Heathrow Airport Research Articles

A COMPARISON OF LASER SCANNING AND STRUCTURE FROM MOTION AS APPLIED TO THE GREAT BARN AT HARMONDSWORTH, UK

Abstract. The great barn at Harmondsworth near London Heathrow airport, United Kingdom (UK), was built in 1426–7 for the Bishop of Winchester. At 58 metres long and 11.4 metres wide, it is one of the largest ever known to have been built in the UK, and the largest intact medieval timber-framed barn in England. The barn is built almost entirely of oak, although the walls rest on a low masonry sill-wall. Internally the space is divided into a central "nave" with a lower aisle to each side, and is divided along its length into 12 bays. There are three doorways on the east side. For an entirely timber-framed barn, the fabric is exceptionally well preserved. Even the external weatherboarding may be partly original. Following years of neglect, however, there are a number of on-going structural and conservation problems, so in 2011 the barn was bought by English Heritage in order to allow these needs to be addressed. English Heritage is the government agency responsible for the historic sites and buildings in the care of the state of England and is also the UK government's lead advisor on the built heritage. As one of the first steps in the conservation process the English Heritage Geospatial Imaging and Imaging & Visualisation teams undertook a four-day campaign of survey data collection. This took the form of laser scanning of the interior and exterior of the barn plus the acquisition of photography of the exterior elevations to be used with structure from motion (SFM) software. A comparison of the results of these complimentary yet potentially competing technologies will be given, as well as an evaluation of when they can be successfully used together. This paper will describe the procedures and problems involved with collecting the survey data and its subsequent analysis. The laser scanning was undertaken using a FARO Focus 3D phase based instrument. Approximately 60 scans were acquired in order to provide as comprehensive as possible coverage given the site circumstances. A repeat visit following the clearance of artefacts and with the benefit of access equipment was required to obtain complete coverage, especially for the top surfaces of the timber frame elements. Initial results from the laser scanning were extremely promising, with some historical events (e.g. a major fire at one end of the structure) dramatically shown in the intensity data. Comprehensive photographic coverage of the exterior of the barn including the roof was obtained using a Nikon D3X mounted on both a 6m telescopic pole and a conventional tripod. A repeat visit was required to address some exposure problems in shadow areas. A unified control network for both sets of data was obtained through the use of a total station theodolite (TST) with reflectorless electromagnetic distance measurement (REDM), incorporating a closed traverse as well as the acquisition of scanner and photogrammetric targets. The control network therefore permits the direct comparison of the results from both survey methods (allowing for systematic errors). A point cloud generated from the photography, using Agisoft Photoscan structure from motion software, was compared with the registered laser scan points with a view to determining any systematic differences, although these were to a large extent ameliorated by the use of the dense control network. The resultant data also has potential downstream use within English Heritage for improving our understanding of Building Information Modelling (BIM) as applied to heritage structures rather than new build, and thereby contributing to the formulation of elements of a BIM strategy for English Heritage. There are also a number of hand-measured survey drawings of the barn in existence. A quantitative as well as a qualitative comparison was made with drawings generated from the laser scan data. In general the later drawings were more metrically accurate but exhibited less understanding of the construction techniques employed. A discussion of the reasons for this is also presented.

The Influence of Stiffness Anisotropy on the Behaviour of a Stiff Natural Clay

The stress–strain response of stiff plastic clays is known to be highly non-linear and anisotropic. However, whilst there have been many investigations on the non-linearity of stiff plastic clays, this is not the case for stiffness anisotropy. It is generally believed that, at least at small strains, soil stiffness is anisotropic and can be interpreted within the framework of cross-anisotropic elasticity. However, very few measurements of all cross-anisotropic stiffness parameters have been reported in the literature. Recent research on stiff plastic London Clay, from London’s Heathrow Airport Terminal 5 (T5), is one of the few examples where these independent stiffness parameters have been quantified. On the basis of these research findings, this paper uses a cross-anisotropic non-linear elasto-plastic model to simulate the behaviour of London Clay. The model is used to simulate a number of laboratory tests and the predictions are compared with available experimental data from the T5 investigation. The predictions of the cross-anisotropic non-linear elasto-plastic model for the laboratory tests are also compared with those of an isotropic model, which has been used successfully in the past to simulate the behaviour of stiff plastic clays. Predictions obtained with the two models are then compared in the numerical analyses of a tunnel constructed within the London Clay. Both short-term undrained and long-term drained conditions are examined in fully coupled analyses.

