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    <title>Transport Research International Documentation (TRID)</title>
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    <copyright>Copyright © 2026. National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.</copyright>
    <docs>http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss</docs>
    <managingEditor>tris-trb@nas.edu (Bill McLeod)</managingEditor>
    <webMaster>tris-trb@nas.edu (Bill McLeod)</webMaster>
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      <title>Transport Research International Documentation (TRID)</title>
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      <link>https://trid.trb.org/</link>
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    <item>
      <title>A novel approach to combating air pollution from associated gas flares by innovative hot air balloon technology</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/2647506</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Large quantities of associated natural gas have been burned in oil fields since the discovery of oil, until its flares were called the eternal fire. The combustion products cause significant air pollution in work environments and surrounding communities, where a huge waste could be invested in the economic development of oil-producing countries. This research presents a novel hot air balloon technology integrated with hot gases from associated gas flares to disperse pollutants (CH₄, CO₂, SO₂, CO, nitrogen oxides (NOx) and volatile organic compounds) at proper heights, thus refining air quality near ground level. Specifically, this system utilises wasted energy from burning associated gas to generate electrical energy to address the economic loss connected to gas flaring. Theoretical design and a theoretical model derived from the literature are used to measure pollutant concentrations at different balloon altitudes while considering the impact of pollutant discharge point on air quality near the ground surface. The results indicate that the pollutant concentration of 114.16 μg/m3 at 100 m of balloon altitude. Afterwards, a balloon of 3.5 m diameter is constructed and successfully integrated to an electricity generation system. In turn, the results reveal the generation of 225.2 W of power and 1 A of current within an ascent time of just 8.2 s, accomplished with a temperature difference of 85 °C between the interior and exterior of the balloon. Accordingly, this advanced technology not only disperses hazardous gaseous combustion products away from human populations but also exploits lost thermal energy, aiding to sustainable energy solutions and elucidating high operational efficacy. In other words, the potential of this technology is assured as an efficient technique to mitigate air pollution from associated gas flares while generating valued electrical energy.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Fri, 20 Mar 2026 08:41:00 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/2647506</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>High-Altitude Pseudo-Satellite platforms as support to air traffic management</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/2528569</link>
      <description><![CDATA[The High-Altitude Pseudo-Satellites (HAPS) with significantly long endurance are progressively occupying the attention of the industry and scientific community. The recent technological advancements in the field of design and construction of aerodynamic and aerostatic high-altitude platforms, combined with increasingly efficient solar-powered propulsion systems, undoubtedly stand out as the main enablers of their further exploitation. In that respect, this research paper provides a review of HAPS’ application potential as support to the Air Traffic Management (ATM) system. While the paper addresses both, the benefits and limitations of HAPS’ application within the domain of the ATM system, the main research outcomes argue HAPS’ applicability by outlining and reasoning the inherent downsides in the domain of signal propagation, coverage and interferences.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Thu, 08 May 2025 14:22:04 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/2528569</guid>
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    <item>
      <title>High altitude wind energy generation for stratospheric telecommunication balloons in real field</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/2054755</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Solving the energy problem of high altitude unmanned air vehicles is crucial to keep them at target altitude for years. One of the potential power sources is wind power, which is powerful and permanent in the stratosphere. This study outlines the simplified wind energy model integrated into station, keeping the stratospheric balloon to predict the wind power generation in the real field. The sample simulation of the system was run in one of the Turkey's city coordinates and real atmospheric conditions with the inclusion of wind profile. To keep the balloon at the flight station coordinates, propulsion has been applied and energy demand of the propulsion unit has been compared with the wind energy conversion unit output data. Simulation results show that wind energy can compensate energy demand of propulsion unit between 92%-100% in ascending phase depending on the wind turbine swept area. It can be reported that wind energy unit would be helpful to solve the energy problem of stratospheric balloons.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Tue, 24 Jan 2023 09:29:35 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/2054755</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Tradeoff Study of High Altitude Solar Reflector Concepts</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/1835996</link>
