Iron Bridge Research Articles

Reference Structural Investigation on a 19th-Century Arch Iron Bridge Loyal to Design-Stage Conditions

ABSTRACT This work gathers the outcomes of a comprehensive case study concerning a reference structural investigation on the bridge at Paderno d’Adda, a monumental arch iron viaduct completed in 1889, situated in Lombardy (northern Italy), still keeping today a crucial position within the local railway and road transportation networks. The bridge is part of precious architectural heritage, together with a few rather similar bridges in Europe, which may be in the predicate to become part of the UNESCO list. A comprehensive structural analysis loyal to design-stage conditions was developed. After the constitution of a detailed linear elastic numerical model of the structure, various static analyses were first performed; comparisons with available recorded data at the try-out stage proved the model’s consistency. Then, further insight into the linear range, concerning the modal dynamic behaviour, was investigated, with a reasonable matching with available experimental modal characteristics. Finally, a complete non-linear inelastic analysis was developed, up to detect plastic-collapse features, to assess the safety margin at increasing live loads. This case study shall contribute in setting up a reference scene about the present bridge structural capacity, within the current debate on the destinies of the structure and the screening of possible intervention scenarios.

The Karaim Space of Trakai in the Local Lore and the Legend of the Miraculous Horse of the Duke Vytautas

Several dozens of Karaims still residing in Trakai may be regarded as the true inhabitants of the town, considering that at least several generations of them lived there. While analyzing their life stories collected during fieldwork in 2008–2018, and comparing them to the testimonies of other Trakai dwellers describing Karaims, it becomes clear that Karaims have a number of definite places making up their “own” space and a meaningful topography. This typography comprises the northern part of the Trakai Peninsula, the northwestern suburban territories and the nearby lakes. In the oral tradition, part of the Trakai Peninsula attributed to Karaims bears the name Karaimščizna or Karaimų gatvė (‘Karaim Street’). It runs from the Chapel of St. John of Nepomuk to the so-called Iron Bridge in the neck between Galvė Lake and Totoriškės Lake. Not only Karaims, but also other ethnic groups residing in Trakai define this area as special in linguistic, religious, social, economic, and urban sense. From the social perspective, Karaims enjoy certain double status: being the “original” inhabitants of Trakai, they are also the most singular and the least known ones. Stories by the other ethnic groups abound in descriptions of certain “strangeness” of the Karaims. In the 15th – 18th centuries, Karaims enjoyed certain autonomy in this part of the town. At that period, two towns endowed with the Magdeburg rights co-existed in the small Trakai Peninsula – the Karaim town and the Christian town. Even today, Karaims consider their historical part of the town to be the “real Trakai”. Karaims are outstanding in terms of their particularly strong community bonds, including common religion, ethnic origins, history, and kinship. In general, the sense of community largely defines the special Karaim attitude to Trakai. For them, the town is not just a place of residence, but also a meaningful space in terms of the common historical, celebratory, family and everyday experiences. The common experience is also evident in the famous Karaim legend describing the miraculous horse of the Duke Vytautas. This legend starts with the time of the Karaims settling in Trakai under the rule of Vytautas the Great. After a particularly harsh winter, the spring tide causes the lakes surrounding Trakai to spill over, and the flood threatens to drown the part of the town inhabited by the Karaims. However, the horse of Vytautas gulps down the water, and the next morning a new lake appears in the horse’s pasture, emitting strange smell. Different variants of the legend point to several lakes, but all of them are within area that is meaningful to Karaims, and close to the former communal lands, the so-called Karaim fields. Historians and folklorists investigating this legend so far have mostly concentrated on the image of Vytautas. The author of this article treats this legend as a source presenting the places that Karaims consider important, and their daily routines (their main trade was growing vegetables, particularly cucumbers). This legend also provides evidence of the attempts undertaken by the 20th century Karaim intelligentsia at establishing the modern Karaim identity. The best-known variants of this legend were recorded in the 20th century by Abraomas Šišmanas (Abraham Szyszman) and the senior hazzan Simonas Firkovičius. Both of them paid great interest to the Karaim culture during the interwar period, spreading certain important messages in their folklore recordings as well. These include, for instance, the depiction of Karaims as warriors. This legend merits consideration in terms of space and the Karaim everyday life, particularly in the context of the fieldwork data collected in the 21st century, and observations of the Karaim life style. The legend in question emerges as the verbal testimony of the people coming from the Black Sea region and struggling to adapt in the completely new surroundings, characterized by entirely different climate – long winters and lots of water.

