Combining Sensors and Multibody Models for Applications in Vehicles, Machines, Robots and Humans

The combination of physical sensors and computational models to provide additional information about system states, inputs and/or parameters, in what is known as virtual sensing, is becoming increasingly popular in many sectors, such as the automotive, aeronautics, aerospatial, railway, machinery, robotics and human biomechanics sectors. While, in many cases, control-oriented models, which are generally simple, are the best choice, multibody models, which can be much more detailed, may be better suited to some applications, such as during the design stage of a new product

Analysis of Vehicle Use Patterns during Military Field Exercises to Identify Potential Roads

Military training is an intensive land use and can cause negative environmental effects. Many studies conducted under Integrated Training Area Management (ITAM) for quantifying the impact resulted from the military training exercise found that off-road vehicular activities during training exercises cause the major impact to the training land. Vehicle land use patterns at a certain location affect the impact severity: concentrated and repeated traffic create more serious damage to the land compared to the dispersed offroad vehicle movements. Those areas heavily disturbed by off-road traffic may require a longer period of time or special treatments for the land to return to its pre-disturbed status. Based on the impact severity and the shape of the disturbed area, some areas can be considered as potential roads, defined as the roads newly formed by concentrated offroad traffic during the military training exercises, or the roads currently exist but have not been mapped. Potential roads need to be rehabilitated, have traffic dispersed to return the land to its natural status, or to be included in the established road construction and maintenance programs. As Global Positioning System (GPS) has been used for monitoring vehicles\u27 activities during military training exercises; it enables the analysis of vehicle movement patterns. The vehicle movement patterns are characterized as the percentage of vehicle travel every day, vehicles\u27 on and off road travel, the frequencies of vehicle\u27s off-road velocity and turning radius. GPS vehicle tracking data collected during an eight-day reconnaissance training exercises in Yakima Training Center (YTC) in October 2001 were analyzed for vehicle movement patterns. Comparison of the on-road and off-road movement patterns indicates that potential roads may exist on the locations where the concentrated traffic or a high speed movement occurred. Based on the analysis of the movement patterns, factors were extracted to characterize the special movement patterns that indicate the vehicles moved on a potential road. The YTC was divided into small study units, and a multicriteria method was developed to determine if a study unit is a portion of a potential road. The multicriteria method was evaluated by comparing the predictions to the site visit results on 34 selected road segments that met different criteria levels. Results show that locations met higher criteria levels have higher possibilities to be roads: the location met all five criteria has an approximately 91% possibility for road existence; those met four criteria has an approximately 55% possibility; and for those met criteria level two or three, there is an approximately 14% probability for road existence. The analysis of updated off-road shows the percentage of vehicle off-road movement drops from 20.0% to 15.8% after excluding the potential road moving data. As an alternative method, a neural network approach for identifying the potential roads was introduced and compared to the multicriteria method. The neural network method obtained an approximately 85% accuracy when tested by on-road grids, successfully identified the high-way segment as road, and predicted approximately 31% off-road grids as potential road grids. Results show that the neural network method, although emphasized in factors different from the multicriteria method, has approximately 78% accuracy for identifying the potential road locations. The prediction from the neural network method was found highly correlated to the one of the criterion: vehicles travel in different directions. Simplified methods were also developed to identify potential roads by investigating the GPS point density, vehicle velocity, and the number of passes within a study unit. A simple linear relationship was found between the number of passes and the possibility for road existence. Although using vehicle velocity for identifying the potential roads may not be the best choose, velocity is still considered as one of the most important features to characterize vehicle movements and to locate special movement patterns. Considering the discrete situation in the predicted potential road areas, a kernel smoothing technique was introduced and applied to smooth the results to improve the continuity of the potential roads. The application found the kernel smoothing technique was able to obtain continuous potential road grids by selecting reasonable bandwidth

Advances in Sensors and Sensing for Technical Condition Assessment and NDT

The adequate assessment of key apparatus conditions is a hot topic in all branches of industry. Various online and offline diagnostic methods are widely applied to provide early detections of any abnormality in exploitation. Furthermore, different sensors may also be applied to capture selected physical quantities that may be used to indicate the type of potential fault. The essential steps of the signal analysis regarding the technical condition assessment process may be listed as: signal measurement (using relevant sensors), processing, modelling, and classification. In the Special Issue entitled “Advances in Sensors and Sensing for Technical Condition Assessment and NDT”, we present the latest research in various areas of technology

Advanced Sensors for Real-Time Monitoring Applications

It is impossible to imagine the modern world without sensors, or without real-time information about almost everything—from local temperature to material composition and health parameters. We sense, measure, and process data and act accordingly all the time. In fact, real-time monitoring and information is key to a successful business, an assistant in life-saving decisions that healthcare professionals make, and a tool in research that could revolutionize the future. To ensure that sensors address the rapidly developing needs of various areas of our lives and activities, scientists, researchers, manufacturers, and end-users have established an efficient dialogue so that the newest technological achievements in all aspects of real-time sensing can be implemented for the benefit of the wider community. This book documents some of the results of such a dialogue and reports on advances in sensors and sensor systems for existing and emerging real-time monitoring applications

