The failure of engines on jet aircrafts during the past few years has prompted the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) to issue an “urgent” recommendation to increase inspections of the engines on U.S. aircraft. Such uncontained engine failures are particularly dangerous, because flying engine parts could puncture fuel or hydraulic lines, damage flight surfaces or even penetrate the fuselage and injure passengers. At issue is older engines found on small number of jets, and the safety and economic impact damage and fracture risk can have on aircraft engines. For example, high-pressure turbine blades are commonly removed from commercial aircraft engines that had been commercially flown by airlines. These engines were brought to the maintenance shop for refurbishment or overhaul. The blades were removed and inspected for damage. The damage was cataloged into three modes of failure, which are thermal-mechanical fatigue (TMF), Oxidation/Erosion (O/E), and Other (O). These show the complexity of damage in turbine engines and the different mechanisms associated with cause of damage. Hence, life prediction of turbine engine is crucial part of the management and sustainment plan to aircraft jet engine. Fretting is often the root cause of nucleation of cracks at attachment of structural components at or in the vicinity of the contact surfaces. Previous effort presented a model to predict fretting fatigue in turbine engine, which is one of the primary phenomena that leads to damage or failure of blade-disk attachments. The influence of thermal effect and temperature fluctuation during engine operation on fretting fatigue damage were investigated. Leveraging these existing capabilities, the present effort focuses on modeling another important damage mechanism in turbine engine blades, which is erosion at high temperatures. Thus a reaction-diffusion model is implemented in addition to the thermo-mechanical one. The model provides a mean to investigate erosion initiation and propagation in turbine engine blades.

Engineering decisions that have the greatest effect on worker and public safety occur early in the design process. During these decisions, engineers rely on their experience and intuition to estimate the severity and likelihood of undesired future events like failures, equipment damage, injuries, or environmental harm. These initial estimates can then form the basis of investment of limited project resources in mitigating those risks. Behavioral economics suggests that most people make significant and predictable errors when considering high consequence, low probability events. These biases have not previously been studied quantitatively in the context of engineering decisions, however. This paper describes preliminary results from a set of computerized experiments with engineering students estimating, prioritizing, and making design decisions related to risk. The undergraduate students included in this experiment were more likely to underestimate than overestimate the risk of failure. They were also more optimistic of the effects of efforts to mitigate risk than the evidence suggested. These results suggest that considerably more effort is needed to understand the characteristics and qualities of these biases in risk estimation, and understand what kinds of intervention might best ameliorate these biases and enable engineers to more effectively identify and manage the risks of technology.

Escalators are common mechanical vertical transportation systems that move an estimated 245 million people daily in the U.S. on the more than 33,000 escalators [1]. It has been estimated that about 10,000 escalator-related injuries per year result in an emergency department treatment in the U.S. [2]. A study of escalator injuries published in 2001 concluded that injuries were primarily the result of falls or entrapment at the bottom or top of an escalator or between a moving stair and escalator sidewall [3]. Regarding sidewall entrapment, the 2000 edition of the ASME A17.1, “Safety Code for Elevators and Escalators,” introduced periodic tests for both new and existing escalators to evaluate the potential for sidewall entrapment [4]. The development history of the step/skirt performance index is presented and current requirements in the ASME A17.1 and A17.2, “Guide for Inspection of Elevators, Escalators and Moving Walkways,” codes regarding the index are reviewed. Injury data from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) for escalator riders are analyzed from the timeframe of 1998 to 2017 to seek trends in escalator entrapments during the time period between the introduction of the index and the present.

In reliability-based mechanical design, reliability replaces the traditional factor of safety as the measurement index of the safety of mechanical components. More than 90% of metal components under cyclic fatigue loadings in industries fail because of fatigue. The P-S-N curve fatigue theory (Probability - Stress level - Number of cycles) is one of the current important fatigue theories. It is very important to know how to determine the reliability of components under different loading-induced cyclic stresses for reliability-based mechanical design. The Monte Carlo method is a powerful numerical simulation in almost every field such as optimization, numerical integration, and generating draws from a probability distribution. Literature reviews show the Monte Carlo method is successfully implemented to estimate the reliability of components under single loading-induced cyclic stress. However, there is little literature about implementing the Monte Carlo method to estimate the reliability of components under multiple loading-induced cyclic stress by using the P-S-N curve fatigue theory. The purpose of this paper is to develop a new Monte Carlo computational algorithm to calculate the reliability of components under several cyclic loadings using the P-S-N curve fatigue theory. Two key concepts in the widely-accepted Miner rule in fatigue theory are that fatigue damage is linear cumulative and the fatigue damage because of different cyclic stress is independent. Based on these two key concepts, this paper has successfully developed a new Monte Carlo computational algorithm to calculate the reliability of components under multiple loading-induced cyclic stresses using the P-S-N curve fatigue theory. The results obtained by the developed computational algorithm is validated by results obtained from two published methods. The results by the developed computational algorithm is again validated by the K-D probabilistic model. Based on validation studies, the relative differences in the results between the proposed method and the published methods are in the range of 0.66% to 2.98%. Therefore, the developed Monte Carlo computational algorithm is validated and can provide an acceptable estimation of the reliability of components under several cyclic fatigue loadings using the P-S-N curve fatigue theory.

