A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Engineering. Johannesburg 2016 / This investigation considers the influence of a three spring and damper suspension system (SDS) on overall vehicle performance. Three SDS systems are used in high performance winged racing cars to manage the effects of the aerodynamic forces. The aim of the investigation was to quantify and compare the performance of a three SDS system to that of a conventional two SDS system. The investigation was carried out on the Bailey Cars LMP2 race car. Physical track testing was conducted on Zwartkops Raceway to measure the vehicle’s performance, with further testing conducted on the vehicle’s tyres. A software model of the vehicle and tyres was then created in ADAMS/Car, with models for the conventional two SDS system, as well as the three SDS system. The ADAMS/Car model was then validated against the test data. A Design of Experiments approach was used to investigate the influence of the parameters in both the suspension models. The optimal set of suspension parameters, that maximised vehicle performance on Zwartkops Raceway, was then identified. The performance of the optimal suspension systems was then compared to quantify the effect of the three SDS system. It was found that the optimised three SDS system travelled 4.38 m less than the optimal two SDS in a 60 second simulation on Zwartkops Raceway. However, the three SDS was effectively able to isolate the pitch and roll stiffness of the vehicle. The optimal three SDS had a greater pitch stiffness and less roll stiffness than the two SDS. This is significant for winged vehicles where aerodynamic forces are highly sensitive to vehicle pitch, such as the Bailey Cars LMP2 race car, allowing for a soft wheel rate without sacrificing the pitch stiffness of the vehicle. / MT2017

La voiture de demain semble prendre forme. Elle sera connectée et autonome, c'est à dire qu'elle se substituera complètement à l'être humain. Quelques milliers de véhicules communicants devraient être mis en circulation dès 2016. Par le biais du développement de multiples fonctions avancées d'aide à la conduite et de sécurité active, il est déjà possible de parler d'autonomie partielle de conduite. En effet, ces dernières années, un grand nombre de systèmes sont apparus dans les véhicules, comme par exemple le contrôle adaptatif de vitesse, l'alerte de franchissement de ligne, l'aide au stationnement ... Ils utilisent des technologies de plus en plus perfectionnées qui induisent ainsi des coûts de développement important. Les constructeurs automobiles sont actuellement très nombreux sur le marché. Ils doivent faire face à une concurrence accrue, ce qui influe fortement sur la phase de conception. Ainsi, les délais entre la phase de conception des véhicules et celle de fabrication sont de plus en plus restreints afin d'accroître la compétitivité. A cet effet, la simulation numérique se développe afin de diminuer les coûts liés au prototypage et le temps de mise au point des véhicules . Elle fait appel à des modèles génériques et fins permettant de simuler le comportement du véhicule ou des systèmes présents dans le véhicule. La modélisation de la dynamique des véhicules en régime statique est aujourd'hui chose acquise. En ce qui concerne le régime transitoire, la caractérisation dynamique du comportement du véhicule ou des phénomènes physiques ressentis par les occupants du véhicule a fait depuis longtemps l'objet d'études, mais possède encore des lacunes. Tel est précisément le cas des modèles de pneumatiques actuels qui ne retranscrivent pas correctement le comportement transitoire de cet organe, notamment lors de manœuvres d'urgence.Ces travaux s'inscrivent ainsi dans cette problématique d'amélioration de la représentativité des modèles de pneumatiques en régime transitoire. / The car of tomorrow is taking form. It will be connected and autonomous, i.e. it will substitute for human being. A few thousand of communicating vehicles should be put in circulation by 2016. Through the development of multiple advanced functions of driver assistance and active safety, it is already possible to speak of partial autonomy of conduct. Indeed, these last years, a large number of systems have appeared in vehicles such as adaptive speed control, lane departure warning, parking assistance ... They use technologies more and more sophisticated that lead to significant development costs. Actually, car manufacturers are very numerous on the market. They face increased competition, which strongly influences the design phase. Thus, the time limit between the phase of vehicle design and manufacturing are becoming smaller in order to increase competitiveness. For that purpose, the numerical simulation is developed to reduce prototyping costs and development time of vehicles. It uses generic and accurate models allowing the simulation of the vehicle behavior or the behavior of the other systems in the vehicle. Dynamic modeling of vehicle static behavior is now an acquired thing. As regards the transient behavior, the dynamic characterization of the vehicle behavior or the physical phenomena experienced by the vehicle occupants has long been studied, but still has gaps. This is precisely the case of current tire models that do not correctly transcribe the transient behavior of this body, in particular during emergency maneuvers. This work is inscribed in this problem of transient tire models representativeness improvement.

