There is a significant lack of indoor air quality research in low energy homes. This study compared the indoor air quality of eight newly built case study homes constructed to similar levels of air-tightness and insulation; with two different ventilation strategies (four homes with Mechanical Ventilation with Heat Recovery (MVHR) systems/Code level 4 and four homes naturally ventilated/Code lev...

Vehicle occupants are exposed to low frequency vibrations with possible harmful effects such as mild discomfort, lower back pain, and even injury to the spine. Occupational drivers and operators of heavy machinery are exposed to significantly longer duration and higher levels of vibration. Thus, the modeling and prediction of biodynamic response of seated occupants to such vibrations is very im...

BACKGROUND Proper classification of child occupant restraint use is dependent on the age of the child occupant. Observations of vehicle restraint use involve estimating child age. If estimates of age are incorrect, then a potential for misclassification of restraint use exists. OBJECTIVE To compare estimated and confirmed child occupant age and calculate the impact of errors in age estimates ...

The damping ratio of chassis suspension is a key parameter for damping matching of in-wheel motor vehicles (IWMVs). Because the motor is attached to the driving wheel, the initial design method of the damping ratio for traditional cars is not entirely suitable for IWMVs. This paper proposes an innovative initial design method of the damping ratio for IWMVs. Firstly, a traveling vibration model ...

Occupant behavior is widely regarded as one of the most significant sources of uncertainty in the prediction of building energy use. Preexisting simulation methods address this issue by automatically reproducing patterns of behavior found in historical occupant schedules. We extend these methods to incorporate spatial information. In our work, space layout influences the selection of individual...

Cost-benefit analyses (CBAs) of policies intended to increase occupant restraint in automobiles typically find that such policies generate social benefits that exceed social costs, often by a considerable margin. The analyses are incomplete, however, due to their inability to incorporate potentially important costs and benefits that are hard to measure and monetize. Furthermore, analyses fail t...

Traditional ventilation and air conditioning systems typically operate on a predetermined schedule with fixed operating parameters. Occupant-centric control (OCC) strategies have been proposed to reduce system operation energy consumption without sacrificing thermal comfort. Indoor occupancy detection in real time is critical step successfully implementing the OCC strategy. Thus, deep learning-...

Road safety barriers protect vehicles from roadside hazards by redirecting errant vehicles in a safe manner as well as providing high levels of safety during and after impact. This paper focused on transition safety barrier systems which were located at the point of attachment between a bridge and roadside barriers. The aim of this study was to provide an overview of the behavior of transition ...

A task was initiated to improve the energy absorption capability of an existing aircraft seat through costeffective retrofitting, while keeping seat-weight increase to a minimum. This task was undertaken as an extension of NASA ongoing safety research and commitment to general aviation customer needs. Only vertical crash scenarios have been considered in this task which required the energy abso...

Occupant kinematics during rollover inverted impacts has been the subject of significant research. Controlled experiments have utilized complete vehicles, partial vehicles and seat/restraint systems attached to various platforms. The Deformable Occupant Compartment Impact Tester (DOCIT) was developed to incorporate functions similar to previous methods, but has added a roof capable of deforming...