Longitudinal effects of aircraft noise exposure on children's health and cognition: A six-year follow-up of the UK RANCH cohort

Cross-sectional evidence that environmental noise exposure at school shows negative associations with children's cognition and health has increased, yet longitudinal evidence is lacking. This study examined longitudinal associations of aircraft noise exposure at primary school on children's reading comprehension, noise annoyance, and psychological health at secondary school. This six-year follow-up of 461 children aged 15–16 years, who attended primary and secondary schools around London Heathrow airport, used annual average aircraft noise exposure at the schools from noise contour maps. Multilevel regression modelling showed that aircraft noise exposure at primary school was associated with a significant increase in noise annoyance and with a non-significant decrease in reading comprehension at follow-up. Aircraft noise at primary school was not associated with psychological health at follow-up. This is the first longitudinal study of its type, suggesting that aircraft noise exposure at school might impair reading comprehension, as well as increase noise annoyance in children.

Risk of VTE Is Small but Exists

“A general recommendation for anti-thrombotic stockings or anticoagulants appears unjustified, because VTE has not been observed in any passengers without risk factors, even when they flew for longer than 8 hours.” This statement cannot be allowed to stand as it is because the risk of developing a thrombosis as a result of sitting down for many hours is usually small, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. A famous victim was a former US president, Richard Nixon, who developed a pulmonary embolism after an in-flight venous thromboembolism (VTE) in 1974. Such a clot may not even break free immediately after the flight has landed; rather, there is every chance that the fatal results will occur only when a passenger has long disembarked the aircraft (the so-called VTE of the first day of a holiday). In this setting, it is obviously difficult to actually prove an association between cramped seating conditions on board the plane and the VTE. At Heathrow airport in London, some 18% of deaths after a long-haul flight are due to pulmonary embolism. A study at Tokyo’s airport states that 100–150 air passengers, out of a total of 20 million every year, have sought treatment for blood clots. In the past 8 years, 25 persons have died from VTE after a long-haul flight. Other studies have found that 7–8% of complications were caused by in-flight VTE. A retrospective study from the World Health Organization’s Research into Global Hazards of Travel and other publications (2) have shown that the incidence of deep vein thrombosis in the lower limb is 1/1000 and is strongly age-dependent (3–5/1000 in those older than 60). In persons with an existing predisposition, the possibility of thromboembolism should never be ruled out. According to the Bonn Vein Study, one in five women and one in six men has a pre-existing defect. Only one in 10 people has completely healthy veins.

Sir Alan Marshall Muir Wood FREng FICE. 8 August 1921 — 1 February 2009

Sir Alan Muir Wood was a civil engineer who gained worldwide recognition for his pioneering and innovative tunnelling design and construction. In the early years of his career he was much concerned with coastal erosion and landslides. Later he became involved in some of the world’s major tunnelling projects, among them the Potters Bar railway tunnels, the Clyde Tunnel, the Channel Tunnel and the 50-mile water-carrying Orange–Fish Tunnel in South Africa. Each project saw him pushing forwards innovation in different aspects of design. The cargo tunnel at Heathrow Airport has been described as his most influential design and a testament to his analytical skills, his creativity in design and his vast experience in the handling of the inevitable uncertainties and risks associated with tunnelling. As might be expected for such an innovative engineer he took a keen interest in research and in engineering education. He relished robust technical debate and intellectual challenge and, even after ‘retirement’, was regularly involved in construction litigation and arbitration, for which he developed a formidable reputation for his clarity of thought and penetrating evidence. Although extremely modest, he was a natural leader in his profession and was widely respected for his absolute integrity (being elected President of the Institution of Civil Engineers).

Air quality and public health impacts of UK airports. Part II: Impacts and policy assessment

