Construction of core@double-shell structured energetic composites with simultaneously enhanced thermal stability and safety performance

The poor thermal stability and high sensitivity severely hinder the practical application of hexanitrohexaazaisowurtzitane(CL-20).Herein,a kind of novel core@double-shell CL-20 based energetic composites were fabricated to address the above issues.The coordination complexes which consist of natural polyphenol tannic acid(TA) and Fe~Ⅲ were chosen to construct the inner shell,while the graphene sheets were used to build the outer shell.The resulting CL-20/TA-Fe~Ⅲ/graphene composites exhibited simultaneously improved thermal stability and safety performance with only 1 wt% double-shell content,which should be ascribed to the intense physical encapsulation effect from inner shell combined with the desensitization effect of carbon nano-materials from outer shell.The phase transition(ε to γ) temperature increased from 173.70 ℃ of pure CL-20 to 191.87℃ of CL-20/TA-Fe~Ⅲ/graphene composites.Meanwhile,the characteristic drop height(H_(50)) dramatically increased from 14.7 cm of pure CL-20 to112.8 cm of CL-20/TA-Fe~Ⅲ/graphene composites,indicating much superior safety performance after the construction of the double-shell structure.In general,this work has provided an effective and versatile strategy to conquer the thermal stability and safety issues of CL-20 and contributes to the future application of high energy density energetic materials.

Safety Performance Functions for Traffic Signals:Phasing and Geometry

A significant proportion of urban crashes,especially serious and fatal crashes,occur at traffic signals.Many of the black-spots in both Australia and New Zealand cities occur at high volume and/or high-speed traffic signals.Given this,crash reduction studies often focus on the major signalised intersections.However,there is limited information that links the phasing configuration,degree of saturation and overall cycle time to crashes.While a number of analysis tools are available for assessing the efficiency of intersections,there are very few tools that can assist engineers in assessing the safety effects of intersection upgrades and new intersections.Safety performance functions have been developed to help quantify the safety impact of various traffic signal phasing configurations and level of intersection congestion at low and high-speed traffic signals in New Zealand and Australia.Data from 238 signalised intersection sites in Auckland,Wellington,Christchurch,Hamilton,Dunedin and Melbourne was used to develop crash prediction models for key crash-causing movements at traffic signals.Different variables(road features)effect each crash type.The models indicate that the safety of intersections can be improved by longer cycle times and longer lost inter-green times,especially all-red time,using fully protected right turns and by extending the length of right turn bays.The exception is at intersections with lots of pedestrians where shorter cycle times are preferred as pedestrian crashes increase with longer wait times.A number of factors have a negative impact on safety including,free left turns,more approach lanes,intersection arms operating near or over capacity in peak periods and higher speed limits.

Dynamic response limit of high-speed railway bridge under earthquake considering running safety performance of train

Due to the wide railway network and different characteristics of many earthquake zones in China,considering the running safety performance of trains(RSPT)in the design of high-speed railway bridge structures is very necessary.In this study,in order to provide the seismic design and evaluation measure of the bridge structure based on the RSPT,a calculation model of RSPT on bridge under earthquake was established,and the track surface response measure when the derailment coefficient reaches the limit value was calculated by referring to 15 commonly used ground motion(GM)intensity measures.Based on the coefficient of variation of the limit value obtained from multiple GM samples,the optimal measures were selected.Finally,the limit value of bridge seismic response based on RSPT with different train speeds and structural periods was determined.

The investigation of NTO/HMX-based plastic-bonded explosives and its safety performance

3-nitro-1,2,4-triazol-5-one(NTO)is the main component of insensitive munitions(IM)formulation because of its outstanding insensitive properties.In this paper,a series of NTO/HMX-based compositeexplosives were prepared and characterized.The study focuses on the effect of NTO on the perfommance of the formulations,especially the safety performance.The results revealed that the mechanical sensi-tivity of fomulations was associated with NTO content,as well as the thermal conductivity,specific heat capacity and Arrhenius parameters.Then,the high amount of NTO using in formulation was proved to be helpful for NTO/HMX-based formulation to exhibit good thermal safety.Besides,by accelerating rate calorimeter(ARC)and a modified cook-off equipment,the pressure and pressure rise rate were proved as the important indicator for judging the thermal safety performance in confined spaces.Finally,the numerical simulation was used as a credible method for predicting the respond temperature of cook-off experiment.