Novel Approaches for Structural Health Monitoring

The thirty-plus years of progress in the field of structural health monitoring (SHM) have left a paramount impact on our everyday lives. Be it for the monitoring of fixed- and rotary-wing aircrafts, for the preservation of the cultural and architectural heritage, or for the predictive maintenance of long-span bridges or wind farms, SHM has shaped the framework of many engineering fields. Given the current state of quantitative and principled methodologies, it is nowadays possible to rapidly and consistently evaluate the structural safety of industrial machines, modern concrete buildings, historical masonry complexes, etc., to test their capability and to serve their intended purpose. However, old unsolved problematics as well as new challenges exist. Furthermore, unprecedented conditions, such as stricter safety requirements and ageing civil infrastructure, pose new challenges for confrontation. Therefore, this Special Issue gathers the main contributions of academics and practitioners in civil, aerospace, and mechanical engineering to provide a common ground for structural health monitoring in dealing with old and new aspects of this ever-growing research field

Eleventh International Conference on the Bearing Capacity of Roads, Railways and Airfields

Innovations in Road, Railway and Airfield Bearing Capacity – Volume 2 comprises the second part of contributions to the 11th International Conference on Bearing Capacity of Roads, Railways and Airfields (2022). In anticipation of the event, it unveils state-of-the-art information and research on the latest policies, traffic loading measurements, in-situ measurements and condition surveys, functional testing, deflection measurement evaluation, structural performance prediction for pavements and tracks, new construction and rehabilitation design systems, frost affected areas, drainage and environmental effects, reinforcement, traditional and recycled materials, full scale testing and on case histories of road, railways and airfields. This edited work is intended for a global audience of road, railway and airfield engineers, researchers and consultants, as well as building and maintenance companies looking to further upgrade their practices in the field

Proceedings of the ECCOMAS Thematic Conference on Multibody Dynamics 2015

This volume contains the full papers accepted for presentation at the ECCOMAS Thematic Conference on Multibody Dynamics 2015 held in the Barcelona School of Industrial Engineering, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, on June 29 - July 2, 2015. The ECCOMAS Thematic Conference on Multibody Dynamics is an international meeting held once every two years in a European country. Continuing the very successful series of past conferences that have been organized in Lisbon (2003), Madrid (2005), Milan (2007), Warsaw (2009), Brussels (2011) and Zagreb (2013); this edition will once again serve as a meeting point for the international researchers, scientists and experts from academia, research laboratories and industry working in the area of multibody dynamics. Applications are related to many fields of contemporary engineering, such as vehicle and railway systems, aeronautical and space vehicles, robotic manipulators, mechatronic and autonomous systems, smart structures, biomechanical systems and nanotechnologies. The topics of the conference include, but are not restricted to: ● Formulations and Numerical Methods ● Efficient Methods and Real-Time Applications ● Flexible Multibody Dynamics ● Contact Dynamics and Constraints ● Multiphysics and Coupled Problems ● Control and Optimization ● Software Development and Computer Technology ● Aerospace and Maritime Applications ● Biomechanics ● Railroad Vehicle Dynamics ● Road Vehicle Dynamics ● Robotics ● Benchmark ProblemsPostprint (published version

5 European & African Conference on Wind Engineering

The 5th European-African Conference of Wind Engineering is hosted in Florence, Tuscany, the city and the region where, in the early 15th century, pioneers moved the first steps, laying down the foundation stones of Mechanics and Applied Sciences (including fluid mechanics). These origins are well reflected by the astonishing visionary and revolutionary studies of Leonardo Da Vinci, whose kaleidoscopic genius intended the human being to become able to fly even 500 years ago… This is why the Organising Committee has decided to pay tribute to such a Genius by choosing Leonardo's "flying sphere" as the brand of 5th EACWE

Very High Resolution (VHR) Satellite Imagery: Processing and Applications

Recently, growing interest in the use of remote sensing imagery has appeared to provide synoptic maps of water quality parameters in coastal and inner water ecosystems;, monitoring of complex land ecosystems for biodiversity conservation; precision agriculture for the management of soils, crops, and pests; urban planning; disaster monitoring, etc. However, for these maps to achieve their full potential, it is important to engage in periodic monitoring and analysis of multi-temporal changes. In this context, very high resolution (VHR) satellite-based optical, infrared, and radar imaging instruments provide reliable information to implement spatially-based conservation actions. Moreover, they enable observations of parameters of our environment at greater broader spatial and finer temporal scales than those allowed through field observation alone. In this sense, recent very high resolution satellite technologies and image processing algorithms present the opportunity to develop quantitative techniques that have the potential to improve upon traditional techniques in terms of cost, mapping fidelity, and objectivity. Typical applications include multi-temporal classification, recognition and tracking of specific patterns, multisensor data fusion, analysis of land/marine ecosystem processes and environment monitoring, etc. This book aims to collect new developments, methodologies, and applications of very high resolution satellite data for remote sensing. The works selected provide to the research community the most recent advances on all aspects of VHR satellite remote sensing