Search results for "Construction"
showing 10 items of 2670 documents
Optimización de las propiedades de emulsión de betún para la estabilización de balasto
2017
Ballasted track, while providing economical and practical advantages, is associated with high costs and material consumption due to frequent maintenance. More sustainable alternatives to conventional ballasted trackbeds should therefore aim at extending its durability, particularly considering ongoing increases in traffic speed and loads. In this regard, the authors have investigated a solution consisting of bitumen stabilised ballast (BSB), designed to be used for new trackbeds as well as in reinforcing existing ones. This study presents the idea behind the technology and then focuses on a specific part of its development: the optimisation of bitumen emulsion properties and dosage in relat…
Novel performance-based technique for predicting maintenance strategy of bitumen stabilised ballast
2018
Abstract Despite being the most used worldwide, railway ballasted tracks presents high maintenance cost related to ballast settlement and particle degradation. With the aim of reducing life cycle costs, bitumen stabilised ballast (BSB) has been recently proposed as a relatively cheap alternative maintenance solution to be applied to existing tracks. This study aims at assessing the potential advantages of this technology, defining a novel maintenance strategy of traditional ballasted track-beds. A protocol for the application of the BSB technology and its associated maintenance strategy is defined. To estimate minor and major maintenance operations of BSB scenario in comparison to tradition…
Use of bitumen-stabilised ballast for improving railway trackbed conventional maintenance
2018
Despite its many advantages, ballasted track needs frequent maintenance to ensure an adequate quality of service. However, tamping, traditionally used to correct geometry, causes ballast degradation and loosening of the already compacted ballast layer, which quickly returns the track to its pre-maintenance position. Then, other maintenance techniques such as stoneblowing, as well as diverse solutions that reinforce trackbed, have been developed to reduce ballast settlement and particles degradation. Given the need to further advance research in this field, bitumen-stabilised ballast (BSB) has started to be investigated by the authors as a feasible solution thanks to its easy and quick appl…
Static Performances of Timber- and Bamboo-Concrete Composite Beams: A Critical Review of Experimental Results
2021
The use of composite beams made with traditional concrete and bio-based materials (such as timber and bamboo) is a valuable solution to reduce the environmental impact of the building sector. Timber-Concrete Composite (TCC) beams have been used for decades in structural applications such as new buildings, refurbishment of old timber structures, and bridges. Recently, different researchers suggested composite beams based on engineered bamboo, commonly named Bamboo-Concrete Composite (BCC) beams. This study presents a systematic comparison of structural performances and connection behavior of TCC and BCC beams under short-term static load. TCCs beams are compared to BCC ones using similar she…
Improving accuracy of FIR filters for computing convolution transforms for smooth non-bandlimited signals
2019
We propose to improve the accuracy of FIR filters for computing convolution transforms for smooth non-bandlimited (NBL) signals by designing filters by the identification method with using a pair of bandlimited portions of the chosen NBL input and output signals related with each other by the given transform. A design example of type IV linear phase differentiator is presented, where filter coefficients are calculated from the bandlimited portions of the Cauchy pulse and its derivative. The performance of the designed differentiator is evaluated by comparing the accuracy of computed derivatives for several smooth NBL test signals, such as the Cauchy pulse, the Hilbert transform of Cauchy pu…
Asphalt mixtures modified with basalt fibres for surface courses
2018
Abstract This paper shows the results of an experimental study concerning the effect of introduction of basalt fibres in asphalt mixtures for surface course, mainly with regard to those to be used in urban areas, for dedicated bus lanes. Surface layers, where tire-pavement interactions occur, have to provide different properties such as high friction (very important for users’ safety), stability, resistance to meteorological agents, and contribution to the overall pavement performances. Considering that basalt fibres provide considerable physical and mechanical properties and above all high abrasion resistance, scope of the study is to evaluate the effects of these fibres on mixtures proper…
An adaptive-PCA algorithm for reflectance estimation from color images
2008
This paper deals with the problem of spectral reflectance estimation from color camera outputs. Because the reconstruction of such functions is an inverse problem, stabilizing the reconstruction process is highly desirable. One way to do this is to decompose reflectance function on a basis functions like PCA. The present work proposes an algorithm making PCA adaptive in reflectance estimation from a color camera output. We propose to adapt the PCA basis derivation by selecting, for each sample, the more relevant elements from the training set elements. The adaptivity criterion is achieved by a likelihood measurement. Finally, the spectral reflectance estimation results are evaluated with th…
Reflectance-based surface saliency
2017
In this paper, we propose an original methodology allowing the computation of the saliency maps for high dimensional RTI data (Reflectance Transformation Imaging). Unlike most of the classical methods, our approach aims at devising an intrinsic visual saliency of the surface, independent of the sensor (image) and the geometry of the scene (light-object-camera). From RTI data, we use the DMD (Discrete Modal Decomposition) technique for the angular reflectance reconstruction, which we extend by a new transformation on the modal basis enabling a rotation-invariant representation of reconstructed reflectances. This orientation-invariance of the resulting reflectance shapes fosters a robust esti…
Techno-economic evaluation of PV based institutional smart micro-grid under energy pricing dynamics
2020
Abstract The solar photovoltaic (PV) system with battery energy storage have a lot of potential to provide reliable and cost-effective electricity and to contribute in micro-grid operation. However, the operational performance of such type of micro-grid system depends on many factors (e.g. techno-economic sizing, energy management among the sources, market energy prices dynamics, energy dispatch strategies, etc.). In this paper, a typical Indian institutional energy system has considered for techno-economic performance evaluation for operating as a smart micro-grid under market energy pricing dynamics. The institutional energy system has integrated PV, battery storage and DG for operating a…
On the modelling of an Acid/Base Flow Battery: An innovative electrical energy storage device based on pH and salinity gradients
2020
Abstract Electrical energy storage can enhance the efficiency in the use of fluctuating renewable sources, e.g. solar and wind energy. The Acid/Base Flow Battery is an innovative and sustainable process to store electrical energy in the form of pH and salinity gradients via electrodialytic reversible techniques. Two electromembrane processes are involved: Bipolar Membrane Electrodialysis during the charge phase and its opposite, Bipolar Membrane Reverse Electrodialysis, during the discharge phase. For the first time, the present work aims at predicting the performance of this energy storage device via the development of a dynamic mathematical model based on a multi-scale approach with distr…