Vehicle Design for Fire Safety and Evaluation of Design Trade-Offs

Author(s):  
Leland E. Shields ◽  
Robert R. Scheibe ◽  
Terry Thomas
2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Athul Pradeepkumar Girija

A unified framework for aerocapture systems analysis studies is presented, taking into account the interconnected nature of interplanetary trajectory design and vehicle design. One of the limitations of previous aerocapture systems studies is their focus on a single interplanetary trajectory for detailed subsystem level analysis. The proposed framework and aerocapture feasibility charts enable a mission designer to perform rapid trajectory and vehicle design trade-offs, and is illustrated with its application to a Neptune mission. The approach can be applied to other atmosphere-bearing Solar System destinations. The framework can be be implemented in an aerocapture software suite to enable rapid mission design studies.


Author(s):  
Craig Tucker ◽  
Robert D. Brown

It is a feature of several courses that students undertake a military vehicle design and costing exercise. Many of the students do not have engineering or technical backgrounds and are unfamiliar with conventional engineering techniques of graphical representation. Learning a complex CAD package solely for this exercise is inappropriate, it would require considerable time to be found in the timetable and it is highly unlikely that the student would use this skill again. As a result Cranfield University has developed a user friendly design package which allows the students to design and build their vehicle by selecting suitable vehicle components from a drop down menu and arranging them on the workspace. In summary, this design package has greatly reduced the design time. It has helped students to appreciate the problems related to accommodating major subassemblies and their packaging and has allowed compromises and trade-offs to be understood and addressed rapidly.


Author(s):  
Xiaoyu Gu ◽  
Peter A. Fenyes

The Integration Framework for Architecture Development (IFAD) is an integrated framework that provides fast and consistent discipline analysis results and identifies discipline consequences corresponding to vehicle design changes. This information is valuable for balancing and integration in the early design phase. In this paper, the IFAD framework is utilized to conduct an example multi-objective multi-disciplinary optimization to evaluate vehicle performance trade-offs for a hypothetical vehicle. We consider design changes on high-level geometrical dimensions including front overhang, rear overhang and vehicle width at rocker. We also study vehicle configurations including choice of materials and tires and choice of powertrains. A commonly used multi-objective genetic algorithm (MOGA) technique, Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm (NSGAII [1]) is chosen because of the mixed types of design variables involved (i.e., continuous design variables representing high-level geometrical dimensions and discrete design variables representing vehicle configurations such as powertrain selection and material choice). Vehicle performance analyses in a range of disciplines such as geometry, aerodynamics and energy are carried out automatically through IFAD. The use of response surface modeling (RSM) is desired due to the large number of evaluations typical for a MOGA application. A comparison of the engineering performance trade-offs based on two different sets of performance objectives is presented.


Author(s):  
Radovan Sarunac

The overall goal of each rail/transit Operator is to promote safety of the system. Concurrent effort of all stake holders is needed to achieve the best possible results. That should include as a minimum standard development groups and committees (FRA, APTA, FTA, ASME, IEEE, etc.), vehicle designers, train operators, train and infrastructure maintenance, quality assurance, safety and risk management, and engineering consulting companies. Recently, security of transit system has an increased impact. This paper is focused at specific topics of vehicle design and occupant protection, derailments, friction management, and fire safety. Most of these issues are interrelated; therefore any change in each category may impact all other categories as well. The objective was to evaluate specific impacts of each category, in order to improve passenger safety and underline most influential factors for future vehicle designs. The objective of a crashworthy design is to provide a vehicle capable of managing crash energy through the use of controlled crash zones. Secondary impact injuries can be controlled by limiting the maximum force required to initiate controlled deformation of carbody energy absorption zone, and by attention to interior design. While it is impossible to prevent all types of derailments, the probability of derailment may be reduced by appropriate systematic measures. Concurrent impact of various causal factors including friction management, vehicle design and contact geometry may adversely influence safety margin against low speed wheel climb derailments. Fire, smoke and toxic fumes present a considerable hazard to passengers. Materials used for vehicle design must provide assurance that this hazard is minimized. All combustible materials used in the construction of the car shall be minimized and shall satisfy standard requirements. Passenger evacuation is a key aspect of rail vehicle fire safety – the vehicle needs to remain “fire safe” until all passengers leave the train.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Malte Rothhämel