This report frames the debate over studded tires in terms of economic principles of marginal cost pricing and efficient resource allocation. In the absence of a user tax, the pavement damage caused by studded tires results in inefficient pricing because social costs associated with the damage are excluded from the price paid by consumers. This leads to over use of studded tires. No attempt was made to quantify the safety effects of studded tire use. A review of research literature was provided to qualitatively support the premise that there is no social benefit from studded tires in Oregon. Quantitative cost analysis was limited to pavement rutting on the state highway system that is sufficient to reduce the useful life of the pavement. The cost estimation was conducted in two stages: first, the wear rates for asphalt and Portland cement concrete (PCC) pavement surfaces were estimated, expressed as inches of rut depth per 100,000 studded tire passes. Linear regression analysis was conducted using rut depth, traffic, and studded tire data from a sample of Oregon highways. A range of wear rates was estimated, reflecting the numerous factors that influence rutting susceptibility of pavements. The mid-points of wear rates for asphalt and PCC were 0.0386" and 0.0093", respectively. Second, the wear rate estimates were used to approximate rutting for the state highway system and to predict resurfacing expenses attributable to studded tire traffic. The results indicate that the cost of studded tire damage on Oregon state highways in 1995 was approximately $10 million. This averages to $8 per tire per year. The implications of the cost are then discussed in terms of the allocation effects of underpricing due to an untaxed externality. The external costs pavement damage caused by studded tires result in inefficient pricing because external costs associated with the damage are excluded from the price paid by consumers. This leads to excess use of studded tires. A studded tires tax sufficient to cover attributable maintenance costs would be in the neighborhood of 30% of the purchase price and would result in a sharp decline in the quantity of studded tires in use. / Graduation date: 1998

This thesis is focused on two aspects related to wheeled mobility: 1) Evaluating the impact of a new tire design on powered mobility, and 2) Instrumentation that permits better monitoring and assessment of wheeled mobility in everyday use. The Tweel technology tires developed by Michelin USA are comprised of an outer polyurethane ring supported by polyurethane fins instead of metal spokes, which allow the tire to deflect under pressure. As a wheelchair tire they offer a potential breakthrough as they have deflection properties similar to a pneumatic tire while maintaining the low maintenance of a solid foam-core tire. A study was conducted to compare the Tweel technology tires to standard solid foam-core tires for vibration transmission, traction and overall life span. The Tweel technology tires failed produce any significant difference in vibration transmitted to the user compared to solid foam-core tires. Additionally, the Tweel technology tires showed significant signs of deterioration after a month long field trial, thus indicating a short life span. However, Tweel technology tires provided better traction on both dry and wet concrete. Overall, Tweel technology tires have to be re-engineered to provide better damping properties, leading to lower vibrational levels transmitted to the user. The second section this thesis addressed the need to develop a methodology of measuring mobility in everyday usage. This section is part of a greater ongoing research project at CATEA (Center for Assistive Technology and Environmental Access) aimed at understanding everyday wheelchair usage. Methodology was developed to measure bouts of mobility that characterize wheelchair usage; which includes the number of starts, stops, turns and distance traveled through the day. Three different technologies which included, Accelerometer unit on the rim of the drive wheel, Gyro-Accelerometer unit on the frame of the chair and Reed switches, were tested. Testing included various criteria for accuracy, durability and compatibility for measuring bouts of everyday wheeled mobility. Although a single technology could not be used to measure all aspects of mobility, the Accelerometer unit on the rim met the design criteria for measuring starts stops and distance, while the Gyro-Accelerometer unit met the requirements for measuring turns.