Multiphysics Design of a V-Shape IPM Motor

In this paper, a multiphysics model is proposed for a multi-V-shape interior permanent magnet motor with concentrated winding. This paper develops a nonlinear magnetic model that computes the flux density in the motor. The analytical model includes several novel aspects: it takes into account the local saturation near the iron bridges, it proposes a method for modeling the concentrated tooth winding, and it calculates the slot tangential leakage flux and includes it in the flux linkage calculation. The magnetic model is coupled with an electrical model that computes the power factor and the voltage at the motor terminals. A loss model is developed in order to calculate the copper and the iron losses. They are used as inputs to a nodal thermal model that introduces a thermal circuit for concentrated end-winding and computes the temperature of the motor. A mechanical model is developed. It evaluates the mechanical constraints encountered by the structure. The models are verified using finite element computations and numerical calculations performed with dedicated software. Besides, the coupled analytical model is experimentally validated using a prototype motor. Finally, two multiphysics bi-objective optimizations are carried out in order to design the motor for high-torque and low-speed application.

Analysis of Slope Failure at the Southwestern Limb of Perat Anticline - NE Iraq Using Stereographic Projection

Rock slopes analysis in south western limb of Perat anticline, near Bekhme village, were studied. Seven stations were chosen to study these slopes which distributed along several exposed formations of Bekhme, Shiranish, Tanjero, Kolosh, Khurmala, and Gercus interbeded with Pila Spi according to their existence on the road, beginning from the Iron Bridge of Bekhme. Stereographic projection technique was used in analyzing and classifying these slopes. Plane sliding along bedding planes and joints is the predominant in the formations of Bekhme, Shiranish, Pila Spi and some of khurmala Formation. Clastic rock Formations of Tanjero, Kolosh, and Gercus help to failure in steep and moderate slopes. Because of no distinctive favorable discontinuities to slide along, these slopes are suffering from raveling processes which means granular disintegration into small components by different processes. The rock slopes of Khurmala Formation are affected by wedge sliding along discontinuities intersections with bedding planes.

Laser scan-based structural assessment of wrought iron bridges: Guinness Bridge, Ireland

This paper introduces a workflow to create the geometric documents for conducting the finite-element-based structural assessment of wrought iron bridges using laser scanning data as the input dataset. First, a methodology for identifying actual cross-sections of the bridge components based on a point cloud obtained from a terrestrial laser scanner (TLS) is presented. Next, a non-parametric regression kernel density estimation is employed to determine overall bridge dimensions to populate a computational model by projecting the position of the web and/or flange surface of the cross-section (appearing as local maximum peaks of a probability density shape). The process is demonstrated with respect to the previously undocumented Guinness Bridge in Dublin, Ireland, to determine the bridge’s behaviour. The successful generation of this model proves that TLS can surpass other common techniques (e.g. unmanned aerial vehicle-based images) for acquiring the bridge geometry necessary for reconstructing accurate member cross-sections and overall bridge dimensions, regarding the quantity and quality of the data points, and timing. The finite-element analysis showed that the bridge currently satisfies both strength and serviceability requirements under self-weight but would be unlikely to support a new slab and a modern pedestrian load level as per current code requirements for reopening the bridge.

Elegant Systems, Inelegant Institutions: Building, Designing, and Pursuing Perfection in the Age of Revolution

