The aim of this work is to propose a 3D FE model of a theoretical assembling straight bevel gear pair to analyze the contact fatigue on the tooth surface and the bending fatigue in the tooth root. Based on the cumulative fatigue criterion and the stress-life equation, the key meshing states of the gear pair were investigated for the contact fatigue and the bending fatigue. Then, the reliability of the proposed model was proved by comparing the calculation result with the simulation result. Further study was performed to analyze the variation of the contact fatigue stress and the bending fatigue stress under different loads. Furthermore, the roles of the driving pinion and the driven gear pair were evaluated in the fatigue life of the straight bevel gear pair and the main fatigue failure mode was determined for the significant gear. The results show that the fatigue failure of the driving pinion is the main fatigue failure for the straight bevel gear pair and the bending fatigue failure is the main fatigue failure for the driving pinion.

The glass formation was intensively studied for Fe-based alloys. Parameters defining kinetics and thermodynamic behavior of crystallization were calculated using calorimetric measurements and physical properties of constituent elements. It is found that the critical cooling rate R_c estimated by combining kinetic and thermodynamic parameters highly correlates with measured R_c found in literatures with correlation coefficient R²=0.944, and alloy compositions with high melting enthalpy ΔH_m can easily form glass even without high undercooling and high value of the β-parameter of Turnbull’s theory, revealing that the glass formation in this group of alloys is mostly controlled by growth limitation. This combination of kinetic and thermodynamic parameters can be used to determine alloy composition with good glass forming ability in Fe-based alloys just using physical properties of alloying elements and calorimetric measurements.

The corrosion inhibition of mild steel in 1 mol/L HCl by N, N′-bis (2-hydroxybenzaldehyde)-1, 3-propandiimine (2-HBP) has been investigated by using potentiodynamic polarization, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and chronoamperometry measurements. The experimental results suggest that this compound is an excellent corrosion inhibitor for mild steel and the inhibition efficiency increases with the increase in inhibitor concentration. Polarization curves reveal that this organic compound is a mixed type inhibitor. The effect of temperature on the corrosion behavior of mild steel with the addition of the Schiff base was studied in the temperature range from 25 °C to 65 °C. The experimentally obtained adsorption isotherms follow the Langmuir equation. Activation and thermodynamic adsorption parameters such as E_a, ΔH, ΔS, K_ads and ΔG_ads were calculated by the corrosion currents at different temperatures and using the adsorption isotherm. The morphology of mild steel surface in the absence and presence of 2-HBP was examined by atomic force microscope (AFM) images.

Composite wing static aeroelasticity was analyzed through a loosely coupled method and the effects on composite wing characteristics under different flight attitudes were presented. Structural analysis and aerodynamic analysis were carried out through finite element method (FEM) software NASTRAN and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software FLUENT, respectively. Correlative data transfer and mesh regenerate procedure were applied to couple the results of computational structure dynamics (CSD) and CFD. After static aeroelasticity analysis under different flight attitudes, it can be seen that lift increases with the increase of flight speed and the incremental value enlarges gradually in both rigid and elastic wings. Lift presents a linear increment relationship with the increase of attack angle when the flight speed is 0.4Ma or 0.6Ma, but nonlinear increment in elastic wing when flight speed is 0.8Ma. On the effect of aeroelasticity, the maximum of deformation increases with the increase of flight speed and attack angle, and the incremental value decreases with the increase of flight speed while uniform with different attack angles. The results provide a reference for engineering applications.

A three-dimensional finite-element model of slab continuous casting mold was conducted to clarify the effect of cooling structure on thermal behavior of copper plates. The results show that temperature distribution of hot surface is mainly governed by cooling structure and heat-transfer conditions. For hot surface centricity, maximum surface temperature promotions are 30 °C and 15 °C with thickness increments of copper plates of 5 mm and nickel layers of 1 mm, respectively. The surface temperature without nickel layers is depressed by 10 °C when the depth increment of water slots is 2 mm and that with nickel layers adjacent to and away from mold outlet is depressed by 7 °C and 5 °C, respectively. The specific trend of temperature distribution of transverse sections of copper plates is nearly free of cooling structure, but temperature is changed and its law is similar to the corresponding surface temperature.

