Hand hygiene, cleaning and disinfection are pre-requirements for hygiene management in hospital settings and the food industry. In order to facilitate risk management, different contamination ...scenarios and interventions need to be evaluated. In the present study data on transfer rates and reductions of Staphylococcus aureus were provided in an experimental set-up using artificial skin. Using this methodology, test persons were not exposed with pathogenic bacteria. An exposure assessment model was developed and applied to evaluate different contamination routes and hygiene interventions. The transfer rates of S. aureus from inoculated VITRO-SKIN® to fomites were calculated from blotting series. The VITRO-SKIN® was more prone to spread bacteria than fomites. When different surfaces were cleaned, the reduction of S. aureus varied between <1 and 7 log CFU. It could not be concluded that a certain coupon material, cleaning agent, cleaning wipe, soiling or humidity consistently resulted in a high or low reduction of S. aureus. The reduction of S. aureus and E. coli during hand washing was evaluated on artificial skin, VITRO-SKIN®. The reduction of E. coli on VITRO-SKIN® was similar to the log reduction obtained when washing human hands. The S. aureus count on a human hand was both calculated in different scenarios describing different contamination routes starting from a contaminated hand using the exposure assessment model, and measured on an experimental setup using VITRO-SKIN® for validation. A linear relationship was obtained between the analysed level of S. aureus and the calculated level. However, the calculated levels of S. aureus on the VITRO-SKIN® in the scenarios were 1-1.5 log lower than the analysed level. One of the scenarios was used to study the effect of interventions like hand washing and cleaning of surfaces.
•The new stochastic operating cycle includes models for the weather and traffic.•A primary model for the weather category is introduced to account for seasonality.•A regression analysis is made to ...investigate spread in CO2 emissions.•It is found that both seasonal and traffic settings influence CO2 emissions.
The present paper extends the concept of a stochastic operating cycle (sOC) by introducing additional models for weather and traffic. In regard to the weather parameters, dynamic models for air temperature, atmospheric pressure, relative humidity, precipitation, wind speed and direction are included. The traffic models is instead based on a macroscopic approach which describes the density dynamically by means of a simple autoregressive process. The enhanced format is structured in a hierarchical fashion, allowing for ease of implementation and modularity. The novel models are parametrised starting from data available from external databases. The possibility of generating synthetic data using the statistical descriptors introduced in the paper is also discussed.
To investigate the impact of the novel parameters over energy efficiency, a sensitivity analysis is conducted with a combinatorial test design. Simulation results show that both seasonality and traffic conditions are responsible for introducing major variations in the CO2 emissions.
•A novel road description using stochastic models in a hierarchical structure.•A method for how to generate data possible to simulate in a dynamic model.•Hilliness and stop intensity are the most ...prominent properties in the chosen range.•The statistical method is compared with real log data and the results match well.•Ideas discussed on how to make realistic predictions of CO2 emissions from vehicles.
We propose a novel statistical description of the physical properties of road transport operations by using stochastic models arranged in a hierarchical structure. The description includes speed signs, stops, speed bumps, curvature, topography, road roughness and ground type, with a road type introduced at the top of the hierarchy to group characteristics that are often connected. Methods are described how to generate data on a form (the operating cycle format) that can be used in dynamic simulations to estimate energy usage and CO2 emissions. To showcase the behaviour of the description, two examples are presented using a modular vehicle model for a heavy-duty truck: a sensitivity study on impacts from changes in the environment, and a comparison study on a real goods transport operation with respect to energy usage. It is found that the stop intensity and topography amplitude have the greatest impact in the sensitivity study (8.3% and 9.5% respectively), and the comparison study implies that the statistical description is capable of capturing properties of the road that are significant for vehicular energy usage. Moreover, it is discussed how the statistical description can be used in a vehicle design process, and how the mean CO2 emissions and its variation can be estimated for a vehicle specification.
Marine power cables connected to moving devices at sea may experience millions of load cycles per year, and thus they need to be flexible due to the movements of the cable and designed for mechanical ...loads. In this study, the focus is on the mechanical life of flexible low- and medium voltage power cables connecting devices to hubs. The reliability design method Variational Mode and Effect Analysis (VMEA) is applied, based on identifying and quantifying different types of uncertainty sources, including scatter, model and statistical uncertainties. It implements a load–strength approach that combines numerical simulations to assess the loads on the cable and experimental tests to assess the strength of the cable. The VMEA method is demonstrated for an evaluation of bending fatigue, and is found to be a useful tool to evaluate uncertainties in fatigue life for WEC (Wave Energy Converter) system cables during the design phase. The results give a firm foundation for the evaluation of safety against fatigue and are also helpful for identifying weak spots in the reliability assessment, thereby motivating actions in the improvement process. Uncertainties in terms of scatter, statistical uncertainty and model uncertainty are evaluated with respect to the WaveEL 3.0, a WEC designed by the company Waves4Power, and deployed in Runde, Norway. A major contribution to the overall uncertainty is found to originate from the fatigue life model, both in terms of scatter and model uncertainty.