Safety Performance of a Precast Concrete Barrier: Numerical Study

The numerical simulation for a new type of precast concrete barrier for viaducts is carried out systematically.To obtain an accurate representation of the damage state of the concrete barrier under the impact of a vehicle,a stochastic damage-plasticity model of the concrete is adopted in the finite element model.Meanwhile,a simplified mathematical model of the impact between vehicles and the concrete barrier was established and the input energy was converted to the impact load to facilitate the investigation of the safety performance of the concrete barriers.On this basis,a refined finite element(FE)model of a precast concrete barrier was developed.The impact locations,impact load,boundary constraints,and reinforcement types were used as variables and the dynamic response of the precast concrete barrier was systematically analyzed under 36 working conditions.The simulated results indicated that the damage state of the concrete barrier and the stress of the reinforcing bars were accurately and quantitatively reflected.According to the computed results,some suggestions were put forward for selecting the appropriate reinforcement type of the precast concrete barrier and the connection between the superstructure and foundation.

Model of Current Threshold for Perception in Testing Electrical Safety Performance

A generalized mathematical model of human body current threshold for perception was established and the current flowing through human body could be arbitrary cyclical waveforms.The relationship between human body current threshold for perception and current frequency, true root mean square(RMS) value and influence factor was described.A test system was established based on electroencephalogram(EEG) to study the relationship between human body current threshold for perception and current waveform, frequency ...

Highway Concrete Guardrail Lifting Scheme and Safety Performance Verification

In order to achieve the old fence of reuse, improve the safety performance of guardrail, barrier structure does not meet the requirements, make full use of the old concrete guardrail on the basis of heightening, through computer simulation experiment were analyzed, and optimization design, through the real car collision test, make the concrete guardrail after heightening structure satisfies the requirement of the safety performance of current specification. The results show that the protective performance of the two guardrail schemes meets the requirements of the current guardrail evaluation standards through the computer simulation experiment. Through the optimized design of scheme 1, the actual car crash test proves that the enhanced structure of Minhua TYPE II concrete guardrail can meet the requirements of safety performance evaluation. The research results provide an important basis for the transformation of the guardrail and the revision of the current design of expressway in China.

Comprehensive Evaluation Method for Safety Performance of Automobile Textiles

With the gradual increase of car ownership in China and the continuous expansion of travel radius,traffic accidents caused by car safety are also increasing.As far as automobile safety itself is concerned,its evaluation method is constantly evolving,but the safety of automobile textiles,which is an important part of it,is still in its infancy.The article starts from the factors that affect the safety performance of automobiles such as automobile safety theory,vehicle ergonomics and automobile textile performance.Then,the methods of expert investigation,analytic hierarchy process,fuzzy comprehensive evaluation and data analysis are used.In this way,we obtain a grade set for a multi-level index system and determine the weight of each index.Finally,we establish a comprehensive evaluation system for safety of the automobile textiles and select parameters under extreme conditions to verify the system,which proves to be effective and feasible.

OSH star enterprise pilot scheme——a partnership approach to improve the safety performance of construction industry in Hong Kong SAR

