Trends and Design Relating literature to industry practice

In a crowded market place, where technology and functionality are not enough to differentiate a product from its competitors, the product’s appearance is a major driver of consumer preference. But preferences change over time, and product forms need to reflect this in order to stay relevant. This paper addresses the usage of trends by designers to inform the design and evolution of their products. Published theory regarding trends in product form exists in the fashion and consumer behaviour domains, but not in direct relation to the design of consumer products. This paper is preceded by a synthesis of literature in adjacent fields and compares the literature understanding with real industrial practice. Interviews with 9 professionals in trend research, design consultancy, furniture, fashion and architecture, were undertaken to explore the value and usage of trends across a variety of creative fields. The interview data were used to corroborate and enhance the literature understanding. In addition, the study also provides some emerging comparisons between design disciplines. The product designers interviewed were unlikely to use formal trend research methods: inspiration, tacit knowledge and experience accounts for much of their creative output. However, trend consultancies have developed methods of identifying and using trends to develop products for 5-10 years in the future. The fashion industry also has established ways of to rapidly identify or predict trend information. Keywords: Product form; trends; fashion; foresight</p

Tunnelling

Tunnelling has become a fragmented process, excessively influenced by lawyers'notions of confrontational contractual bases. This prevents the pooling of skills, essential to the achievement of the promoters' objectives. Tunnelling: Management by Design seeks the reversal of this trend. After a brief historical treatment of selected developments, t

A bonding and damage constitutive model for lightly cemented granular material

The behaviour of cemented granular material is complicated by the fact that the eventual cemented properties depend on the conditions under which cement hydration (curing) takes place. There are a number of situations in industry where granular materials are mixed with small quantities of cement and deployed in highly transient curing environments. Understanding and predicting the responses in these situations requires a constitutive model where cemented properties are an output, rather than a pre-determined input. This paper presents a constitutive model that is capable of representing the formation and destruction of bonding in weakly cemented granular material in a transient stress environment.</p

Risk assessment of Tunguska-type airbursts

Abstract:: The Tunguska airburst, which devastated a taiga forest over an area greater than 2,000km2 in a remote region of Central Siberia in 1908, is a classic example of extraterrestrial encounter discussed in the asteroid/comet impact hazard and risk assessment literature (e.g. Longo 2007; Carusi et al. 2007). Although it is generally agreed that the cosmic body caused damage by bursting in the air rather than through direct impact on the Earth's surface, the Tunguska event is often referred to as an impact event. To the best of our knowledge, no detailed studies have been performed to quantify the risk of a similar-sized event over a populated region. We propose here a straightforward probabilistic risk model for Tunguska-type events over the continental United States and use established risk metrics to determine the property (buildings and contents) and human losses. We find an annual average property loss of ~USD 200,000/year, a rate of ~0.3 fatalities/year and ~1.0 injuries/year ranging from a factor 3 below and to a factor 3 above the indicated values when a reasonable rate uncertainty for Tunguska-type events is taken into account. We then illustrate the case of an extreme event over the New York metropolitan area. While we estimate that this "nightmare” scenario would lead to ~USD 1.5trillion of property loss, ~3.9millions of fatalities and ~4.7millions of injuries, such event is almost impossible (occurrence once every ~30million years) and should only be considered as an illustrative exampl

11 Published Papers on the Classification of the British Brachiopod sub-family productinae

Abstract not Provided

11 Published Papers on the Classification of the British Brachiopod sub-family productinae

Abstract not Provided

Micromechanics of seismic wave propagation in granular materials

In this study experimental data on a model soil in a cubical cell are compared with both discrete element (DEM) simulations and continuum analyses. The experiments and simulations used point source transmitters and receivers to evaluate the shear and compression wave velocities of the samples, from which some of the elastic moduli can be deduced. Complex responses to perturbations generated by the bender/extender piezoceramic elements in the experiments were compared to those found by the controlled movement of the particles in the DEM simulations. The generally satisfactory agreement between experimental observations and DEM simulations can be seen as a validation and support the use of DEM to investigate the influence of grain interaction on wave propagation. Frequency domain analyses that considered filtering of the higher frequency components of the inserted signal, the ratio of the input and received signals in the frequency domain and sample resonance provided useful insight into the system response. Frequency domain analysis and analytical continuum solutions for cube vibration show that the testing configuration excited some, but not all, of the system’s resonant frequencies. The particle scale data available from DEM enabled analysis of the energy dissipation during propagation of the wave. Frequency domain analysis at the particle scale revealed that the higher frequency content reduces with increasing distance from the point of excitation

Construction of simplified design <i>p-y</i> curves for liquefied soils

In practice, laterally loaded piles are most often modelled using a ‘Beam-on-Nonlinear-Winkler-Foundation’ (BNWF) approach. While well calibrated p-y curves exist for non-liquefied soils (e.g. soft clay and sands), the profession still lacks reliable p-y curves for liquefied soils. In fact, the latter should be consistent with the observed strain-hardening behaviour exhibited by liquefied samples in both element and physical model tests. It is recognised that this unusual strain-hardening behaviour is induced by the tendency of the liquefied soil to dilate upon undrained shearing, which ultimately results in a gradual decrease of excess pore pressure and consequent increase in stiffness and strength. The aim of this paper is twofold. First it proposes an easy-to-use empirical model for constructing stress-strain relationships for liquefied soils. This only requires three soil parameters which can be conveniently determined by means of laboratory tests, such as a cyclic triaxial and cyclic simple shear tests. Secondly, a method is illustrated for the construction of p-y curves for liquefiable soils from the proposed stress-strain model. This involves scaling of stress and strain into compatible soil reaction p and pile deflection y, respectively. The scaling factors for stress and strain axis are computed following an energy-based approach, analogous to the upper-bound method used in classical plasticity theory. Finally, a series of results from centrifuge tests are presented, whereby p-y curves are back-calculated from available experimental data and qualitatively compared with that proposed by the authors

Experimental investigation of wave propagation in three dimensions in unbounded particulate assemblies

Understanding wave propagation through soils is essential for site response analysis in earthquake engineering, interpretation of geophysical surveys and SASW (Spectral Analysis of Surface Waves), interpretation of laboratory bender element tests, etc. Analysis of wave propagation has largely been based on continuum descriptions and two dimensional analyses. This study presents recent developments in multiaxial testing that permit the combination of laboratory seismic testing with exploration of three-dimensional principal stress space. A Cubical Cell Apparatus with bender-extender piezoceramic elements fitted in all six faces are used so that wave propagation velocities of an analogue granular material can be determined. The results of a first series of wave propagation tests for a sample under isotropic confinement are presented