Wave energy conversion is a renewable energy technology with a promising potential. Although it has been developed for more than 200 years, the technology is still far from mature. The survivability ...in extreme weather conditions is a key parameter halting its development. We present here results from two weeks of measurement with a force measurement buoy deployed at Uppsala University’s test site for wave energy research at the west coast of Sweden. The collected data have been used to investigate the reliability for two typical numerical wave energy converter models: one low fidelity model based on linear wave theory and one high fidelity Reynolds-Averaged Navier–Stokes model. The line force data is also analysed by extreme value theory using the peak-over-threshold method to study the statistical distribution of extreme forces and to predict the return period. The high fidelity model shows rather good agreement for the smaller waves, but overestimates the forces for larger waves, which can be attributed to uncertainties related to field measurements and numerical modelling uncertainties. The peak-over-threshold method gives a rather satisfying result for this data set. A significant deviation is observed in the measured force for sea states with the same significant wave height. This indicates that it will be difficult to calculate the force based on the significant wave height only, which points out the importance of more offshore experiments.
Purpose
This article presents a proposal for an operating cycle format for describing transport missions of road vehicles, for example a logging truck fetching its cargo. The primary application is ...in dynamic simulation models for evaluation of energy consumption and other costs of transportation. When applied to product development, the objective is an ensemble of components and functions optimised for specific tasks and environments. When applied to selection of vehicle configuration, the objective is a vehicle specification tailored for its task.
Method
The proposal is presented and its four main parts: road, weather, traffic and mission, are thoroughly explained. Furthermore, we implement the proposal in an example of a dynamic forward simulation model.
Results
The example model is used for two case studies: a synthetic example of a complex transport mission (a logging truck fetching its cargo) that shows some advanced format features, and an example from a real vehicle log file (cargo transport) that seeks to compare the resulting simulated speed profile to the measured one.
Conclusion
The results show that the proposed format works in practice. It can represent complex transport missions and it can be used to reproduce the main features of a logged speed profile even when combined with simple driver and vehicle models.
The Gaussian model is frequently used for modelling environmental loads, e.g. sea elevation, wind loads and road profiles. However, the Gaussian model is often only valid for short sections of the ...load. For example, for roads profiles, short sections of roads, say 100 m, is well modelled by a Gaussian process, whereas longer sections of roads, say 10km, typically contain shorter sections with high irregularity, and the variability between sections is higher than what can be explained by the stationary Gaussian model. This phenomenon can be captured by a Laplace process, which can be seen as a Gaussian process with randomly varying variance. Thus, the Gaussian process is a special case of the Laplace process. Further, the expected damage can be computed from the parameters of the Laplace process. We will give examples of modelling road profiles using Laplace models. Especially, it will be demonstrated how to reconstruct a road profile based on sparse road roughness measurements, such as a sequence of IRI (International Roughness Index) for 100 metre road sections. Further, IRI data from the Finnish road network will be evaluated.
There are many uncertainties associated with the estimation of extreme loads acting on a wave energy converter (WEC). In this study we perform a sensitivity analysis of extreme loads acting on the ...Uppsala University (UU) WEC concept. The UU WEC consists of a bottom-mounted linear generator that is connected to a surface buoy with a taut mooring line. The maximum stroke length of the linear generator is enforced by end-stop springs. Initially, a Variation Mode and Effect Analysis (VMEA) was carried out in order to identify the largest input uncertainties. The system was then modelled in the time-domain solver WEC-SIM coupled to the dynamic mooring solver Moody. A sensitivity analysis was made by generating a surrogate model based on polynomial chaos expansions, which rapidly evaluates the maximum loads on the mooring line and the end-stops. The sensitivities are ranked using the Sobol index method. We investigated two sea states using equivalent regular waves (ERW) and irregular wave (IRW) trains. We found that the ERW approach significantly underestimate the maximum loads. Interestingly, the ERW predicted wave height and period as the most important parameters for the maximum mooring tension, whereas the tension in IRW was most sensitive to the drag coefficient of the surface buoy. The end-stop loads were most sensitive to the PTO damping coefficient.
Textile reinforced concrete (TRC) has emerged as a promising alternative wherein corrosion is no longer an issue and much thinner and light-weight elements can be designed. Although TRC has been ...expansively researched, the formalization of experimental methods concerning durability arises when attempting to implement and design such innovative building materials. In this study, accelerated ageing tests paired with tensile tests were performed. The change in physico-mechanical properties of various commercially available textile reinforcements was documented and evaluated. The ability for the reinforcements to retain their tensile capacity was also quantified in the form of empirical degradation curves. It was observed that accelerated test parameters typically applied to fibre-reinforced polymer (FRP) bars and grids are generally too aggressive for the textile reinforcement products and alternative boundary conditions are necessary. The developed degradation curves were found to have an overall good correlation with the experimental findings.
•Accelerated ageing and tensile tests on textile reinforcement with standard methods.•Documented change in physico-mechanical properties of textiles.•Empirical degradation curves describing the tensile retention rate of textiles.•Methods developed for end anchorage and measurement of strain up to failure.
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