimensions of the scale model based on the dimensions of an existing structure. The effects of varying the structure's weight, and the characteristics of the wave loading were investigated. The structure's weight was changed by adding weights to the structure's deck. A finite element model was designed to determine the dynamic response of the model. Excellent agreement between the experimental and theoretical results was obtained.The reaction force at the foundation was estimated from strain measurements and compared with the finite element calculations. Fair agreement was obtained.This work is the first stage of a project whose objective is to develop a method for structural damage detection using the free vibration response of the structure. The free vibration response will be obtained from the stationary random response of the structure using the random decrement method. Having an accurate model to describe the dynamic response of the structure is the first step in this study.     

Damage detection in offshore structures using neural networks

This paper discusses the damage detection in offshore jacket platforms subjected to random loads using a combined method of random decrement signature and neural networks. The random decrement technique is used to extract the free decay of the structure from its online response while the structure is in service. The free decay and its time derivative are used as input for a neural network. The output of the neural network is used as an index for damage detection. It has been shown that function N is effective in damage detection in the members of an offshore structure. Experimental studies conducted on a reduced model for a real jacket structure with geometrical scale of 1:30 are used. The applied loads were random loads. Two different load spectra were used: White noise, and Pierson-Moskowitz.     

Suboptimal Control Design of Active and Passive Suspensions Based on a Full Car Model

An optimal control design method is introduced and then applied to the optimum design of active and passive suspension systems. A basic three-dimensional 7-DOF car riding model subjected to four correlated random road inputs is considered. The design method is basically developed to allow arbitrary choice of sensors for various car state variables to be used for feedback control of each suspension unit. Previous studies show that full-state control laws and even some limited-state control laws often include feedback gains which are almost zero. Some other gains, although not zero, don't play an important role in improving the system performance measures. With the method proposed in this work, every suspension unit can have its own feedback measurements and the criterion function can be related to all state and control variables. Thus a large number of active and semi-active suspension systems with full- or limited-state control laws based on different measurement combination can be suggested, studied, and compared with each other. Instead of comparing these optimized active and semi-active suspension systems with a basic, passive suspension, the passive system itself is optimized with the same criterion. Simulations in the time domain and frequency analyses are performed, and comparisons are made among the systems in terms of r.m.s. car response measures and ISO riding comfort criterion.     

Policy challenges of increasing automation in driving

The convergence of information and communication technologies (ICT) with automotive technologies has already resulted in automation features in road vehicles and this trend is expected to continue in the future owing to consumer demand, dropping costs of components, and improved reliability. While the automation features that have taken place so far are mainly in the form of information and driver warning technologies (classified as level I pre-2010), future developments in the medium term (level II 2010–2025) are expected to exhibit connected cognitive vehicle features and encompass increasing degree of automation in the form of advanced driver assistance systems. Although autonomous vehicles have been developed for research purposes and are being tested in controlled driving missions, the autonomous driving case is only a long term (level III 2025 +) scenario. This paper contributes knowledge on technological forecasts regarding automation, policy challenges for each level of technology development and application context, and the essential instrument of cost-effectiveness for policy analysis which enables policy decisions on the automation systems to be assessed in a consistent and balanced manner. The cost of a system per vehicle is viewed against its effectiveness in meeting policy objectives of improving safety, efficiency, mobility, convenience and reducing environmental effects. Example applications are provided that illustrate the contribution of the methodology in providing information for supporting policy decisions. Given the uncertainties in system costs as well as effectiveness, the tool for assessing policies for future generation features probabilistic and utility-theoretic analysis capability. The policy issues defined and the assessment framework enable the resolution of policy challenges while allowing worthy innovative automation in driving to enhance future road transportation.     

Motorcycle fatalities in Malaysia

Malaysia has the highest road fatality risk (per 100,000 population) among the ASEAN countries and more than 50% of the road accident fatalities involve motorcyclists. This study has collected and analysed data from the police, government authorities, and national and international research institutes. Only fatality data are used due to the severe underreporting of severe injuries (up to 600%) and slight injuries (up to 1400%). The analysis reveals that the highest numbers of motorcycle fatalities occur in rural locations (61%), on primary roads (62%) and on straight road sections (66%). The majority are riders (89%), 16 to 20 years old (22.5%), and 90% of the motorcycles are privately owned. Of those involved in fatal accidents, 75% of the motorcyclists wear helmets, and 35% do not have proper licences. The highest number of fatalities by type of collision is ‘angular or side’ (27.5%). Although fatal motorcyclist crashes mostly involve ‘passenger cars’ (28%), motorcyclists are responsible for 50% of the collisions either by crashing singly (25%) or with other motorcyclists (25%). While male motorcyclists predominate (94% of fatalities), female motorcyclists aged 31 to 70, possessing ‘no licence’, not wearing helmets and travelling during the day, account for a higher percentage than male motorcyclists. Malaysia must acquire more motorcycle exposure data and establish an injury recording system and database based on hospital-records. To reduce motorcycle fatalities, it first has to understand why young male motorcyclists are prone to fatal crashes in the evenings and on weekends on rural primary roads, especially on straight road sections.     

Microscopic activity sequence generation: a multiple correspondence analysis to explain travel behavior based on socio-demographic person attributes

Transportation - Activity sequencing is a crucial component of disaggregate modeling approaches. This paper presents a methodology to analyse and predict activity sequence patterns for persons...     

Turbo-Coded Modulation of EVRC Speech Encoder with Unequal Error Protection for Fading Channels

The Enhanced Variable Rate Codec (EVRC) is a standard for the Speech Service Opti6n 3 for Wideband Spread Spectrum Digital System, which has been employed in both IS-95 cellular systems and ANSI J-STC-008 PCS (Personal Communications Systems). This paper investigated the combination of turbo codes with Unequal Error Protection (UEP) and 16-QAM modulation for EVRC codec of Rate 1 to get power and bandwidth efficient coding scheme. The results show that the UEP system outperforms the Equal Error Protection (EEP) one by 1.45dB at BER of 10^-5.     

Experimental Study on Volume Change Indices of Bentonite Soils

Introduction Bentonites are used as barrier and backfillingmaterials in many countries for storing the high leveltoxic wastes[1-4]. The clays have several advantageousproperties with regard to the hydro-mechanical re-quirements; for exmple, low permeability, highswelling capability and good thermal conductivity aresome of the features. Determination of swelling prop-erties of bentonites is important and has been carriedout by many researchers[5,6]The volume change behavior of bentonites ispri…