Air flow through a non-airconditioned bus with open windows

Open window buses without air-conditioning are a major mode of urban and inter-city transport in most countries. High occupancy combined with hot and humid conditions makes travel in these buses quite uncomfortable. In this study air flow through a bus has been studied that could be the basis for low cost and eco-friendly methods of increasing passenger comfort and possibly reduce drag. The aerodynamics of such a road vehicle has not been studied as previous investigations have been confined to vehicles with closed windows that present a smooth exterior to air flow. Using a 1:25 scaled Perspex model of an urban bus in Delhi, flow visualization was performed in a water channel. The Reynolds numbers were one-tenth of a real bus moving at 10 m/s. Smoke and tuft visualizations were also performed on an urban bus at 40 km/h. Numerical simulations were performed at the actual Reynolds number. Even though there were Reynolds number differences, the broad features were similar. Air enters the bus from the rear windows, moves to the front (relative to the bus) and exits from the front windows. Inside air velocity relative to the bus is about one-tenth of the free-stream velocity. The flow is highly three-dimensional and unsteady.     

Assessment of Highway Bridge Upgrading by Dynamic Testing and Finite-Element Model Updating

The Land Transport Authority of Singapore has a continuing program of highway bridge upgrading for refurbishing and strengthening bridges to allow for increasing vehicle traffic and increasing axle loads. One subject of this program has been a short-span bridge taking a busy main road across a coastal inlet near a major port facility. Experiment-based structural assessments of the bridge were conducted before and after upgrading works including strengthening. Each assessment exercise comprised three separate components: (1) a strain and acceleration monitoring exercise lasting approximately one month; (2) a full-scale dynamic test carried out in a single day without closing the bridge; and (3) a finite-element model updating exercise to identify structural parameters and mechanisms. This paper presents the dynamic testing and the modal analysis used to identify the vibration properties and the quantification of the effectiveness of the upgrading through the subsequent model updating. Before and after upgrade, similar sets of vibration modes were identified, resembling those of an orthotropic plate with relatively weak transverse bending stiffness. Conversion of bearings from nominal simple supports to nominal full fixity was shown via model updating to be the principal cause of natural frequency increases of up to 50%. The utility of the combined experimental and analytical process in direct identification of structural properties has been proven, and the procedure can be applied to other structures and their capacity assessments.     

Degradation of Stiffness of Cemented Calcareous Soil in Cyclic Triaxial Tests

The deformation characteristics of artificially cemented calcareous soil subjected to undrained cyclic triaxial loading are investigated at different confining pressure and cyclic stress levels. The influence of cementation on the shear stiffness is investigated by comparing the behavior of cemented and uncemented soils with similar initial conditions. It is observed that the deviator stress and the deviatoric strain at yield reduced with increasing number of cycles for cemented sand due to progressive degradation of bond, which results in significant decrease in stiffness. On the other hand, a strain-hardening effect is observed in uncemented sand and this results in increasing yield stress and strain with progressive number of cycles. A linear relationship between degradation index and number of cycles is observed for cemented sand. This relationship has been synthesized in the form of an empirical equation by modifying a previously proposed equation for cohesive soils. This empirical equation was further used to evaluate the fatigue life of soils by adopting a failure criterion.     

Fatigue Behavior of a Pavement Foundation with Recycled Aggregate and Waste HDPE Strips

A laboratory investigation was conducted to evaluate the fatigue behavior of an alternative pavement foundation material containing cement stabilized reclaimed crushed aggregate. Class C fly ash, and waste-plastic strip [high density polyethylene (HDPE)] reinforcement. The primary motivation for this research was to evaluate a composite that contained more than 90% recycled materials for use as an alternative foundation layer underneath conventional flexible or rigid pavement. The specific objectives of this study were (1) to evaluate the flexural fatigue behavior of the new composite, and (2) to evaluate the accumulation of fatigue damage in the material. The results indicate that the fatigue resistance of this material is similar to other traditional stabilized pavement materials. It was found that the dynamic elastic modulus remained approximately constant (degraded slowly) for most specimens up to the end of fatigue life. Fatigue damage computed using a dissipated energy approach showed that the damage accumulation in this material approximately follows Miner's rule for cumulative damage, which is often used in pavement engineering.     

