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Commercial vehicles display a large variation in their parameters, and due to many current trends in vehicle control systems, identifying these parameters has been the subject of much research. Using the National Center for Asphalt Technology’s test track and instrumented Freightliner vehicles as a test bed, this paper sets out to provide analysis of real world and simulated estimation results and explore how sensor accuracies can degrade these results. Various vehicle parameters are identified using both the existing test conditions of the facility and simulated data. The estimation accuracy and performance are then analyzed for validation and use in other vehicle design arenas.

The lunar resource utilization and processing of lunar materials, particularly surface rock drilling and excavation, will sometimes require high peak, low average power. One of the complications, specifically for excavation on the moon's surface, is that it would be prohibitive to carry large quantities of chemical explosives to the lunar surface. An attractive alternative method of surface blasting could incorporate the use of pulsed powered plasma blasting. Such a technique also allows easily adjusted explosive yield control for additional safety. The electrical power management design of particularly the high peak power transient loads will need to incorporate additional electrical storage devices such as capacitors. A Bernardes-Merryman (BM) capacitor bank topology was used to protect and drive our pulsed power system. As a result of using this BM scheme, neither capacitor bank is ever subjected to a negative polarity voltage swing eliminating the need for crowbar circuitry. This paper will discuss the design, construction, and performance of a prototype plasma blasting power system and blasting probes. In this system, a capacitor is charged over a long period of time at low current (power), then discharged in a very short pulse at very high current to break blocks of concrete or large rocks. Scalable prototypes of the plasma blasting probes for electrically powered pulsed plasma rock blasting were also designed and constructed. The blasting system is able to provide pressures well above the tensile strengths comparable to those of common rocks, i.e. granite (10-20 MPa), tuff (1-4 MPa) and concrete (7 MPa). The system was successfully tested by reducing concrete specimens into small rubble with blasting probe delivered net energy levels starting at 9 kJ and greater. Tests on concrete and granite rock test samples will be reported.