The digital workshop: exploring the use of interactive and immersive visualisation tools in participatory planning

This paper examines the emerging role of digital tools in a collaborative planning process for British Columbia's Bowen Island. The goal of this research was to evaluate the effectiveness of a 'digital workshop', combining the interactive CommunityViz tool with the immersive lab facilities at the Collaborative for Advanced Landscape Planning (CALP). In support of the larger community planning process, two 3-h workshops were held at CALP's Landscape Immersion Lab. To facilitate collaborative exploration, the interactive landscape visualisation and real-time data analysis capabilities of CommunityViz were employed to illustrate the possible outcomes of residential density policies for Bowen Island's Snug Cove community. The community planning workshops were structured to provide the 14 semi-expert participants with the opportunity to explore and discuss the contentious residential density components of the draft Snug Cove Village Plan. The abilities to dynamically explore the visualisations of the planning proposals, and to see real-time changes in indicator metrics were considered particularly informative, and appeared to increase participants' understanding of the plan. Written and verbal responses indicated, however, that there was insufficient time to examine and interact with the information during the workshop, suggesting a need to examine in greater depth how and when these tools might best be employed in collaborative settings. Current and future research relating to this project is discussed.     

Industrial experience of process identification and set-point decision algorithm in a full-scale treatment plant

This paper presents industrial experience of process identification, monitoring, and control in a full-scale wastewater treatment plant. The objectives of this study were (1) to apply and compare different process-identification methods of proportional-integral-derivative (PID) autotuning for stable dissolved oxygen (DO) control, (2) to implement a process monitoring method that estimates the respiration rate simultaneously during the process-identification step, and (3) to propose a simple set-point decision algorithm for determining the appropriate set point of the DO controller for optimal operation of the aeration basin. The proposed method was evaluated in the industrial wastewater treatment facility of an iron- and steel-making plant. Among the process-identification methods, the control signal of the controller's set-point change was best for identifying low-frequency information and enhancing the robustness to low-frequency disturbances. Combined automatic control and set-point decision method reduced the total electricity consumption by 5% and the electricity cost by 15% compared to the fixed gain PID controller, when considering only the surface aerators. Moreover, as a result of improved control performance, the fluctuation of effluent quality decreased and overall effluent water quality was better.     

Predicting Sustained Fire Spread in Tasmanian Native Grasslands

Fire is widely used in conservation management of native grasslands. Burning is often carried out under conditions that are marginal for sustained fire spread, and therefore it would be useful to be able to predict fire sustainability. There is currently no model allowing such prediction in temperate grasslands. This study aims to identify the environmental variables that determine whether fires will sustain in native grasslands in Tasmania, Australia, and develop a model for predicting fire sustainability in this vegetation. Fuel characteristics and weather conditions were recorded for 111 test fires. Logistic regression modeling identified dead fuel moisture content, fuel load, and percentage dead fuel as predictors of fire sustainability. Classification tree modeling identified dead fuel moisture and fuel load threshold values for sustaining fires. There was also evidence indicating a percentage dead fuel threshold. The logistic regression model and a model combining the results of the classification tree and the percentage dead fuel threshold accurately predicted the outcomes of a small set of experimental fires. These models are likely to have utility in predicting fire sustainability in Tasmanian grasslands and are also likely to be applicable to similar grasslands elsewhere.     

负压防护急救车车厢内生物污染物运动扩散的数值模拟与试验验证

为掌握负压防护急救车车厢内生物污染物的分布情况,运用计算流体动力学(CFD)方法和拉格朗日颗粒随机轨道模型,对该车车厢内生物污染物的运动扩散进行数值模拟;并通过试验对比研究车厢内污染物浓度场的分布状态,试验与模拟的结果基本一致。同时表明:该随机轨道模型较好地反映生物污染物运动扩散的时空分布特点;负压防护急救车车厢内污染物浓度较高,医护人员应穿戴有效的个人防护器材。     

某装药弹振动特性的安全分析

为分析某装药弹的振动特性,并为该弹提供必要的力学数据,建立某装药弹模态方程。采用ANSYS软件对该弹振动特性进行了数值模拟,利用Block Lanczos法求解,得到前10阶振动固有频率和振型。分析结果表明:低阶频率主要以摆动和转动为主,高阶频率主要以弯曲扭动为主,低阶频率对该弹的影响比较小,高阶频率对该弹的影响比较大,尤其是7～10阶频率,该弹的主振频率为1053.8 Hz,为该弹的优化设计提供科学依据,在加工、储存、运输和使用条件下应低于该频率;为验证该方法可信度,采用某小型装药弹进行了实验验证,实验结果和仿真结果偏差小于1%;同时证明该有限元数值分析的方法是经济可靠的。     

