Comparative investigation on the aerodynamic effects of combined use of underbody drag reduction devices applied to real sedan

To reduce the aerodynamic drag, the performance of the underbody aerodynamic drag reduction devices was evaluated based on the actual shape of a sedan-type vehicle. An undercover, under-fin, and side air dam were used as the underbody aerodynamic drag reduction devices. In addition, the effects of the interactions based on the combination of the aerodynamic drag reduction devices were investigated. A commercial sedan-type vehicle was selected as a reference model and its shape was modeled in detail. Aerodynamic drag was analyzed by computational fluid dynamics at a general driving speed on highway of 120 km/h. The undercover reduced the slipstream area through the attenuation of the longitudinal vortex pair by enhancing the up-wash of underflow, thereby reducing the aerodynamic drag by 8.4 %. The under-fin and side air dam showed no reduction in aerodynamic drag when they were solely attached to the actual complex shape of the underbody. Simple aggregation of the effects of aerodynamic drag reduction by the individual device did not provide the accurate performance of the combined aerodynamic drag reduction devices. An additional aerodynamic drag reduction of 2.1 % on average was obtained compared to the expected drag reduction, which was due to the synergy effect of the combination.     

迅速发展的快递业

在亚太地区的航空快递行业，联邦快递（Fedex）保持著良好的发展态势，并持续在该地区扩展设施及服务。其最新举措是在东京投资2，000万美元建设了一座货运站。[编者按]     

Analysis of activity duration using the Puget sound transportation panel

In this paper, we extend previous analyses of temporal effects by examining the factors associated with activity generation and duration over four waves of the Puget sound transportation panel survey (PSTPS). A Cox proportional hazards model was specified for each of five activities: visiting, appointment, free time, personal business, and shopping. For each activity, the duration times are modeled with an emphasis on examining important higher order interactions. The results suggest that activity durations have changed significantly over the survey period. Many of the differences in activity durations over time were significant, and often associated with increasing numbers of children in the household and higher order interactions between sex and the sequencing of activities.