Efficiency of coal washing process and Harrington desirability function

The technological efficiency of the coal washing process is traditionally assessed by the correlation between the practically achieved results of this coal washing at a coal dressing plant and the theoretically possible ones defined by the laboratory testing to define the coal washability. However, the laboratory assessment of coal washability is a labor-intensive process and cannot be used for on-line control. The article considers the possibility of introducing a performance evaluation indicator using parameters traditionally defined in operational control schemes. This indicator is based on the well-known function of qualitative process evaluation based on several parameters, i.e. the Harrington's desirability function. The proposed efficiency indicator was calculated based on the qualitative and quantitative parameters of washing thirty different coals using the conventional processing scheme. Evaluation of the proposed efficiency indicator was made by comparing it with the traditionally used efficiency indicators. The evaluation results showed that the proposed indicator is more informative, because it also allows to take into account the compliance of the ash content during washing with the specified parameter, as well as to evaluate the efficiency of the washing process more objectively than the traditionally used clean coal yield indicator. Within a given ash content of the clean coal there exists a correlation with the performance indicators recommended for assessment of the washing efficiency. Given the specific features of the desirability function, the indicator makes it possible to qualitatively assess the coal washing process and determine the optimal value..

Fuzzy Assessment of Steel Deck Pavement for Long Suspension Bridge of the Fourth Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge

The Fourth Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge (the Fourth Bridge) with the main span of 1418 m is the largest three-span suspension bridge in China and the third largest in the world. The service circumstance of steel deck pavement on the Fourth Bridge is complex and severe, so that the scheme evaluation for steel deck pavement is a huge program. To rapidly and comprehensively evaluate the schemes for pavement, a fuzzy evaluation method was introduced in this paper. A three-level logical assessment structure including 21 basic impact factors was built according to analytic hierarchy process (AHP), and the weight for each judgment matrix was determined by the Delphi method. Consequently, a fuzzy evaluation theory was used to value each scheme to propose the optimal one. Based on this method, four pavement schemes were evaluated to choose the optimal one, and the performance of the optimal scheme was highly corresponding to the practical engineering practice. The fuzzy evaluation method can supply a theoretical support to fast determine the scheme for long-span steel deck pavement.

Inter-UAV Routing Scheme Testbeds

With the development of more advanced and efficient control algorithms and communication architectures, UAVs and networks thereof (swarms) now find applications in nearly all possible environments and scenarios. There exist numerous schemes which accommodate routing for such networks, many of which are specifically designed for distinct use-cases. Validation and evaluation of routing schemes is implemented for the most part using simulation software. This approach is however incapable of considering real-life noise, radio propagation models, channel bit error rate and signal-to-noise ratio. Most importantly, existing frameworks or simulation software cannot sense physical-layer related information regarding power consumption which an increasing number of routing protocols utilize as a metric. The work presented in this paper contributes to the analysis of already existing routing scheme evaluation frameworks and testbeds and proposes an efficient, universal and standardized hardware testbed. Additionally, three interface modes aimed at evaluation under different scenarios are provided.

Warehousing operation optimization model of one storey new dangerous goods warehouse based on warehousing chain and its application

Introduction: In order to ensure the efficiency and cost of dangerous goods warehouse under the premise of safety, this study takes the dangerous goods warehouse as the research object and implements multitask for dangerous goods warehouse with two forklifts. Methods: This study takes traversal calculation, novel safety calculation formula and scheduling scheme evaluation model as tools to research the forklift scheduling scheme of one-stoery packed dangerous goods warehouse. Results: Optimal scheme and allocation decision model are obtained through numerical simulation. The innovation of this study is giving the safety formula of forklift operation in dangerous goods warehouse and using numerical simulation to obtain the global optimal solution. Furthermore, this study draws on the concept of travel chain to propose the idea of warehousing chain. At the same time, optimal schemes for multiple dangerous goods inbound and outbound the warehouse are studied. Conclusion: With the application of actual data in Shanghai Lingang dangerous goods warehouse, this study combines with the simulation technology to verify the allocation model of warehousing operations and forklift scheduling model. The validity and feasibility of the novel theory are also verified.