rev2021 was the first edition of the conference on Resource Efficient Vehicles, held online on 14-16 June 2021. This vehicle-centric conference aims to bring together participants from academia, industry and public agencies to discuss research from all relevant fields connected to resource efficiency in all motorised modes of transport and interdependent surrounding systems. The theme of this multidisciplinary conference is Resolving Functional Conflicts in Vehicle Design, a theme explored through topics including modelling for multifunctional design; making trade-offs; efficient use of materials and space; integrating new solutions; transforming the product system; transforming the vehicle-transport system; sustainable design; and early-stage design. The 2021 edition of the conference consisted of 40 selected papers for presentation at the conference, complemented with four workshops, five keynote lectures from invited speakers, and a concluding panel discussion with four invited participants. It was organised by the Centre for ECO2 Vehicle Design at KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm.


2015 ◽  
Vol 58 ◽  
pp. 83-100 ◽  
Author(s):  
Selena Gimenez-Ibanez ◽  
Marta Boter ◽  
Roberto Solano

Jasmonates (JAs) are essential signalling molecules that co-ordinate the plant response to biotic and abiotic challenges, as well as co-ordinating several developmental processes. Huge progress has been made over the last decade in understanding the components and mechanisms that govern JA perception and signalling. The bioactive form of the hormone, (+)-7-iso-jasmonyl-l-isoleucine (JA-Ile), is perceived by the COI1–JAZ co-receptor complex. JASMONATE ZIM DOMAIN (JAZ) proteins also act as direct repressors of transcriptional activators such as MYC2. In the emerging picture of JA-Ile perception and signalling, COI1 operates as an E3 ubiquitin ligase that upon binding of JA-Ile targets JAZ repressors for degradation by the 26S proteasome, thereby derepressing transcription factors such as MYC2, which in turn activate JA-Ile-dependent transcriptional reprogramming. It is noteworthy that MYCs and different spliced variants of the JAZ proteins are involved in a negative regulatory feedback loop, which suggests a model that rapidly turns the transcriptional JA-Ile responses on and off and thereby avoids a detrimental overactivation of the pathway. This chapter highlights the most recent advances in our understanding of JA-Ile signalling, focusing on the latest repertoire of new targets of JAZ proteins to control different sets of JA-Ile-mediated responses, novel mechanisms of negative regulation of JA-Ile signalling, and hormonal cross-talk at the molecular level that ultimately determines plant adaptability and survival.


2012 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 118-126 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olive Emil Wetter ◽  
Jürgen Wegge ◽  
Klaus Jonas ◽  
Klaus-Helmut Schmidt

In most work contexts, several performance goals coexist, and conflicts between them and trade-offs can occur. Our paper is the first to contrast a dual goal for speed and accuracy with a single goal for speed on the same task. The Sternberg paradigm (Experiment 1, n = 57) and the d2 test (Experiment 2, n = 19) were used as performance tasks. Speed measures and errors revealed in both experiments that dual as well as single goals increase performance by enhancing memory scanning. However, the single speed goal triggered a speed-accuracy trade-off, favoring speed over accuracy, whereas this was not the case with the dual goal. In difficult trials, dual goals slowed down scanning processes again so that errors could be prevented. This new finding is particularly relevant for security domains, where both aspects have to be managed simultaneously.


2007 ◽  
Vol 62 (9) ◽  
pp. 1073-1074 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kennon M. Sheldon ◽  
Melanie S. Sheldon ◽  
Charles P. Nichols

2001 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diana Kuklinski ◽  
Christopher Allen
Keyword(s):  

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