Spring operated pressure relief valves (SOPRVs) are essential components of technical systems. As parts of safety systems, they protect people and the environment from technological hazards. Their ability to open at a predefined pressure is considered the most important feature. The reliability of this function depends on numerous operational and design factors. In this paper, we examine the effects of design measures on the mechanical loads in seat seals of SOPRVs. In particular, we evaluate the applicability of the principle of non-uniform system stiffness in order to systematically control the mechanical loads in seat seals for an exemplary case of a flat faced soft seated SOPRV. We systematically vary design parameters and accurately estimate the contact stresses as well as the set pressure by performing non-linear finite element analyses. We focus on the quasi-static case of a closed seal, since dynamic effects of the opening and closing processes are not within the scope of this work. In our contribution, we show that the application of these design measures can significantly influence both the initial contact stresses and the set pressure at a constant spring force. In particular, the effects of the taper angle are analyzed and discussed.

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) began promulgating regulations for the structural crashworthiness of passenger rail equipment at 49 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 238 on May 12, 1999. These Passenger Equipment Safety Standards (PESS) [1] include requirements affecting the designs of sidewall structures on passenger rail equipment. The FRA’s Office of Research, Development and Technology and the DOT’s Volpe National Transportation Systems Center are conducting research to evaluate the side impact strength of Tier I passenger rail equipment designs that have been constructed according to the current side structure regulations in §238.215 and §238.217. Following a fatal 2011 accident in which a highway semitrailer truck impacted the side of a passenger train that was transiting a grade crossing in Miriam, NV, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) recommended that the FRA “develop side impact crashworthiness standards (including performance validation) for passenger railcars that provide a measurable improvement compared to the current regulation for minimizing encroachment to and loss of railcar occupant survival space” [2]. This paper describes the status of the current FRA research related to side structure integrity and describes the planned next stage of the research program which will include analyzing the performance of generalized passenger railcar structures in side impact collision scenarios. A discussion of the technical challenges associated with analyzing side impacts on passenger rail equipment is also presented.

Renewable energy and natural gas are displacing coal and nuclear power in many parts of the world as sources of electricity. While, the environmental benefits of such changes seem clear, the impact on worker safety, especially in developed nations is less clear. Coal mining is a relatively dangerous occupation, though one that has grown significantly safer in recent decades. Manufacturing and installation of solar photovoltaic (PV) power may pose less risk to workers on a per hour basis, but the number of worker hours necessary to generate a Megawatt-hour of electricity is currently higher for solar PV than it is for coal-generated power. The implications for the overall occupational burden of accidental deaths and injuries has not been previously detailed. This paper presents the results of a Monte Carlo sensitivity analysis for changes in total worker injuries and injury rates under different assumptions for the future energy mix in developed nations. Projections from the Energy Information Agency (EIA) and other organizations together with documented productivity gains for the various energy industries provide test cases for this analysis. The analysis indicates that future occupational fatality and injury burden of the energy sector is highly dependent on improvements in safety in the expanding industries, while specific projections on the share of specific technologies is less critical. This result highlights the need to invest in occupational risk mitigation in these industries.

This work proposes a method to simulate wheel lock of a Heavy Commercial Road Vehicle (HCRV) using pneumatic brake circuit on a brake dynamometer. The proposed methodology lumps the effects of wheel slip and load transfer during straight-line braking into ‘equivalent inertia’ on the wheels. This inertia profile could then be imported on a dynamometer interface and realized using suitable inertia discs and an electric motor. Equivalent inertia was computed from test datasets obtained from a Hardware-in-Loop (HiL) experimental system consisting of an air brake system and IPG TruckMaker ® , a vehicle dynamic simulation software. These datasets were obtained for various road, vehicle load and braking conditions. This framework would facilitate the evaluation of wheel slip regulation algorithms using a brake dynamometer by capturing necessary dynamics of HCRVs during braking. It is expected that such testing can be placed between HiL and on-road tests, and would provide greater confidence in Active Safety Systems (ASSs) before their deployment on vehicles.