Alloy anodes were studied for pursuing Sn-based microcomposite synthesis, assembly and performance for lithium ion batteries. The self-assembled Sn-Co-C composites with nano-scaled microstructures were prepared via solution method and carbothermal technology. The morphology and physical structure were investigated with scanning electron microscope (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The as-prepared materials were assembled to half cell coin for the purpose of discussing the galvanostatic cycling, cyclic voltammetry and rate-capability performance. Results reveal that nanoscaled CoSn₂ alloys covered with Sn and C layer by layer are wrapped by cross-linked porous carbon network to form spherical microstructure. This distinguishing feature of Sn-Co-C composites provides a possible solution to the problems of Sn particle aggregation and poor electron transport, and has strong effect on improving electrochemical performance.

ZnO:La³⁺,Li⁺ nanoparticles were successfully prepared by co-precipitation, citric acid-assisted co-precipitation, co-precipitation combined solid-state reaction and thermal decomposition method. X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and luminescence spectrophotometry were employed to characterize the crystal phases, particle sizes and luminescence properties of the as-prepared nanopowders. The results indicate that all the prepared samples crystallize in a hexagonal wurtzite structure. The ZnO:La³⁺,Li⁺ prepared by citric acid-assisted co-precipitation method has a particle size of about 80 nm, which is the smallest among all the samples. Fluorescence (FL) spectra of all samples exhibit three typical emissions: a violet one centered at around 400 nm, blue around 450 nm and 466 nm, and weak green near 520 nm. But the samples prepared by co-precipitation method show a strong and wide green light emission located at about 500 nm. The ZnO:La³⁺,Li⁺ nanoparticles synthesized by the co-precipitation method demonstrate relatively the strongest emission intensity.

High purity (99.999% or 5N, mass fraction) indium (In) was obtained through vacuum distillation using a 2N (99%) In as input material under a dynamic vacuum of 5 Pa. The glow discharge mass spectrometry (GDMS) was applied for the analysis of input material and the distilled indium. The results indicate that high-volatile impurities namely Cd, Zn, Tl and Pb can be removed from the indium matrix at the low fraction stage of 1 223 K for 120 min; Low-volatile impurities such as Fe, Ni, Cu, Sn can be reduced at the high fraction stage of 1 323 K for 120 min. The separation coefficient β_i and activity coefficient γ_i of impurities are calculated according to the experiments to fill the inadequate data of the thermodynamics.

Accurate parameter identification is essential when designing controllers for inertially stabilized platforms (ISPs). But traditional identification methods suffer from observation measurement noise and operating restrictions of ISPs. To address this issue, a novel identification method based on current command design and multilevel coordinate search (MCS) algorithm without any higher order measurement differentiations was proposed. The designed current commands were adopted to obtain parameter decoupled models with the platform operating under allowable conditions. MCS algorithm was employed to estimate the parameters based on parameter decoupled models. A comparison experiment between the proposed method and non-linear least square method was carried out and most of the relative errors of identified parameters obtained by the proposed method were below 10%. Simulation and experiment based on identified parameters were conducted. A velocity control structure was also developed with disturbance observer (DOB) for application in disturbance compensation control system of an ISP. Experimental results show that the control scheme based on the identified parameters with DOB has the best disturbance rejection performance. It reduces the peak to peak value (PPV) of velocity error integral to 0.8 mrad which is much smaller than the value (10 mrad) obtained by the single velocity controller without DOB. Compared with the control scheme based on sweep model with DOB compensation, the proposed control scheme improves the PPV of velocity error integral by 1.625 times.

The analytical method based on “Hertz theory on normal contact of elastic solids” and the numerical method based on finite element method (FEM) calculating the contact stress of face-gear drive with spur involute pinion were introduced, and their relative errors are below 10%, except edge contact, which turns out that these two methods can compute contact stress of face-gear drive correctly and effectively. An agreement of the localized bearing contact stress is gotten for these two methods, making sure that the calculation results of FEM are reliable. The loaded meshing simulations of multi-tooth FEM model were developed, and the determination of the transmission error and the maximal load distribution factor of face-gear drive under torques were given. A formula for the maximal load distribution factor was proposed. By introducing the maximal load distribution factor in multi-tooth contact zone, a method for calculating the maximal contact stress in multi-tooth contact can be given. Compared to FEM, the results of these formulae are proved to be reliable, and the relative errors are below 10%.