Background: The Occupational Safety and Health Council(OSHC) is committed to improve the safety performance of the high risk construction industry.In the past three years,about 40% of the fatal accidents in the construction industry were related to Renovation,Maintenance,Alteration and Addition(RMAA).Due to the poor safety record,some of the RMAA contractors have difficulty in obtaining the Employees' Compensation Insurance(ECI) cover in the market,or if they could obtain the ECI,the premium rate would be exceedingly high.In view of this,the OSHC,the Labour Department jointly launched"OSH Star Enterprise-Pilot Scheme on Safety Accreditation for the RMAA Industry",which prompts the industry to take practicable safety measures to improve the safety of working environment and reduce occupational injuries.The program also helps the stakeholders and insurers to identify safety-conscious contractors and thereby provide them with a favourable premium rate under the Employees' Compensation Insurance Residual Scheme(ECIRS).Objectives: The OSHC launches the Pilot Scheme to improve the safety performance of the RMAA industry through providing safety training,subsidizing enterprise to purchase safety equipment and providing safety audit.We also use financial incentive to encourage RMAA enterprises to join the Pilot Scheme-for those who are accredited as "OSH Star Enterprise"could receive a premium discount from the ERIRS when obtaining the ECI.The scheme also differentiates those safety-conscious and law-abiding enterprises from the poor performers,which helps the industry and public identifying the RMAA contractors who pay attention to work safety.Methods: The Pilot Scheme targets RMAA enterprises that employ less than 50 employees in Hong Kong.A three-pronged approach is used to improve the safety performance of the RMAA industry: the Pilot Scheme provides(1) financial support for the RMAA contractors to buy a transportable temporary anchor device and full body safety harness and its anchor system;(2) safety training on RMAA work safety and safety & health supervisor course;and(3) safety audit.Results: Enterprises that successfully pass the safety audit and satisfied the Scheme requirements will be accredited as"OSH Star Enterprise",which will be valid for two years.These enterprises can also be upgraded to"OSH Gold Star Enterprise"based on their continuous improvement in safety performance.OSHC will set up a register of OSH-accredited enterprises in RMAA works for reference of the public to facilitate their choosing of accredited contractors.The Employees' Compensation Insurance Residual Scheme Bureau will provide privileged premium rate for enterprises with OSH accreditation."OSH Star Enterprise"could enjoy 40% discounts when joining their insurance scheme.For example,a skilled worker's annual premium can be reduced by about HK $ 36,000.While,the "OSH Gold Star Enterprise"could enjoy 50% discounts when joining their insurance scheme,which means a skilled worker's annual premium can be reduced up to HK $ 45,000.Achievements: This Pilot Scheme offers practical assistance as well as attractive financial incentives for the RMAA industry to improve their safety performance.The Employees'Compensation Insurance Residual Scheme provides premium discounts for enterprises that have a good safety record.It provides incentive for RMAA contractors to actively participate in the Pilot Scheme.The Scheme demonstrates that by providing a safe working environment and appropriate personal protective equipment to workers,the enterprise not only helps to reduce the accident rate of the industry but also receive an economic return.The Pilot Scheme bridges stakeholders of RMAA industry,the government and the insurance industry creating an "all-win"situation.This partnership approach to prevent injuries and accidents in the construction industry could be an effective model for other industries.

Design,preparation,application of advanced array structured materials and their action mechanism analyses for high performance lithium-sulfur batteries

Lithium-sulfur battery(LSB)has brought much attention and concern because of high theoretical specific capacity and energy density as one of main competitors for next-generation energy storage systems.The widely commercial application and development of LSB is mainly hindered by serious“shuttle effect”of lithium polysulfides(Li PSs),slow reaction kinetics,notorious lithium dendrites,etc.In various structures of LSB materials,array structured materials,possessing the composition of ordered micro units with the same or similar characteristics of each unit,present excellent application potential for various secondary cells due to some merits such as immobilization of active substances,high specific surface area,appropriate pore sizes,easy modification of functional material surface,accommodated huge volume change,enough facilitated transportation for electrons/lithium ions,and special functional groups strongly adsorbing Li PSs.Thus many novel array structured materials are applied to battery for tackling thorny problems mentioned above.In this review,recent progresses and developments on array structured materials applied in LSBs including preparation ways,collaborative structural designs based on array structures,and action mechanism analyses in improving electrochemical performance and safety are summarized.Meanwhile,we also have detailed discussion for array structured materials in LSBs and constructed the structure-function relationships between array structured materials and battery performances.Lastly,some directions and prospects about preparation ways,functional modifications,and practical applications of array structured materials in LSBs are generalized.We hope the review can attract more researchers'attention and bring more studying on array structured materials for other secondary batteries including LSB.

