In order to increase the efficiency of diesel particulate filter regeneration more knowledge about diesel soot and its reactivity is required. This thesis compares soot created during accelerated filter loading by lowered rail pressure, with soot from normal filter loading. Soot properties and their correlations to oxidation reactivity are also examined through thermogravimetric analysis, scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy, BET nitrogen sorption, and FTIR spectroscopy. The usefulness of these analysis methods was also evaluated. The soot samples consisted of two carbon blacks for reference (Printex U and Vulcan XC 72), four accelerated soot samples and two non-accelerated samples. The results showed that the accelerated samples contained less volatile organic compounds than the non-accelerated soot and required slightly higher temperatures to oxidize in air. Soot with a high oxygen/carbon ratio and high levels of volatile organic compounds was found to be the most reactive. The most useful method for analyzing the soot was the thermogravimetric analysis. The scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy were useful additions but the FTIR spectroscopy provided very little useful information. The usefulness of BET nitrogen sorption was not decisively concluded. / För att kunna förbättra regenereringen av dieselpartikelfilter krävs en ökad kunskap om dieselsot och dess reaktivitet. I detta examensarbete jämförs sot som skapas vid accelererad sotinlagring genom sänkt railtryck, med sot från normal sotinlagring. Hur sotets egenskaper påverkar dess reaktivitet undersöks också genom termogravimetrisk analys, svepelektronmikroskopi, energidispersiv röntgenspektroskopi, BET-kväveadsorption och FTIR-spektroskopi. Hur väl dessa analysmetoder lämpar sig för analys av sot utvärderades också. Sotproverna utgjordes av två så kallade ”carbon black” för referens (Printex U och Vulcan XC 72), fyra accelererade sotprov och två icke-accelererade prov. Resultaten visade att de accelererade proverna innehöll mindre flyktiga organiska föreningar än icke-accelererade sot och krävde något högre temperaturer för att oxideras i luft. Sot med ett högt syre/kol-förhållande och höga nivåer av flyktiga organiska föreningar visade sig vara mest reaktivt. Den mest användbara metoden för att analysera sot var den termogravimetriska analysen. Svepelektronmikroskopi och energidispersiv röntgenspektroskopi var användbara som komplementerande metoder men FTIR-spektroskopi gav väldigt lite användbar information. Ingen konkret slutsats drogs gällande nyttan av BET-kväveadsorption.

Examensarbete är den avslutande delen i utbildningen till Civilingenjör, arbetets omfattning är 20 poäng av de totalt 180 poäng som utgör utbildningen. Examensarbetet har utförts på Sapa Automotive i Vetlanda.Syftet med examensarbetet har varit att ta fram en utvecklingsmetod som Sapa Automotive kan använda sig av vid sina utvecklingsprojekt, gällande själva konstruktionsarbetet, av takräcken till bilindustrin. Sapa Automotive är specialiserade inom produktutveckling och tillverkning av komponenter och system baserade på strängpressade aluminiumprofiler för fordonsindustrin. En av Sapa Automotives affärsidéer är erbjuda kunderna utveckling av takräck till personbilar. I dessa projekt tar Sapa Automotive på sig att utifrån givna designförutsättning utveckla de ingående komponenterna och sedan industrialisera den färdiga konstruktionen. Resultatet av examensarbetet var en manual som Sapa Automotive kan använda sig av vid kommande utvecklingsprojekt. Manualen innehåller CAD-metodik, dokumentationsmallar, konstruktionsriktlinjer och toleranskedjeblankett. Och även en beskrivning på hur konstruktören själv kan utföra sina egna FEM-beräkningar direkt i CAD-verktyget. / The master thesis is the final part of the Master of Science education, the thesis extent 20 points of the total 180 that the educations contains of. This master thesis has been done at Sapa Automotive in Vetlanda. The aim with the thesis was to develop a method that describes how Sapa Automotive should work in their development project, concerning the design work, of roof rails to the automotive industry. Sapa Autototive is specialized within product development and manufacturing of components containing extruded aluminum profiles to the automotive industry. One of the business areas is design and manufacturing of roof rails for passenger cars. In this projects Sapa Automotive handles the design of the parts that the roof rail is build and they also handles the industrialization of the finished design. The result of the master thesis was a guidebook that Sapa Automotive could use in their upcoming development project. The guidebook contains CAD-methods, documentation forms, design guidelines and tolerance chain form. And also descriptions on how the designer can do his/her own FEA-calculations in the CAD-program.