The potential adverse human health impacts of emissions from UK airports have become a significant issue of public concern. We produce an inventory of UK airport emissions – including emissions from aircraft landing and takeoff operations, aircraft auxiliary power units (APUs) and ground support equipment (GSE) – with quantified uncertainty. Emissions due to more than 95% of UK passenger enplanements are accounted for. We apply a multi-scale air quality modelling approach to assess the air quality impacts of UK airports. Using a concentration-response function we estimate that 110 (90% CI: 72–160) early deaths occur in the UK each year (based on 2005 data) due to UK airport emissions. We estimate that up to 65% of the health impacts of UK airports could be mitigated by desulphurising jet fuel, electrifying GSE, avoiding use of APUs and use of single engine taxiing. Two plans for the expansion of UK airport capacity are examined – expansion of London Heathrow and new hub airport in the Thames Estuary. Even if capacity is constrained, we find that the health impacts of UK airports still increases by 170% in 2030 due to an increasing and aging population, increasing emissions, and a changing atmosphere. We estimate that if Heathrow were to be expanded as per previous UK Government plans, UK-wide health impacts in 2030 would increase by 4% relative to the 2030 constrained case, but this increase could become a 48% reduction if emissions mitigation measures were employed. We calculate that 24% of UK-wide aviation-attributable early deaths could be avoided in 2030 if Heathrow were replaced by a new airport in Thames Estuary because the location is downwind of London, where this reduction occurs notwithstanding the increase in aircraft emissions. A Thames hub airport would (isolated from knock-on effects at other airports) cause 60–70% fewer early deaths than an expanded Heathrow, or 55–63% fewer early deaths than an unexpanded Heathrow. Finally, replacing Heathrow by a Thames Estuary airport combined with emissions mitigation measures would reduce UK-wide aviation-attributable early deaths by 56% in 2030 while increasing aircraft movements, which would represent aviation causing about the same level of adverse health impacts as today in absolute terms. We note that because aviation emissions are included in the EU Emissions Trading Scheme, all options are CO2-neutral in terms of direct emissions (but not climate-neutral).

Representing Islam and Muslims in New Zealand Newspapers

This study uses quantitative and qualitative methods to analyse how New Zealand mainstream newspapers represent Islamic identity and Muslim communities. Events reported between October 2005 and September 2006 by three broadsheet metropolitan dailies are analysed to identify prominent news themes and how Muslims are socially constructed. In particular, four events occurring across the period are analysed with a view to comparing the texts with other studies that argue Muslims are constructed in Orientalist terms as dangerous others. The Bali bomb incident, London bomb scare at Heathrow Airport, Middle East conflict, and Iranian Nuclear issue represent prominent news stories that allow the identification of stereotypes and negative depictions, which reinforce Orientalism. The findings suggest a disparity in some newspapers in the sample between hard news and editorials. Although hard news appears to reinforce Orientalist representation of Muslims, the editorials adopt a more liberal pluralist construction of Islamic identity and issues.

“The High Commissioner Who Wouldn't Take Go for an Answer”: Paul Martin Sr., Public Diplomacy, and the Battle for Heathrow, 1974–1979

This article examines the public diplomacy of one of Canada's first real public diplomats, Paul Martin Sr., who Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau appointed Canada's high commissioner to Britain in 1974, a bittersweet reward for almost 40 years' work in Canada's Parliament. It traces Martin's efforts to stop British authorities from moving Air Canada's landing rights from London's Heathrow Airport to remote, suburban Gatwick. It opens with a discussion of Martin's views on public opinion, focussing on his firm belief in the value of an informed public in shaping the policy-making process. These ideas inspired his diplomacy in Britain, where he set about re-building Canada's public profile, which had sagged during the 1960s and early 1970s. When his initial private efforts to resolve the looming Anglo–Canadian dispute over landing rights at Heathrow Airport failed, he moved the fight into the public realm. Explored here are his tactics and the messages he used to win over the British public to the Canadian cause, forcing the British government to retreat and preserving Air Canada's landing rights at Heathrow.

Does Traffic-related Air Pollution Explain Associations of Aircraft and Road Traffic Noise Exposure on Children's Health and Cognition? A Secondary Analysis of the United Kingdom Sample From the RANCH Project

The authors examined whether air pollution at school (nitrogen dioxide) is associated with poorer child cognition and health and whether adjustment for air pollution explains or moderates previously observed associations between aircraft and road traffic noise at school and children's cognition in the 2001–2003 Road Traffic and Aircraft Noise Exposure and Children's Cognition and Health (RANCH) project. This secondary analysis of a subsample of the United Kingdom RANCH sample examined 719 children who were 9–10 years of age from 22 schools around London's Heathrow airport for whom air pollution data were available. Data were analyzed using multilevel modeling. Air pollution exposure levels at school were moderate, were not associated with a range of cognitive and health outcomes, and did not account for or moderate associations between noise exposure and cognition. Aircraft noise exposure at school was significantly associated with poorer recognition memory and conceptual recall memory after adjustment for nitrogen dioxide levels. Aircraft noise exposure was also associated with poorer reading comprehension and information recall memory after adjustment for nitrogen dioxide levels. Road traffic noise was not associated with cognition or health before or after adjustment for air pollution. Moderate levels of air pollution do not appear to confound associations of noise on cognition and health, but further studies of higher air pollution levels are needed.