Elegant Systems, Inelegant Institutions:Building, Designing, and Pursuing Perfection in the Age of Revolution John Lauritz Larson (bio) Tamara Plakins Thornton. Nathaniel Bowditch and the Power of Numbers: How a Nineteenth-Century Man of Business, Science, and the Sea Changed American Life. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2016. xiv + 400 pp. Figures, illustrations, notes, bibliography, index. $35.00. Edward G. Gray. Tom Paine's Iron Bridge: Building a United States. New York: W.W. Norton, 2016. xiv + 235 pp. Figures, illustrations, notes, index. $26.95. Historians do their best work when they struggle to find that place where the particulars of authentic lives, times, and events meet the possibility of generalization and the two perspectives illuminate each other. Most authentic lives display the banalities of daily existence punctuated by moments of aspiration and achievement that transcend the mundane. As often as not, achievements fall short of aspirations, scattering frustration and disappointment in their wake. Historians sift the resulting detritus and try to recover the dynamics of this strange relationship between the idiosyncratic individual and the "whole picture." We have before us here two fine examples of seasoned historians striving to do just that. Tamara Plakins Thornton has written an enormously learned book about an intellectually challenging subject—mathematic systems—in the guise of a normal biography of Nathaniel Bowditch, an early American gentleman of Salem, Massachusetts. Edward Gray has written an artful and sophisticated book about a complicated man—Thomas Paine—in the guise of a simple study of Paine's life-long effort to peddle his design for an iron bridge. Both subjects pursued the sublime union of natural law and human freedom. Both were disappointed. Nathaniel Bowditch grew up in Salem, which, at the time of his youth, was a leading center of New England's maritime economy. Like so many young men in seaport towns, Bowditch took advantage of friendly connections, clerked in a waterfront chandlery, went to sea, learned the ways of saltwater commerce, collected a little capital and parlayed that, in a matter of years, into a comfortable fortune. But his passion was fixed on mathematics, both abstract and [End Page 21] applied. While pursuing with one hand a perfectly ordinary practical course for a young man of modest means, with the other Bowditch taught himself mathematics and carved out a name for himself as a genius with numbers, with systems, and with the orderly view of things that proceeded from the two. Bowditch's first triumph came with the publication of his New American Practical Navigator (1802). Celestial navigation required the comparison of real-time observations of the moon and stars with elaborate, published tables of values designed to yield a global position. Human "computers" produced the requisite tables, crunching out page after page of numbers, setting them in type, and laboriously proof-reading the resulting pages. Errors crept in relentlessly. Starting with the most popular British navigational manual, Bowditch reworked these calculations, added the latitude of hundreds of American reference points, corrected for a serious mistake involving the leap year, included simple tutorials for use by practical seamen, and produced a new manual that quickly became the standard for the next generation. The book secured his reputation as a man of precision and practicality—if not pedantry. Many of his thousands of "corrections" could be found in the third decimal, too insignificant to affect working navigational decisions. (Today we might diagnose Bowditch as some kind of savant, especially in light of the rigid social miscues and lack of impulse control or executive self-regulation he displayed throughout his adult life; in his day he was considered very smart and prickly.) Bowditch's mathematical studies carried him deep into what we know as calculus, where he began to develop approaches to actuarial probabilities and statistical differentiations that he promptly put to use developing compound interest tables, marine insurance risks, and life insurance tables. On the applied side he developed systems for Salem's East India Marine Society and for the Massachusetts Hospital Life Insurance Company of Boston. To these financial services ventures he brought a degree of method, system, and regularity never before seen in banks or counting houses. He specialized...

Tom Paine's Iron Bridge: Building a United States

Tom Paine's Iron Bridge: Building a United States

Accurate strain sensing based on super-mode interference in strongly coupled multi-core optical fibres

We report on the use of a multi-core fibre (MCF) comprising strongly-coupled cores for accurate strain sensing. Our MCF is designed to mode match a standard single mode optical fibre. This allows us to fabricate simple MCF interferometers whose interrogation is carried out with light sources, detectors and fibre components readily available from the optical communications tool box. Our MCF interferometers were used for sensing strain. The sensor calibration was carried out in a high-fidelity aerospace test laboratory. In addition, a packaged MCF interferometer was transferred into field trials to validate its performance under deployment conditions, specifically the sensors were installed in a historical iron bridge. Our results suggest that the MCF strain sensors here proposed are likely to reach the readiness level to compete with other mature sensor technologies, hence to find commercial application. An important advantage of our MCF interferometers is their capability to operate at very high temperatures.

