Study of chest injuries to 3-year-old child occupants seated in impact shield and 5-point harness CRSs

Objective: The objective of this study was to investigate whether the 5-point harness or the impact shield child restraint system (CRS) or both have the potential to cause chest injuries to children. This is determined by examining whether the loading to the chest reaches the internal organ injury threshold for children.

Method: The chest injury risk to a child occupant in a CRS was investigated using Q3 dummy tests, finite element (FE) simulations (Q3 dummy and human models), and animal tests. The investigation was done for 2 types of CRSs (i.e., the impact shield CRS and 5-point harness CRS) based on the UN R44 dynamic test specifications.

Results: The tests using a Q3 dummy indicated that although the chest deflection of the dummy in the impact shield CRS was large, it was less than the injury threshold (40 mm). Computational biomechanics simulations (using finite element FE analysis) showed that the Q3 dummy's chest is loaded by the shield and deforms substantially under this load. To clarify whether chest injuries due to chest compression can occur with an impact shield or with the 5-point harness CRS, 7 experiments were performed using Tibetan miniature pigs with weights ranging from 9.7 to 13 kg. Severe chest and abdominal injuries (lung contusion, coronary artery laceration, liver laceration) were found in the tests using the impact shield CRS. No chest injuries were present when using the 5-point harness CRS.

Conclusion: When using the impact shield CRS, the chest deformed substantially in dummy tests and FE simulations, and chest and abdominal injuries were observed in pig tests. It is possible that these chest injuries could also occur to child occupants sitting in the impact shield CRS.     

Cross-correlation between the controlled collision environment and real-world motor vehicle collisions: Evaluating the protection of the thoracic side airbag

Objective: Thoracic side airbags (tSABs) were integrated into the vehicle fleet to attenuate and distribute forces on the occupant's chest and abdomen, dissipate the impact energy, and move the occupant away from the intruding structure, all of which reduce the risk of injury. This research piece investigates and evaluates the safety performance of the airbag unit by cross-correlating data from a controlled collision environment with field data.

Method: We focus exclusively on vehicle–vehicle lateral impacts from the NHTSA's Vehicle Crash Test Database and NASS-CDS database, which are replicated in the controlled environment by the (crabbed) barrier impact. Similar collisions with and without seat-embedded tSABs are matched to each other and the injury risks are compared.

Results: Results indicated that dummy-based thoracic injury metrics were significantly lower with tSAB exposure (P <.001). Yet, when the controlled collision environment data were cross-correlated with NASS-CDS collisions, deployment of the tSAB indicated no association with thoracic injury (tho. MAIS 2+ unadjusted relative risk [RR] = 1.14; 90% confidence interval [CI], 0.80–1.62; tho. MAIS 3+ unadjusted RR = 1.12; 90% CI, 0.76–1.65).

Conclusion: The data from the controlled collision environment indicated an unequivocal benefit provided by the thoracic side airbag for the crash dummy; however, the real-world collisions demonstrate that no benefit is provided to the occupant. This has resulted from a noncorrelation between the crash test/dummy-based design taking the abstracting process too far to represent the real-world collision scenario.     

皮带输煤暗道通风排尘改造方案优化研究

为了解决皮带输煤暗道运输过程中粉尘污染严重及冬季供暖不足问题,对暗道通风供热系统进行了优化改造研究。以中煤平朔安家岭264输煤暗道为例,基于气固两相流理论,利用CFD模拟方法,对暗道内由风速对悬浮粉尘浓度分布的影响规律进行数值仿真。模拟结果显示:当输煤暗道排尘风速由0.25 m/s升至0.35 m/s时,粉尘浓度降为3.2 mg/m3,暗道最大通风阻力为245.94 Pa,最低换热量747.68 kW。基于数值模拟结果,从3种优化方案中选定一压一抽联合式通风除尘方案进行改造,现场实测除尘效果良好,表明所提出的输煤暗道通风除尘方案具有实践指导意义。     

软岩大断面隧道二次衬砌支护时机的选择研究

为探明软岩大断面隧道开挖后围岩的变形与支护时机的相关关系,利用监控测量数据反演分析中获得的蠕变参数,校正ABAQUS的D-P蠕变模型;在此基础上建立数值计算模型,对具有代表性的围岩进口浅埋段、出口浅埋段和洞身段进行了相关的数值分析,研究软岩大断面隧道岩体的变形规律和支护时机之间的关系;通过埋设现场监控量测点对二衬支护时机的结果进行了验证。研究结果表明:出口和进口浅埋段的V级围岩,开挖后岩体的变形速率大、时间短,选择以最终位移量的80%为最佳支护时机,二衬的最佳支护时机为隧道开挖支护后的15 d左右;洞身段IV级围岩具有变形速率小、时间长,以最终位移量的90%为最佳支护时机,洞身段二衬的最佳支护时机为隧道开挖支护后的30 d左右。现场验证表明,选择的二次衬砌支护的时机是可行的。     

