Innovative Technical Solutions Research Articles

Experimental evaluation of the influence of surface coating on fiberglass geogrid performance in asphalt pavements

In road infrastructures, the maintenance of existing pavements is one of the most important issues to deal with. In order to optimize rehabilitation costs and increase pavement service life, innovative technical solutions have been developed. One of the most widespread techniques introduced for this scope, consists in the application of geogrids at the interface between different layers of pavement structures. Geogrids provide different performance depending on their characteristics, such as constituent materials, surface coating, mesh geometry and dimensions, and on their position in the pavement structure. In fact, these materials can be placed between different layers (bounded and/or unbounded) carrying out different functions. In this survey, the reinforcement of asphalt concrete layers was studied in laboratory, paying particular attention to the effects that different surface coatings, consisting in different treatments of the surface of the mesh elements of the geogrid, produce on the performance of fiberglass reinforced asphalt concrete specimens. The experimental analysis was carried out in two different stages. During the first stage, the coatings themselves were investigated, studying their adhesion properties with a conventional asphalt binder, in order to check their capability to adhere to the constitutive material of an asphalt concrete. During the second stage, a specific testing protocol was followed in order to investigate the performance of double-layered asphalt concrete specimens by means of interlayer shear tests and four-point bending tests. The results showed that the testing protocol used is suitable for studying, in laboratory, the performance of reinforced pavements, that could be influenced, both in terms of interlayer bonding between asphalt concrete layers and four-point bending test characteristics, by the application of a coating on the surface of the geogrids.

Feasibility study for a new high resolution Thomson scattering system for the ASDEX Upgrade pedestal

A new Thomson scattering diagnostic is proposed for the study of fast plasma dynamics in the pedestal of ASDEX Upgrade. The diagnostic will measure electron temperature and density profiles over a ∼ 3 cm wide area in the edge transport barrier region, with ∼ 1–2 mm spatial resolution and ∼ 10 kHz sampling rate. A challenging goal of the project is the study of the bootstrap current in the plasma pedestal by measuring the distortion and shift of the electron distribution along the toroidal direction. Expected spatial and time resolutions of the current density measurements are ∼ 3 mm and ∼ 1 ms correspondingly. The new diagnostic will be used to study the fast dynamic behaviour of the pedestal bootstrap current, where models indicate that it plays a key role in regulating edge stability, e.g. during ELMs. The diagnostic design is based on the intra-cavity multi-pass system currently in operation in TEXTOR, which uses a probing ruby laser, a grating spectrometer and two fast CMOS cameras for scattered light detection, and has achieved measuring accuracies of the order of ∼ 1% for ne and ∼ 2% for Te. Parts of that system will be reused in ASDEX Upgrade (some with significant modifications), but the laser multi-pass and light collection systems are entirely redesigned. Restrictions in space and line-of-sight availability have led to the adoption of a design which uses in-vessel multi-pass mirrors and light collection optics, requiring a number of innovative technical solutions to permit remote laser alignment and light collection. We give an overview of the project, discuss the underlying physics basis and present a number of technical solutions employed.

Industrialised constructive systems for residential buildings: the CCCabita system

The integration between the working reality of the building site, scientific research and industrial production encourages the creation of technological systems capable of providing new forms of housing that meet planning requirements on issues related to sustainability, speed of construction and containment of costs arising from the various demands of the market. Open industrialised systems represent the transposition into the constructive field of technological research in the productive chain and they restore the synthesis on the front of the possibilities of development of industrial systems in construction, ensuring the adoption of the most innovative technical solutions and favouring the wider variability of the different housing models.

A step-wise approach to oil and gas robotics

Developing a reliable and intelligent robotic system which enables the remote operation of normally unmanned oil and gas facilities requires innovative and novel technical solutions. Our strategy for meeting these challenges is based on a step-wise approach involving development and validation of the technology in increasingly demanding settings. This starts with proof-of-concept demonstrations in our indoor test facility located in Oslo, Norway. Taking this one step further, robots and applications are further developed, tested and validated in a colocated outdoor test facility. This is normally an intermediate step before bringing demonstrators onto real oil and gas facilities. In this paper, this design philosophy is elaborated upon and illustrated using the development of a valve manipulation application as an example.

