Rail vehicle designers and analysts can benefit from the results of vehicle parameter estimation. Using this technique, they can determine the effects of suspension design decisions, and they can reduce the amount of on-track testing required to qualify new designs for service. This work addresses two major issues: the determination of parameter identifiability and the estimation of rail vehicle parameters from laboratory tests. Usually, the identifiability issue should be addressed first since identifiability determines the number of independent parameters that can be estimated. The general issues of identifiability and parameter estimation are discussed. Two identifiability tests are explored in-depth, as is a Bayesian least-squares parameter estimation method. Laboratory tests from a lightweight intermodal rail vehicle with single-axle trucks provided the data for the parameter estimation. The test setup and a simple vehicle mathematical model provided the structure for the identifiability determination. This work shows that identifiability and estimation issues closely interact. Even if a system is not identifiable, the Bayesian estimation method can return results. Thus, the Bayesian method can instill false confidence in the validity of the estimation results. Estimation of experimental data with a linear model provided values within one percent for the mass and damped natural frequency, and ten percent for the peak amplitude. Excellent agreement with the experimental data was obtained for frequencies above the resonant peak and for very low frequencies. Error at frequencies slightly below the resonant peak, however, indicated the vehicle contained significant nonlinearities. To achieve closer agreement between model response and test response at these frequencies, a nonlinear vehicle model is needed. / Master of Science

Decision-makers involved in material choice decisions in the United States infrastructure were surveyed to identify factors which are important in the material choice decision and to determine the perceptions of wood in various infrastructure applications. This information led to the development of strategies to increase the use of wood in infrastructure markets across the US. The highway, marine/inland waterway, railroad and utility systems composed the four markets representing the US infrastructure. A total of 2344 questionnaires were mailed nationwide. The perceptions of wood were further defined through personal interviews with 112 individuals in four geographically dispersed states. The most important factors in material choice decisions were durability, maintenance and cost. Environmental impact, ease of design and innovativeness of material were less important in the material choice decision. Highway and marine/inland waterway respondents perceived wood to be among the lowest materials in overall performance. Railroad and utility respondents perceived wood to have significantly better overall performance than highway and marine/inland waterway respondents. Respondents perceived wood's advantages to be its aesthetically pleasing appearance, low initial cost, ease in repair and ease in field modification. They perceived the disadvantages of wood to be high life-cycle costs, high maintenance requirements and low biological decay resistance. Several strategies are suggested to increase wood use in infrastructure, including: greater market approach by the wood products industry, improved timber structure design details, and increased service life of wood through improved chemical preservative treatments. / Master of Science

This urban thesis proposes the restructuring of a small railroad town that concentrates on vertical growth, publicly shared urban spaces, and the distinction between town and country. A new organization of building types reflects the modern lifestyle of the town which focuses on the integration of school and community activities. Boundaries are used as barriers to prevent horizontal sprawl. / Master of Architecture

[pt] O transporte é geralmente o elemento mais importante nos custos logísticos, para a maioria das empresas. A movimentação de fretes absorve, segundo Ballou (1993), entre um e dois terços do total de custos logísticos. Dentro desse panorama desenvolveu-se este estudo sobre multimodalidade. O foco está nas instalações e serviços que compõem o sistema de transporte multimodal, com especial destaque para a infra-estrutura portuária, nas taxas (custos) e no desempenho dos vários serviços envolvidos. O principal objetivo do trabalho é compreender como o processo de privatização das estruturas de transporte, portos, ferrovias e rodovias, viabilizou a evolução da Multimodalidade como alternativa ao transporte nacional. Um assunto relativamente novo, ainda pouco explorado academicamente e com escassas referencias bibliográficas. Para que se tenha um entendimento de como o processo de privatização transformou as estruturas de transporte, especialmente a atividade portuária brasileira, viabilizando o transporte multimodal e obviamente as vantagens dele decorrentes, fez- se necessária a abordagem de temas congruentes, como a logística e também os cenários dos modos de transporte rodoviário, ferroviário e o marítimo (cabotagem). Nesta fase também se analisam os modos de transporte e os respectivos processos de privatização e cenário atual, de suas estruturas e os operadores logísticos, assuntos que contribuem para um melhor entendimento das questões relativas ao Operador de Transporte Multimodal. / [en] Inside of this panorama this study was developed on multimodality. The focus is in the installations and services that compose the system of multimodal transport, with special prominence for the port infrastructure, in the taxes (costs) and the performance of the some involved services. The main objective of the work is to understand as the process of privatization of the transport structures, ports, railroads and highways, it made possible the evolution of Multimodalidade as alternative to the national transport. A relatively new subject, still little explored academically and with scarce bibliographical references. For a well understanding as the privatization process transformed the transport structures, especially the Brazilian port activity, making possible the multimodal transport and obviously the decurrently advantages of the boarding of congruence´s subjects became necessary, as logistic and also the scenes in the ways of road transport, railroad worker and the marine (cabotage). In this phase also the ways of transport and the respective processes of privatization and current scene are analyzed, of its structures and the logistic operators, subjects that contribute for one better agreement of the relative questions the Operator of Multimodal Transport.

