Platelets made of slit and chopped unidirectional, carbon-fiber prepreg are becoming a popular option for use as a high performance molding compound because of their high fiber volume fraction and increased ability to flow compared to continuous fiber systems. As this molding compound is newly introduced to industry, increasing amounts of research have gone into understanding how platelets flow during molding and how components perform mechanically based on the final orientation state of platelets. This work investigates the performance of prepreg platelet molding compound (PPMC) as a viable alternative to continuous fiber systems for use with geometrically complex structural members on vehicles subjected to collisions. In doing so, the crash performance, energy absorption, and failure morphology of crush tubes made with PPMC are investigated and quantified. Then, a simulation methodology is developed to obtain manufacturing-informed performance models to predict the effect of platelet orientation state on mechanical behavior of PPMC components. This methodology uses a building block approach where each block in modeling is verified against closed-form solution (when available) and validated against experimental results. Once confidence is developed in a modeling block, the complexity of the simulation is increased until a component with full platelet orientation distribution is captured. The result is PPMC component models that are capable of predicting mechanical performance in orientation regimes that are not investigated experimentally.

Diss. Lund : Lunds tekniska högskola, 2005.

Cette thèse se situe au croisement de deux domaines : la sûreté de fonctionnement des systèmes critiques et les méthodes formelles. Nous cherchons à établir la cohérence des analyses de sûreté de fonctionnement réalisées à l’aide de modèles représentant un même système à des niveaux de détail différents. Pour cela, nous proposons une notion de raffinement dans le cadre de la conception de modèles AltaRica : un modèle détaillé raffine un modèle abstrait si le modèle abstrait simule le modèle détaillé. La vérification du raffinement de modèles AltaRica est supportée par l’outil de model-checking MecV. Ceci permet de réaliser des analyses multi-systèmes à l’aide de modèles à des niveaux de détail hétérogènes : le système au centre de l’étude est détaillé tandis que les systèmes en interface sont abstraits. Cette approche a été appliquée à l’étude d’un système de contrôle de gouverne de direction d’un avion connecté à un système de génération et distribution électrique. / This thesis links two fields : system safety analyses and formal methods.We aim at checking the consistensy of safety analyses based on formal models that represent a system at different levels of detail. To reach this objective, we introduce a refinement notion in the AltaRica modelling process : a detailed model refines an abstract model if the abstract model simulates the detailed model. The AltaRica model refinement verification is supported by the MecV model-checker. This allows to perform multi-system safety analyses using models with heterogeneous levels of detail : the main system is detailed whereas the interfaced systems remain abstract. This approach has been applied to the analysis of a rudder control system linked to an electrical power generation and distribution system.

The thesis aims at analyzing the concepts of risk and safety as well as the class of concepts to which they belong, thick concepts, focusing in particular on the normative aspects involved. Essay I analyzes thick concepts, i.e. concepts such as cruelty and kindness that seem to combine descriptive and evaluative features. The traditional account, in which thick concepts are analyzed as the conjunction of a factual description and an evaluation, is criticized. Instead, it is argued that the descriptive and evaluative aspects must be understood as a whole. Furthermore, it is argued that the two main worries evoked against non-naturalism – that non-naturalism cannot account for disagreement and that it is not genuinely explanatory – can be met. Essay II investigates the utilization of the Kripke/Putnam causal theory of reference in relation to the Open Question Argument. It is argued that the Open Question Argument suitably interpreted provides prima facie evidence against the claim that moral kinds are natural kinds, and that the causal theory, as interpreted by leading naturalist defenders, actually underscores this conclusion. Essay III utilizes the interpretation of the Open Question Argument argued for in the previous essay in order to argue against naturalistic reduction of risk, i.e. reduction of risk into natural concepts such as probability and harm. Three different normative aspects of risk and safety are put forward – epistemic uncertainty, distributive normativity and border normativity – and it is argued that these normative aspects cannot be reduced to a natural measure. Essay IV provides a conceptual analysis of safety in the context of societal decision-making, and argues for a notion that explicitly includes epistemic uncertainty, the degree to which we are uncertain of our knowledge of the situation at hand. Some formal versions of a comparative safety concept are also proposed. Essay V puts forward a normative critique against a common argument, viz. the claim that the public should follow the experts’ advice in recommending an activity whenever the experts have the best knowledge of the risk involved. The importance of safety in risk acceptance together with considerations from epistemic uncertainty makes the claim incorrect even after including plausible limitations to exclude ‘external’ considerations. Furthermore, it is shown that the scope of the objection covers risk assessment as well as risk management. Essay VI provides a systematized account of safety engineering practices that clarifies their relation to the goal of safety engineering, namely to increase safety. A list of 24 principles referred to in the literature of safety engineering is provided, divided into four major categories. It is argued that important aspects of these methods can be better understood with the help of the distinction between risk and uncertainty, in addition to the common distinction between risk and probability. / QC 20100803