A novel twin-rotor piston engine (TRPE) mechanism with high volumetric output and power density was introduced. This new engine comprises an energy conversion system and a differential velocity drive mechanism (DVDM). Two special geared four-bar mechanisms, DVDM-1 and DVDM-2, were utilized and compared. Based on the closed loop vector method, a mathematical model for position, velocity, and acceleration of the two mechanisms was established. Numerical examples illustrate that the kinematic characteristics were presented. Expression of the displacement and compression ratio of the two engine mechanisms were derived and compared. It is concluded that both DVDM-1 and DVDM-2 adopted in the proposed TRPE with six vane pistons create thirty-six power strokes per revolution of the output shaft, and the summation of two angles covered by each rocker is always 2π/N as the output shaft rotates an angle of π/N. In DVDM-1, the span angle of a vane piston should be designed to be 10.2°, and the compression ratio should be equal to 10; in DVDM-2, the span angle of a vane piston should be designed to be 10.6°, and the compression ratio should be equal to 4.3.

A novel 50 kW fast charger was proposed for electric vehicles. The proposed fast charger is divided into two main sections: an AC-DC converter performing a PFC function and a DC-DC converter performing a charging function. A transformer including leakage inductances was used in the AC-DC converter in order to obtain isolation and inductance. A series-connection topology was used in the DC-DC converter between the DC-bus and outlet. This topology enables high power conversion efficiency up to 95% for the DC-DC converter. In order to reduce the impact of the 50 kW charging on the AC grid, the proposed fast charger system includes a buffering battery unit between the two main power conversion units. This leads to reductions in the power installation costs of power companies and to improvements in the power quality on the AC grid. The performances of the proposed fast charger system were verified through simulations and experimental results.

Laser-assisted machining has been considered as a new alternative machining method of difficult-to-cut materials. A laser module with one-axis manipulator is developed to focus on preheating laser beam effectively. First of all, the thermal characteristic analysis was performed to verify the importance of laser module location. Laser module should be moved within 1 mm. Analysis conditions of three positions in driving range of the one-axis manipulator are selected. And a C coupling is used as a connection device for spindle and laser module. An initial model has one C coupling, and the number of C coupling has been increased from 1 to 2 in an improved model. And the analysis is carried out again for the one-axis manipulator. The results of the static analysis, the maximum displacement and the maximum stress are decreased by 22% and 11%, respectively, for the improved model when the laser module is located at farthest away from the spindle unit. As a result of the modal analysis, the first natural frequency mode is increased by 13%, 18% and 12% at these positions of the improved model, respectively. The harmonic analysis of the improved model was performed by analyzing the results of the modal analysis. The maximum deformation was 0.33 mm in driving unit at 222 Hz. And the maximum compliance of the ISO axis direction was 0.23 mm/N. Finally, the one-axis manipulator has been fabricated successfully using the analysis result.

A design and verification of linear state observers which estimate state information such as angular velocity and load torque for retraction control of the motorized seat belt (MSB) system were described. The motorized seat belt system provides functions to protect passengers and improve passenger’s convenience. Each MSB function has its own required belt tension which is determined by the function’s purpose. To realize the MSB functions, state information, such as seat belt winding velocity and seat belt tension are required. Using a linear state observer, the state information for MSB operations can be estimated without sensors. To design the linear state observer, the motorized seat belt system is analyzed and represented as a state space model which contains load torque as an augmented state. Based on the state space model, a linear state observer was designed and verified by experiments. Also, the retraction control of the MSB algorithm using linear state observer was designed and verified on the test bench. With the designed retraction control algorithm using the linear state observer, it is possible to realize various types of MSB functions.

A new method for optimizing a butterfly-shaped linear ultrasonic motor was proposed to maximize its mechanical output. The finite element analysis technology and response surface methodology were combined together to realize the optimal design of the butterfly-shaped linear ultrasonic motor. First, the operation principle of the motor was introduced. Second, the finite element parameterized model of the stator of the motor was built using ANSYS parametric design language and some structure parameters of the stator were selected as design variables. Third, the sample points were selected in design variable space using latin hypercube Design. Through modal analysis and harmonic response analysis of the stator based on these sample points, the target responses were obtained. These sample points and response values were combined together to build a response surface model. Finally, the simplex method was used to find the optimal solution. The experimental results showed that many aspects of the design requirements of the butterfly-shaped linear ultrasonic motor have been fulfilled. The prototype motor fabricated based on the optimal design result exhibited considerably high dynamic performance, such as no-load speed of 873 mm/s, maximal thrust of 27.5 N, maximal efficiency of 43%, and thrust-weight ratio of 45.8.