Zoonotic Disease Pathogens in Fish Used for Pedicure

Zoonotic Disease Pathogens in Fish Used for Pedicure

The long-term effects of aircraft noise exposure on children's cognition: findings from the UK RANCH follow-up study

Many studies have demonstrated that environmental noise exposure at school is associated with poorer reading ability. However, studies have yet to determine the long-term consequences of environmental noise exposure during school for later developmental outcomes. This paper presents a longitudinal follow-up of the UK RANCH cohort assessing whether aircraft noise exposure in primary school is associated with poorer reading comprehension in secondary school. The original RANCH study found a relationship between aircraft noise exposure at primary school and children's reading comprehension for 9-10 year old children attending schools around London Heathrow, Amsterdam Schiphol and Madrid Barajas airports. Six years after the original study, 461 participants aged 15-16y (48% of the UK baseline sample) completed a standardised reading test during group testing in their classroom. Aircraft noise exposure at school was assessed using Leaq16 contour data. Analyses found no significant effect of aircraft noise exposure at primary school or secondary school on reading comprehension assessed at secondary school, although there was a trend for both types of noise exposure to be associated with poorer reading comprehension. The study is limited by its small sample but the findings indicate that aircraft noise exposure at school could have long-term implications for children's cognitive development.

The Greater London Experience: Essential Lessons Learned in Law Enforcement-Community Partnerships and Terrorism Prevention

British law enforcement is far ahead of the United States both in thinking creatively about building bridges to its Muslim communities and implementing community policing programs that produce constructive interactions between these communities and various branches of law enforcement. Because they began their efforts well before the July 7, 2005 London bombings, British law enforcement was able to see firsthand how their connections with the Muslim community, particularly in the Bradford/Leeds area of England, helped them quickly identify the bombers and develop leads that were critical to their investigation. In the wake of those bombings, British law enforcement has worked even harder to expand their community policing efforts with their Muslim communities. These efforts have proven fruitful on multiple fronts, including in August 2006, when a tip from the Muslim community helped British police thwart a terrorist plot to detonate bombs on international flights departing from London’s Heathrow Airport. In short, British law enforcement is far ahead of our own in connecting with Muslim communities, even though Muslim communities in Great Britain are significantly less prosperous and more alienated from the mainstream than Muslim communities in the United States. The premise of this paper is that we have much to learn from what they have begun.

A short-term intervention study — Impact of airport closure due to the eruption of Eyjafjallajökull on near-field air quality

The eruption of the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajökull in April 2010 resulted in an unprecedented flight-ban at many European airports for many days. While much of the scientific interest in the eruption was related to the chemical and physical properties of the ash cloud and how it dispersed, a secondary effect was the reduction in aviation emissions at airports around Europe and elsewhere. In this study we aim to quantify the impact the flight-ban had on concentrations of nitrogen oxides at measurement sites close to London Heathrow Airport. A technique based on boosted regression trees is used to build an explanatory model of NOx and NO2 concentrations based on hourly meteorological and aircraft emissions data in the 3-years preceding the flight-ban. We show that the airport closure resulted in an unambiguous effect on NOx and NO2 concentrations close to the airport, even though the ban only lasted six days. Furthermore, we estimate the annual impact airport emissions have on mean concentrations of NOx and NO2 for different years and compare these estimates with a detailed dispersion modelling study and previous work that was based on the analysis of monitoring site data. For the receptor most affected by the flight-ban approximately 200 m south of the airport we estimate the airport contributes about 13.5 μg m−3 NOx (≈23% of the total measured NOx concentration), which is similar in magnitude to detailed dispersion modelling estimates of 12.0 μg m−3, but approximately twice that of other estimates based on the analysis of ambient measurements. Other measurement sites showed more mixed results due to the prevailing meteorology at the time of the ban, which affected the extent to which these sites were affected by the flight-ban. The techniques developed and applied in this paper would have application to other short-term interventions that affect air quality.