In American rail operations, rails fail due to the combined effects of rail wear due to repetitive wheel contact and the growth of surface and sub-surface cracks and flaws. Rail maintenance includes frequent uncoupled wear and ultrasonic inspections that determine the amount of wear that the rail has undergone and the presence of cracks and flaws. A rail is removed from service when its wear reaches a pre-determined wear limit or a flaw is detected in its cross section. In rail research, the life of a rail is typically estimated using fracture mechanic or fatigue methods and an assumed flaw geometry. Multiple models ranging from complex elastic-plastic finite element models to simplified representations of a beam on an elastic foundation have been developed to predict the life of a rail. The majority of rail failure models do not incorporate rail wear into their analysis, and assume an unworn rail geometry. In order to account for rail wear, certain models adopt simplified rail geometries that uncouple rail wear into top-wear and side-wear. This thesis presents a rail failure model that describes the combined effects of rail wear and crack growth through the development of a functional relationship between input variables describing the geometry, loading, and material properties of a given rail and output variables describing the life characteristics of the rail. This relationship takes the form of multiple response surfaces estimating the desired output variables. Finite element models incorporating worn rail profiles and an assumed crack geometry corresponding to a detail fracture are combined to determine the state of stress and strain at the assumed flaw. Strain-life fatigue methods and fracture mechanic concepts are used to develop the output variables necessary to describe the life of the rail using the finite element model results. The goals of this research are to predict the remaining fatigue life and estimate the crack-growth rate of the rail based on the minimum number of geometry, loading, and material property independent variables. The outputs developed to describe the rail's remaining life are intended to be used for the decision making for rail removal. / Master of Science

This thesis argues that three models of trauma theory, which include traditional trauma theory, postcolonial trauma theory, and cultural trauma theory, must be joined to fully understand the trauma experienced by African Americans within the novels Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison and The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead. By implementing these three theories, we can see how each novel’s main character is exploring and learning about African American trauma and better understand how an adjustment of space and time creates the possibility for the implementation of trauma theory. Each novel presents a journey, and it is through this movement through space that each character can serve as a witness to African American trauma. This is done in Morrison’s text by condensing the geographical space of the American north and south into one town, which serves to pluralize African American culture. In Whitehead’s text, American history is removed from its chronological place, which creates a duality that instills Freud’s theory of the uncanny within both the character and the reader. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2017. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Lam Pui Wing Caspar. / "Architecture Department, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Master of Architecture Programme 2008-2009, design report." / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 110). / Introduction / Preface --- p.2 / Table of Content --- p.4 / Research / Mobility Definition --- p.8 / Mobility & City --- p.10 / Mobility: Issues & Concerns --- p.13 / Methodological Research --- p.14 / Case Study 1 - Urban Design of Philadelphia --- p.16 / Case Study 2 - The McCormickTribune Campus Centre --- p.22 / Macau Lightrail: Background Research / Abstracted Renderings --- p.26 / Lightrail Scheme Development Process --- p.28 / Newspaper Cuttings --- p.30 / Mapping of Macau LRT: at PRD Scale --- p.34 / Mapping of Macau LRT: at City Scale --- p.36 / Zooming into the 23 Stations --- p.38 / Design Preliminary Stage / Site Study --- p.42 / Methodology Experiments --- p.52 / Schemetic Models --- p.54 / Proposed Circulation Pattern --- p.56 / Proposed Network of Open Spaces --- p.58 / Development Models --- p.60 / Presentation / Connection at Regional Scale --- p.64 / Connection at Local Scale --- p.72 / Connection at Architectural Scale --- p.88 / Appendix / Bibliography --- p.110 / Tickets --- p.112 / Panels --- p.114