      <description><![CDATA[A direct solution to Global Warming would be to reflect a part of sunlight back into Space. A system tradeoff study is being developed with three of the concepts that are being evaluated as long-endurance high-altitude reflectors. The first concept is a high aspect ratio solar powered flying wing towing reflector sheets. This concept is named “Flying Carpet”. Second is a centrifugally stretched high altitude solar reflector (CSHASR). The CSHASR has 4 rotors made of reflector sheets with a hub stretching to 60 percent of the radius, held together by an ultralight quad-rotor structure. Each rotor is powered by a solar-electric motor. A variation on this concept, forced by nighttime descent rate concerns, is powered by tip-mounted solar panels and propellers with some battery storage augmenting rotational inertia as well as energy storage. The third concept is an Aerostatically Balanced Reflector (ABR) sheet, held up by hydrogen balloons. A set of co-axial counter-rotating rotors provides trim, directional control and migration with the summer Sun. This concept also offers the ability to hold up the reflector at arbitrary orientations to achieve maximum reflection, normal to the slanted rays of the polar summer sun. This paper presents concept evaluation and comparisons, explaining the concepts and high-level features of each concept in this extreme and little-explored regime of rotorcraft aeromechanics as well as aerostatics.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Thu, 09 Dec 2021 10:38:44 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/1835996</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Airship and Hot Air Balloon Real Time Envelope Shape Prediction through a Cloth Simulation Technique</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/1833288</link>
      <description><![CDATA[The flight simulation of airships and hot air balloons usually considers the envelope geometry as a fixed shape, whose volume is eventually reduced by ballonets. However, the dynamic pressure or helium leaks in airships, and the release of air to allow descent in hot air balloons can significantly change the shape of the envelope leading to potential dangerous situations. In fact, in case of semi-rigid and non-rigid airships a reduction in envelope internal pressure can reduce the envelope bending stiffness leading to the loss of the typical axial-symmetric shape. For hot air balloons thing goes even worse since the lost of internal pressure can lead to the collapsing of the balloon shape to a sort of vertically stretched geometry (similar to a torch) which is not able to sustain the attached basket and its payload. These effect should be considered in simulations, however to compute in real time the envelope shape with Finite Element Methods is a complex and demanding task due to the high deformations, complex fabric model, and wrinkling effects. A possible solution to overcome this problem is to apply a Cloth Simulation Technique (CST) to the prediction of the envelope behaviour. This paper describes how such a model can be implemented for airship envelops and hot air balloons shape predictions. Appropriate algorithms have been developed in Matlab® and validation test have been conducted. Results show that this model can provide qualitatively good results, in agreement with the experience and the physics of the problem.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Thu, 09 Dec 2021 10:38:22 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/1833288</guid>
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    <item>
      <title>Image Processing Based Air Vehicles Classification for UAV Sense and Avoid Systems</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/1833213</link>
      <description><![CDATA[The maturity reached in the development of Unmanned Air Vehicles (UAVs) systems is making them more and more attractive for a vast number of civil missions. Clearly, the introduction of UAVs in the civil airspace requiring practical and effective regulation is one of the most critical issues being currently discussed. As several civil air authorities report in their regulations “Sense and Avoid” or “Detect and Avoid” capabilities are critical to the successful integration of UAV into the civil airspace. One possible approach to achieve this capability, specifically for operations beyond the Line-of-Sight, would be to equip air vehicles with a vision-based system using cameras to monitor the surrounding air space and to classify other air vehicles flying in close proximity. This paper presents an image-based application for the supervised classification of air vehicles. First, several vehicle images, taken from different points of view, are transformed using a descriptor of salient features as to build the five-class database used to train the classification algorithm. Then, the latter compares the descriptor of a vehicle image taken from a random point of view to records in the database. With a positive match, the vehicle will be assigned to one of the following classes: a) civil transport aircrafts, b) military aircrafts, c) general aviation aircrafts, d) helicopters, and e) airships/hot air balloons. The paper provides a possible layout for the algorithm implementation and presents the outcome of several tests performed to evaluate its efficiency and possible exploitation. Indications useful to further studies are presented to help future researches.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Thu, 09 Dec 2021 10:38:21 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/1833213</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Initial Results from Radiometer and Polarimetric Radar-based Icing Algorithms Compared to In-situ Data</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/1832907</link>
      <description><![CDATA[In early 2015, a field campaign was conducted at the NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio, USA. The purpose of the campaign is to test several prototype algorithms meant to detect the location and severity of in-flight icing (or icing aloft, as opposed to ground icing) within the terminal airspace. Terminal airspace for this project is currently defined as within 25 kilometers horizontal distance of the terminal, which in this instance is Hopkins International Airport in Cleveland.         Two new and improved algorithms that utilize ground-based remote sensing instrumentation have been developed and were operated during the field campaign. The first is the ‘NASA Icing Remote Sensing System’, or NIRSS. The second algorithm is the ‘Radar Icing Algorithm’, or RadIA. In addition to these algorithms, which were derived from ground-based remote sensors, in-situ icing measurements of the profiles of supercooled liquid water (SLW) collected with vibrating wire sondes attached to weather balloons produced a comprehensive database for comparison. Key fields from the SLW-sondes include air temperature, humidity and liquid water content, cataloged by time and 3-D location.         This work gives an overview of the NIRSS and RadIA products and results are compared to in-situ SLW-sonde data from one icing case study. The location and quantity of supercooled liquid as measured by the insitu probes provide a measure of the utility of these prototype hazard-sensing algorithms.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Thu, 09 Dec 2021 10:38:12 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/1832907</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>A Predictive Climatic Model for Ballast in a Fixed Volume Blimp</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/1829012</link>