<p>Safety is an important topic for a wide range of disciplines, such as engineering, economics, sociology, psychology, political science and philosophy, and plays a central role in risk analysis and risk management. The aim of this thesis is to develop a concept of safety that is relevant for decision-making, and to elucidate its consequences for risk and safety research and practices.</p><p>Essay I provides a conceptual analysis of safety in the context of societal decision-making, focusing on some fundamental distinctions and aspects, and argues for a more complex notion than what is commonly given. This concept of safety explicitly includes epistemic uncertainty, the degree to which we are uncertain of our knowledge of the situation at hand. It is discussed the extent to which such a concept may be considered an objective concept, and concluded that it is better seen as an intersubjective concept. Some formal versions of a comparative safety concept are also proposed.</p><p>Essay II explores some consequences of epistemic uncertainty. It is commonly claimed that the public is irrational in its acceptance of risks. An underlying presumption in such a claim is that the public should follow the experts’ advice in recommending an activity whenever the experts have better knowledge of the risk involved. This position is criticised based on considerations from epistemic uncertainty and the goal of safety. Furthermore, it is shown that the scope of the objection covers the entire field of risk research, risk assessment as well as risk management.</p><p>Essay III analyses the role of epistemic uncertainty for principles of achieving safety in an engineering context. The aim is to show that to account for common engineering principles we need the understanding of safety that has been argued for in Essays I-II. Several important principles in engineering safety are analysed, and it is argued that we cannot fully account for them on a narrow interpretation of safety as the reduction of risk (understanding risk as the combination of probability and severity of harm). An adequate concept of safety must include not only the reduction of risk but also the reduction of uncertainty.</p>

