Rail vs truck transport of biomass

This study analyzes the economics of transshipping biomass from truck to train in a North American setting. Transshipment will only be economic when the cost per unit distance of a second transportation mode is less than the original mode. There is an optimum number of transshipment terminals which is related to biomass yield. Transshipment incurs incremental fixed costs, and hence there is a minimum shipping distance for rail transport above which lower costs/km offset the incremental fixed costs. For transport by dedicated unit train with an optimum number of terminals, the minimum economic rail shipping distance for straw is 170 km, and for boreal forest harvest residue wood chips is 145 km. The minimum economic shipping distance for straw exceeds the biomass draw distance for economically sized centrally located power plants, and hence the prospects for rail transport are limited to cases in which traffic congestion from truck transport would otherwise preclude project development. Ideally, wood chip transport costs would be lowered by rail transshipment for an economically sized centrally located power plant, but in a specific case in Alberta, Canada, the layout of existing rail lines precludes a centrally located plant supplied by rail, whereas a more versatile road system enables it by truck. Hence for wood chips as well as straw the economic incentive for rail transport to centrally located processing plants is limited. Rail transshipment may still be preferred in cases in which road congestion precludes truck delivery, for example as result of community objections.     

Development of a multicriteria assessment model for ranking biomass feedstock collection and transportation systems

This study details multicriteria assessment methodology that integrates economic, social, environmental, and technical factors in order to rank alternatives for biomass collection and transportation systems. Ranking of biomass collection systems is based on cost of delivered biomass, quality of biomass supplied, emissions during collection, energy input to the chain operations, and maturity of supply system technologies. The assessment methodology is used to evaluate alternatives for collecting 1.8×10⁶ dry t/yr based on assumptions made on performance of various assemblies of biomass collection systems is based on cost of delivered biomass, quality of biomass supplied, emissions during collection, energy input to the chain operations, and maturity of supply system technologies. The assessment methodology is used to evaluate alternatives for collecting 1.8×10⁶ dry t/yr based on assumptions made on performance of various assemblies of biomass collection systems. A proposed collection option using loafer/stacker was shown to be the best option followed by ensiling and baling. Ranking of biomass transport systems is based on cost of biomass transport, emissions during transport, traffic congestion, and maturity of different technologies. At a capacity of 4×10⁶ dry t/yr, rail transport was shown to be the best option, followed by truck transport and pipeline transport, respectively. These rankings depend highly on assumed maturity of technologies and scale of utilization. These may change if technologies such as loafing or ensiling (wet storage) methods are proved to be infeasible for large-scale collection systems.     

Calculation of the reactor neutron time of flight spectrum by convolution technique

It is a very complex and time-consuming process to simulate the nuclear reactor neutron spectrum from the reactor core to the export channel by applying a Monte Carlo program. This paper presents a new method to calculate the neutron spectrum by using the convolution technique which considers the channel transportation as a linear system and the transportation scattering as the response function. It also applies Monte Carlo Neutron and Photon Transport Code （MCNP） to simulate the response function numerically. With the application of convolution technique to calculate the spectrum distribution from the core to the channel, the process is then much more convenient only with the simple numerical integral numeration. This saves computer time and reduces some trouble in re-writing of the MCNP program.     

Corresponding Angle Feedback in an innovative weighted transportation system

The optimal information feedback has a significant effect on many socioeconomic systems like stock market and traffic systems aiming to make full use of resources. In this Letter, we study dynamics of traffic flow with real-time information. The influence of a feedback strategy named Corresponding Angle Feedback Strategy (CAFS) is introduced, based on a two-route scenario in which dynamic information can be generated and displayed on the board to guide road users to make a choice. Our model incorporates the effects of adaptability into the cellular automaton models of traffic flow and simulation results adopting this optimal information feedback strategy have demonstrated high efficiency in controlling spatial distribution of traffic patterns compared with the other three information feedback strategies, i.e., vehicle number and flux.     