Plastic Limit, Liquid Limit and Undrained Shear Strength of Soil—Reappraisal

The concept that plasticity index of soils can be defined as a range of water contents producing a 100-fold variation in undrained shear strength has been experimentally verified with the help of a large number of tests on soils of diverse nature. This has led to the redefinition of the plastic limit as the water content at which undrained shear strength is around 170 kN/m2. Undrained shear strength of a soil at the liquid limit can be considered to be around 1.7 kN/m2. Accordingly, both the liquid limit and the plastic limit have been determined in the present work by a single consistent method, i.e., the Swedish fall cone method. The undrained shear strength-water content relationship has been found to be log-linear for a wide range of water contents beginning from lower than the plastic limit to higher than the liquid limit. This resulted in the formulation of an expression for predicting undrained shear strength of a remolded soil at any water content based solely on its liquid limit and plastic limit.     

考虑介质变形和长期导流能力的裂缝性气藏压裂产能模拟研究

在气藏开采过程中，由于孔隙压力的不断降低，使得介质变形而导致渗透率的变化，进而影响井的产量。针对这一问题，提出了各种流体与固体耦合的数值模拟模型。然而，对于裂缝性储层和多相渗流问题，流固耦合模型中许多参数不易获取，且求解难度很大，使得耦合模型存在一定的应用局限性。很少有文献在气井产能模拟时将介质变形和就地的长期导流能力加以综合考虑。文章考虑介质变形引起的天然裂缝渗透率的变化和裂缝导流能力随时间递减的影响，建立了裂缝性气藏压裂后气水两相渗流数学模型，推导出了数值计算模型；本模型易于编程求解，对于研究裂缝性气藏的渗流特征，特别是进行单井压后产能预测具有一定的实用意义。计算表明：不考虑介质变形和导流能力递减所预测的气产量偏高；目前普遍使用的气藏数值模拟软件中，假定渗透率、裂缝导流能力为常数，以致模拟计算结果比实际偏高。     

Methodological Challenges in Union Commitment Studies.

Methodological problems in studies of union commitment were identified and illustrated with data from 4,641 members and 479 stewards in 297 local teachers' unions. Using a 20-item union commitment scale, results confirmed the existence of 3 substantive factors and 1 method factor at the individual level of analysis: loyalty to the union, responsibility to the union, willingness to work for the union, and a factor of negatively worded items. Tests of measurement invariance showed that the scale captured commitment for rank-and-file members but not for union stewards. The authors also found partial measurement invariance between long-time and newer members and full measurement invariance between men and women. Finally, the authors found that violation of the statistical assumption of independence reduced model fit when individual commitment scores were analyzed without attention to the hierarchical nature of the data. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

有限元数值试井解释技术在复杂断块油气藏评价中的应用

有限元数值模拟试井技术,可通过描述不同网格的瞬变压力对测试范围内各个小单元进行精细描述.综合运用解析试井、数值试井联带分析方法,将测试动态成果与地质静态成果有机结合、相互补充,可实现对复杂断块油气藏的精细描述,达到一口井搞清一个小型复杂断块油气藏的目的.     

地下水运动数值模拟过程中边界条件问题探讨

本文对地下水运动数值模拟过程中边界条件的涵义 和处理方法进行了分析和讨论。阐述了边界条件所包含的双重意义。指出随着人类活动影响 强度的日益增大，边界条件的处理要面临一些新的更为复杂的问题。在模型预报之前必须首 先对边界条件做出预报。边界条件的预报既要考虑自然因素的作用，同时也要考虑人类活动 (人工开采和人工补给)的影响及由于邻区水流条件变化而产生的耦合效应。之后，给出了两 个应用实例。     

76 mm口径EFP成形过程数值模拟及影响因素研究

采用LS-DYNA3D对76mm口径药型罩爆炸成型弹丸(EFP)的成形过程进行了数值模拟，模拟结果与实验数据基本吻合．通过数值模拟着重分析了装药长径比L／D、壳体厚度、药型罩壁厚对EFP速度的影响规律，得到了有关EFP成形速度公式，得出EFP速度随L／D的增大而增大，随药型罩厚度增大而减小，受装药外壳厚度影响不大．