Taking three-phase electrode adjusting system of submerged arc furnace as study object which has nonlinear, time-variant, multivariable and strong coupling features, a neural adaptive PSD(proportion, sum and differential) dispersive decoupling controller was developed by combining neural adaptive PSD algorithm with dispersive decoupling network. In this work, the production technology process and control difficulties of submerged arc furnace were simply introduced, the necessity of establishing a neural adaptive PSD dispersive decoupling controller was discussed, the design method and the implementation steps of the controller are expounded in detail, and the block diagram of the controlled system is presented. By comparison with experimental results of the conventional PID controller and the adaptive PSD controller, the decoupling ability, adaptive ability, self-learning ability and robustness of the neural adaptive PSD dispersive decoupling controller have been testified effectively. The controller is applicable to the three-phase electrode adjusting system of submerged arc furnace, and it will play an important role for achieving the power balance of three-phrase electrodes, saving energy and reducing consumption in the process of smelting.

Drum level sloshing is the latest discovery in the application of heat recovery steam generator (HRSG) in combined cycle, and shows certain negative influence on drum level controlling. In order to improve drum level controlling, influence factors on the drum level sloshing were investigated. Firstly, drum sub-modules were developed using the method of modularization modeling, and then the model of drum level sloshing was set up as well. Experiments were carried out on the experimental rig, and the model was validated using the obtained experimental results. Dynamic simulation was made based on the model to get a 3-D graph of drum level sloshing, which shows a vivid procedure of drum level sloshing. The effect of feed-water flow rate, main-steam flow rate and heating quantity on the drum level sloshing was analyzed. The simulation results indicate that the signals with frequency higher than 0.05 Hz are that of drum level sloshing, the signals with frequency of 0.0–0.05 Hz are that of drum level trendy and “false water level”, and variation of the feed-water flow rates, main-steam flow rates and heating quantities can change the frequency of drum level sloshing, i.e., the frequency of sloshing increases with the increase of feed-water flow rate, or the decrease of the main-steam flow rate and the heating quantity. This research work is fundamental to improve signal-to-noise ratio of drum level signal and precise controlling of drum level.

In this work, a novel voice activity detection (VAD) algorithm that uses speech absence probability (SAP) based on Teager energy (TE) was proposed for speech enhancement. The proposed method employs local SAP (LSAP) based on the TE of noisy speech as a feature parameter for voice activity detection (VAD) in each frequency subband, rather than conventional LSAP. Results show that the TE operator can enhance the ability to discriminate speech and noise and further suppress noise components. Therefore, TE-based LSAP provides a better representation of LSAP, resulting in improved VAD for estimating noise power in a speech enhancement algorithm. In addition, the presented method utilizes TE-based global SAP (GSAP) derived in each frame as the weighting parameter for modifying the adopted TE operator and improving its performance. The proposed algorithm was evaluated by objective and subjective quality tests under various environments, and was shown to produce better results than the conventional method.

A novel traffic sign recognition system is presented in this work. Firstly, the color segmentation and shape classifier based on signature feature of region are used to detect traffic signs in input video sequences. Secondly, traffic sign color-image is preprocessed with gray scaling, and normalized to 64×64 size. Then, image features could be obtained by four levels DT-CWT images. Thirdly, 2DICA and nearest neighbor classifier are united to recognize traffic signs. The whole recognition algorithm is implemented for classification of 50 categories of traffic signs and its recognition accuracy reaches 90%. Comparing image representation DT-CWT with the well-established image representation like template, Gabor, and 2DICA with feature selection techniques such as PCA, LPP, 2DPCA at the same time, the results show that combination method of DT-CWT and 2DICA is useful in traffic signs recognition. Experimental results indicate that the proposed algorithm is robust, effective and accurate.

The inherent selfishness of each node for the enhancement of message successful delivery ratio and the network overall performance improvement are reflected in the contradiction relationship of competition and cooperation in delay/disruption tolerant networks (DTN). In particular, the existence of malicious node aggravates this contradiction. To resolve this contradiction, social relationship theory and group theory of social psychology were adopted to do an in-depth analysis. The concrete balancing approach which leveraged Nash equilibrium theory of game theory was proposed to resolve this contradiction in reality. Thus, a new congestion control routing algorithm for security defense based on social psychology and game theory (CRSG) was put forward. Through the experiment, this algorithm proves that it can enhance the message successful delivery ratio by more than 15% and reduce the congestion ratio over 15% as well. This algorithm balances the contradiction relationship between the two key performance targets and made all nodes exhibit strong cooperation relationship in DTN.

