Analysis of the influence of passenger vehicles front-end design on pedestrian lower extremity injuries by means of the LLMS model

Objective: This work aims at investigating the influence of some front-end design parameters of a passenger vehicle on the behavior and damage occurring in the human lower limbs when impacted in an accident.

Methods: The analysis is carried out by means of finite element analysis using a generic car model for the vehicle and the lower limbs model for safety (LLMS) for the purpose of pedestrian safety. Considering the pedestrian standardized impact procedure (as in the 2003/12/EC Directive), a parametric analysis, through a design of experiments plan, was performed. Various material properties, bumper thickness, position of the higher and lower bumper beams, and position of pedestrian, were made variable in order to identify how they influence the injury occurrence. The injury prediction was evaluated from the knee lateral flexion, ligament elongation, and state of stress in the bone structure.

Results: The results highlighted that the offset between the higher and lower bumper beams is the most influential parameter affecting the knee ligament response. The influence is smaller or absent considering the other responses and the other considered parameters. The stiffness characteristics of the bumper are, instead, more notable on the tibia. Even if an optimal value of the variables could not be identified trends were detected, with the potential of indicating strategies for improvement.

Conclusions: The behavior of a vehicle front end in the impact against a pedestrian can be improved optimizing its design. The work indicates potential strategies for improvement. In this work, each parameter was changed independently one at a time; in future works, the interaction between the design parameters could be also investigated. Moreover, a similar parametric analysis can be carried out using a standard mechanical legform model in order to understand potential diversities or correlations between standard tools and human models.     

地铁同站台高架换乘车站火灾全尺寸实验研究-(1)火灾场景设计

为研究地铁同站台高架换乘车站火灾烟气蔓延特性和防排烟技术,对具有该换乘形式的某实体车站进行全尺寸火灾实验方案设计,结合车站通风排烟模式和列车运行模式,对站厅层、站台层和设备区分别设计不同规模的火灾场景,同时在站内各防烟分区设计安装烟气温度测量装置和流速测试装置,实现同站台高架换乘车站不同结构空间内烟气危险性参数的实时测量。按照本文设计的实验方案在该车站开展了一系列全尺寸实验,后续的研究中将详细介绍不同火源规模、火源位置、通风方式和列车运行模式下的实验结果。     

An enhanced sustainable approach for design and manufacturing with an application to fuselages for mono-seat civil sailplanes

Abstract

A number of tools and software systems have been developed in order to reduce the time for the design and manufacturing of industrial products. Nowadays, virtual modelling by Computer Aided Design (CAD) systems and process simulation by the application of Finite Element Method (FEM) software is a standard routine in order to compress product design activities and to achieve the optimal solution before producing any real components. These developments provided not only a reduction in the time to market but a higher complexity of the project and an improved quality of the industrial products. With the aim to further improve the sustainability of this activity, the implementation of a tool that adds automatic operations into the design activity is demonstrated. This software can interact with any CAD and helps designers when the object dimension and shape can be affected by limits and constraints deriving from different features and targets, such as the spatial collocation of the component and the interaction with other limiting items, for examples the material and the manufacturing issues. The concept was developed into the software SFIDA (Sailplane Fuselage Integrated Design Application) that is a first attempt to automatically manage multiple relations and optimise their combination.     

Circular Makerspaces: the founder’s view

Abstract

Makerspaces – open access design and fabrication workshops – provide new contexts for design practice through ‘distributed production’. The global community of makerspaces has evolved quickly and in turn, substantial hype is attributed to its potential for radical sustainable innovation. In this article, we explore this potential in the context of the new ‘circular economy’ agenda. We focus the research on the critical role of makerspace managers/founders who are recognised as gatekeepers to circular practices. The research method is action-led including expert interviews (academics and founders/managers) as well as two generative context-mapping workshops, run at selected makerspaces in collaboration with their founders/managers. We unearth everyday ‘how-to’ guidance to interweave circular practices within makerspaces from the outset by: fostering an enabling culture; building local connections; nurturing individual/community capacities; and stimulating practical know-how. However, while the research reveals immense opportunities to cultivate circular literacy from within makerspaces, the prospects to ask more profound questions about our economy, through makerspace practices, are found to be compromised by day-to-day concerns. The insights from this research can act as a starting point for future work in this emerging research area.     

Evaluating efforts to build sustainable WEEE reverse logistics network design: comparison of regulatory and non-regulatory approaches

Many developing countries such as Turkey are still making an effort on building an infrastructure for waste of electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) reverse logistic network design (RLND) processes. It is obvious that policies/laws/regulations related to WEEE management provide a sustainable framework for implementation in the RLND. The question is here: Does the implementation of WEEE directives make sense in terms of reducing the total cost of the network in the long term? This study aims to compare regulatory and non-regulatory situations of WEEE RLND in developing countries by formulating two models named as ‘regulatory’ and ‘non-regulatory’. Model 1 is considered as sustainable with economic, environmental and social goals, and the quotas imposed by the environmental directive are taken into consideration as the data of product return amount. In Model 2, only economic goal is considered, and product return amount is forecasted using Artificial Neural Network (ANN). A case study is conducted in a recycling company in order to evaluate performance of the proposed models. This study contributes to the relevant literature by (1) comparing the regulatory and non-regulatory situations RL models explicitly and (2) proposing ANN model to forecast EEE product return or WEEE quantity for non-regulatory situation.     

