Infrastructure Design, Signalling and Security in Railway

Railway transportation has become one of the main technological advances of our society. Since the first railway used to carry coal from a mine in Shropshire (England, 1600), a lot of efforts have been made to improve this transportation concept. One of its milestones was the invention and development of the steam locomotive, but commercial rail travels became practical two hundred years later. From these first attempts, railway infrastructures, signalling and security have evolved and become more complex than those performed in its earlier stages. This book will provide readers a comprehensive technical guide, covering these topics and presenting a brief overview of selected railway systems in the world. The objective of the book is to serve as a valuable reference for students, educators, scientists, faculty members, researchers, and engineers

30th International Conference on Condition Monitoring and Diagnostic Engineering Management (COMADEM 2017)

Proceedings of COMADEM 201

Design of a Global Supply Chain for the Unexpected

Supply chains (SCs) play a crucial role in business operations and economies around the globe. They are in constant change and face challenges such as recurrent risks and disruption risks. The disruptive risks tend to cascade and propagate upstream and downstream of the disruption point. Due to the difficulty of calculating probabilities of disruptions, many decision makers prefer to underestimate disruptive risks. Losses of billions of dollars are accounted for each year due to the disruptive risks. These losses highlight the importance and need of having decision support systems and tools that can aid to design, model and analyze SCs that can cope with disruptions and their effects through all the stages. This research aims at developing new methods for designing and analyzing SCs that are prepared for unexpected events. It provides new insights into the methods to estimate the impact of possible disruptions during designing and planning stages. It further proposes complexity, robustness and resilience measures which facilitate the comparison between different SC designs in different scenarios. The significance of this research is to provide more stable production environments and develop the capability to prepare for unexpected events. Particular focus is given to natural disasters due to the magnitude and variety of impacts they could cause. Hence, a mathematical programming model that designs SCs and product architectures is proposed. The objective function is to minimize the disaster risk score of natural disasters (which depends on the geographical location of each SC entity and its associated “World Risk Index”). Also, a goal programming model is derived from the initial model. The goal programming model allows the inclusion of the decision-makers’ risk attitudes and costs to balance the decisions. The results obtained from the model showed that the SC and product architecture designs affect each other. Additionally, it was demonstrated that different risk-attitudes could lead to different SC designs. To achieve harmonious designs between SCs and products while remaining robust and controlling complexity, a novel methodology to assess structural SC complexity and robustness is presented using network analysis. This methodology includes the evaluation of different product architectures. Consequently, managers can choose the SC/product architecture that has a balanced level of complexity and robustness. It is worth noting that complexity and higher costs are needed to protect against disruptions. Moreover, the results demonstrated that the modular architecture is preferable as it has a balanced level of complexity and robustness. To analyze the dynamic behaviour of the SCs, a system dynamics framework is introduced to evaluate the impacts of disruptions in assembly SCs. Consequently, a pragmatic tool that provides organizational support is proposed. This framework enables the examination of full and partial disruptions and the incorporation of expediting orders after a disturbance. The SC performance indicators are the output of the proposed model. These indicators make the comparison between different scenarios easy. The usage of the framework and the findings can serve to define disruption policies, and assist in the decisions relating to the SC design. After running several scenarios, it was determined that the disruptions happening in the downstream levels have more impacts on the SC performance than the disruptions in the upstream levels. Hence, the disruption policies for the downstream levels should have higher priority. Moreover, it was demonstrated that expediting after disruptions could affect more the already damaged SC performance. Finally, to evaluate the SC performance and costs when facing disruptions, an index to assess SC resilience cost is provided. The metric considers the fulfilment rate in each period of each SC entity and its associated cost. This index allows comparison between different scenarios in the SC