Accurate forecasting of wind velocity can improve the economic dispatch and safe operation of the power system. Support vector machine (SVM) has been proved to be an efficient approach for forecasting. According to the analysis with support vector machine method, the drawback of determining the parameters only by experts’ experience should be improved. After a detailed description of the methodology of SVM and simulated annealing, an improved algorithm was proposed for the automatic optimization of parameters using SVM method. An example has proved that the proposed method can efficiently select the parameters of the SVM method. And by optimizing the parameters, the forecasting accuracy of the max wind velocity increases by 34.45%, which indicates that the new SASVM model improves the forecasting accuracy.

In order to improve the efficiency of a geothermal power plant, oil wells in the high water cut stage were used as geothermal wells, thereby improving the recovery ratio and economic benefit. A new function that reflects both the technical and economic performances was put forward and used as the objective function. An organic Rankine cycle (ORC) was analyzed through the energetic and exergetic analyses, and the reasons for low efficiency were pinpointed. Results indicate that geothermal water directly transferring heat to the working fluid reduces energy dissipation and increases cycle efficiencies. The net power output with an internal heat exchanger (IHE) is averagely 5.3% higher than that without an IHE. R601a and R601 can be used to replace R123 for geothermal water below 110 °C. Moreover, the modified ORC dramatically outperforms the actual one.

A comprehensive risk based security assessment which includes low voltage, line overload and voltage collapse was presented using a relatively new neural network technique called as the generalized regression neural network (GRNN) with incorporation of feature extraction method using principle component analysis. In the risk based security assessment formulation, the failure rate associated to weather condition of each line was used to compute the probability of line outage for a given weather condition and the extent of security violation was represented by a severity function. For low voltage and line overload, continuous severity function was considered due to its ability to zoom in into the effect of near violating contingency. New severity function for voltage collapse using the voltage collapse prediction index was proposed. To reduce the computational burden, a new contingency screening method was proposed using the risk factor so as to select the critical line outages. The risk based security assessment method using GRNN was implemented on a large scale 87-bus power system and the results show that the risk prediction results obtained using GRNN with the incorporation of principal component analysis give better performance in terms of accuracy.

Bench-scale soil column experiments were carried out to evaluate the effectiveness of Cr(VI) bioremediation process in soils by using indigenous bacteria with the addition of bacteria nutrient media. Effects of particle size, spray intensity, initial Cr(VI) concentration, circulation mode and soil depth on Cr(VI) remediation were studied. Results show that soils after 6 d remediation with spray intensity controlled in the range of 29.6–59.2 mL/min could well fulfill the requirement of concrete aggregate and roadbed material usage, for the leaching toxicity concentration of the Cr(VI) in treated soils under the chosen condition is far less than 5 mg/L. The leaching toxicity and fractions of both hexavalent chromium and trivalent chromium from remediated soils were determined and compared with that of untreated soil. The results show that water soluble Cr(VI) declines from 1520.54 mg/kg to 0.68 mg/kg, exchangeable Cr(VI) decreases from 34.83 mg/kg to 0.01 mg/kg and carbonates-bonded Cr(VI) falls from 13.55 mg/kg to 0.68 mg/kg. Meanwhile, a corresponding increase in carbonate-bonded Cr(III), Fe and Mn oxides-bonded Cr(III) and organic matter-bonded Cr(III) are found. It reveals that indigenous bacteria can leach out water soluble Cr(VI), exchangeable Cr(VI) and carbonates-bonded Cr(VI) from contaminated soil followed by converting into carbonate-bonded Cr(III), Fe and Mn oxides-bonded Cr(III), organic matter-bonded Cr(III) and residual Cr(III).

