The Many Faces of a 研究 Project
十大网投平台信誉排行榜阿尔图纳分校的教师与一名RTE学生和十大网投平台信誉排行榜研究生合作，采用分层指导方法解决铁路研究问题.
In a research project, the researcher sets out to answer a question. It may be one part of a larger question—or multiple questions. Dr. 沈世辉，轨道交通工程(RTE)教授. 海黄, associate professor of engineering at 十大网投平台信誉排行榜阿尔图纳分校, 领导一个涉及回收塑料的多管齐下的研究项目, 铁路的关系, 传感设备.
Plastics are everywhere; in the United States and many other countries, it’s impossible to get through a day without 与他们联系. In 2021, 85 percent of plastics in the United States ended up in a 垃圾填埋场. “我们在日常生活中使用了很多不可生物降解的塑料，”沈说. “Either it goes to a 垃圾填埋场, it is burned, or it is reused.“美国曾经将塑料垃圾运往中国，但中国在2018年停止了进口废物政策, which “gives the US a big plastics issue.”
Awareness of the problem has led to a search for solutions. “环境保护署, 美国能源部, 和国防部最近进行了许多关于升级回收或回收塑料的研究，以使其在工业上更有用,沈指出. 其中一种用途是铁路枕木，它“会消耗大量的废塑料”. Currently, there is no systematic research on this topic.”
Dalton Yoder at 十大网投平台信誉排行榜阿尔图纳分校’s Student Expo
来源:十大网投平台信誉排行榜
三名学生研究员正在参与这个项目:十大网投平台信誉排行榜阿尔图纳分校的大四和RTE专业的Dalton Yoder、Jubair Ahmad Musazay和Yuliang Zhou, 都在研究Ph值.D.s at Penn State's University Park campus. 沈描述了该小组是如何使用分层指导方法工作的:“本科生道尔顿由研究生和教师共同指导. 研究生既是本科生的导师，又是全体教员的徒弟.”
Yoder描述了他的研究工作“在PSU图书馆里翻找关于塑料铁路枕木的文件和出版物.“特别, he was looking for “the history of who started it, 试着找出是否有人有任何公式——任何能让我们领先一步而不是从头开始的东西.” He found “there’s not a lot of data. People were trying it back in the ’90s but not having success. It’s been in limbo the past couple decades.”
Musazay’s focus is on the design formula and testing of 铁路的关系. 他解释道, 传统的木领带在环境方面有缺点，因为它们是用化学物质处理的，会沥滤, and they have a vulnerability to termites. Steel ties and concrete ties have their own issues. 但是，不管材料是什么，制造一条能用的铁路领带都比复制一条木领带的尺寸要复杂得多. “AREMA(美国铁路工程和道路养护协会)有 规范 to be qualified as a tie,” Musazay说.
“如果你从塑料开始，大多数时候，它不会满足要求，”他继续说. “There is a dimensional requirement that is the shape, regardless of the material, 然后还有一些工程特性的要求来量化纽带的强度, 弹性, 和耐用性. Then there is a test for each and every one of the properties, 他们必须达到一定的数量才有资格成为铁路纽带. If they don’t meet those limiting criteria, they don’t qualify as ties.”
The researchers have made sure to avoid that problem. “We used 100 percent recycled materials,”,, Musazay说, “can meet the engineering requirements” for 铁路的关系. 使用塑料领带，“与混凝土或木头领带相比，你会有很多好处. If you look at it from the environmental point of view, one mile of a single track has between 3,150和3,350条木领带, depending on typical wood tie spacing, which could be 19 or 20 inches center to center. Concrete ties have different spacing, about 24–25 inches. But we compare our product in terms of wood ties. To have that many ties from wood, you have to cut 700–900 trees. 如果你想用塑料袋做同样的东西，你平均可以用1000万个塑料袋.”
黄教授解释了研究人员基于实际考虑做出的一些决定. “我们建议使用再生塑料不是为了长寿”，因为它们确实会失效. 然而，“你可以回收和加热回收的塑料”，制造新的领带. “But obviously recycled ties are softer,” he says. While concrete ties would be “a nice alternative, 如果你负担得起的话, 但是一旦它们破裂, there’s no way to repair them. It’s also very difficult to put the sensors into concrete.”
To make the ties, the researchers reached out to 生态塑料制品该公司是特拉华州的一家非营利公司，向该项目捐赠了废塑料. “We have weekly meetings with them,” Musazay说. “We discuss formulas and designs and what has to change. 然后，他们在威尔明顿工厂制作领带，并将它们运送到我们在大学公园校园进行测试.”
Testing setup showing how the strain data is collected
来源:十大网投平台信誉排行榜
一旦铁路连接形成，高清晰度分布式光纤应变传感器就会加入, 测试开始. 研究人员想看看传感器是否能识别出领带下的弱点. “我的项目主要包括收集复合材料绑带的应变数据，并开发一种算法来预测不良的支撑条件,周说. It is important to have information from all along the tie, not just on an end or in the middle, 他指出. “应变传感器沿着整个复合系带进行测量，以便收集不同支撑情况下的应变曲线. 该算法可以识别出失压、不均匀支撑等不良支撑状况.”
包括约德在内的14名十大网投平台信誉排行榜阿尔图纳分校学生参加了2022年AREMA会议. 回收领带研究项目在学生展区中获得最佳展示奖. 对于一个刚来阿尔图纳时没有预见到自己会从事研究项目的学生来说，这是一个不错的结果. 但当他问同学们是否有人有兴趣加入这个项目时，他很高兴. “Nobody stepped forward,” Yoder says. “Something in the back of my head said, ‘do it.’” He admits, “I came into it with a skeptical mindset. I didn’t think I would like it, but I loved it.” He had made the assumption, as so many students do before they try it, that “research would be uninteresting. But seeing it from a laboratory point of view is very interesting.”
The professors are optimistic about the future of the project. 沈说，他们一直在研究的领带是一个“小样本，将为AREMA的规格进行测试。.” The next step is to test a “real-size sample, 8.5英尺长, 9英寸宽, 7英寸厚,这是由生态塑料制品根据研究设计制作的. Huang adds, “These ties are cost-effective, durable, and able to sense. 这就是我们现在的处境. We are conducting tests in the next couple months, and then we will test in the real-world environment.”
