Dear IFRTT Forum subscriber,
late Thursday evening a nightingale sang for me at the Stockholm
airport long term parking when I arrived from the conference in
Paris. Lilacs are in bloom and nights are short. Spring is sprung.
The Heavy Vehicle Conference at the Ecole Nationale des Ponts et
Chaussées (initiated 1747, the oldest still existing engineering
institution of its kind) was a success. The HVTT10 part had 50
presentations in 7 dedicated sessions and in a couple of panels
and plenaries. Academics, research institutions, consultants,
legislators, manufacturers, suppliers and operators participated
and the level of interaction was high. Topics ranged from transport
system development to design of vehicle components. This two-
dimensional field of communication, the affiliation width of
participants and the width of topics, is challenging, rewarding
and clearly visible from the awards.
The HVTT10 best presentation award went to Loes Aarts of the Dutch
government for her factual rendering of the Dutch trials of longer
and heavier trucks in the Netherlands. From May 15th gross combination
masses up to 60 tonnes are again permitted, thus having maritime
container transports back into the trials. The Dutch trials have been
systematically set up and monitored, the procedure is there to copy for
other countries that are willing to try out the European modular concept.
The HVTT10 Scania best paper award was presented to Jonathan Miller
for his elegant theoretical and experimental analysis of high-speed
pneumatic wheel brake actuators aiming at reducing actuating time and
brake distances as well as reducing air usage and auxiliary energy
demand. Jonathan Miller is a Canadian graduate student at Cambridge
University and his paper is an excellent example of what academic
engineering research should be: a push towards the theoretical limits.
Getting together, symposium, is important and as a "hommage" to rail
freight the conference dinner was held at the "fin-de-siècle",
appropriately the end of the 19th century, decorated restaurant
"Le Train Bleu" at Gare du Lyon.
The HVTT10 proceedings will soon be available at
www.road-transport-technology.org .
Many thanks to those participating and to LCPC and the organisers.
Drive safely,
Anders Lundstrom, IFRTT president
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