A coupled system consisting of an upflow membrane-less microbial fuel cell (upflow ML-MFC) and a photobioreactor was developed, and its effectiveness for continuous wastewater treatment and electricity production was evaluated. Wastewater was fed to the upflow ML-MFC to remove chemical oxygen demand (COD), phosphorus and nitrogen with simultaneous electricity generation. The effluent from the cathode compartment of the upflow ML-MFC was then continuously fed to an external photobioreactor for removing the remaining phosphorus and nitrogen using microalgae. Alone, the upflow ML-MFC produces a maximum power density of 481 mW/m³, and obtains 77.9% COD, 23.5% total phosphorus (TP) and 97.6% NH₄⁺-N removals. When combined with the photobioreactor, the system achieves 99.3% TP and 99.0% NH₄⁺-N total removal. These results show both the effectiveness and the potential application of the coupled system to continuously treat domestic wastewater and simultaneously generate electricity and biomass.

The role of oxygen and the generation of active radicals in the photocatalitic degradation of phenol were investigated using the eosin sensitized TiO₂ as photocatalyst under visible light irradiation. Diffuse reflectance spectra show that the absorbancy range of eosin/TiO₂ is expanded from 378 nm (TiO₂) to about 600 nm. The photocatalitic degradation of phenol is almost stopped when the eosin/TiO₂ system is saturated with N₂, which indicates the significance of O₂. The addition of NaN₃ (a quencher of single oxygen) causes about a 62% decrease in the phenol degradation. The phenol degradation ratio is dropped from 92% to 75% when the isopropanol (a quencher of hydroxyl radical) is present in the system. The experimental results show that there are singlet oxygen and hydroxyl radical generated in the eosin/TiO₂ system under visible light irradiation. The changes of absorbancy indicate that the hydrogen peroxide might be produced. Through the analysis and comparison, it is found that the singlet oxygen is the predominant active radical for the degradation of phenol.

Physical model tests have been conducted by various researchers to investigate fault rupture propagation and ground deformation induced by bedrock faulting. However, the effects of pre-existing fracture on ground deformation are not fully understood. In this work, six centrifuge tests are reported to investigate the influence of pre-existing fracture on ground deformation induced by normal faulting in sand, clay and nine-layered soil with interbedded sand and clay layers. Shear box tests were conducted to develop a filter paper technique, which was adopted in soil model preparation to simulate the effects of pre-existing fracture in centrifuge tests. Centrifuge test results show that ground deformation mechanism in clay, sand and nine-layered soil strata is classified as a stationary zone, a shearing zone and a rigid body zone. Inclination of the strain localization is governed by the dilatancy of soil material. Moreover, the pre-existing fracture provides a preferential path for ground deformation and results in a scarp at the ground surface in sand. On the contrary, fault ruptures are observed at the ground surface in clay and nine-layered soil strata.

Two loosely coupled single degree of freedom (SDOF) systems were used to model the flexural and direct shear responses of one-way reinforced concrete slabs subjected to explosive loading. Blast test results show that the SDOF systems are accurate in predicting the failure mode of the slab under blast loads by incorporating the effects of the strain rate effect caused by rapid load application. Based on different damage criteria, pressure-impulse (P-I) diagrams of the two failure modes were analyzed with the SDOF systems. The effects of span length, concrete strength, and reinforcement ratio of the slab on the P-I diagram were also investigated. Results indicate that a slab tends to fail in direct shear mode when it is of a smaller span length and tends to fail in flexure mode when it is of a larger span length. With the increase of the concrete strength or reinforced ratio, both the flexure and shear capacity increase. Based on numerical results, a simplified method and a semi analytical equation for deriving the P-I diagram are proposed for different failure modes and damage levels.

Surface textures had long been recognized as primary factors to provide the skid resistance on pavements; however, no measurement of skid resistance on pervious concrete pavement with various surface texture parameters had been made. Fractal geometry was introduced in the present work to accurately simulate transect contour curves of pervious concrete specimens through fractal interpolation. It is proved that its fractal dimension (D) can be adopted to measure the skid resistance on pervious concrete pavement, overcoming the shortcomings of both macrotexture depth (D_T) and British portable pendulum number (N_BP). Combined with Fujikawa-Koike tire/road contact model, the optimization method of all surface textures was recommended for designing and constructing excellently skid-resistant and noise-absorptive pervious concrete pavement. In addition, evaluating of the abrasion process and attenuation of the surface textures on concrete pavement slabs was also the focus of this work based on accelerated abrasion test. Results show that the surface textures on pervious concrete pavement slabs is extremely durable, compared to those on conventional grooved or exposed aggregate concrete pavement slabs.