A method for supporting the design of efficient heating systems using EU product policy data

The design of heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems is still a challenging engineering task which requires experienced and informed decision-making. These systems have a great energy-saving potential at the system level rather than at the level of the individual products of which they are composed. European environmental product policies have been very useful in facilitating a homogeneous rating scheme which can be used to compare the energy performance of different products that provide the same service. This paper proposes a simplified design method which uses the performance of components that are regulated by European product policies to obtain the overall performance of heating systems in residential buildings. It is a flexible method and allows different product configurations to be assessed so as to optimise the system performance during the design phase. The method is tested on a real case study with domestic hot water and space heating systems. The case study shows the potential for improving the heating systems according to the performance levels of its products currently available in the market. Results of the domestic hot water system show that upgrading its storage tank to the maximum energy class (A⁺) could bring the highest energy savings ( 4162 kWh/y).     

What’s missing from Ostrom? Combining design principles with the theory of sociocultural viability

Since 1990, Elinor Ostrom’s design principles for common property resource (CPR) institutions have been highly influential, offering a counter to pessimistic arguments about resource users’ prospects of cooperating to manage CPRs sustainably. However, the theoretical underpinnings of Ostrom’s theory have been criticised: as unfairly negative towards macro-level interventions; as utilising an overly narrow conceptualisation of rationality; and under appreciative of the role of power. These criticisms are examined using insights drawn from the theory of sociocultural viability (cultural theory, for short), a theory of plural rationality related to context. Utilising the case of Faroese whaling, the research aim is to assess the extent that cultural theory ameliorates criticisms laid at Ostrom’s design principles. It finds that Ostrom’s research trajectory was reaching the limits of methodological individualism’s ability to grasp rational behaviour and suggests the design principles may in effect be integrated with cultural theory.     

Carbofuran removal in continuous-photocatalytic reactor: Reactor optimization,rate-constant determination and carbofuran degradation pathway analysis

Carbofuran (CBF) removal in a continuous-flow photocatalytic reactor with granular activated carbon supported titanium dioxide (GAC-TiO₂) catalyst was investigated. The effects of feed flow rate, TiO₂ concentration and addition of supplementary oxidants on CBF removal were investigated. The central composite design (CCD) was used to design the experiments and to estimate the effects of feed flow rate and TiO₂ concentration on CBF removal. The outcome of CCD experiments demonstrated that reactor performance was influenced mainly by feed flow rate compared to TiO₂ concentration. A second-order polynomial model developed based on CCD experiments fitted the experimental data with good correlation (R² ～ 0.964). The addition of 1 mL min^?1 hydrogen peroxide has shown complete CBF degradation and 76% chemical oxygen demand removal under the following operating conditions of CBF ～50 mg L^?1, TiO₂ ～5 mg L^?1 and feed flow rate ～82.5 mL min^?1. Rate constant of the photodegradation process was also calculated by applying the kinetic data in pseudo-first-order kinetics. Four major degradation intermediates of CBF were identified using GC-MS analysis. As a whole, the reactor system and GAC-TiO₂ catalyst used could be constructive in cost-effective CBF removal with no impact to receiving environment through getaway of photocatalyst.     

Are all experiments created equal? A framework for analysis of the learning potential of policy experiments in environmental governance

Environmental changes are increasing the need to understand complex cross-scale feedbacks in social–ecological systems. However, consistent conceptualisation of learning associated with environmental governance is lacking, and research mainly centres on individual variables. This paper identifies a typology of such learning, and theorises about configurations of variables. Focusing on experimentation as an intervention geared towards learning, it proposes a definition of policy experiment. A theoretical framework is presented, summarising a typology of experiments based on learning-related variables embedded in design choices, and reflected in institutional rule aggregations. The framework facilitates systematic analysis of real-world cases and testing of hypotheses on the effects of different types of experiment on learning. A case study demonstrates application of the framework. Results suggest future research paths that include attention to additional relevant variables. The findings have relevance for scholars interested in experimentation and learning, and environmental policy-makers considering experimentation to assess policy innovations.     

Climate change adaptation in the urban planning and design research: missing links and research agenda

This paper investigates the extent and the nature of how the urban planning literature has addressed climate change adaptation. It presents a longitudinal study of 157 peer-reviewed articles published from 2000 to 2013 in the leading urban planning and design journals whose selection considered earlier empirical studies that ranked them these journals. The findings reveal that the years 2006–07 represent a turning point, after which climate change studies appear more prominently and consistently in the urban planning and design literature; however, the majority of these studies address climate change mitigation rather than adaptation. Most adaptation studies deal with governance, social learning, and vulnerability assessments, while paying little attention to physical planning and urban design interventions. This paper identifies four gaps that pertain to the lack of interdisciplinary linkages, the absence of knowledge transfer, the presence of scale conflict, and the dearth of participatory research methods. It then advocates for the advancement of participatory and collaborative action research to meet the multifaceted challenges of climate change.