• Journal of Platform Technology
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.10-19
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• 2022

Moving assistant devices for people who are difficult to move are becoming electric-powered and automated. These moving assistant devices are not suitable for moving stairs at which the height between floor surfaces is different because these devices are designed and manufactured for flatland moving. An electric-powered and automated moving assistant device should change direction or stop when it approaches stairs in a movement direction. If the user or automatic control system does not change direction or stop in time, a moving assistant device can roll over or collide with stairs. In this paper, we propose a stairs detection method by using oblique distance measured by one sensor tilted to flatland. The method proposed in this paper can detect upward or downward stairs by using a difference between a predicted and measured oblique distance in considering a tilted angle of a sensor for measuring an oblique distance and installation height of the sensor on a moving object. Before the device enters a stairs region, if our proposed method provides information about detected stairs to a device's controller, the controller can do adequate action to avoid the accident.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.115-125
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• 2022

The high-Reynolds number flow around a rectangular cylinder, having streamwise to crossflow length ratio equal to 5 is analyzed in the present paper. The flow is characterized by shear-layer separation from the upstream edges. Vortical structures of different size form from the roll-up of these shear layers, move downstream and interact with the classical vortex shedding further downstream in the wake. The corresponding mean flow is characterized by a recirculation region along the lateral surface of the cylinder, ending by mean flow reattachment close to the trailing edge. The mean flow features on the cylinder side have been shown to be highly sensitive to set-up parameters both in numerical simulations and in experiments. The results of 21 Large Eddy Simulations (LES) are analyzed herein to highlight the impact of the lateral mean recirculation characteristics on the near-wake flow features and on some bulk quantities. The considered simulations have been carried out at Reynolds number Re=DU_∞/ν=40 000, being D the crossflow dimension, U_∞ the freestream velocity and ν the kinematic viscosity of air; the flow is set to have zero angle of attack. Some simulations are carried out with sharp edges (Mariotti et al. 2017), others with different values of the rounding of the upstream edges (Rocchio et al. 2020) and an additional LES is carried out to match the value of the roundness of the upstream edges in the experiments in Pasqualetto et al. (2022). The dimensions of the mean recirculation zone vary considerably in these simulations, allowing us to single out meaningful trends. The streamwise length of the lateral mean recirculation and the streamwise distance from the upstream edge of its center are the parameters controlling the considered quantities. The wake width increases linearly with these parameters, while the vortex-shedding non-dimensional frequency shows a linear decrease. The drag coefficient also linearly decreases with increasing the recirculation length and this is due to a reduction of the suctions on the base. However, the overall variation of C_D is small. Finally, a significant, and once again linear, increase of the fluctuations of the lift coefficient is found for increasing the mean recirculation streamwise length.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Navigation and Port Research Conference
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• 2023.11a
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• pp.116-118
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• 2023

In recent years, the need for economical and sustainable ship routing has emerged due to the enforced regulations on environmental issues. Despite the development of weather forecasting technology, maritime accidents by rough waves have continued to occur due to incorrect weather forecasts. In this study, onboard measurements are conducted to observe the acutal situation on merchant ships in operation encountering rough waves. The types of measured data include information related to navigation (Ship's position, speed, bearing, rudder angle) and engine (engine revolutions, power, shaft thrust, fuel consumption), weather conditions (wind, waves), and ship motions (roll, pitch, and yaw). These ship experiments was conducted to 28,000 DWT bulk carrier, 63,000 DWT bulk carrier, 20,000 TEU container ship, and 12,000 TEU container ship. The actual ship experiment of each ship is intended to acquire various types of data and utilize them for multi-objective studies related to ship operation. Additionally, in order to confirm the sea conditions, the directional wave spectrum was reproduced using a wave simulation model. Through data collection from ship experiments and wave simulations, various studies could be proceeding such as the measurement for accurate wave information by marine radar and analysis for cargo collapse accidents. In addition, it is expected to be utilized in various themes from the perspective of safety and efficiency in ship operation.