Assessing the Risks of West Nile Virus–Infected Mosquitoes from Transatlantic Aircraft: Implications for Disease Emergence in the United Kingdom

The number of West Nile virus (WNV)-infected mosquitoes aboard aircraft from the United States that arrive in the United Kingdom each summer was determined using a quantitative risk assessment. In the worst-case scenario, when WNV levels in mosquitoes are high (at epidemic levels) the probability of at least one WNV-infected mosquito being introduced into the United Kingdom was predicted to be 0.99. During these periods, a mean of 5.2 infected mosquitoes were estimated to be aboard flights from the United States to the United Kingdom during May to October, with 90% certainty that the exact value lies between one and ten mosquitoes. Heathrow airport was predicted to receive the majority of the infected mosquitoes (72.1%). Spatial analysis revealed the region surrounding Heathrow satisfies the criteria for potential WNV exposure as both WNV-competent mosquitoes and susceptible wild bird species are present. This region is, therefore, recommended for targeted, risk-based surveillance of WNV-infected mosquitoes in addition to an increased awareness of the risks to horses, birds and humans.

Learning from the occupational health provision on the Olympic build

AbstractThe award-winning occupational health provisions at the London 2012 Olympic Park and Athletes’ Village achieved widespread recognition as some of the most comprehensive offered on a major construction project in the UK to date. The scope of the service was informed by work conducted on recent major projects, such as Terminal 5 at Heathrow Airport. It involved occupational health professionals and occupational hygienists working together to deliver an integrated clinical and occupational hygiene service that encouraged contractors to take workplace health as seriously as safety.The approach, named ‘health like safety’, involved safety practitioners and project managers working with the occupational health team to develop occupational health monitoring and management tools that closely resembled those used to manage safety issues. Two tools were developed to monitor and improve occupational health management with the potential for widespread use after the Olympic build. The first involved assessing ...

Poor uptake of primary healthcare registration among recent entrants to the UK: a retrospective cohort study

ObjectivesUptake of healthcare among migrants is a complex and controversial topic; there are multiple recognised barriers to accessing primary care. Delays in presentation to healthcare services may result in a...

Terminal velocity [airport technology

With 140,000 extra travellers expected to be passing through its gates during the 2012 Olympics, Heathrow Airport turns to technology to give its increasingly overburdened infrastructure a sporting chance.

Aircraft noise, overheating and poor air quality in classrooms in London primary schools

The main source of ventilation in the majority of UK schools is windows. The occupants of the classroom (i.e. pupils and teachers) in noisy areas tend to shut windows especially during quiet activities (i.e. silent and lecturing activities) to reduce the effect on teaching of aircraft noise as well as other external noises. Closing windows has two negative impacts on classroom environments. Firstly it increases the likelihood of classrooms experiencing overheating in hot weather and secondly poor air quality due to the lack of sufficient ventilation in the building. Through objective and subjective in a number of schools using surveys, monitoring of indoor temperatures, and testing of air quality and aircraft noise levels it was concluded that those schools located in the vicinity of Heathrow Airport are more likely to experience overheating and poor air quality due to aircraft noise, which can subsequently have a negative impact on students’ achievements.

The innovation potential of new infrastructure development: An empirical study of Heathrow airport's T5 project

We propose a conceptual framework to analyze technology adoption in mega infrastructure projects, and assess their potential to innovating large socio-technical systems. Drawing on an in-depth empirical analysis of Heathrow airport's Terminal 5 project, we find that innovation hinges on technology adoption decisions that are governed systematically by two intertwined determinants – assessment of expected profitability and development of absorptive capacity, both of which are distributed across various interdependent actors. On an ad hoc basis, technological decisions are also affected by other factors, namely attitudes toward risk, politics, and (lack of) established standards. We reveal how a schedule-driven project framing creates an underlying boundary condition that constrains the longitudinal process of building a ‘whole collective’ with capacity to absorb new technologies. The innovation potential of mega projects is thus subjected to a fundamental, unifying tension: on the one hand, they offer a one-off opportunity to invest in cutting-edge technologies and innovate socio-technical systems; on the other hand, project stakeholders have limited time to develop capacity to absorb novel technologies and negotiate differences on assessments of profitability and risk. Stakeholders may therefore be compelled to agree to adopt proven technologies upfront to reduce uncertainty and mitigate risks, thus limiting the innovation potential of new infrastructure development.

Optimization of Taxiway Routing and Runway Scheduling

This paper describes a mixed-integer linear programming optimization method for the coupled problems of airport taxiway routing and runway scheduling. The receding-horizon formulation and the use of iteration in the avoidance constraints allows the scalability of the baseline algorithm presented, with examples based on Heathrow Airport, London, U.K., which contains up to 240 aircraft. The results show that average taxi times can be reduced by half, compared with the first-come-first-served approach. The main advantage is shown with the departure aircraft flow. Comparative testing demonstrates that iteration reduces the computational demand of the required separation constraints while introducing no loss in performance.