Marek Dudzik

Mining industry is a key sector of many national economies, thus even a small crack in a mining site echoes nationwide. This strategic sector is subjected to special safety care in every aspect, including operational safety of engineering structures. The newest technologies are employed to diagnose and monitor the working structures and buildings. In this article we propose an innovative idea of combining GPS monitoring system with artificial neural network prognosing to build a prediction tool for displacement of mining shafts in operational conditions. The paper describes a training of a neural network system whose task is to prognose the displacements of the top of a mine shaft tower in direction in a selected period of time. The data used for the training come from the GPS monitoring of displacements of the top of the S 1.2 mining shaft tower. The tower is located in the mining works LW “Bogdanka”.

The article presents some of the results of measurements of loads for a selected tram traction substation for a continuous period of time covering sixteen weeks (112 days). Particular attention was paid to overloads occurring in consequent days. The second part of the article presents the analysis of overloads relating to the time interval of 60 minutes in successive days. This analysis was implemented in Matlab using a two-layer feedforward artificial neural network (ANN). The results of the approximation of the analyzed overloads are promising. A continuation of research may lead to the formulation of mathematical equations that might be useful for designers in terms of sufficiently precise calculations of overloads of rectifier units of DC traction substations.

There are many existing models for the interaction of a pantograph–catenary system. The authors propose a specific model, which is amended by taking into account the dynamic part of the motion equation. This model was compared to another attempt and conclusions were drawn. A numerical study was performed using the Matlab Simulink Environment.

The article addresses – based on an existing section of a tram line – the evaluation of the capability to substitute an existing train substation (as a civil structure) with several smaller ones. Taking into consideration the real estate prices and the shortage of available plots in the centers of larger cities, the localization of a substation building poses a significant location and budget challenge, when it comes to new tram lines. Additionally, such objects (substations) often spark concern and protests among the tenants of the nearby houses, as they are considered to be the source of a dangerous electromagnetic radiation and, sometimes, noise. The possibility to significantly reduce the size of those objects would mitigate the aforementioned challenges – both environmental and budget-related.

The article presents results of iced wire’s temperature approximation during process of heating this wire to melt ice. This approximation was implemented in Matlab using a two-layer feedforward artificial neural network (ANN). The results of the approximation are acceptable, but it is possible to improve them.

This paper presents further results of research on the load variability of rectifier units for the selected tram traction substation. Actual measurements were used in the performed analysis. This time, the analysis was focused on the characteristics of maximum loads and overloads for time periods of five minutes and sixty minutes, for a number of selected cases. The second part of the article discusses the effectiveness of the use of artificial neural networks of the feedforward type with one hidden layer with eight neurons to analyse the overloads of the traction substation over a longer time scale. The obtained positive results indicate that this type of research should be continued, using different variants of artificial neural networks.

The existing railway from Kraków to Zakopane is characterised by complex horizontal (curves) and vertical (slopes and rises) profiles. Although the railway is attractive to tourists, it is not highly valued by carriers. This article describes a new route with profile modifications. The new route would be possible mainly due to civil engineering structures such as tunnels. It would make it possible to reduce travel time significantly and reduce energy consumption.