The objective of this study was to remove mercury vapor from municipal waste incinerator (MWI) by the adsorption of powder activated carbon (PAC) prepared from the pyrolysis of waste tire. The study focused on the measurement of mercury concentration in flue gas emitted from municipal waste incinerator, the preparation of PAC from the pyrolysis of the waste tire and impregnated with sulfur, and the adsorption capacity of mercury by the self-made PAC. The measurement of heavy metals in flue gas emitted from four typical MWIs was conducted in this study. Experimental results obtained from the measurement of mercury from flue gas indicated that the removal efficiency of mercury ranged from 83.71%~96.22%for the tested MWIs. This study revealed that the injection of PAC in flue gas would enhance the removal efficiency of mercury. Besides, oxided mercury (Hg2+) can be removed much more easily than elemental mercury (Hg0). Experimental results obtained from the pyrolysis of waste tires indicated that the pyrolysis temperature of waste tire was approximately 400~500¢J, and the percentage of carbon residue is 35~37%. With higher temperature and water feed rate and longer activation time, the specific surface area and total pore volume of PAC increased while the average pore radius decreased. The highest specific surface area of PAC obtained in this study was 996 m2/g. In addition, experimental results obtained from sulfur impregnation process indicated that the specific surface area of PAC decreased dramatically as sulfur was added to PAC. Experiment results obtained from the adsorption capacity of HgCl2 on PAC by column test indicated that PAC with higher specific surface area could adsorb more HgCl2 at room temperature (25¢J). The adsorption capacity of sulfur impregnated PAC decreased at 25¢J was due to the decrease of specific surface area of PAC. However, results from the comparison of two PAC with similar specific surface area indicated that the PAC with higher sulfur content had higher adsorption capacity. It suggested that the addition of sulfur to PAC could enhance the adsorption of HgCl2 at 25¢J. Experimental results obtained from column tests at 150¢J showed that the adsorption capacity of PAC increased as sulfur content of PAC increased. These results suggested that the adsorption mechanism of HgCl2 by PAC was mainly physical adsorption at lower temperature and it was chemisorption at higher temperature. Besides, the self-made PAC demonstrated the similar adsorption capacity of HgCl2 with commercial PAC used in MWIs.

Recently Michelin has been developing a new airless, integrated tire and wheel combination called the Tweel. The Tweel promises performance levels beyond those possible with conventional pneumatic technology because of its shear band design, added suspension, and decreased rolling resistance. However, many questions remain as to what kind of environmental impact this radical new design will have. The environmental impact of the Tweel will be compared to a current radial tire used on BMWs, but because of the complexity in manufacturing, using, and disposing these tires it is somewhat difficult to compare environmental problems. Currently there are environmental issues all throughout a tire's lifespan from rubber manufacturing emissions to tire disposal, and the rapidly growing method to evaluate all of these points is Life Cycle Analysis (LCA). LCA is the essential tool required by businesses in order to understand the total environmental impact of their products - cradle-to-grave. By considering the entire life cycle of a Tweel from manufacturing, through use and disposal, and comparing it to knowledge of current tires, an accurate assessment of the entire environmental impact of the Tweel will be made. Since the Tweel is currently still in the research phase and is not currently manufactured and used however, there are uncertainties with respect to end-of-life scenarios and rolling resistance estimates that will affect the LCA. Thus, it will be important to consider a range of options to determine which one will have the most environmental benefits while still keeping the strengths of the Tweel design intact.

Thesis (M.S.)--Oregon State University, 2010. / Printout. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 120-125). Also available on the World Wide Web.

Thesis (M. Phil.)--University of Hong Kong, 2010. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 129-142). Also available in print.

Thesis (M. Phil.)--Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 241-249). Also available in electronic version. Access restricted to campus users.

Thesis (M.App.Sc.) - Carleton University, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 108-112). Also available in electronic format on the Internet.