      <description><![CDATA[This paper presents a mathematical model of the vertical forces acting on an airship during vertical motion. The main effort is the definition of an airship model, which move only vertically by ballast, and buoyancy effects, with a much reduced energy consumption for take-off and landing operations. It has been considered a disc-shaped airship, which can operate using the open balloon airship architecture defined to operate safely with hydrogen. This architecture does not require internal ballonets, because of the connected increased fire dangers that they create even if vented.         Several models of airship based on vertical forces have been presented in literature. They often consider only the US or International Standard Atmosphere models and they neglect effects of weather conditions. The latter are connected with the location and with the season. These environmental and climatic factors have a large influence on behaviors of the airship system, because it is well known that the internal buoyant gas changes pressure and density condition because of external temperature. This paper defines the lifting behavior in terms of speed and acceleration. It evaluates the load factor as a function of the buoyancy and the ballast on board as a function of climatic conditions.         A very simple methodology has been also presented on daily basis, authors neglect the effect of overheating of the gas due to solar radiation on the surface of the balloon, which can support the predefinition of climatic effects. The proposed methodology corrects the International Standard Atmosphere model by considering climatic data such as temperature, density and pressure of the air dependent on seasonal factors and location on annual basis.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Thu, 09 Dec 2021 10:36:59 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/1829012</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Controlling the Forming of Thermoplastics through Forming Power</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/1828055</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Controlling the forming of large thermoplastic parts from a simulation requires very precise predictions of the pressure and volume profile evolution. Present pressure profile based simulations adequately predict the thickness distribution of a part, but the forming pressure and volume profile development lack the precision required for process control. However new simulations based on the amount of power required to form the material can accurately predict these pressure and volume profiles. In addition online monitoring of the forming power on existing machines can be easily implemented by installing a flow rate and pressure meter at the gas entrance, and if necessary, exits of the part. An important additional benefit is that a machine thus equipped can function as an online rheometer that can characterize the viscosity of the material at the operating point by tuning the simulation to the online measurements. This method can characterize materials at the actual, very high strain rates, that are not attainable by conventional characterization methods, and also allows online detection of variations in the rheology of the resin. The rheological model of the material is then updated to fit this point, which would normally lie outside of the characterization range. A basic implementation for a cycle to cycle control system for thermoforming of plastic materials is proposed. The system controls the development of the pressure and volume profile in the part while adjusting to operating conditions, including changes in resin rheology. It ensures that the part is consistently formed cycle after cycle using the same strain rate profiles. A forming power based simulation is run in the background with the rheological model tuned to fit the operating point as shown above. A simple linear sensitivity matrix is then derived from the simulation. Since this linear sensitivity matrix is defined in the vicinity of the actual operating point and provides a much faster response time than the simulation, it can be used as the core of an online forming process control system. The system is applicable to large parts with slow deformation such as gas tanks, and small parts with very high rates of deformation such as angioplasty balloons.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Thu, 09 Dec 2021 10:35:38 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/1828055</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Monitoring the Spread of a Plant Pathogen in the Lower Atmosphere using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles and a Buoyancy-Controlled Weather Balloon</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/1819827</link>
      <description><![CDATA[This paper describes an experimental framework to track a meteorological balloon at low altitudes using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The purpose of the experiment is to simulate the trajectories of plant pathogen spores using a buoyancy controlled weather balloon. In the described framework the balloon is instrumented with an onboard telemetry unit to broadcast its GPS coordinates and other flight and meteorological data. The UAV's circular flight pattern is centered on the current position of the balloon, where the position coordinates are shared over a wireless network. The principal advantage of using the weather balloon is to increase the likelihood of detecting airborne pathogens by sampling inside the spore plume. The apparatus enables the UAVs to sample larger distances away from the source than previously possible.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Thu, 09 Dec 2021 10:33:44 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/1819827</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Nimbus Meta-plane, a New Aerodynamic Concept for Unmanned Hybrid Aerial Vehicle Application</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/1816330</link>