In dieser Arbeit wird die partielle Autoxidation von Cyclohexan zu Cyclohexanol und Cyclohexanon mit Luftsauerstoff in einem Kapillarrohrreaktor untersucht. Gegenüber dem konventionellen Verfahren wurde die Temperatur auf 180-250°C und der Druck auf 20-80 bar angehoben. Auf diese Weise konnte eine Steigerung der Raum-Zeit-Ausbeute um etwa den Faktor 200 (von 25 kg/m³*h auf ca. 6000 kg/m³*h) erreicht werden. Die Umsätze sind dabei denen der industriellen Anlage vergleichbar. Die Selektivität der partiellen Oxidation zu den Wertprodukten cyclohexanol, Cyclohexanon und Cyclohexylhydroperoxid liegt im Kapillarrohrreaktor mit 80-90 % etwas unter den in der industriellen Anlage erreichbaren Selektivität von ca. 90-95 %. Die Reaktion im Kapillarrohrreaktor wurde auch aus sicherheitstechnischer Perspektive untersucht. Cyclohexan ist in die Explosionsgruppe IIA eingeordnet. Um das System in konservativer Weise zu betrachten, wurde als Stoffsystem Ethen (Referenzgas der Explosionsgruppe IIB) im Gemisch mit Sauerstoff bzw. Lachgas ausgewählt. Es wurde ein Versuchsaufbau konstruiert, mit dem ex möglich war stabile Detonationen zu erzeugen, diese in die Mikrostruktur einzuleiten und deren Ausbreitung und ggf. Austritt aus der Mikrostruktur zu beobachten. Im Versuchsprogramm wurde der Anfangsdruck im Bereich von 0,1 bis 10 bar und der Rohrdruchmesser der eingesetzten Kapillarrohr im Bereich von 0,13 - 1 mm variiert. Es zeigt sich, dass sich stabile Detonationen von stöchiometrischen Ethen/Sauerstoff-Gemischen bei einem Anfangsdruck von 1 bar abs gerade noch durch eine Kapillare mit einem Innendurchmesser von 0,13 mm ausbreiten können. Es wurde aus den Messdaten und theoretischen Betrachtungen eine Kennzahl für die Bewertung von Mikrostrukturierten Bauteilen entwickelt und diskutiert: der maximale sichere Rohrdurchmesser. / In this thesis a process is described for the uncatalyzed selective oxidation of cyclohexane with air at high-p, T-conditions in a micro capillary reactor. At 533 K a spacetime-yield of about 6000 kg/(m3 ? h) is reached, which corresponds to a size of 2 m x 2 m x 2 m(8 m3) of the microstructured reactor assuming a capacity of 100000 t/a compared to 500 m3 total reactor volume realized with a cascade of bubble columns of each about 100 m3. Unfortunately, selectivity drops at this temperature below 80 % which is significantly lower than the selectivity in the conventional process. With the help of the Hatta number, mass transfer limitations can be excluded for the micro capillary reactor, whereas the bubble column reactor is weakly limited by the gas/liquid mass transfer of the molecular oxygen. Thus, process intensification by enhancing mass transfer using a microstructured reactor for cyclohexane oxidation with air is quite low. Furthermore a method and its corresponding results are presented for the determination of maximum safe capillary diameters, which may be used to describe the extended range of safe operation conditions for gas phase oxidation reactions in microstructured reactor devices. Sections of stainless steel micro capillaries of different inner diameters are mounted between a primary and a secondary chamber. An explosion is ignited in the primary chamber, where also a deflagration to detonation transition occurs. The propagation of the detonation through the stainless steel micro capillaries is monitored by pressure transducers located between the sections of the micro capillaries. This setup is used in order to determine explosion velocities inside the capillaries, maximum safe initial pressures and corresponding maximum safe capillary diameters. Initial investigations are performed with an ideal stoichiometric mixture necessary for complete combustion of ethene with oxygen respectively ethene and nitrous oxide at room temperature. The measured maximum safe capillary diameters obey an indirect proportionality to the initial pressures. The maximum safe capillary diameter can be estimated on the basis of the lambda/3-rule.

A system safety assurance case aims to demonstrate that a system is reasonably safe within the parameters defined according to its intended use. A system safety assurance case involves the definition of a Safety Engineering Process and its execution for the particular system. An essential element in the Safety Engineering Process is hazard analysis. An often used version of hazard analysis is HAZOP. HAZOP identifies hazards and hazardous events in the system's design. Traditionally, HAZOP is performed based on the expertise of a multi-disciplinary team. This team uses a heuristic based approach that results in documented output that often does not include adequate traceability as to how the output results were obtained. This thesis proposes a systematic approach to HAZOP that was developed after performing detailed analysis on how traditional HAZOP is performed in industry. It aims to produce documented output in which the output results are traceable to interim steps in the process. We call this systematic approach HAZOP+, because it was designed to provide sufficient detail so that it can form the basis of a HAZOP metamodel created in Workflow+ - a relatively new model driven methodology for developing assurance cases. Workflow+ has well-defined semantics, and so we refer to HAZOP+ as formalizable. HAZOP+ has a number of benefits over traditional HAZOP, and these benefits are demonstrated by comparing a traditional application of HAZOP with the application of HAZOP+, both applied to a typical Lane Keeping Assist feature. A long term objective of system safety assurance is to be able to perform incremental safety assurance, for example, by updating the system safety assurance case after a modification to the system or its environment. Since the safety assurance case for a system depends on elements of the Safety Engineering Process, as well as the outputs of that process, the ability to perform an incremental hazard analysis after a modification to the system or environment can be a real benefit. This thesis further describes how HAZOP+ can be enhanced/extended to HAZOPdelta - an incremental version of HAZOP+. / Thesis / Master of Applied Science (MASc)