Statistical evaluation of fatigue strength of double shear riveted connections and crack growth rates of materials from old bridges

The maintenance of old riveted bridges has become a major concern for railroad managers across Europe. These metallic structures, built on their majority on the second half of the 19th century, are indeed submitted to ever increasing traffic loads (augmentation in weight and speed of rolling stock).To assess the remaining life of these metallic bridges, some critical structural details have been identified and associated to S-N curves to be used in damage estimation (using Palmgren-Miner's rule for cumulative damage, for example). These constructional details are often described in construction standards, such as the EN 1993-1-9, the BS 5400 and the AASHTO standards. The particularity of older hot-riveted bridges is that their numerous geometric configurations are often under-represented, thus, limiting the accuracy of damage estimation.To compensate the absence of hot riveted assemblies in the standards, numerous research groups have performed extensive experimental campaigns. However, the heterogeneity and rarity of the material (no longer produced nowadays), as well as the very diverse geometrical configurations used at the time of the construction of the bridges (given the novelty proposed by the introduction of metal as a new material in monumental construction), makes difficult the comparison of experimental data.In order to facilitate interpretation and differentiation of fatigue data of a particular type of constructional detail, experimental data from double shear assemblies manufactured from three different metallic ancient bridges is considered (French and Portuguese puddled iron bridges). Then, through statistical analysis (linearized boundaries and the Fernández-Canteli model), the S-N curves corresponding to their structural configuration are identified. Comparisons to the EN 1993-1-9, the BS 5400 and the AASHTO standards are also proposed.The combination of the S-N curves and Fracture Mechanics approaches can be used to evaluate the residual life of the old riveted metallic bridges. Thus, a statistical analysis and discussion of experimental fatigue crack propagation data available for materials from the ancient riveted metallic bridges are made. This analysis is important for the application of the Fracture Mechanics approaches to predict the residual life of structural details.

Civil engineering heritage: country profile – England

This paper is a review of the civil engineering heritage of England, one of the series of national profiles being published by Engineering History and Heritage. It is presented under four headings: ‘England’s major civil engineering achievements’, ‘National and regional recognition of engineering heritage’, ‘Exemplar conservation of engineering structures’ and ‘Information sources for engineering heritage’. This profile discusses engineering structures of heritage importance, including the following, all built before 1900: Eddystone lighthouse; Iron Bridge, the first major structure of cast iron; Ditherington Mill in Shrewsbury, the first multistorey building using beams and columns of cast iron; Saint Katherine’s Docks by Thomas Telford; the Thames Tunnel, the first tunnel constructed under water; the Royal Albert Bridge by I. K. Brunel; the Palm House at Kew Gardens; and numerous Victorian railway stations. The profile lists organisations in England active in helping conserve its engineering heritage, including Historic England, the Panel for Historical Engineering Works, the Canal & River Trust and the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings, and concludes with a short list of websites and books giving further information about English civil engineering heritage.

Mechanistic insight into the heme-independent interplay between iron and carbon monoxide in CFTR and Slo1 BKCa channels.

Ion channels have been extensively reported as effectors of carbon monoxide (CO). However, the mechanisms of heme-independent CO action are still not known. Because most ion channels are heterologously expressed on human embryonic kidney cells that are cultured in Fe3+-containing media, CO may act as a small and strong iron chelator to disrupt a putative iron bridge in ion channels and thus to tune their activity. In this review CFTR and Slo1 BKCa channels are employed to discuss the possible heme-independent interplay between iron and CO. Our recent studies demonstrated a high-affinity Fe3+ site at the interface between the regulatory domain and intracellular loop 3 of CFTR. Because the binding of Fe3+ to CFTR prevents channel opening, the stimulatory effect of CO on the Cl- and HCO3- currents across the apical membrane of rat distal colon may be due to the release of inhibitive Fe3+ by CO. In contrast, CO repeatedly stimulates the human Slo1 BKCa channel opening, possibly by binding to an unknown iron site, because cyanide prohibits this heme-independent CO stimulation. Here, in silico research on recent structural data of the slo1 BKCa channels indicates two putative binuclear Fe2+-binding motifs in the gating ring in which CO may compete with protein residues to bind to either Fe2+ bowl to disrupt the Fe2+ bridge but not to release Fe2+ from the channel. Thus, these two new regulation models of CO, with iron releasing from and retaining in the ion channel, may have significant and extensive implications for other metalloproteins.