Since the population growth of Stockholm Region is rapid, leading to larger demand on Public Transport and especially metro, four Municipalities of the Region have agreed on the expansion of the metro network. Blue metro line will be extended to Nacka and Hagsatra in the south and Barkarby in the north of the Swedish capital. The new railway line connections have been already planned, while the operation of the expanded line is analyzed in the current thesis. Taking the expected increase of passenger volumes and the operation of the current Blue line into account and following the safety restrictions, two alternative regular timetables of the expanded Blue line, limited to the morning rush service on a working weekday, have been constructed. The operation at stations of low expected passenger volume on the train is evaluated concerning the satisfaction of the operator. The rst alternative metro operation with trac every 4 minutes during the rush hour is concluded to be less ecient than the second alternative with 5 minutes headway, as 21 % larger amount of rolling stock is needed and more seats are not occupied. Finally, in order to achieve higher operational eciency at the low-demanded stations, a third Blue line operation, that is based on the second alternative and it includes short services, operating on a part of the line and not on the full-length of it, has been proposed. Although the number of trains needed for the morning peak hour operation remains constant between the second and third alternative operations, the proportion of empty seats at the analyzed stations is expected to be lower during the last alternative operation, resulting in a metro line scheduling that satises the operator most.

Projektziel ist die Aktualisierung bzw. Erweiterung der Datengrundlage zur Berechnung und Fortschreibung der Schienenverkehrsemissionen Sachsens im Bereich des Güterverkehrs, des Schienenpersonenfernverkehrs und des Rangierbetriebs sowie deren georeferenzierte Abbildung im GIS. Die Beschreibung des Ist-Zustandes bezieht sich dabei auf das Jahr 2010. Auf Basis der Fahrleistungen sowie der entsprechend des aktualisierten Fahrzeugeinsatzes ermittelten Emissionsfaktoren wurden motorbedingte und nicht motorbedingten Emissionen durch Abrieb berechnet. Die Emissionen wurden streckenspezifisch in t/km*a sowie absolut in t/a berechnet und auf das GIS des sächsischen Emissionskatasters übertragen. Die Ergebnisse liegen in Tabellenform sowie im Shape-Format vor.