Kinematic morphology of space systems

This thesis considers the robustness to faults of mechanical kinematic systems typical of the type applied to the locomotion sub-systems of planetary exploration vehicles. It is argued that, whereas the electronic, software and control methodologies for such kinematic systems have received extensive attention, the development of the theory supporting the corresponding mechanical architectures has not received the same level of attention. An introduction to the space systems context of the topic is provided, and used to illustrate the nature of the requirements that evolve for such missions, concentrating on aspects of'terrainability' - the suitability of a vehicle to manoeuvre on rough planetary surfaces. An approach is investigated which takes concepts from graph theory and linear algebra, and uses these to establish a means for representing kinematic topologies, and, in particular, the 'fault graph' structures, and 'fault classes' that result from the progressive application of faults to nominal kinematic system configurations. Ways whereby the eigenvalues and eigenvectors of the characteristic polynomials of the interchange graph adjacency matrices of various kinematic systems can be applied to represent such systems under nominal and fault conditions are investigated, including development of the 'constraints matrix'. Additionally, the relevance of entropy within a fault graph context is considered, and also techniques suggested for analysing systems in a way which allows a richer representation of the underlying kinematic structure. Various metrics are considered and a means is established whereby a selection of parameters representing some aspects of kinematic systems' behaviour is used in conjunction with these to provide a means of comparing system configurations with each other, in terms of several 'intersystem distance' measures. Some success was achieved - 'inter-system distances' were derived for a selection of systems exhibiting different topologies and showed that these can usefully be used to represent some aspects of kinematic system topologies. Some evidence was obtained that it is possible to discriminate between tree-based and looped systems using this method

Oscillation Dampers and Shock Absorbers in Railway Vehicles (Mathematical Models)

Манашкин, Л. А. Гасители колебаний и амортизаторы ударов рельсовых экипажей (математические модели) : монография / Л. А. Манашкин, С. В. Мямлин, В. И. Приходько. — Д. : АРТ-ПРЕС, 2007. — 196 с. — ISBN 978-966-348-121-0 УДК 629.4.027.01.015Manashkin, L. Oscillation Dampers and Shock Absorbers in Railway Vehicles (Mathematical Models) / L. Manashkin, S. Myamlin, V. Prikhodko. — Dnipropetrovsk : 2009. — 180 p. — doi: 10.15802/978-966-348-121-0RU: Монография посвящена моделированию устройств гашения колебаний – амортизаторов и гасителей колебаний. Рассмотрены различные типы поглощающих аппаратов, их конструктивные особенности и математические модели, описывающие их работу. Приведены методики испытаний гасителей колебаний и поглощающих аппаратов, а также способы обработки результатов измерений. Книга предназначена для ученых и инженеров-конструкторов, занимающихся проектированием и изучением работы различных амортизирующих устройств на железнодорожном транспорте. Может быть полезна также аспирантам, магистрам и студентам, изучающим конструкцию и динамику подвижного состава железных дорог и промышленного транспорт.UK: Монографія присвячена моделюванню пристроїв гасіння коливань – амортизаторів і гасителів коливань. Розглянуті різні типи поглинальних апаратів, їх конструктивні особливості й математичні моделі, що описують їх роботу. Наведені методики випробувань гасителів коливань і поглинальних апаратів, а також способи обробки результатів вимірювань. Книга призначена для вчених і інженерів-конструкторів, які займаються проектуванням і вивченням роботи різних амортизуючих пристроїв на залізничному транспорті. Може бути корисна також для аспірантів, магістрів і студентів, які вивчають конструкцію і динаміку рухомого складу залізниць і промислового транспорту.EN: The Monograph deals with the simulation of oscillation damping units – the shock absorbers and oscillation dampers. Various types of draft gears are considered including their structural features and mathematical models describing their operation. The test methods for oscillation dampers and draft gears are described together with the test results processing techniques. The book is issued for the scientists and designers researching and developing various shock absorbing units in railway vehicles. It may be useful for postgraduate, master degree and other students studying the structure and dynamics of the railways rolling stock and industrial transport

Research on Port Risk Assessment Based on Various Meteorological Disasters

Within the framework of economic globalisation, ports serve as critical junctures in international trade and play a vital role. However, as infrastructure is closely linked to the natural environment, ports are highly susceptible to the impacts of meteorological disasters. Therefore, a comprehensive assessment of the risks posed by meteorological hazards to ports, establishing corresponding early warning mechanisms, and adopting reasonable response and recovery strategies, is paramount in ensuring the safe operation of ports and maintaining the stability of international trade. This study has comprehensively analysed historical data and identified the pre-established loss stratification system, improving the theoretical construct of “expected loss”. Additionally, this research has innovatively integrated the idea of preventative factors aligned with risk indicators. A quantitative algorithm was used to factor in the preventative factors within the computational procedure, deriving the weights pertinent to each risk indicator. This research aimed to reduce the subjectivity inherent in the weighting assignment process through such an approach, thereby enhancing disaster risk assessment’s scientific rigour and reliability. Moreover, it underscores the critical role of adaptive urban planning in enhancing the resilience of crucial economic nodes like ports, thereby contributing to the broader objectives of sustainable urban development