International transferability of macro-level safety performance functions: a case study of the United States and Italy

Safety performance functions(SPFs),or crash-prediction models,have played an important role in identifying the factors contributing to crashes,predicting crash counts and identifying hotspots.Since a great deal of time and effort is needed to estimate an SPF,previous studies have sought to determine the transferability of particular SPFs;that is,the extent to which they can be applied to data from other regions.Although many efforts have been made to examine micro-level SPF transferability,few studies have focused on macro-level SPF transferability.There has been little transferability analysis of macro-level SPFs in the international context,especially between western countries.This study therefore evaluates the transferability of SPFs for several states in the USA(Illinois,Florida and Colorado)and for Italy.The SPFs were developed using data from counties in the United States and provincias in Italy,and the results revealed multiple common significant variables between the two countries.Transferability indexes were then calculated between the SPFs.These showed that the Italy SPFs for total crashes and bicycle crashes were transferable to US data after calibration factors were applied,whereas the US SPFs for total and bicycle crashes,with the exception of the Colorado SPF,could not be transferred to the Italian data.On the other hand,none of the pedestrian SPFs developed was transferable to other countries.This paper provides insights into the applicability of macro-level SPFs between the USA and Italy,and shows a good potential for international SPF transferability.Nevertheless,further investigation is needed of SPF transferability between a wider range of countries.

Investigating the influence of segmentation in estimating safety performance functions for roadway sections

Safety performance functions（SPFs） are crucial to science-based road safety management.Success in developing and applying SPFs, apart data quality and availability, depends fundamentally on two key factors： the validity of the statistical inferences for the available data and on how well the data can be organized into distinct homogeneous entities. The latter aspect plays a key role in the identification and treatment of road sections or corridors with problems related to safety. Indeed, the segmentation of a road network could be especially critical in the development of SPFs that could be used in safety management for roadway types, such as motorways（freeways in North America）, which have a large number of variables that could result in very short segments if these are desired to be homogeneous. This consequence, from an analytical point of view, can be a problem when the location of crashes is not precise and when there is an overabundance of segments with zero crashes. Lengthening the segments for developing and applying SPFs can mitigate this problem, but at a sacrifice of homogeneity. This paper seeks to address this dilemma by investigating four approaches for segmentation for motorways, using sample data from Italy. The best results were obtained for the segmentation based on two curves and two tangents within a segment and with fixed length segments. The segmentation characterized by a constant value of all original variables inside each segment was the poorest approach by all measures.

On the Economic Performance of Safety Food Production in China： Investigation and Analysis of the Yangtze River Delta

The production of safety food is an important foundation for establishing a Food Quality Safety Management System. The investigation focused on 11 kinds of safety food produced by 11 agricultural enterprises in Jiaxing, a part of the Yangtze River delta region in China. The economic performances of safety foods were also analyzed. The analysis showed that safety food production input was more than that of normal food and had different cost items compared to normal food. The rate of cost overflow was lower than the rate of comparative returns, resulting in the economic performance of safety food being higher than that of normal food. However, there were some problems, such as high quality without high prices. In the production of safety food, we will mainly pay attention to them.

Safety Management of Non-urban Roads in Israel： An Application of Empirical Bayes Evaluation

A safety management system was established to provide for continuously improved safety levels of the non-urban roads in Israel. One of the main functions of the system lies in the identification and treatment of HL （hazardous locations） on existing roads. In line with the state-of-the art in road safety, the HL identification is based on an empirical Bayes evaluation, where an HL is recognized using a high positive difference between the number of accidents expected at the site and that predicted for similar sites. The latter is estimated using safety performance functions that were developed for local conditions, including single- and dual-carriageway road sections, and various types of intersections： signalized/non-signalized, three- and four-legged. The procedure of HL identification is applied annually, serving as a basis for the working programs on road infrastructure improvements. Positive safety effects of such improvements were recently reported in the country. These activities comply with the Road Infrastructure Safety Directive that was recently introduced in the European Union.

Analysis on Safety Influencing Factors on Highway Interchange Design

This paper briefly introduces the safety performance of the highway interchange design.The factors that influence the safety of the highway interchange design,was discussed in the paper based on the parts,which are the safety of the interchange location,the safety of interchange form,and the safety design of the main line in interchange.