This research aims to investigate the application of infrared thermography (IRT) as a method of nondestructive evaluation (NDE) for the detection of defects in the rail base area. Rails have to withstand harsh conditions during their application. Therefore, defects can develop in the base area of rails due to stresses such as bending, shear, contact, and thermal stresses, fatigue, and corrosion. Such defects can cause catastrophic failures in the rails, ultimately leading to train derailments. Rail base defects due to fatigue and corrosion are difficult to detect and currently there are no reliable or practical non-destructive evaluation (NDE) methods for finding these types of defects in the revenue service. Transportation Technology Center, Inc. (TTCI) had previously conducted a research on the capability of flash IRT to detect defects in rail base area based on simulation approach. The research covered in this thesis is the continuation of the same project.In this research, three rail samples were prepared with each containing a notched-edge, side-drilled holes (SDHs), and bottom-drilled holes (BDHs). Two steel sample blocks containing BDHs and SDHs of different sizes and depths were also prepared. Preliminary IRT trials were conducted on the steel samples to obtain an optimal IRT setup configuration. The initial inspections for one of the steel samples were outsourced to Thermal Wave Imaging (TWI) where they employed Thermographic Signal Reconstruction (TSR) technique to enhance the resulting images. Additional inspections of the steel samples were performed in the Southern Illinois University-Carbondale (SIUC) facility. In case of the rail samples, the SDHs and the notched-edge reflectors could not be detected in any of the experimental trials performed in this research. In addition, two more rail samples containing BDHs were prepared to investigate the detection capabilities for three different surface conditions: painted, unpainted, and rusted. The painted surface provided a best-case scenario for inspections while the other conditions offered further insight on correlating the application to industry-like cases.A 1300 W halogen lamp was employed as the heat source for providing continuous thermal excitation for various durations. Post-processing and analysis of the resulting thermal images was performed within the acquisition software using built-in analysis tools such as temperature probes, Region of Interest (ROI) based intensity profiles, and smoothing filters. The minimum defect diameter to depth (aspect) ratio detected in preliminary trials for the steel sample blocks were 1.0 at a diameter of 4.7625 mm (0.1875 in) and 1.5 at a diameter of 3.175 mm (0.125 in). For the inspection of painted rail sample, the longest exposure times (10 sec) provided the best detection capabilities in all sets of trials. The three holes having aspect ratio greater or equal to 1.0 were indicated in the thermal response of the painted and rusted samples while only the two holes having aspect ratio greater or equal to 1.5 were indicated in the unaltered sample. Indications of reflectors were identified through qualitative graphical analysis of pixel intensity distributions obtained along a bending line profile. The results obtained from the painted sample provided a baseline for analyzing the results from the unpainted and rusted rail samples. This provided an insight on the limitations and requirements for future development. The primary takeaway is the need for an optimized heat source. Poor contrast in the resulting image for the unpainted and rusted rail samples is experienced due to both noise and lack of penetration of the heat energy. This could have been due to decreased emissivity values. Moreover, the excitation method employed in this research does not comply with current industry standards for track clearances. Therefore, exploration of alternative excitation methods is recommended.