Achievements in mental health outcome measurement in Australia: Reflections on progress made by the Australian Mental Health Outcomes and Classification Network (AMHOCN)

BackgroundAustralia’s National Mental Health Strategy has emphasised the quality, effectiveness and efficiency of services, and has promoted the collection of outcomes and casemix data as a means of monitoring these. All public sector mental health services across Australia now routinely report outcomes and casemix data. Since late-2003, the Australian Mental Health Outcomes and Classification Network (AMHOCN) has received, processed, analysed and reported on outcome data at a national level, and played a training and service development role. This paper documents the history of AMHOCN’s activities and achievements, with a view to providing lessons for others embarking on similar exercises.MethodWe conducted a desktop review of relevant documents to summarise the history of AMHOCN.ResultsAMHOCN has operated within a framework that has provided an overarching structure to guide its activities but has been flexible enough to allow it to respond to changing priorities. With no precedents to draw upon, it has undertaken activities in an iterative fashion with an element of ‘trial and error’. It has taken a multi-pronged approach to ensuring that data are of high quality: developing innovative technical solutions; fostering ‘information literacy’; maximising the clinical utility of data at a local level; and producing reports that are meaningful to a range of audiences.ConclusionAMHOCN’s efforts have contributed to routine outcome measurement gaining a firm foothold in Australia’s public sector mental health services.

Engendering resilience in small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs): a case study of Demmer Corporation

This article identifies key antecedents of resilience in large enterprises and uses a case study of Demmer Corporation to examine whether these strategies are applicable for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Demmer Corporation is one of the few domestic automotive suppliers in Michigan that has succeeded in repeatedly ‘reinventing’ itself by developing new products, branching into new markets, and providing innovative technical solutions for its customers, thus making it an archetype of resilience in the region. Additional drivers of resilience for SMEs are also identified and metrics for engendering resilience and tracking related progress are developed.

Function and length scale integration in innovative products – technical solutions and new organisational models

This paper presents the issues typically occurring when integrating, into a single product, functions that can only be realised by employing different length scale features (macro, meso, micro and down to nano). The discussion is supported by the responses of a survey performed on 88 European research and development projects conducted by members of the multi-material micro manufacture (4M) community in Europe. Two main issues are highlighted as critical for a successful multi-scale integration. The first one relates to the concurrent design of materials properties and manufacturing processes. The second focuses on the need for new production approaches and organisational models applied by companies.

The Role of Diseconomies of Transportation and Public Safety Problems in the Measurement of Urban Quality of Life

Quality of Life has become an issue of urban research due to a greater awareness of its contribution when identifying areas for intervention and when monitoring urban planning policies. This case study from Costa Rica refers to the role of diseconomies of transportation and public safety problems in the measurement of urban quality of life. Theoretically, urban diseconomies, or negative externalities, are the result of rises in average total costs over time as production increases and of the use of certain factors without increasing scales. The cost of urban diseconomies related to transportation and to public safety problems affects both external conditions contributing to quality of life (e.g.: level of income, access to services and resources and productivity) and people’s subjective perspective of quality of life in various domains (e.g.: stress, time use, leisure time and so on). These deficiencies have led to the reversal of gains from concentrated economic activities and positive externalities achieved by agglomerated dwellings thus becoming urban diseconomies. An analysis is provided of city living and its ever-growing problems warranting new styles of planning, regulations, and urban management, along with physical intervention based on comprehensive, innovative technical solutions. The data comes from various sources, and a statistical model was used to obtain estimates and projected data. The results suggest that if measures are not taken to reverse current urban growth and the expansion of the Greater Metropolitan Area, people’s opportunities and fundamental rights of access to capacity building, potentially allowing them to have more meaningful lifestyles, will be restricted.