公路隧道施工安全风险评估方法优化研究

我国在建公路隧道工程数量增长迅速,施工安全事故时有发生,因此通过风险评估实现施工过程的风险控制就显得非常重要。在此背景下,交通运输部出台了《公路桥梁和隧道工程施工安全风险评估指南（试行）》,而在实际应用过程中,该评估指南无法完全适应多变的工程实际。针对该问题,在对隧道施工安全风险评估的各类评估方法及其适用性进行详细研究的基础上,将该评估指南与国内外其他相关成果和做法进行分析比对,指出该评估指南存在的不足之处,进一步提出相关优化与修订建议;最后,以湖南某高速公路隧道洞口坍塌事故为例,利用提出的施工前专项风险评估方法,综合运用数值模拟计算与事故后果当量估计,计算相应的风险等级,所得到的结果与实际情况更为接近,进一步说明本文所提优化方法的合理性和可操作性。     

“It's easy to throw rocks at a corporation”: wind energy development and distributive justice in Canada

In places like Canada, fast-paced wind turbine development combined with policy that limits local decision-making power has resulted in strong opposition to specific projects. Some studies suggest that anti-wind sentiment is tied to inadequate financial benefits – especially sharing at the local level. Thus, ideas of distributive economic justice have received traction, particularly in the form of praise for community-based development models. This paper reports on the findings from a mixed-methods study concerning preferred distributive justice elements in rural communities in Ontario (technocratic-based model) and Nova Scotia (community-based model) living with turbines. Residents’ perceptions of economic benefits are nuanced, but unlike other studies, this empirical work shows that both the fair distribution and the amount of local benefits are important predictors of project support. Yet, concerns around the fair distribution of benefits dominate in a regression on the adequacy of those benefits. A variety of interview and survey findings further point to the strength of traditional, profit-sharing community-based models for distributing benefits, but also more novel ideas including lowered electricity bills and tax rebates in areas home to turbines.     

Starting improvement of micro-wind turbines operating in low wind speed regions

The study deals with the design and optimization of external and internal geometry of micro-wind turbines blades. A specified objective function which consists of the power coefficient and the starting time was defined and the genetic algorithm optimization technique in conjunction with the blade-element momentum theory was adopted to find the geometry of the blades including the distributions of the chord, the twist angle and also the shell thickness. Moreover, the allowable stress of the blades was considered as a constraint to the objective function. Results show that a reasonable compromise is achievable such that the starting time of the blades reduces noticeably in return for a small drop in the power coefficient. The significant improvement of the hollow blades over the solid ones indicates that the power coefficient and the starting performance could be improved through the appropriate distributions of the considered decision variables, i.e. the chord, the twist angle and also the shell thickness.     

Wind energy potential analysis for Thailand: Uncertainty from wind maps and sensitivity to turbine technology

Rapid development of wind energy has been witnessed in Thailand. However, different wind resource maps (over land) have brought great uncertainty to wind energy planning. Here, four important mesoscale wind maps were considered: DEDP (2001), World Bank (2001), Manomaiphiboon et al. (2010) of JGSEE, and DEDE (2010). The wind maps were first harmonized to a common grid at 100 m and then compared. The earlier wind maps (DEDP and World Bank) are shown to represent the lower and upper limits of predicted speed, respectively, while JGSEE and DEDE tend to be more moderate with predictions statistically closer to observations. A consolidated wind map was constructed based on their median and shown to have the best prediction performance. It was then used for the technical potential analysis, in which three large (2-MW) turbine models (two conventional and one designed for low wind speed) were considered. By GIS techniques, any land areas not feasible for large wind turbines were excluded, and the corresponding overall onshore technical potential ranges between 50 and 250 GW, depending on map and turbine model. Considering only economically feasible turbines (with capacity factors of 20%) and the median-based map, the final technical potential equals 17 GW when using the low-wind-speed model but is reduced to 5 GW with the conventional models, adequately meeting the national wind energy target of 3 GW by the year 2036. The results suggest a strong sensitivity of estimated technical potential to turbine technology and a suitability of low-wind-speed turbines for wind conditions in Thailand.     

Wind energy and natural ventilation potential of a wind catcher in Yazd – Iran (a long-term measurement)

When designing energy efficient buildings it is useful to study existing climate—responsive building typologies. The wind towers or wind-catchers of Yazd city in Iran are typical examples of such a typology. Although many previous studies have investigated the performance of various types of wind catcher systems, studies based on a long-term real-life measurement can be rarely found. In this study a long-term whole year monitoring campaign on an existing full scale four sided wind catcher in Yazd was carried out in 2014–2015. Three prevailing wind directions were identified and the measured on-site wind speeds were used to estimate the wind induced natural ventilation potential of the tower. A shaft/tower airflow performance index was developed. The monitoring results were compared to the ASHRAE Standard 62:2001 ventilation rate requirement. Results show that the total ventilation rate of the wind tower surpasses the ASHRAE Standard requirements. Furthermore it shows that the shafts are exposed to the prevailing wind directions perform better. For more effective natural ventilation a wind tower with adaptable openings/shafts are proposed.