Vårt examenarbete om ankarskenor i byggandet omfattar implementering av en ny teknik i byggandet i form av föringjutna ankarskenor för installationer av VS rör, ventilation, sprinkler och EL. I en allt mer globaliserad värld råder en allt högre konkurrensutsatt marknad, vilket gör att det också ställs högre krav på entreprenörerna inom byggsektorn. Att man inom produktionen ägnar sig åt aktiviteter som inte tillfört något värde till slutprodukten klassas som slöseri. Konsten att effektivisera sina arbetsmetoder för att därmed uppnå en mer effektiv produktion, samt minska rådande slöseri anses inte vara en enkel uppgift inom byggindustrin. Byggindustrin har uppfattningen om att branschen är unik i sitt slag då förutsättningarna ständigt förändras. En betydande del av detta slöseri är aktiviteter knutna till internhanteringen av material. Slöseriet kan visa sig i form av väntan, materialspill, skador och produktionsstörningar.Byggbranschen anmäler fler arbetsolyckor med sjukfrånvaro än genomsnittet för samtliga branscher. Byggbranschen har i jämförelse med många andra branscher även en betydligt mer fysiskt påfrestande arbetsmiljö. Det handlar då bland annat om tunga lyft, buller och vibrationer. Alla de intervjuade var eniga om att de besparingar som görs med ankarskenor i förhållande till traditionell montering är att momenten borrning och montering av skruvankare eller slagankare försvinner. Analysen visar att tiden för montering har reducerats för alla yrkesgrupper förutom EL. Det visar sig att sprinkler har mest att vinna på monteringen av ankarskena, då de får en reducering på 66% av tiden för montering. VS och ventilation får en minskning på 50% vardera för tidsåtgången vid montering. En våning på vårdbyggnad BY 35 i norra sjukhusområdet är 3480m2. De tidsmässiga besparingarna med ankarskenor är 45,41h per våning. Vilket ger en total tidsmässig besparing för installationerna med ankarskenorna på 0,013 h/m2. Arbetsmomenten för en montering och utmätning på ett Peri skydeck normalvalv på 2200m2 med skenor tar cirka 30 timmar att utföra. I tillägg kommer sedan en rengöring av skenorna där gummiskyddet ska plockas ut och betongrester tas bort maskinellt med en mejselhammare. Den processen tar armerarna cirka 50 timmar att utföra, vilket ger en tidsåtgång för utsättning och rengöring på 0,036h/m2. Utsättningen äter därför upp besparingarna som görs med ankarskenorna i förhållande till traditionell montering.Alla nya metoder har sina utmaningar när de implementeras på arbetsplatsen Även ankarskenorna har detaljer som behöver förbättras enligt brukarna. Arbetare som använder dem eller är involverade har följande förslag på hur ankarskenorna kan förbättras med hänsyn till tid och arbetsmiljö. På de stråken där det hänger mycket rör bör avstånden och placering ses över. Projektörerna måste vara uppmärksamma på vad där ligger. Skenorna skulle varit lika höga som distanserna för armeringen. Då skulle de kunna användas som distanser för att få ett bättre tryck när armeringen pressar ner skenan på armeringen. Skenorna spikas på plats vilket kan ses som en nackdel. Skenorna hade suttit bättre om de hade skruvats på plats. Momentet som inte har tittats på är när det väl är gjutet ska skumgummilisten som sitter i tas bort. Man bör finna ett smidigare sätt att göra det på. När den dras kommer mycket betongvatten. Ett tunt betongskikt på en millimeter som spjälkas loss när den dras bort leder till att det kommer mycket smuts på golvet eller armeraren som drar bort det. Man borde använda sig av heltäckande skyddsglasögonen av typen goggles, vilket skulle reducera risken för damm och partiklar i ögat vid borrning och rengöring av ankarskena.Noggrannheten och precisionen av hur ”korrekta” tiderna som uppgetts är kan ifrågasättas även om det är projektledare och ledande montörer med flera års erfarenhet som kalkylerat tiderna. Det bör tänkas att det vid upphandling oftast är entreprenörer som ger det lägsta priset som vinner. En sådan upphandling leder till att det är en låg vinstmarginal. Det finns således ett vinstintresse för projektledarna och ledande montörer när de kalkylerar tiderna för montering. Slutsatsen är att tiden för ankarskenorna blir längre än för den traditionella tiden för montering. Det är utsättning och rengöring som bidrar till att det blir en tidsförlust i förhållande till traditionell montering. De tidsmässiga vinsterna i form av mindre städning och hämtning av material kan inte mätas och jämföras per m2. De vinster som ankarskenorna bidrar med tidsmässigt är av mer teoretiskt slag om hur arbetsmomenten kan förändras vid montering. Arbetsmiljön för montörerna förändras och förbättras i form att risken för arbetsskador minimeras eller elimineras. För montörerna försvinner de tunga lyften de måste utföra under borrningen när ankarskenan inte kan användas. Buller, vibrationer, flygande partiklar och kvartsdamm elimineras helt med ankarskenan. För armerarna blir arbetsmiljön sämre då de måste rengöra ankarskenan efter gjutning, risker som rengöringen medför är att arbeta med tunga maskiner som ger buller och vibrationsskador. / Our thesis on anchor rails in construction comprises the implementation of a new technology in construction in terms of precast anchor rails for the installation of VS pipes, ventilation, sprinkler, and electrical equipment. The purpose of the study is to critically evaluate the differences between the traditional installations of VS pipes, ventilation, sprinklers, and electricity in relation to installations with precast anchor rails. Our methods include literature studies, semi-structured interviews, and observations. Our study is a field case study that comprises the implementation of anchor rails in the construction project for the two new care buildings in Malmö hospital area for Region Skåne. The result is based on interviews from fitters of the installations, senior installers and project managers.The analysis shows that sprinklers reduces its time by 66%, pipefitters and ventilation by 50% by eliminating the drilling when installing. The time saved with mounted anchor rails is 45,41hrs per floor which gives a time saving, for installations with anchor rails, of 0,036h/m2. The work activities to mount, measure and clean on a 2200m2 Peri skydeck normal vault with rails, take about 80 hours to carry out. The time spent on placement and cleaning is 0,036m2.The accuracy and precision as to how “correct” the times stated are can be questioned even if they have been calculated by project managers and senior installers with years of experience.The conclusion is that the amount of time required to mount anchor rails is greater than that for traditional mounting. It is placement and cleaning that contribute to a time loss in relation to traditional mounting. The installers’ working environment changes or improves as the risk for work related injuries is minimized or eliminated. Noise, vibrations, flying particles and quartz dust is eliminated when using the anchor rail. For concrete workers, the working environment becomes worse when they must clean the anchor rail after molding as the risks include working with heavy machinery that can cause noise and vibration damage.