Construction of crash prediction model of freeway basic segment based on interactive influence of explanatory variables

In order to improve the prediction precision of the safety performance function （SPF） of freeway basic segments, design and crash data of 640 segments are collected from different institutions. Three negative binomial （NB） regression models and three generalized negative binomial （GNB） regression models are built to prove that the interactive influence of explanatory variables plays an important role in fitting goodness. The effective use of the GNB model in analyzing the interactive influence of explanatory variables and predicting freeway basic segments is demonstrated. Among six models, the two models （one is the NB model and the other is the GNB model. ） which consider the interactive influence of the annual average daily traffic （AADT） and length are more reasonable for predicting results. Furthermore, a comprehensive study is carried out to prove that when considering the interactive influence, the NB and GNB models have almost the same fitting performance in estimating the crashes, among which the GNB model is slightly better for prediction performance.

Spacecraft rendezvous trajectory safety quantitative performance index eliminating probability dilution

In view of the probability dilution problem of the existing quantitative indexes of rendezvous trajectory safety performance using collision probability,this paper proposes a new quantitative index of rendezvous trajectory safety performance by well combining collision probability with warning threshold.The proposed new index increases monotonously as the position errors of the chaser spacecraft increase,therefore it can effectively overcome the problems of the reduction in the largest performance value and the advancement in the most dangerous time induced by the probability dilution.The proposed new index is applied to the safety design of close range rendezvous missions.The mission’s safety requirements for initial navigation precision and the safe region of initial and final keeping points’positions with a certain navigation precision are analyzed,and several valuable conclusions about the relation between position navigation precision and velocity navigation precision as well as the relation between keeping points’positions and navigation precision are obtained.

Thermal hazard assessment of TKX-50-based melt-cast explosive

In the present study, thermal hazards of TNT and DNAN used as the molten binder in TKX-50-based meltcast explosives were comparatively studied through accelerating rate calorimeter(ARC) and Cook-off experiments. Two kinds of ARC operation modes were performed to investigate the thermal safety performance under adiabatic conditions(HWS mode) and constant heating(CHR mode). The obtained results demonstrated that at both heating modes, DNAN/TKX-50 outperformed TNT/TKX-50 from the thermal safety point of view. However, the sensitivity to heat of the samples was reverse because of the different heating modes. In addition, the results of thermal hazard assessment obtained from the cookoff experiment complied with ARC analysis which indicated the molten binder TNT replaced by DNAN would reduce the hazard of the TKX-50 melt cast explosive. Furthermore, the results of cook-off experiments also showed that DNAN/TKX-50 outperformed TNT/TKX-50 from the aspect of thermal stability, which was consistent with the result of CHR mode because of the similar heating process.

Performance of the Transmission Parking Mechanism of a Battery Electric Vehicle Simulated with Adams Software

The electric parking mechanism is studied for an electrically controlled two-speed auto transmission that is being developed for electric vehicles.Safety requirements include low-speed safe parking,reliable self-lock and the avoidance of abnormal parking.A dynamic model of the parking mechanism is established and analyzed using Adams software.Finally,failure of the parking mechanism due to wear is observed in bench testing and compared with experimental results after optimization.

Developing crash modification factors for roundabouts using a cross-sectional method

The objective of the current study was to evaluate traffic and geometric features and their influences on the safety performance of roundabouts by developing suitable crash modification factors(CMFs).The cross-sectional method can be applied as an alternative method to estimate the CMFs when before-and-after studies are impractical to apply,e.g.,lack of data from the period after implementing treatments.To accomplish the study objective,CMFs were derived from generalised linear models(GLMs),i.e.,negative binomial(NB)regression,using data collected on regional roundabouts in Toowoomba City,Australia.Six years of crash data from 49 roundabouts included all recorded crashes as well as traffic and geometric features for the entire roundabouts.Several candidate models were developed using the GLMs.Five models were selected based on statistical significance,goodness-of-fit(GOF)measures,and cumulative residual(CURE)analysis.The results show that increasing the number of entry lanes,entry width,entry radius,traffic volume,circulatory roadway width,weaving width,and speed limit have positive effects on roundabout safety.On the other hand,increasing the number of legs,number of exit lanes,exit width,exit radius,weaving length,central island diameters,and presence of fixed object on a central island have negative effects on roundabout safety.The study shows that quantifying the risk factors can support road safety stakeholders to identify safety improvements at roundabouts more effectively and efficiently.