      <description><![CDATA[The work attains a new hybrid concept of a light unmanned aerial vehicle, called “Nimbus”, based on an inflatable lifting body which combines the characteristics and the performances of Lighter-Than-Air and Heavy-Than-Air platforms. This hybrid design allows short take off and landing (STOL) capability due to its low wing loading, absolute stability reference, good employable payload capacity, high endurance, no runway or ground handling system requirements and easy piloting. The inflatable wing is a cylindrical pneumatic chamber, light weight, V shaped and filled with helium. The main aim of the paper is to describe the approach followed in the preliminary design of the Nimbus platform supported by evidences provided by both CFD simulations and experimental trials of a model prototype. The numerical simulations are performed in order to characterize the near flow field on the blimp lifting body balloon and to estimate the main performances of the aerial vehicle. Flight tests are performed by a model prototype demonstrating the goodness of the preliminary theoretical analysis. A complete system performance overview is reported, covering all main technical features needed to describe possible mission applications. Mission flexibility of the Nimbus aerial vehicle and possible future developments are briefly outlined.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Thu, 09 Dec 2021 10:33:20 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/1816330</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>High Transparency Inflatable Modules for Space Habitats</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/1816288</link>
      <description><![CDATA[In reaction to the prevalent space design paradigm, we would like to explore a combination of transparent polymer laminate membranes and high tensile strength webbing as the envelope of future transparent space habitats. Further study reveals fascinating possibilities in the use a tensegrity structures as the exo- or endoskeleton for such envelopes.         In the following work we look at thin shell transparent structures as possible observation modules in space habitats or as the domed component for a colony on the moon or another planet. For such structures the internal pressure is not only a load but their shaping force as well, i.e. they are de-facto inflatables. We investigate their feasibility based on available technologies, such as lobed balloons. Other sources of technological transfer are ETFE (ethylene-tetrafluoroethylene copolymer) cushions, safety laminate foils, and hi-tech laminate sails design. We further develop the basic idea of using lobed transparent membranes in space habitats through several case studies. We would finally like to spur a discussion about design process as it relates to inflatable structures.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Thu, 09 Dec 2021 10:33:20 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/1816288</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Balloon Launched UAV with Nested Wing for Near Space Applications</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/1813591</link>
      <description><![CDATA[There has always been, from the very first UAV, a need for providing cost-effective methods of deploying unmanned aircraft systems at high altitudes. Missions for UAVs at high altitudes are used to conduct atmospheric research, perform global mapping missions, collect remote sensing data, and establish long range communications networks. The team of Gevers Aircraft, Technology Management Group, and Purdue University have designed an innovative balloon launched UAV for these near space applications. A UAV (Payload Return Vehicle) with a nested morphing wing was designed in order to meet the challenges of high altitude flight, and long range and endurance without the need for descent rate control with rockets or a feathering mode.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Thu, 09 Dec 2021 10:33:02 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/1813591</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Development of Rubber Boot For Propeller Shaft</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/1811465</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Propeller shaft boot is used under high temperature and high speed spinning operating conditions. Centrifugal force is an essential factor to be taken into consideration for designing such a boot which undergoes the said operating conditions.         There is a failure mode related to the said operating conditions where the boot bellows get to balloon in a certain amount of operating time and rupture eventually. This is related to creep property, which is one of the material characteristics of rubber boot. In order to predict the boot deformation under high temperature and high speed spin conditions, we carried out static large deformation and nonlinear analysis with centrifugal force taken into consideration, using viscoelastic model for materializing the said creep property under high temperature conditions.         As a result of our investigation, we established an evaluation method of FEA, which enables us to accurately predict boot deformation under high temperature and high speed spinning operating conditions.         This paper presents simulation of our new FEA method and boot profile for propeller shaft designed for high temperature and high speed spin operating conditions.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Thu, 09 Dec 2021 10:28:18 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/1811465</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Stress-Accelerated Photodegradation of Space-Rated Flexible Transparent Films Exposed to Mars Surface UV</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/1805206</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Thin films continue to play an ever-increasing role in high performance structures for space exploration.         Membrane structures have been developed or envisioned for such applications as scientific balloons, deep space antennas, Earth radiometers, radars, concentrators, telescopes, sun shields, solar sails, solar arrays, spacecraft booms, and planetary surface habitats. Inflatable membrane structures can have very high packaging efficiencies, are easy to construct at remote locations and are lightweight because pressure differences provide structural stabilization without the need for rigid supports or internal framework. Recent proposals have suggested construction of an inflatable greenhouse from transparent polymer films for Mars surface operations. This paper reports on the progress to examine the effects of mechanical loading on the rates of photodegradation in transparent polymer films exposed to simulated Mars ultraviolet radiation. Status of hardware development and initial testing are presented.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Thu, 09 Dec 2021 10:26:18 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/1805206</guid>
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