Grand Lisboa hotel and casino, Macau: a fast-track high-rise

The striking 258 m tall Grand Lisboa hotel and casino project in Macau was completed in 2008 on schedule and within budget using fast-track construction techniques. This paper describes the project requirements and the innovative contractual and technical solutions adopted, including top-down construction, diaphragm walling, piling, rock excavation, composite construction and fibre-reinforced sprayed concrete. Wherever possible, temporary works were combined into the permanent structure to achieve rapid construction at economic cost.

Pro-poor animal improvement and breeding — What can science do?

Livestock provide a wide variety of goods and services that generate income and support the livelihoods of millions of poor people in the developing world. Natural and human selections have shaped existing livestock genotypes throughout the estimated 12,000 year history since the first animal domestication. The result, in many production systems in the developing world, is a livestock genotype adapted to its environment and capable of meeting the needs of smallholder farmers. However, this adaptation is unlikely to be optimal and the rapid changes currently affecting the livestock sector, including policy and market changes, movements of germplasm frequently involving the importation of exotic breeds, and the increasing impacts of climate change are affecting the livestock genotype-environment optimum. This is challenging livestock production systems of smallholder farmers. Current challenges include: high rates of loss of the diversity in livestock populations, rapid transformation in smallholder production systems requiring significant changes in genotypes and their management; increased demand for quality and safe foods; increased market competition in a globalizing economy; increased need for complex partnership arrangements in the ever-changing livestock commodity chain; and lack of adaptive capacity to respond to the rapid system changes. Underlying all these is the general lack of strategies for genetic improvement of livestock in smallholder systems and poor livestock infrastructure in developing countries. Opportunities include increased demand for livestock products — and hence potential market opportunities, and new technologies with potential to leap-frog breeding progress in developing countries. This paper analyses options for pro-poor livestock improvement in developing countries, with particular emphasis on the potential role that science – both old and new – will have, from understanding the social underpinnings to innovative technical solutions. It concludes that one of the highest priority interventions for the smallholder systems is the development of innovative approaches for the strategic use of appropriate genotypes from the available range of global breed resources. The analysis strongly suggests that the highest priority ‘breeding intervention’ should be the provision of appropriate genotypes in a sustainable manner, underpinned by a good understanding of what breed resources exist that have demonstrated potential, where else they could be used, and how they would be delivered to smallholders. Efforts to improve/refine breeding skills of smallholders should proceed in parallel. Institutional arrangements and enabling policies are critical for the success in identifying and applying appropriate genetic technologies, improving access to input services and facilitating access to markets in order to translate productivity gains into incomes.

High-Performance Rocket Nozzle Concept

An innovative technical solution that overcomes the limitation induced by flow separation phenomena and allows increasing the vacuum-specific impulse of a main stage rocket engine is presented. After reviewing the open technical literature on flow separation and advance nozzles design, the newly proposed concept is extensively presented. Three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics analyses and experimental results (cold gas subscale models) demonstrate the effectiveness of a simple device, adaptable to any bell-shaped nozzle and which provides a solution to the flow separation issue, while increasing vacuum-specific impulse performances for booster and main stage engines. Moreover, this new concept gives rise to a wider engine-throttling range, even at low altitude, without incurring flow separation and associated side loads. Experimental data show a potential for favorable behavior even during transient phases, allowing significant reduction on transient side-loads activity. Finally, three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics computations have been extended to the hot firing case (chemically reactive hydrogen/ oxygen propellants), both in steady-state and transient conditions. The results show the suitability of the proposed concept for application to real rocket engines.

Mapping the North: The Updated North Circumpolar Region Map by the Atlas of Canada

For more than 100 years the Atlas of Canada, published by Natural Resources Canada, has told the story of Canada through geographical and historical maps reflecting the country's social, environmental, and economic diversity. The Atlas' original North Circumpolar Region map was published in 1990; revisions followed in 1996, 1997, and 2004. The latest edition, published in 2008 for the International Polar Year, reflects significant progress in data collection, data integration, and cartographic methods. The revision process presented a number of challenges that led to innovative cartographic and technical solutions. This article focuses on some of the objectives, challenges, and methods associated with undersea and terrestrial relief, bathymetry, drainage features, sea ice, glaciers, and ice shelves.

