Model Validation for Bridge-Road-Vehicle Dynamic Interaction System

The dynamic response of highway bridges subjected to moving truckloads has been observed to be dependent on (1) dynamic characteristics of the bridge; (2) truck configuration, speed, and lane position on the bridge; and (3) road surface roughness profile of the bridge and its approach. Historically, truckloads were measured to determine the load spectra for girder bridges. However, truckload measurements are either made for a short period of time [for example, weigh-in-motion (WIM) data] or are statistically biased (for example, weigh stations) and cost prohibitive. The objective of this paper is to present results of a 3D computer-based model for the simulation of multiple trucks on girder bridges. The model is based on the grillage approach and is applied to four steel girder bridges tested under normal truck traffic. Actual truckload data collected using a discrete bridge WIM system are used in the model. The data include axle loads, truck gross weight, axle configuration, and statistical data on multiple presence (side by side or following). The results are presented as a function of the static and dynamic stresses in each girder and compared with code provisions for dynamic load factor. The study provides an alternate method for the development of live-load models for bridge design and evaluation.     

Preparation and photochromism of nanocomposite thin film based on polyoxometalate and polyethyleneglycol

A photochromic nanocomposite based on Keggin structure phosphomolybdic acid (PMoA) well dispersed in polyethyleneglycol (PEG) was fabricated. TEM image showed that PMoA nanoparticles with narrow size distribution were finely dispersed in polymer matrix. FT-IR results showed that the Keggin geometry of polyoxometalates was still preserved inside the composites and strong coulombic interaction was built between PMoA and polymer matrix. Under UV irradiation, the film was reduced photochemically to yield a blue species, which was in accordance with a charge-transfer mechanism.     

On structural and high temperature electrochemical properties of ZrO2 thin film coating on Zr metal produced by carbonate melt

Melt of NaCO₃ can favor oxidation of Zr to form ZrO₂ thin film on Zr surface, which is used to make Zr/ZrO₂ oxidation/reduction electrode of pH sensor for testing elevated temperature aqueous solutions. Using SEM, EPMA, XPS, EXAFS and HRTEM, we found that ZrO₂ film is tightness and solid with 20 μm thickness composed by nanometer-sized monoclinic crystals. Zr/ZrO₂ interface is characterized of zoning structure according to topography and chemical composition in five zones: oxygen-rich ZrO₂, ZrO₂, oxygen-rich Zr metal, oxygen-bearing Zr and Zr from outmost to center. Melt oxidation process of Zr involved oxidation time, air and temperature. The air is important effect on structural and electrochemical properties of ZrO₂ thin film for making elevate temperature electrochemical sensor. If oxygen air largely presented in carbonate melting process, ZrO₂ thin film is not tightness and not for oxidation/reduction electrode.     

Mutual information-based analysis of JPEG2000 contexts.

Context-based arithmetic coding has been widely adopted in image and video compression and is a key component of the new JPEG2000 image compression standard. In this paper, the contexts used in JPEG2000 are analyzed using the mutual information, which is closely related to the compression performance. We first show that, when combining the contexts, the mutual information between the contexts and the encoded data will decrease unless the conditional probability distributions of the combined contexts are the same. Given I, the initial number of contexts, and F, the final desired number of contexts, there are S(I, F) possible context classification schemes where S(I, F) is called the Stirling number of the second kind. The optimal classification scheme is the one that gives the maximum mutual information. Instead of using an exhaustive search, the optimal classification scheme can be obtained through a modified generalized Lloyd algorithm with the relative entropy as the distortion metric. For binary arithmetic coding, the search complexity can be reduced by using dynamic programming. Our experimental results show that the JPEG2000 contexts capture the correlations among the wavelet coefficients very well. At the same time, the number of contexts used as part of the standard can be reduced without loss in the coding performance.