W・K・バルトンによる『THE GREAT EARTHQUAKE IN JAPAN, 1891.』の写真撮影の日程について

I considered the photography schedule for Burton photographed of collection of photographs in “THE GREAT EARTHQUAKE IN JAPAN, 1891.”, about the Nobi earthquake, and it is following many points that become clear. Burton got on the train from Shimbashi 21:50 on October 28, 1891 when the Nobi earthquake was generated. And he stayed at Nagoya on night of 29th, the following day as it was listed in PLATE I. of “THE GREAT EARTHQUAKE IN JAPAN, 1891.”. He left for Biwajima to photograph on 30th, the following day written down in the photograph explanation of “THE GREAT EARTHQUAKE IN JAPAN, 1891.”, but he photographed for some days there because weather was bad. Afterwards, he photographed the Owari Cotton Mill in Atsuta and others. He moved from Nagoya to Gifu via Kasamatsu on November 3. On the journey, photographed a temporary hospital by the Empire University in Kuroda and the stricken area of Kasamatsu. He went to Neo-valley in November 4-6, and advanced to Midori of Neo-valley and returned from there. In addition, he identified Neo-valley fault at Midori. He moved from Gifu to Ogaki in November 7-8, and he photographed damaged the Nagara-gawa iron bridge on the way. Burton got on the Yamashiro-maru from Kobe on November 9, returned to Yokohama the next day.

Tagus river centenarian steel bridges’ rehabilitation

This paper refers to the rehabilitation design projects and undertaken works of three centenarian steel/ iron bridges executed in Portugal and belonging to the national road network, namely Abrantes’ Bridge, Belver's Bridge and Chamusca's Bridge the three of them crossing the Tagus river.Their typology is basically a steel deck executed in steel or iron elements with rivets that are connected in trusses. These three examples cover upper and lower decks.The original platforms were generally made of wood and lately were changed to reinforced concrete slabs to meet traffic necessities. The decks are supported by piers and abutments made of masonry as well as wing walls when existing.In this paper each bridge is analysed in detail, highlighting its main anomalies which distinguish it situation from the other ones and the purpose of the repair and the reinforcement works that were prescribed.The existing situation before the intervention is characterized through bridge inspections both principals and special and also through the main conclusions obtained from laboratory tests over samples extracted from precise points of the structures.The hypotheses for the intervention in order to upgrade each structure to actual regulatory actions are discussed in terms of (i) present restraints, (ii) difficulties of execution due to the lack of resistance of existing materials (for instance non-weldable iron) or particular geometry of the elements or complex connections involving composite members and rivets or even (iii) aesthetics issues regarding patrimonial heritage.Important factors and curiosities observed during their rehabilitation design and works are also summarized. Namely the case of global reinforcement of a structure achieved with the reformulation of the external pre-stress and the elimination of joints in the upper slab and also the case of reinforcement of a non-ductile structure to the seismic action.The paper ends with a brief conclusion about the major problems that affect this kind of structures though their long existence: the nature of their constitution, the original conceptual design and the influence of its assumptions in the global behaviour of the structures, the difficulty to estimate quantities of repair in the early stages of the intervention (during project time) where no pickling process has yet started and real deficiencies are covered with paint, the thorough work necessary to add the compulsory resistance preserving its aesthetic and heritage, among other remarks.

Space-Vector Models for Torsional Vibration of Cage Induction Motors

Electromagnetic response of induction motors to torsional vibration is studied using space-vector and finite-element (FE) models. Comparison of the results shows that the skin effect in the rotor bars plays an important role, and the basic space-vector model has to be updated to a double-cage or triple-cage model. The results of the higher order models agree well with those of the FE analysis as long as motors with semiopen rotor slots are studied. In case of closed rotor slots, the saturation of the iron bridges on top of the bars causes problems in modeling accuracy.

Long term marine corrosion of cast iron bridge piers

Cast iron piers of a disused 90 year old multispan railway bridge located close to the Pacific Ocean were extensively sampled for remaining wall thickness to determine corrosion loss and pit depth. From this, a corrosion loss model for the full 90 years was developed. In addition, the statistics for uncertainty in corrosion loss were obtained. Corrosion varied with elevation relative to mean water level and was negligible in the atmospheric zone, about 2–3 mm in the immersion zone and 5–6 mm in the splash and lower tidal zones. This variation is consistent with accelerated low water corrosion. It indicates that water pollution occurred sometime during the life of the bridge. Maximum pit depths were determined and analysed using extreme value statistics. The corrosion model for such long term exposure and the related statistical results are unique and important for assessment of remaining life of the many other cast iron structures still in existence in many parts of the world.