Energy and Environment: The Ultimate Test of E&P "Intelligence"

Management In the next few decades, the E&P industry will face a unique confluence of two major challenges: it must continue to provide the world with sufficient oil and gas to support global development while at the same time help it reduce the environmental impact of fossil-fuel use, with a focus on the reduction of greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions. This calls for innovative technical solutions and new approaches to the design and management of increasingly interdependent energy and CO2 value chains. The “intelligent” capabilities that the industry has developed over the past decade can be leveraged to meet these twin challenges. The combination of CO2 enhanced oil recovery (EOR) with carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) in particular offers attractive opportunities to combine enhanced oil and gas recovery with GHG reduction, in a profitable way. This can be done at the level of individual field developments but also at the level of integrated energy/CO2 systems. It is estimated that global CO2 emissions will have to come down to 10–11 Gt/yr by 2050 to limit the increase of average global temperatures to 2°C. This represents a reduction of 70–80% from 2009 emission levels of 29 Gt/yr. The concept of “reduction wedges,” representing 1 Gt/yr of carbon, helps put into perspective what it would require from the E&P industry to deliver a single wedge of CO2 reduction—equivalent to 3.7 Gt/yr—out of a total of eight. Geological CO2 storage could go a long way to achieving this tar-get but the required investments in infrastructure within E&P, power generation, steel, and other industries would be huge. To illustrate the point: if the Groningen gas field in the Netherlands—the largest in western Europe—was fully utilized for CO2 sequestration, it could provide only about 1 to 2 years of storage for a single GHG reduction wedge of 3.7 Gt/yr. Worldwide, there are only 20 gas fields in the Groningen size class. The required investments in CCS would be additional to the USD 100–150 billion/yr the E&P industry spends to maintain oil and gas production at current levels of approximately 83 million BOPD and 295 Bcf/D of gas. Another USD 300–400 billion/yr would be required to increase global production to meet a projected 1.2–1.4% annual increase in demand up to 2050.

Orifice flap for intake systems at limited installation space

In contemporary engines, turbocharging increases air mass flow, which, in turn, requires a larger intake pipe cross-section to reduce pressure drop. However, a larger cross-section results in higher intake noise, which must be reduced using a comparatively large volume bypass resonator. Since the necessary installation space can hardly be found in downsized engines with start-stop systems, innovative technical solutions should be thought. And exactly this is where the orifice flap design developed by Mann+Hummel can be used. This paper describes this innovative flap as a solution of the conflict between pressure drop and intake noise in vehicles.

Laparoendoskopische Single-Site-Cholezystektomie (LESS) bei einem 16-jährigen Mädchen: Ein Weg auch für die Kinderchirurgie?

The laparoscopic paradigm to place different ports according to ergonomic principles is presently challenged by laparoendoscopic single site surgery (LESS). Its objective is to perform a complex task with several instruments using only one access. However, this approach introduces distinct ergonomic problems and requires innovative technical solutions to allow for more complex surgical tasks. In paediatric surgery, this development has just begun. A 16-year-old girl presented with a symptomatic cholecystolithiasis. A multi-channel TriPort (Advanced Surgical Concepts) was introduced through a 20 mm umbilical incision for LESS cholecystectomy. Retraction of the gallbladder was facilitated by a straight grasper, which was inserted transabdominally. For exposition and triangulation a pre-bend dissector (5 mm, Olympus) was employed. Thus, the cystic duct and artery could be exposed, clipped (5mm) and divided. Finally, the gallbladder was dissected from its bed and extracted into a specimen bag. Operating time was 90 minutes and no intra- or postoperative complications occurred. In conclusion, a multi-channel port and angulated instruments during LESS cholecystectomy provided ergonomics close to conventional laparoscopic surgery. For smaller children though, this technology will have to be adapted to their geometry. Finally, even though LESS seems attractive, the present euphoria should not turn into scientific acceptance, until more experience is available and valid data have proven a benefit for patients of any age.

