Transnet Freight Rail monitors the behaviour of a new track foundation, constructed in 2004, on the South African Coal Line. This site forms part of a major rehabilitation project, aimed at increasing the capacity of the line to sustain future growth in annual tonnage. Sophisticated instrumentation is used to measure resilient and permanent deformation of the track foundation. Preliminary results of this research were published shortly after the construction of the new track foundation. Results of the permanent deformation, gathered over a period of 5 years, are now presented to provide new insight into the long-term behaviour of track foundations. Permanent deformation measurements are used to calculate the expected design life of a track foundation. The results are used to predict permanent deformation and ultimately the design life of the track foundation under heavy haul loading conditions. The research provides a scientific basis for planning foundation rehabilitation in the light of sustained capital expansion and projected tonnage increase on the Coal Line and other heavy haul lines.
In most middle schools, learning is segregated by discipline. Yet interdisciplinary approaches have been shown to cultivate creative thinking, support problem solving, and develop interest while supporting knowledge gains (NAE & NRC in STEM Integration in K-12 Education: Status, Prospects, and an Agenda for Research. National Academies Press, Washington, 2014). The Designing Biomimetic Robots project emphasizes problem-based learning to integrate engineering, science, and computational thinking (CT). During a 3 to 4-week unit, students study the natural world to learn how animals accomplish different tasks, then design a robot inspired by what they learned. The project engages students in science, engineering, and CT practices. Over the course of a 3-year project, we used a design-based research approach to: (1) identify and describe strategies and challenges that emerge from integrated curriculum design, (2) explicate how a balance of integrated disciplines can provide opportunities for student participation in science, engineering, and CT practices, and (3) explore how a technology design task can support students’ participation in integrated learning. Data from three focal groups (one from each year of the project) suggest that a focused design task, supported by explicit and targeted supports for science, CT, and engineering practices, led to a student technology design process that was driven by disciplinary understanding. This work highlights the importance of drawing out and prioritizing alignments between disciplines (Barber in Educ Des, 2(8), 2015), to enable integrated learning. Additionally, this work demonstrates how a technology design task can support student learning across disciplines, and how engaging in CT practices can further help students draw these connections.
To consider the basis of incorporating safety and reliability into design, it is necessary to understand the design function. We must think in terms of a complete activity, not one concerned only with the safety of automobiles. This is the narrow, present-day popular aspect of safety. It is equally important that safety and reliability shall be of vital concern whether the article being designed is a can-opener or a battleship; both are for the use of people, who must have neither their lives nor their comforts jeopardized by a careless fundamental approach. Good basic design depends on a sound knowledge of the engineering principles, and a clear picture of all available data and facts about the case being considered. It is essential that design begins by giving engineers training in basic principles, and making quite certain that they are able to get at all the relevant facts and knowledge which gives a background to the correct approach. They must also be freely advised of any new methods which may influence the thinking process. The next important aspect of safety and reliability in design is prediction. Without the ability and knowledge to predict how a part will function in practice, even moderately good design is impossible.
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