Improving the short-term efficiency of rock phosphate-based fertilizers in pastures by using edaphic biostimulants

The use of reactive rock phosphate (RP) in acidic soils as a phosphate (P) source for pastures and crops presents attractive economic advantages with respect to soluble phosphate. However, some studies have demonstrated that the short-term (1-year) efficiency of RP, compared with that of water-soluble P, is relatively poor. This fact penalizes not only the yield and quality of the earlier harvests, but even the whole final yield when the crop is affected by some abiotic or biotic stress at the beginning of the cycle. In the present study, we investigated the ability of new edaphic biostimulants to increase the short-term efficiency of RP-based fertilizer as a P source for pastures cultivated in acid soils. To this end, we have granulated rock phosphate with two edaphic biostimulants: tryptophan and a heteromolecular organic complex formed by humic acid and tryptophan through iron bridges, and compared their short-term P fertilizer efficacy with that of single superphosphate and rock phosphate. Soil incubation studies showed that the heteromolecular complex humic acid–tryptophan and Tryptophan were able to increase soil CO2 production compared with native soil, rock phosphate, and superphosphate. Likewise, the presence of humic acid–tryptophan complex and Trp significantly increases plant-available phosphate compared with rock phosphate, up to levels similar to those of superphosphate. Plant (ray grass)–soil–pot studies showed that rock phosphate/(humic acid–tryptophan) formulation yielded values for both ray grass dry matter production and shoot P concentration, clearly higher than those of rock phosphate and rock phosphate/tryptophan. In addition, the results associated with rock phosphate/(humic acid–tryptophan) were similar to those for superphosphate, after 3 months of cultivation. Taken together, these results showed the suitability of the use of specific humic acid-based edaphic biostimulants to improve the short-term effect of rock phosphate fertilizers as a phosphate source for pastures cultivated in acid soils.

Retrofitting of damaged bridges – the sustainable solution

ABSTRACTRehabilitation of damaged bridges may be more beneficial than building new bridges. However, proper methods are necessary to assess the level of damages and to verify the fitness of such bridges for further use. In the assessment, there are two important criteria to consider. One is the amount of damage due to fatigue caused by usual past vehicle loading and the other is the magnitude of damage caused by the unexpected actions. The present paper is about a wrought iron bridge damaged by floods. In order to do the assessment, a condition survey was first carried out. Then an analysis was done using a finite element model of the bridge. The model was validated using results of a field loading test. Both static and dynamic loading tests were conducted using a locomotive with six numbers of 13.16-ton axles for five different loading cases to measure the displacement, strain and acceleration at predetermined (critical) members of the bridge. Then the damage in the bridge due to past loading histories and the future fatigue life of the bridge were estimated. Furthermore, using the validated model, the ability of the bridge for higher loading situations was confirmed. The future life was found as 30 years with a factor of safety of 3. The cost estimated for retrofitting work and constructing new reinforced concrete abutments was much less than that for constructing a new bridge. Therefore, it was decided that the rehabilitation of the bridge with necessary retrofitting work is more economical and sustainable than demolishing it and constructing a new one. The bridge is now in use after being repaired, retrofitted and placed on new abutments.

Investigations for structural safety assessment of corroded cast iron bridge piers

Cast iron bridge piers, often more than 100 years old, are still in service in rail and road bridges in many parts of Australia. Increasingly, the effect of corrosion on their present and future structural safety is of interest. Field investigations and observations to assess corrosion losses and pitting of the cast iron piers of four different operational railway bridges located in tidal marine exposure conditions are described, noting that direct visual examination usually is rendered difficult by immersion, marine growth and the presence of the graphitised layer. Measured corrosion losses and pit depths showed considerable variability between piers and between bridges. Evidence was found for the influence of microbiological corrosion, fostered by nitrogenous pollution. Implications for structural safety assessment are discussed and an example given of the estimation of likely future rate of (long-term) corrosion, necessary for assessment of remaining structural safe life.

