Deep drawing simulation of Tailored Blanks

Tailored blanks are increasingly used in the automotive industry. A tailored blank consists of different metal parts, which are joined by a welding process. These metal parts usually have different material properties. Hence, the main advantage of using a tailored blank is to provide the right material properties at specific parts of the blank. The movement of the weld during forming is extremely important. Unwanted weld displacement can cause damage to both the product and the tool. This depends mainly on the original weld position and the process parameters. However experimental determination of the optimum weld position is quite expensive. Therefore a numerical tool has been developed for simulations of tailored blank forming. The Finite Element Code Dieka is used for the deep drawing simulations of some geometrically simple products. The results have been validated by comparing them with experimental data and show a satisfactory correlation

Alleen ga je sneller, samen kom je verder

Astrid Stokman (1970) heeft Bestuurskunde gestudeerd in Leiden. Na bijna een decennium te hebben gewerkt op het snijvlak van pensioenen en ICT, maakte ze in 2003 de overstap naar de overheid. Eerst als (senior) projectleider en adviseur op het gebied van Kust en Water bij de provincie NoordHolland, daarna als riviertakmanager in de directie van Ruimte voor de Rivier bij Rijkswaterstaat en tenslotte als adjunct-hoofd van de Eenheid Water en Bodem bij de provincie Overijssel. Per 1 januari jl. heeft ze haar eigen adviesbureau Watervlug opgericht

Het hoekje waar de klappen vallen

Zelden heb ik een artikel gelezen, dat inhoudelijk zo slecht in elkaar zit als het artikel "Doubleplusgood" of "Doubleplusungood", Een gratis kijkje achter de schermen van het hemelse genot van Jurian Edelenbos. Hieronder doe ik een poging mijn kritiek enigszins kort te houden

Applicability of PV rooftops versus agriculture rooftops in the residential buildings of Nasr city, Cairo

Urban rooftops in the Egyptian built environment are a clear example of a massively wasted re-source. They can contribute to energy and food production as well as increase the return on in-vestment in the real estate sector by implementing Agri and PV rooftop systems. The paper aims at tapping into the unexplored case of multi-unit residential buildings of Cairo to assess the Agri and PV systems’ applicability on their rooftops. For this purpose, it conducts a spatial analysis for one of the Cairene middle-income districts; Nasr city. Overlaying multiple layers of applicability aspects derives a conclusion about the percentage of applicable rooftops for Agri versus PV systems in the district’s different blocks typologies

The pricing behaviour of firms in the euro area : new survey evidence

This study investigates the pricing behaviour of firms in the euro area on the basis of surveys conducted by nine Eurosystem national central banks. Overall, more than 11,000 firms participated in the survey. The results are very robust across countries. Firms operate in monopolistically competitive markets, where prices are mostly set following mark-up rules and where price discrimination is a common practice. Our evidence suggests that both time- and state-dependent pricing strategies are applied by firms in the euro area: around one-third of the companies follow mainly time-dependent pricing rules while two-thirds use pricing rules with some element of state-dependence. Although the majority of firms take into account a wide range of information, including past and expected economic developments, about one-third adopts a purely backward-looking behaviour. The pattern of results lends support to the recent wave of estimations of hybrid versions of the New Keynesian Phillips Curve. Price stickiness arises both at the stage when firms review their prices and again when they actually change prices. The most relevant factors underlying price rigidity are customer relationships - as expressed in the theories about explicit and implicit contracts - and thus, are mainly found at the price changing (second) stage of the price adjustment process. Finally, we provide evidence that firms adjust prices asymmetrically in response to shocks, depending on the direction of the adjustment and the source of the shock: while cost shocks have a greater impact when prices have to be raised than when they have to be reduced, reductions in demand are more likely to induce a price change than increases in demand.price setting, nominal rigidity, real rigidity, inflation persistence, survey data.

The Pricing Behaviour of Firms in the Euro Area: New Survey Evidence

This study investigates the pricing behaviour of firms in the euro area on the basis of surveys conducted by nine Eurosystem national central banks. Overall, more than 11,000 firms participated in the survey. The results are very robust across countries. Firms operate in monopolistically competitive markets, where prices are mostly set following mark-up rules and where price discrimination is a common practice. Our evidence suggests that both time- and state-dependent pricing strategies are applied by firms in the euro area: around one-third of the companies follow mainly time-dependent pricing rules while two-thirds use pricing rules with some element of state-dependence. Although the majority of firms take into account a wide range of information, including past and expected economic developments, about one-third adopts a purely backward-looking behaviour. The pattern of results lends support to the recent wave of estimations of hybrid versions of the New Keynesian Phillips Curve. Price stickiness arises both at the stage when firms review their prices and again when they actually change prices. The most relevant factors underlying price rigidity are customer relationships – as expressed in the theories about explicit and implicit contracts – and thus, are mainly found at the price changing (second) stage of the price adjustment process. Finally, we provide evidence that firms adjust prices asymmetrically in response to shocks, depending on the direction of the adjustment and the source of the shock: while cost shocks have a greater impact when prices have to be raised than when they have to be reduced, reductions in demand are more likely to induce a price change than increases in demand.