A superhydrophobic magnetic elastomer actuator for droplet motion control

For the fast droplet transportation on an open surface, a new magnetic elastomer with a superhydrophobic surface has been developed. Because the surface is superhydrophobic, the water droplet can easily roll off on the surface. The movement of the droplet was controlled by a deliberate local deformation of the surface of the elastomer induced by magnetic actuation. The direction and speed of the droplet motion was easily controlled by changing the surface topography using magnetic force. We also demonstrate the applicability of the devices as a new type of open‐surface digital microfluidics using a simple chemical reaction. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Transportation of a microdroplet on an oriented liquid crystal surface

Wetting phenomena play important roles in several technological applications and in many physical and biological thin‐film phenomena, such as wetting, adhesion and friction. One of key issues of these studies is to control the surface energy (or wettability) dynamically for liquid transportation. We have developed a liquid crystal (LC) surface for use as a transport substrate since we expected that the surface energy of an LC surface can be controlled rapidly using an electric field. The rapid control of the polarisability (or wettability) of a liquid crystalline surface by an electric field has been demonstrated, together with the transportation of a liquid microdroplet.     

HMD-Net: A Vehicle Hazmat Marker Detection Benchmark

Vehicles carrying hazardous material (hazmat) are severe threats to the safety of highway transportation, and a model that can automatically recognize hazmat markers installed or attached on vehicles is essential for intelligent management systems. However, there is still no public dataset for benchmarking the task of hazmat marker detection. To this end, this paper releases a large-scale vehicle hazmat marker dataset named VisInt-VHM, which includes 10,000 images with a total of 20,023 hazmat markers captured under different environmental conditions from a real-world highway. Meanwhile, we provide an compact hazmat marker detection network named HMD-Net, which utilizes a revised lightweight backbone and is further compressed by channel pruning. As a consequence, the trained-model can be efficiently deployed on a resource-restricted edge device. Experimental results demonstrate that compared with some established methods such as YOLOv3, YOLOv4, their lightweight versions and popular lightweight models, HMD-Net can achieve a better trade-off between the detection accuracy and the inference speed.     

Interaction of trip decisions and traffic systems dynamics

A major difficulty in the study of large-scale complex systems involving human decision-making with non-linear collective effects is that of obtaining pertinent data at the desired level of detail. A controlled experiment involving real commuters in a hypothetical computer simulated traffic system is described as an alternative approach of conducting observational studies to support the modelling of such complex dynamic interactive decision systems. An overview of the principal characteristics of the traffic system's evolution obtained in this experiment is presented. Also illustrated are the features of a proposed behavioral framework where users are viewed as boundedly rational seekers of a satisfactory choice outcome.     

大跨越管道油气混输压力波速及响应特性研究

基于双流体模型,利用小扰动理论,提出了油气混输大跨越管道压力波速模型.利用计算机编程对其求解,通过大跨越管道油气混输实例,得到了以下结论:压力波速的变化受气相影响较大,即使少量气体也能在较大程度上影响压力波速,随混输气量增大,压力波速减小,压力响应时间延长;混输低点气体所承受的压力较混输高点大,从而低点处气相压缩系数小,混输低点较混输高点压力波速增大,压力响应时间相应缩短;在输运管道低点处,气体受到极大压缩,压力波速的变化不明显,几乎收敛于恒定值,在混输管道高点处压力波速变化剧烈.     

冷凝法油气回收技术与应用

油品在储运和销售过程中部分轻烃组分挥发进入大气,造成资源浪费和环境危害.油气回收既可实现油气污染治理又能产生可观的经济效益.结合中国油气储运和销售环节的现状以及相关技术的发展,对几种油气回收的方法进行了对比分析,认为采用多元工质复叠(或自复叠)制冷技术的冷凝法具有较好的经济性和可靠性.介绍了自主研发的冷凝式油气回收设备...