The diploma thesis deals with a rail wear in curves with a small radius (R < 500 m), in the national corridor railway, between stations Blansko and Svitavy. The diploma thesis deals with the impact of the track gradient, the horizontal layout of the track, traffic composition, and direction of travel on the size of the horizontal and vertical rail wear. Also, the influence of rail steel grade is discussed in the diploma thesis.

M. Tech. (Department of Logistics Management, Faculty of Management Sciences), Vaal University of Technology. / Supply Chain Management (SCM) departments and, specifically, procurement functions, account for the largest expenditure in most organisations. However, their function has been misunderstood, undervalued, and under-capacitated, and their strategic importance not recognised. As a result, the majority of public agencies in South Africa are implementing their procurement practices poorly. The main research question of this study focused on procurement practices in the state-owned passenger rail agencies in the Gauteng province. A qualitative research method was adopted in which semi-structured interviews were employed to gather data regarding current procurement practices within the procurement function in the state-owned passenger rail agencies. Content analysis was utilised to analyse and interpret data collected from 12 procurement officials employed in the procurement functions within these state-owned passenger rail agencies in the Gauteng province. The findings of this study indicate that there are poor procurement practices within the state-owned passenger rail agencies in the Gauteng province regardless of government initiatives established to address lack of accountability, inconsistency in application of procurement policies, lack of supporting structures and fragmented processes. The detailed findings indicate that the procurement function is still regarded as an administrative function within the state-owned passenger rail agencies. Due to the procurement function still being regarded as an administrative rather than as a strategic function, the procurement function is still under-rated within the state-owned passenger rail agencies in the Gauteng province. The findings also establish that there is poor contract management during the procurement processes. Furthermore, the findings established that there is poor implementation of supplier management within multiple stages of the procurement processes in the state-owned passenger rail agencies in the Gauteng province. Due to poor procurement practices within the passenger rail agencies, eleven challenges were identified within the procurement functions. As a result of the above-mentioned challenges, this study recommends strategies that can be used to address the problems identified within the procurement functions of these state-owned passenger rail agencies in the Gauteng province.

The thesis deals with the situation in public transport on public personal transport service between Prague and Brno. In the thesis, it is analysed the current situation between Prague – Brno from the technical and economic point of view. There is a public rail transport subsidized by Ministry of Transport of the Czech Republic through payment of provable financial losses and private public coach services operated by private carriers on their own business risk. In the context of the current situation, the thesis suggests the focus of the basic parameters for a balanced assessment of the competitive environment for further development of passenger transport (rail, road) with regard to the existing demand and socio-economic aspects in the region.

The thesis deals with the wear of rails in small radius curves and the possible influence of RailJet sets on the increase of wear in the section Brno-Maloměřice – Blansko. As part of the thesis, a search was made of the methods used to evaluate the use of rails. These methods are Vogel's method, Heumann's method and rail wear theory. Subsequently, these methods were applied to the selected sections and an overall evaluation was performed.