Compared cost evaluation among traditional versus innovative strait crossing solutions

Among the traditional solutions in use to cross waterways Cable Supported Bridges (CSB), such as suspension and cable stayed ones, nowadays represent one of the most widely realized. However this structural typology feature several problems, in particular when large spans have to be surpassed. Submerged Floating Tunnel (SFT) is instead an innovative technical solution in the field of waterway crossings, particularly suitable and advantageous in case of long waterway crossings. As a matter of fact, thanks to its modularity, the SFT structural performance is not greatly affected by the crossing length; also, its cost varies linearly with its length, differently from Cable Supported Bridges.At the stage of selection of the structural solutions to be adopted a decisive role is played by economic aspects. In particular, the building cost of each available solution has to be assessed in order to come to the final choice. Therefore simple procedures for the evaluation of the realization cost of the crossing solutions are needed; such a kind of procedures, considering only the costs related to quantity of steel, are already available for traditional Cable Supported Bridges. The scope of the present study is to provide a similar procedure for Submerged Floating Tunnels, thus allowing for quickly comparing the cost-effectiveness of the latter solutions with the one of traditional CSB solutions. Some crossing examples are also provided, highlighting the conditions where the SFT innovative solution proves to be more economically competitive than traditional ones (CSB).

Cable supported immersed inversed bridge: A challenging proposal

Cable Supported Bridge (CSB), such as suspension and cable stayed ones, are widely used for waterway crossings and the only bridge typology able to surpass long spans. However, the effectiveness of their cable system greatly reduces and its cost enormously rises as the crossing length increases. Submerged Floating Tunnels (SFT) represent an innovative technical solution in the field of waterway crossings, being tubular structures, submerged in the water at a fixed depth, kept in position through anchorage groups made up of cables or tethers linked to the seabed. The anchorage system of SFTs features several striking advantages as it is stable and, above all, provides a supporting condition to the tunnel which is unnoticeably affected by the crossing length but it can be less effective and more costly when large water depths are encountered.Even though Cable Supported Bridges and Submerged Floating Tunnels appear to be well distinct structural solutions, several similarities can be noticed between the two: the bridge deck/tunnel is supported through vertical or sloped cables, the load conditions are analogous, the gravity loads on the cable supported bridges being replaced by the upward residual buoyancy in the SFTs and the role of wind being played by currents and waves actions; the tunnel structure can be realized with a multi cell crosssection having a fluid-dynamic shape, as most of the modern cable supported bridges feature. Therefore some of the knowledge and ideas developed in the cable supported bridges field can be conveniently transferred to the SFTs one.As a matter of fact, the cable system configurations in use for cable supported bridges can be combined with the concept of a tunnel floating underwater, giving rise to a new typology of submerged floating tunnel, the Cable Supported Immersed Inversed Bridge (CSIB). This solution seems to be convenient in intermediate to deep waters, featuring several advantages with respect to traditional Cable Supported Bridges under both the economic and the environmental impact points of view. In case of deep waters and crossing length belonging to the range of feasibility of CSBs, this new solution features some important advantages also with respect to the “classic” SFT. The aims of this paper are to give a description of the differences and points in common existing between conventional Cable Supported Bridges and SFTs and to illustrate the main features and the potential applications of this alternative submerged floating tunnel solution.

First Deepwater Well Successfully Drilled in Colombia With a High-Performance Water-Based Fluid