According to the interaction of three shallow tunnels with large section, the analytical solution to rock pressure has been derived and discussed. The load model is given when the bilateral tunnels are excavated. According to the model, the stresses of three tunnels and single tunnel are calculated and compared to analyze the distribution characteristics, where the stresses are influenced by controlling factors of clear distance, covering depth and inclination angle of ground surface. The results show that, in general, the bias distribution is more serious. Therefore, it is significant to settle down the load model of three shallow tunnels so as to determine the measure of reinforcement and design the structure of support. The model and results can be used as a theoretical basis in designation and further research of the three shallow tunnels.

The comparative study between unsteady flow models in alluvial streams shows a chaotic residue as for the choices of a forecasting model. The difficulty resides in the choice of the expressions of friction resistance and sediment transport. Three types of mathematical models were selected. Models of type one and two are fairly general, but require a considerable number of boundary conditions, which related to each size range of sediments. It can be a handicap during rivers studies which are not very well followed in terms of experimental measurements. Also, the use of complex models is not always founded. But then, the model of type three requires a limited number of boundary conditions and solves only a system of three equations at each time step. It allows a considerable saving in calculating times.

Fetr6 is an underground mine using the stope-and-pillar mining method. As there was some evidence regarding pillar failure in this mine, improving works such as roof support and replacing existing pillars with concrete pillars (CP) were carried out. During the construction of the second CP, in the space between the remaining pillars, one of the pillars failed leading to the progressive failure of other pillars until 4 000 m² of mine had collapsed within a few minutes. In this work, this phenomenon is described by applying both numerical and empirical methods and the respective results are compared. The results of numerical modelling are found to be closer to the actual condition than those of the empirical method. Also, a width-to-height (W/H) ratio less than 1, an inadequate support system and the absence of a detailed program for pillar recovery are shown to be the most important causes of the Domino failure in this mine.

Two simple and effective control strategies for a multi-axle heavy truck, modified skyhook damping (MSD) control and proportional-integration-derivative (PID) control, were implemented into functional virtual prototype (FVP) model and compared in terms of road friendliness and ride comfort. A four-axle heavy truck-road coupling system model was established using FVP technology and validated through a ride comfort test. Then appropriate passive air suspensions were chosen to replace the rear tandem suspensions of the original truck model for preliminary optimization. The mechanical properties and time lag of dampers were taken into account in simulations of MSD and PID semi-active dampers implemented using MATLAB/Simulink. Through co-simulations with Adams and MATLAB, the effects of semi-active MSD and PID control were analyzed and compared, and control parameters which afforded the best comprehensive performance for each control strategy were chosen. Simulation results indicate that compared with the passive air suspension truck, semi-active MSD control improves both ride comfort and road-friendliness markedly, with optimization ratios of RMS vertical acceleration and RMS tyre force ranging from 10.1% to 44.8%. However, semi-active PID control only reduces vertical vibration of the driver’s seat by 11.1%, 11.1% and 10.9% on A, B and C level roads respectively. Both strategies are robust to the variation of road level.

A signal optimization model for roundabout was proposed based on dual-ring scheme and two stop lines for left turns control concept were used to eliminate the conflict points and weaving sections at a roundabout. A cycle length minimization problem was considered to generate optimal signal timings for roundabout, and a set of constraints to ensure feasibility and safety of the resulting optimal signal settings were proposed. Extensive experimental analyses in comparison with signalized intersection reveal that the proposed model is quite promising for application in design of roundabout signals, and the minimum cycle length can decrease from 186 s to 79 s while the capacity increases from 8 682 pcu/h to 9 011 pcu/h under high demand scenario. Sensitivity analysis with respect to the system performance show that the lane assignment plan, number of circulatory lanes and left turn ratio are three critical factors which have dominate impacts on performance of signalized roundabout

Quick and reliable identification of the traffic state is of critical importance to traffic control systems, especially when spillovers appear. Firstly, a calculation method for the occupancy per cycle under different traffic conditions were presented, based on the relationship between the three basic traffic flow parameters, speed, traffic flow and density. Secondly, the times at which the stopping and starting waves approach a loop detector were confirmed using the traffic wave models modified by a kinematic equation. Then, the threshold of occupancy, which characterizes the appearance of spillovers, was determined by the premise that the stopping and starting waves had the same speed. At last, the accuracy and usability of the new method were verified by VISSIM simulation, using the ratio of misjudgment as the evaluation index. The results show that the ratio of misjudgment of the new method is about 11.36% compared to 17.65% of the previous method.