The Great Flood, and: The Pig

The Great Flood, and: The Pig Lana Austin (bio) THE GREAT FLOOD Hazard, Kentucky is no differentthan a hundred rural townsstarted as a trading post,funded by coal that turned lungs and hands dark at the startof the twentieth century.And while I love the storyof Hazard folk making the Stone Gap journey,having to go overBig Black Mountain, it isn’tthe shantytowns left behind when businesses went bust,or the lung cancer cases,either, that draw me.It’s the dust and the mud I come to see. The samedust and mud that alwaysclaim this town, where historyis marked by the water that’s made Hazard its own—the Great Flood of ’27,the Great Flood of ’37,and the black magic sevens go on [End Page 82] into the Great Flood of ’57and…where before meteorologists,people could predictthe size of the maelstrom coming by watching the dust swirlin the middle of the streets,a dirty gypsy-likefortune-telling dance, with small bits of graveland earth twisting aroundbefore, overhead, the clouds’bulk fell in grey blocks to the ground until the nearbyKentucky River bredand claimed a new space,making a Venetian world where no public roads survived,just miles and miles of mud. Archivedphotographs have captured thismurky, wet distress: “Note the automobile barely visible under the flood waters,”says the back of one. “Looking acrossthe river from town, see the iron bridge,”says another, “to the train depot that lays destroyed,” [End Page 83] and my personal favorite, “A view up Main Streetwhere Rita’s and Jonnie’s Diner is destroyed”written on the last. I don’t know why I like itso much, except that I can imagine Rita and Jonnie, not unlike my own familyfrom these Eastern Kentucky parts, their determinedpupils paying homage when dilatedto round pieces of coal. I see them methodically boarding uptheir restaurant, still holdingsand bags in their hands as the waterstarts to ooze through the door. [End Page 84] THE PIG Now, you’d thinkif he had enough senseto get up there,he’d have enough senseto get back down.The archived photographdeifies him enough to give himthe benefit of the doubt,standing up there in 1957on that filing cabinet God-like.Reminds me of the Stonewall statue,the pig astride a filing cabinetand Jackson on his horse, bothof them with muscles tightand if they were dogs,their hackles would be up.He must’ve used the office chairthat was found floatingaround the roomto get to his metal refuge.And that must’ve been whyhe couldn’t get down.Those witch-possessedHazard, Kentucky watersrose so much that even somethingfairly big like an office chaircould just float away.Huge things could driftaround, too, like cars. We’re not [End Page 85] talking about today’s tinyFord Fiestas. We mean behemothgas-guzzlers with testosterone-infusednames like Thunderbird,emasculated, bobbingaround in the floodas if they were a little boy’s toyboats in the bathtub.Whatever you do,don’t call the pig cute. [End Page 86] Lana Austin A finalist for the 2015 James Wright Poetry Award, Lana Austin’s work has appeared in Mid-American Review, The Writer’s Chronicle, Southern Women’s Review, and Zone 3. Her first chapbook, In Search of the Wild Dulcimer, is forthcoming from Finishing Line Press. Austin has an MFA from George Mason University. Born and raised in Kentucky, she has lived in England and Italy but currently resides in Alabama with her husband and three children. Copyright © 2016 Berea College

Design and Comparison of Two Six-Phase Hybrid-Excited Flux-Switching Machines for EV/HEV Applications

Multiphase flux-switching permanent-magnet (FSPM) machines inherit the merits of conventional FSPM machines and the common advantages of multiphase machines, e.g., low torque pulsations, a high torque density, and a high fault-tolerant capability. When a hybrid excitation is applied, postfault armature currents can be reduced by applying a positive field current (PFC). Hence, in this paper, based on both 2-D and 3-D finite-element analyses (FEAs), two six-phase hybrid-excited flux-switching (HEFS) machines with E-core and C-core stator laminations are designed, respectively. Iron bridges are adopted in each machine, and the influences on the performance are investigated. In addition, alternative-tooth-wound armature windings are employed in the C-core machine to obtain physical and magnetic isolations between armature phases. A comprehensive comparison of the two designs is carried out. Then, more attention is paid to fault-tolerant operating capabilities when an open-circuit fault occurs to only one phase and two phases of armature windings, respectively. The PFC can be applied in the C-core machine under fault-tolerant operating conditions; thus, the postfault armature current can be reduced while maintaining the torque output. Overall, the torque output can be effectively maintained in each HEFS machine during postfault operations. Finally, the FEA-based studies are validated by experimental measurements on two HEFS machine prototypes.