published_or_final_version / Architecture / Master / Master of Architecture

published_or_final_version / Architecture / Master / Master of Architecture

Made available in DSpace on 2014-08-20T14:23:49Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Andre_Luiz_Silva_Dissertacao.pdf: 1617615 bytes, checksum: b9d6390cbd6486428e180a864460efe9 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-03-20 / En utilisant une méthodologie basée à la micro-histoire, cette recherche est directionée à l´arrière-scène de la faillite, de la liquidation et de l´achat du Chemin de Fer de Araraquara (EFA) par São Paulo Northern Railroad Company (SPNRC) en dépistant le réseau de interactions entre les divers personnages engagés avec la voie ferrée et avec Paul Deleuze, le président de la SPNRC. Après une étude profonde historiographique on a constaté que le engagement de Deleuze avec la EFA est directement en relation avec un emprunt realisé par un groupe d´ investisseur que en 1909 a acquis plus de la moitié des actions de la voie ferée araraquarense. Par un procureur, les administrateurs de la EFA ont établi un accord avec la banque allemande L. Behrens& Sohne. L´emprunt a réalisé à partir des informations peu harmonieuse avec la réelle situation financière de voie ferée, dejà endetté. Avec le emprunt le passif de la voie ferée a augmenté considérablement et comme elle avait dejà vécue les problèmes antérieurs elle a fait faillite en 1914. Dans ce moment, les différentes groupes intéressés au contôle de la EFA sont entrés dans les disputes judicieuses relatives aux supposées irrégularités faites par les directeurs de la voie ferée et par la banque allemande dans la émission des débentures. La Première Grande Guèrre est devenue un obstacle pour ceux qui portaient des débentures afin d´avoir une participation directe dans la liquidation de la EFA, et encore, la banque L. Behrens & Sohne s´en est utlisée pour conduire directament le procès de liquidation de la voie ferée . Paul Louis Joseph Deleuze, banquier et avocat, président d´une banque avec établissement aux États-Unis et avec filial à Paris, c´était un des créanciers. En articulant avec les autres qui portaient des obligations et après avec les banquiers allemands, il a fondé aux États-Unis l´entreprise São Paulo Northern Railroad Company, il est venu au Brésil comme une partie de la stratégie chez les banquiers allemands afin de contrôler la possible annulation du emprunt et encore pour réduire les droits des créanciers. Cette dissertation est une étude à propos des stratégies de Paul Deleuze et d´autres personnages engagés avec la faillite, la liquidation et l´achat du Chemin du Fer Araraquara entre 1909 et 1916 / Utilizando uma metodologia baseada na micro-história, esta pesquisa volta-se para os bastidores da falência, liquidação e compra da Estrada de Ferro Araraquara (EFA) pela São Paulo Northern Railroad Company (SPNRC), rastreando a rede de interações entre os diversos personagens envolvidos com a ferrovia e com Paul Deleuze, presidente da SPNRC. Após um profundo estudo historiográfico constatou-se que o envolvimento de Deleuze com a EFA está diretamente relacionado a um empréstimo realizado por um grupo de investidores que, em 1909, adquiriu mais da metade das ações da ferrovia araraquarense. Por meio de um procurador, os administradores da EFA estabeleceram um acordo com o banco alemão L. Behrens & Sohne. O empréstimo foi realizado a partir de dados pouco condizentes com a real situação financeira da ferrovia, então já endividada. Com o empréstimo o passivo da ferrovia aumentou consideravelmente e como já vivenciava problemas financeiros anteriores, veio a falir em 1914. Neste meio tempo, os diferentes grupos interessados no controle da EFA entraram em disputas judiciais relativas às supostas irregularidades cometidas pelos diretores da estrada de ferro e pelo banco alemão na emissão das debêntures. A Primeira Grande Guerra tornou-se um obstáculo para que os portadores de debêntures pudessem ter uma participação direta na liquidação da EFA, sendo que o banco L. Behrens & Sohne utilizou-se deste fator para conduzir diretamente o processo de liquidação da ferrovia. Paul Louis Joseph Deleuze, banqueiro e advogado, presidente de um banco com sede nos EUA e filial em Paris, era um dos debenturistas. Articulando-se com os demais portadores de obrigações e em seguida com os banqueiros alemãs, fundou nos EUA a empresa São Paulo Northern Railroad Company, vindo para o Brasil como parte da estratégia dos banqueiros alemães em contornar a possível anulação do empréstimo e reduzir os direitos dos debenturistas. A presente dissertação é um estudo a respeito das estratégias de Paul Deleuze e outros personagens envolvidos na falência, liquidação e compra da Estrada de Ferro Araraquara entre 1909 e 1916