掘进巷道瓦斯分布数值实验研究

根据局部通风流场特点确定适合矿井局部通风掘进巷道工作面瓦斯与风流质量交换的数学模型,在近壁面使用标准壁面函数法解决近壁面的流动,在湍流充分发展区,使用RNG k-ε双方程湍流模型;讨论考虑巷道支护的情况下壁面粗糙度的影响,确定矿井掘进工作面局部通风模型网格划分的方法、掘进头瓦斯涌出的边界条件;利用计算流体力学(CFD)软件Fluent对掘进工作面的风流与瓦斯的混合过程进行了模拟;得出不同瓦斯涌出量情况下掘进巷道工作面风流分布和瓦斯浓度的分布规律。研究表明:瓦斯涌出量和风速对流场分布有影响,随着瓦斯涌出量的增大和风速的降低,瓦斯对流场的影响越来越明显。     

钢铁企业开放空间煤气扩散规律研究

研究目的是探索钢铁企业开放空间煤气泄漏的扩散规律和影响范围。采用matlab模拟煤气泄漏后CO的浓度分布和扩散距离规律。通过建立煤气泄漏扩散数学模型,对其影响煤气气扩散的主要因素进行了分析、探讨了煤气毒性范围的划分,并以某钢铁企业为实例进行数值模拟和计算。模拟结果显示,大气稳定度、风速对煤气泄漏扩散的浓度影响起着非常重要的作用。大气稳定度和风速会显著改变有害气体的扩散状态。在风速和泄漏增大时,煤气在开放空间扩散距离大,影响范围广,应合理布置煤气监控点,预防煤气中毒。     

排烟口布置方式对高层建筑火灾排烟效果的影响

高层建筑发生火灾时,烟气对人员的生命安全有着非常大的威胁,因此有效地控制烟气在建筑物内的扩散对于人员的逃生是非常重要的。通过高层建筑内烟气流动的数学模型,采用k-ε两方程三维紊流模型对高层建筑火灾时排烟口布置于走廊顶棚和走廊侧壁时的机械排烟进行模拟。结果表明,排烟口的布置方式不同对排烟效果的影响很大。排烟口置于顶棚时比排烟口置于侧壁时排烟效率高近10％,走廊内危险性低。在进行排烟设计时应优先考虑将排烟口设置在走廊顶部。     

高压管道天然气泄漏扩散过程的数值模拟

采用CFD模型的方法对高压管道内的天然气泄漏和扩散过程进行了数值模拟。其结果表明,从高压管道泄出的天然气在大气中主要表现为高速射流的泄漏过程和随后的扩散过程。在泄漏过程中,天然气在泄漏口附近为欠膨胀射流,整个泄漏过程具有一定的高度;在扩散过程中,天然气在浮力作用下以向上扩散的形式发展。研究了不同环境风速对扩散过程的影响,较大的风速可以使天然气向下风方向更远的距离扩散,从而增大了天然气爆炸危险浓度的范围。研究结果可     

Application of Ecological Classification and Predictive Vegetation Modeling to Broad-Level Assessments of Ecosystem Health

The Little Missouri National Grasslands (LMNG) of western North Dakota support the largest permitted cattle grazing use within all lands administered by the USDA, Forest Service, as well as critical habitat for many wildlife species. This fact, coupled with the need to revise current planning direction for range allotments of the LMNG, necessitated that a broad-level characterization of ecosystem integrity and resource conditions be conducted across all lands within the study area (approximately 800,000 hectares) in a rapid and cost-effective manner. The approach taken in this study was based on ecological classifications, which effectively utilized existing field plot data collected for a variety of previous inventory objectives, and their continuous spatial projection across the LMNG by maps of both existing and potential vegetation. These two map themes represent current and reference conditions (existing vs. potential vegetation); their intersection allowed us to assign various ecological status ratings (i.e., ecosystem integrity and resource condition) based on the degree of departure between current and reference conditions. In this paper, we present a brief review of methodologies used in the development of ecological classifications, and also illustrate their application to assessments of rangeland health through selected maps of ecological status ratings for the LMNG.