As vehicles become more complex, the work required to ensure that they are safe increases enormously. This in turn results in a much more complicated task of testing systems, subsystems, and components to ensure that they are safe individually as well as when they are integrated. As a result, managing the safety engineering process for vehicle development is of major interest to all automotive manufacturers. The goal of this research is to introduce a tool that provides support for a new framework for modeling safety processes, which can partially address some of these challenges. WorkFlow+ is a framework that was developed to combine both data flow and process flow to increase traceability, enable users to model with the desired granularity safety engineering workflow for their products, and produce assurance cases for regulators and evaluators to be able to validate that the product is safe for the users and the public. With the development of an editor, it will bring WorkFlow+ to life. / Thesis / Master of Applied Science (MASc)

<p>EfficientNet is designed to achieve top accuracy while utilizing fewer parameters, in addition to less computational resources compared to previous models. </p> <p><br></p> <p>In this paper, we are presenting compound scaling method that re-weight the network's width (w), depth (d), and resolution (r), which leads to better performance than traditional methods that scale only one or two of these dimensions by adjusting the hyperparameters of the model. Additionally, we are presenting an enhanced EfficientNet Backbone architecture. </p> <p><br></p> <p>We show that EfficientNet achieves top accuracy on the ImageNet dataset, while being up to 8.4x smaller and up to 6.1x faster than previous top performing models. The effectiveness demonstrated in EfficientNet on transfer learning and object detection tasks, where it achieves higher accuracy with fewer parameters and less computation. Henceforward, the proposed enhanced architecture will be discussed in detail and compared to the original architecture.</p> <p><br></p> <p>Our approach provides a scalable and efficient solution for both academic research and practical applications, where resource constraints are often a limiting factor.</p> <p><br></p>

Safety is an important topic for a wide range of disciplines, such as engineering, economics, sociology, psychology, political science and philosophy, and plays a central role in risk analysis and risk management. The aim of this thesis is to develop a concept of safety that is relevant for decision-making, and to elucidate its consequences for risk and safety research and practices. Essay I provides a conceptual analysis of safety in the context of societal decision-making, focusing on some fundamental distinctions and aspects, and argues for a more complex notion than what is commonly given. This concept of safety explicitly includes epistemic uncertainty, the degree to which we are uncertain of our knowledge of the situation at hand. It is discussed the extent to which such a concept may be considered an objective concept, and concluded that it is better seen as an intersubjective concept. Some formal versions of a comparative safety concept are also proposed. Essay II explores some consequences of epistemic uncertainty. It is commonly claimed that the public is irrational in its acceptance of risks. An underlying presumption in such a claim is that the public should follow the experts’ advice in recommending an activity whenever the experts have better knowledge of the risk involved. This position is criticised based on considerations from epistemic uncertainty and the goal of safety. Furthermore, it is shown that the scope of the objection covers the entire field of risk research, risk assessment as well as risk management. Essay III analyses the role of epistemic uncertainty for principles of achieving safety in an engineering context. The aim is to show that to account for common engineering principles we need the understanding of safety that has been argued for in Essays I-II. Several important principles in engineering safety are analysed, and it is argued that we cannot fully account for them on a narrow interpretation of safety as the reduction of risk (understanding risk as the combination of probability and severity of harm). An adequate concept of safety must include not only the reduction of risk but also the reduction of uncertainty. / QC 20101119