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Volpe Center Highlights - January/February 2006

Published and Presented

Letter from the Director | Focus | Safety | Mobility | Environmental Stewardship | Security
New Directors | Published and Presented

DTW De-Icing Model. To decrease the impact of snow and ice on air carrier and airport operations, a Volpe Center team developed and demonstrated a de-icing model at Detroit Metro Airport. This decision-support tool helps personnel select the appropriate de-icing pad for each outbound aircraft, given the current conditions and types of aircraft at the respective de-icing pads, to minimize total time in queue and at the stations. The demonstration project showed that the tool can help maximize predictability, minimize operating cost, and reduce environmental impact.

• DTW De-Icing Model. Mr. Chris Daskalakis of the Surveillance and Assessment Division presented "Validation of the DTW De-Icing Model," at the 24th Digital Avionics Systems Conference held in Washington, DC, October 30—November 3, 2005. The presentation was co-authored by Ms. Suzanne Chen and Dr. Jonathan Lee of the Division.

• Rail Equipment Research Presented at ASME Conference. Several Volpe Center staff members presented papers in the technical sessions on rail transportation at the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exhibition in Orlando, Florida, November 5—11, 2005. The papers reflect Volpe Center expertise in the areas of rail equipment crashworthiness, rail equipment integrity research, and rail equipment glazing research. The papers are listed below: abstracts are available on ASME's website, www.asme.org, and full text of the first three papers listed is available at www.volpe.dot.gov/sdd/pubs.html.

  • "Crashworthiness Requirements for Commuter Rail Passenger Seats," by Ms. Kristine Severson and Mr. David Tyrell of the Structures and Dynamics Division, and Mr. Robert Rancatore of TIAX LLC. (IMECE2005-82643)

  • "Design of a Workstation Table with Improved Crashworthiness Performance," by Mr. Daniel Parent and Mr. David Tyrell of the Structures and Dynamics Division, Mr. Robert Rancatore of TIAX LLC, and Dr. A. Benjamin Perlman of Tufts University. (IMECE2005-82779)

  • "A Crush Zone Design for an Existing Passenger Rail Cab Car," by Mr. Eloy Martinez and Mr. David Tyrell of the Structures and Dynamics Division; Mr. Robert Rancatore and Dr. Richard Stringfellow of TIAX LLC; and Mr. Gabriel Amar of Taylor, Raynauld, Amar & Associates. (IMECE2005-82769)

  • "Impact Resistance of Rail Vehicle Window Glazing and Related Safety Issues," by Mr. James Lamond of the Railroad Systems Division, Dr. Thomas Tsai of the Federal Railroad Administration, and Mr. Sam Liao of Parsons Brinckerhoff Quade & Douglas, Inc. (IMECE2005-83064)

  • "Development of a Passenger Wheel Standard," by Mr. Jeffrey Gordon of the Structures and Dynamics Division and Mr. Dan Stone of Hunter Holiday Consulting. (IMECE2005-82790)

  • "Fatigue Performance of AAR Class A Railroad Wheel Steel at Ambient and Elevated Temperatures," by Mr. Jeffrey Gordon of the Structures and Dynamics Division and Mr. Fraser J. McMaster and Mr. Guadalupe B. Robledo of Southwest Research Institute. (IMECE2005-82519)

  • "Investigation of the Effects of Sliding on Wheel Tread Damage" by Mr. Brandon Talamini and Mr. Jeffrey Gordon, of the Structures and Dynamics Division, and Dr. A. Benjamin Perlman of Tufts University. (IMECE2005-82826)

• Homeland Security Conference. Dr. Sylvia Harris of the Telecommunications Division presented "Lessons Learned: An Assessment of the TSA Screener Training Quality Assurance (QA) Program" at the Fourth Annual Homeland Security Conference held in Albuquerque, New Mexico November 16—18, 2005. Sponsors of the conference include Sandia National Laboratories and Los Alamos National Laboratory. Dr. Harris' paper describes the results of recent support to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA).

• Human Factors and Runway Safety. Dr. Kim Cardosi of the Operator Performance and Safety Analysis Division contributed to a recently published book that compiles case studies on human factors applications in which there was a demonstrable success in terms of improvement in operational systems. Dr. Cardosi authored a chapter on runway safety based on human factors work performed at the Volpe Center for the Federal Aviation Administration. The book, Human Factors Impacts in Air Traffic Management, was edited by Barry Kirwan et al., and published by Ashgate Publishing of Aldershot, Hampshire, U.K., in 2005.

• Cost-Benefit Analysis for Aviation Safety. Dr. Larry Barr of the Advanced Safety Technology Division presented "Cost/Benefit Analysis of NASA Aviation Safety Program" at a workshop on Aviation Safety Improvement using Cost Benefit Analysis held at the European Aviation Safety Agency headquarters in Cologne, Germany, November 22, 2005. The Volpe Center has been conducting cost/benefit analyses for proposed safety technologies under the NASA Aviation Safety and Security Program.

• Risk Management in Public Transportation. As a member of the Technical Advisory Panel, Dr. Alan Rao of the Railroad Systems Division presented "An Overview of Risk Management in Public Transportation Systems in North America" at the 2005 Asia-Pacific Conference on Risk Management and Safety held in Hong Kong, China, December 1—2, 2005.

• Advanced/Enhanced Traffic Management System. Dr. Eugene Gilbo of the Automation Applications Division and Dr. Scott Smith of the Service and Operations Assessment Division published the report "Analysis of Uncertainty in Enhanced Traffic Management System (ETMS) Aggregate Demand Predictions." The report presents initial results of ongoing research conducted at the Volpe Center for the Federal Aviation Administration's Advanced/Enhanced Traffic Management System program. (VNTSC-ATMS-05-05)

• Wake Vortex Separation Standards. Dr. James Hallock, Chief of the Aviation Safety Division, attended the 3rd Annual WakeNet2-Europe Workshop, "How can Wake Vortex Separation Standards be Revised," held on November 29—30, 2005 at the Eurocontrol Experimental Centre, Bretigny, France. He presented "How the Present Separation Standards Were Created."

• Journal of Fluids Engineering. Dr. Frank Wang of the Surveillance and Assessment Division co-authored "A Quantitative Comparison of the Delta Wing Vortices in the Near-Wake for Incompressible and Supersonic Free Streams," published in Journal of Fluids Engineering, v. 127, November 2005, pp. 1071-1084.

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