Staff publications (SoE)

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Browsing Staff publications (SoE) by Publisher "Blackwell Publishing Ltd"

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    Experimental determination of the overturning moment and net lateral force generated by a novel vertical axis wind turbine: experiment design under load uncertainty
    (Blackwell Publishing Ltd, 2013-01-31T00:00:00Z) Kolios, Athanasios J.; Chahardehi, Amir Ebrahim; Brennan, Feargal P.
    Recent developments in harnessing wind energy propose new, radically different designs to alleviate some of the difficulties associated with conventional wind turbines. New designs however require testing for a variety of reasons ranging from gaining confidence in the analytical models used in the design and development through to satisfaction of certification requirements. Medium-scale prototype testing of large-scale concepts, where parameters such as the response of the structure and the loading conditions are often highly uncertain demand special consideration. This article presents the design of a special test rig and calculation methodology for the experimental determination of the overturning moment and net force generated by the NOVA Vertical Axis Wind Turbine using a field experimental setup. The design of the experimental model involves dealing with modelling uncertainties as loads in operation and therefore the response of the structure are largely unknown before testing has been carried out. The variability in the wind speed and direction also need to be accommodated for.
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    Work-related road safety: An analysis based on U.K. bus driver performance
    (Blackwell Publishing Ltd, 2008-02-28T00:00:00Z) Dorn, Lisa; af Wåhlberg, Anders E.
    The effects of age and experience on accident involvement for bus drivers were investigated, with special emphasis upon the first years of being an operator, using two methods. First, direct calculations between these variables were undertaken. Thereafter, a variant of the method of quasi-induced exposure (a ratio of culpable versus nonculpable accidents in the population) was used and referred to as the indirect method. These methods yielded fairly similar results, given that the samples used were drawn from the same population but only partly overlapping. It was found that experience had the strongest effect on accidents in the first year of driving, while age had a u-shaped association with accidents, that is, young and old drivers had more accidents, something that was more apparent when experience was held constant. These results show that, for bus drivers, experience is initially more important than age, but after two or three years, the effect is small. Thereafter, age is the more discernible variable, although it is a very weak factor in predicting crash risk.