The article investigates the influence of the carbody vertical flexibility on the ride comfort of the railway vehicles. The ride comfort is evaluated via the comfort index calculated in three reference points of the carbody. The results of the numerical simulations bring attention to the importance of the carbody symmetrical vertical bending upon the dynamic response of the vehicle, mainly at high velocities. Another conclusion is that the ride comfort can be significantly affected as a function of the symmetrical bending frequency of the carbody. Similarly, there are improvement possibilities for the ride comfort when the best selection of the stiffness in the longitudinal traction system between the carbody and bogie and the vertical suspension damping is made.

The paper presents analysis of the vibrational environment on scaffoldings. It is based on the results obtained in the project considering workers safety on scaffoldings. The total number of 120 façade scaffoldings was analysed over a period of two years. One of the issues considered in this project was the vibrations influence on scaffoldings and workers safety. The values of natural frequencies were obtained based on in-situ measurements of free vibrations. Analysis of the tests results made it possible to verify the elaborated numerical models. Values of natural frequencies and displacements in mode shaped from numerical modal analyses were compared with test results. Measurements of forced vibrations were also made with various sources of vibrations active at scaffoldings. The detailed numerical dynamic analysis was performed considering excitation forces variable in time. The obtained results were compared with allowable values according to the appropriate Polish standards. Most influential sources of vibrations for human comfort were indicated in the conclusions.

The current numerical study focuses on the feasibility of furnishing thermal comfort in a structure, by using paraffin wax stored on a plate below the ceiling in a multi-storey building. The method is aimed to reduce energy demands at the increasing thermal loads. In summer, in daytime, walls of the building are exposed to the ambient thermal load, and heat transferred inside is absorbed by the melting wax. The study is numerical. It relates to temperature variations outside and inside, coupled with heat conduction and accumulation in walls, with radiation between the surfaces, with natural convection of air inside and melting of the wax at the ceiling. Fins spacing on the storage plate, visualization of the melting process, and its parametric investigation provide an insight into the physical phenomena. Temperature and flow fields were investigated for 3 mm and 12 mm thick layers of wax. At the specified conditions of the present study a 3 mm layer provides thermal comfort for most of the day, while a 6 mm layer may suffice for the entire day. Fluent 6.3 software was used in the computations.

A new type of non-inflatable metal tire is designed to prevent the flat tire caused by puncture and shrapnel penetration, and it can be used on star rovers and military or civilian wheeled vehicles. In order to study vibration damping characteristics of the new wheel, a specimen with the same size as the pneumatic tire (235/70 R16) is made for contrast tests. A filtering method is proposed to reduce impulse and random interference noise in collected vibration signal. Comparative analysis of ride comfort performance is conducted by solving weighted acceleration root mean square (RMS) values. The results show that the filtering method has a good effect, and ride comfort of the metal tire is slightly worse, while it has a better grasping ability. Therefore, some extended structures have been recommended to improve the vibration damping performance.

People living in buildings may be exposed to dynamic actions. In the diagnosis and design of buildings there is an increasing need of taking into account these activities and verification of compliance of the building requirements for vibration comfort of people residing in buildings. This study presents the results of analysis of such criteria in the following standards: Polish PN-88/B-02171 [1], British BS 6472-1 [2], German DIN 4150 [3], and ISO international standards [4,5]. Basing on the results of this analysis and on the review of selected items of literature, the application of standards recommendations in diagnosis and design of buildings, as well as areas for further research on this subject is indicated. This article is an extended version of the conference paper [6] presented on the conference Urban Transport 2011.

To study the impact of suspended equipment on the ride comfort in a railway vehicle, a rigid flexible general model of such a vehicle is required. The numerical simulations is based on two different models, derived from the general model of the vehicle, namely a reference model of a vehicle with no equipment, and another model with six suspended elements of equipment mounted in various positions along the carbody. The objective of this paper arises from the observation that the literature does not contain any study that highlights the change in the ride comfort resulting exclusively due to the influence of equipment. The influence of the suspended equipment on the ride comfort is determined by comparing the ride comfort indices calculated in the carbody reference points, at the centre and above the two bogies, for a model with six elements of equipment and a model of the vehicle with no equipment.

This paper evaluates the level of the vertical vibrations in a railway vehicle carbody generated by the track irregularities and examines the position of the critical point from the comfort perspective. The issue is reviewed on the basis of both a „rigid carbody” model and a „flexible carbody” model, which considers the first two carbody bending modes. The model errors are calculated as a function of the speed behaviour, and the results prove that the comfort performance of a railway vehicle evaluated on the „rigid carbody” model basis are overestimated compared to the ones derived from the implementation of the „flexible carbody” model, mainly at the centre of the carbody. Similarly, a correct estimation of the critical point position in the level of vibrations requires the modelling of the structural vibrations of the vehicle carbody.

The term “comfort women” refers to the women, mainly from the Korean Peninsula and China, who had been forced to serve as sexual slaves by the Japanese Imperial Army during the Second World War. The problem emerged at the beginning of the 1990s and became an impediment especially in relations between Japan and South Korea. The article analyzes how the “comfort women” issue was approached to by nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in both countries. It is argued that while the problem led to invigoration of civil society institutions, it also incited strong nationalist movements. Anti-Japanese feelings in South Korea contributed to lack of flexibility in negotiations with Japan and rejection of the apologies by the government of that country. Such reaction, in turn, weakened the position of moderate NGOs in Japan that tried to compensate the victims, and made them prone to criticism from right-wing movements. The paper examines these complex developments.

The modern cabin of heavy duty machines have to fulfil a number of requirements which deal with operators' work comfort. More and more often, the vibroacoustic and thermal comforts decide about the cabin quality. This paper presents principles of acoustic and thermal calculations as well as their use in combined assessment.

The influence of the CO₂ concentration in a local air zone in naturally ventilated residential houses on the residents’ behaviour was numerically investigated. A numerical two-dimensional CFD model of the indoor zone based on experiments performed by the authors was used. Different resident locations in the fluid domain and different inlet velocities imposed by wind were considered in simulations. The overall thermal comfort and IAQ indices were also calculated. The investigations results show that in contrast to the overall air quality, the local CO₂ was strongly dependent upon the resident location, fresh air inlet velocity and ventilation system type.