Improved railway vehicle inspection and monitoring through the integration of multiple monitoring technologies

The effectiveness and efficiency of railway vehicle condition monitoring is increasingly critical to railway operations as it directly affects safety, reliability, maintenance efficiency, and overall system performance. Although there are a vast number of railway vehicle condition monitoring technologies, wayside systems are becoming increasingly popular because of the reduced cost of a single monitoring point, and because they do not interfere with the existing railway line. Acoustic sensing and visual imaging are two wayside monitoring technologies that can be applied to monitor the condition of vehicle components such as roller bearing, gearboxes, couplers, and pantographs, etc. The central hypothesis of this thesis is that it is possible to integrate acoustic sensing and visual imaging technologies to achieve enhancement in condition monitoring of railway vehicles. So this thesis presents improvements in railway vehicle condition monitoring through the integration of acoustic sensing and visual imaging technologies

Euromech Colloquium 509: Vehicle Aerodynamics. External Aerodynamics of Railway Vehicles, Trucks, Buses and Cars - Proceedings

During the 509th Colloquium of the Euromech society, held from March 24th & 25th at TU Berlin, fifty leading researchers from all over europe discussed various topics affecting both road vehicle as well as railway vehicle aerodynamics, especially drag reduction (with road vehicles), cross wind stability (with trains) and wake analysis (with both). With the increasing service speed of modern high-speed railway traffic, aerodynamic aspects are gaining importance. The aerodynamic research topics comprise both pure performance improvements, such as the continuous lowering of aerodynamic drag for energy efficiency, as well as safety relevant topics, such as cross-wind stability. The latter topic was most recently brought to attention when a swiss narrow-gauge train overturned during the severe storm Kyrill in january 2007. The shape of the train head usually has largest influence on cross wind stability. Slipstream effects of passing trains cause aerodynamic loads on objects and passengers waiting at platforms. The strength of the slipstream is determined by both the boundary layer development along the length of the train and the wake developing behind the tail of the train. Since high-speed trains can be considered to be as smooth as technically possible, attention is drawn to the wake region. The wake of the train again is also one important factor for the total drag of a train. Due to the fact that trains are bidirectional, optimisation of the leading car of a train with respect to drag and cross wind performance while simultaneously minimising the wake of the train for drag and slipstream performance is a great challenge. Modern optimisation tools are used to aid this multi-parameter multi-constraint design optimisation in conjunction with both CFD and wind tunnel investigations. Since many of the aerodynamic effects in the railway sector are of similar importance to road vehicles, the aim of the colloquium is to bridge the application of shape optimisation principles between rail- and road vehicles. Particular topics to be addressed in the colloquium are: Drag, Energy consumption and emissions: Due to increase in energy cost, drag reduction has gained focus in the past years and attention will grow in the future. Pressure induced drag is of common importance for both rail- and road vehicles. The optimisation of head- and tail shape for road vehicles as well as for bi-directional vehicles (trains) is in the focus. Interference drag between adjacent components shall also be treated. Slipstream Effects: Are a safety issue for high-train operation (Prams sucked into track due to train-induced draught flows) when trains passing platforms at high speeds. For Road vehicles, the ride stability of overtaking cars is influenced by the wake of the leading trucks and busses. Common interest is the minimisation of wake effects for both rail and road vehicles. Cross-Wind Safety, Ride stability under strong winds: Both are safety issues for rail- and road vehicles. Aerodynamic forces shall be minimised (roll moment for trains and also yaw moment for road vehicles). Strategies for Vehicle shape optimisation (head, tail and roof shape) in order to minimise aerodynamic moments. Possibilities of Flow control. Optimisation strategies: Parametrisation, analyses (CFD), Optimisation tools and methods, Application to Drag, Cross-Wind, Ride stability and Snow issue