This article, written by Assistant Technology Editor Karen Bybee, contains highlights of paper SPE 120768, "First Deepwater Well Successfully Drilled in Colombia With a High-Performance Water-Based Fluid," by J. Marin, SPE, F. Shah, SPE, M. Serrano, SPE, A. Jaramillo, and C. Marin, Halliburton, and W. Arevalo and G. Priandi, Petrobras, originally prepared for the 2009 SPE Latin American and Caribbean Petroleum Engineering Conference, Cartagena, Colombia, 31 May-3 June. The paper has not been peer reviewed. Deepwater drilling presents significant issues and uncertainties, especially when there is no prior drilling experience in the area. Uncertainties about the drilling conditions create additional risk to operators and can cause project budget overruns. Innovative technologies often are implemented to help ensure that the well is drilled efficiently and safely. Drilling-fluid selection was a key decision to the success of the project. Introduction Deepwater exploration activity in the oil and gas industry continues to present new hurdles requiring innovative technical solutions. These difficult wells can increase the risk factor and result in potentially higher operational costs. In most cases, an oil-based drilling fluid is selected as the first option because of the high daily costs associated with a deepwater operation and the advantages gained in wellbore stability and rate of penetration (ROP) compared to conventional water-based systems. However, tightening environmental regulations and high costs associated with cuttings and oily fluid disposal are sufficient reasons to seek viable water-based fluid alternatives that could provide an oil-based-drilling-fluid performance. Water-based drilling fluids that simulate the performance of oil-based drilling fluids, commonly are referred to as high-performance water-based fluids (HPWBFs). The main benefits of these systems are reduced environmental footprint and lower costs associated with cuttings and fluids disposal. Petrobras Colombia undertook the challenge of drilling the first deep-water well in Colombia in 1,840-ft water depth in the Tayrona Block in the Caribbean Sea north of Colombia. Because of environmental restrictions, uncertainties about formations that would be encountered, and the need to protect the target zone from damage, an HPWBF was selected to drill the well. HPWBF System Fluid selection presented several challenges related to drilling the exploratory well. The operator rejected the option of using an oil-based fluid because of environmental restrictions and cuttings and fluids-disposal complications. The HPWBF used met the required criteria and was designed for maximum shale inhibition in highly reactive formations and provided wellbore stability, high ROPs, and acceptable rheological properties over a wide range of temperatures. It had been run successfully in the Gulf of Mexico in shelf and deepwater operations.

Upgrading historic cities by integrated and innovative solutions

During the ongoing rapid urbanisation process, many Chinese cities have redeveloped their inner city with large-scale demolishment and relocation. Yangzhou has adopted a different approach, and is actively taking measures to save and improve its historic centre. A substantial historical area of 5·1 km2 with about 110 000 residents, characterised by one- to two-storey traditional courtyard buildings and narrow lanes, remains. The old city is a rich heritage resource attractive to both tourists and residents. However, the houses are in disrepair, the infrastructure is insufficient and the historic area is facing an increasing risk of deterioration. To link heritage preservation with the improvement of living conditions, the Yangzhou municipal government, German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) and the Cities Alliance have embarked on a programme of sustainable urban conservation by upgrading traditional urban neighbourhoods and supporting self-help initiatives. In a pilot block, integrated concepts were developed. Innovative technical solutions appropriate to the narrow lanes were designed and tested. Infrastructure was installed and standards were developed. Concepts and measures of ecological water cycle management were introduced at the municipal level. Residents were involved through a community action planning (CAP) approach. They agreed on appropriate standards and became involved in upgrading their houses and lane façades. The initial successful experience is being planned for use throughout the entire historical area. Expanding the process as a model for other historic cities in China is also being considered.

Understanding the Risk

Appreciation of seismicity is fundamental to New Zealand's architectural development. Reports of the earthquakes of 1848 and 1855, in particular, help determine how this condition shaped the colony's architectural development. Despite initial official reluctance to acknowledge this hazard, reports of the disasters spread. The superior performance of wooden buildings under seismic loading meant that, by the late 1850s, timber was becoming understood internationally as the prudent building material choice in New Zealand. Although early colonists' ideas regarding the design of their settlements shifted, few connected seismic condition with wider contemporary aesthetic argument. Despite the prevalence of earthquakes, and because of the threat of fire, desire for substantial masonry buildings remained. This encouraged the colony's architects and engineers to develop boldly innovative technical solutions. These innovations, which sometimes drew upon work abroad, foreshadowed ground-breaking research and practice by the country's leading seismic designers and specialists in the 20th century.