The Hybrid-III Rail Safety (H3-RS) anthropomorphic test device (ATD), also known as a crash test dummy, was developed by the Rail Safety and Standards Board (RSSB), DeltaRail (now Resonate Group Ltd.), and the Transport Research Laboratory (TRL) in the United Kingdom between 2002 and 2005 for passenger rail safety applications [1]. The H3-RS is a modification of the standard Hybrid-III 50th percentile male (H3-50M) ATD with additional features in the chest and abdomen to increase its biofidelity and eight sensors to measure deflection. The H3-RS features bilateral (left and right) deflection sensors in the upper and lower chest and in the upper and lower abdomen; whereas, the standard H3-50M only features a single unilateral (center) deflection sensor in the chest with no deflection sensors located in the abdomen. Additional H3-RS research was performed by the Volpe National Transportation Systems Center (Volpe Center) under the direction of the U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) Office of Research, Development, and Technology. The Volpe Center contracted with TRL to conduct a series of dynamic pendulum impact tests [2]. The goal of testing the abdomen response of the H3-RS ATD was to develop data to refine an abdomen design that produces biofidelic and repeatable results under various impact conditions with respect to impactor geometry, vertical impact height, and velocity. In this study, the abdominal response of the H3-RS finite element (FE) model that TRL developed is validated using the results from pendulum impact tests [2]. Results from the pendulum impact tests and corresponding H3-RS FE simulations are compared using the longitudinal relative deflection measurements from the internal sensors in the chest and abdomen as well as the longitudinal accelerometer readings from the impactor. The abdominal response of the H3-RS FE model correlated well with the physical ATD as the impactor geometry, vertical impact height, and velocity were changed. There were limitations with lumbar positioning of the H3-RS FE model as well as the material definition for the relaxation rate of the foam in the abdomen that can be improved in future work. The main goal of validating the abdominal response of the dummy model is to enable its use in assessing injury potential in dynamic sled testing of crashworthy workstation tables, the results of which are presented in a companion paper [3]. The authors used the model of the H3-RS ATD to study the 8G sled test specified in the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) workstation table safety standard [4]. The 8G sled test is intended to simulate the longitudinal crash accleration in a severe train-to-train collision involving U.S. passenger equipment. Analyses of the dynamic sled test are useful for studying the sensitivity of the sled test to factors such as table height, table force-crush behavior, seat pitch, etc., which help to inform discussions on revisions to the test requirements eventually leading to safer seating environments for passengers.

Metro-Rail transit systems are large-scale networks in numerous modern urban areas that play prominent direct and supportive roles in providing efficient mobility for sustaining communities and local economies. Any event leading to failure of a metro-rail network could have serious societal consequences, such as dramatic effect on the safety and wellbeing of commuters in addition to direct and indirect costs from its diminished performance that lead to resilience loss. Potential performance losses might exhibit complexity and pose a challenge for measurement and prediction. Hence, measuring the resilience of such a network enables its efficient enhancement in a cost-effective manner. Enhancing resilience highly depends on identifying recovery strategies with special attention not only to restoring connectedness but also on reducing associated failure and recovery costs. An effective recovery strategy must demonstrate rapid optimal restoration of a disrupted system while minimizing the cost of the disruption. The objective of this paper is to identify effective recovery strategies to reduce the performance loss and to minimize the total cost of a network during and after a disruptive event, using Washington D.C. Metro with its 91 stations and 140 links as a case study. Method of measuring performance loss in this paper, illustrates that the best recovery sequence typically reflects the order of components ranked based on their degree of vulnerability in the network. Also, the proposed cost model provides a basis to decision makers to identify an optimal recovery strategy according to both paramount recovery sequence and minimum cost consideration.

Fixed workstation tables in passenger rail coaches can pose a potential injury hazard for passengers seated at them during an accident. Tables designed to absorb impact energy while minimizing contact forces can reduce the risk of serious injury, while helping to compartmentalize occupants during a train collision. The Rail Safety and Standards Board (RSSB) in the U.K. issued safety requirement GM/RT2100, Issue 5 [1] and the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) in the U.S. issued safety standard APTA PR-CS-S-018-13, Rev. 1 [2] with the goals of setting design and performance requirements for energy-absorbing workstation tables. The U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) Office of Research, Development and Technology directed the Volpe National Transportation Systems Center (Volpe Center) to evaluate the performance of the Hybrid-III Rail Safety (H3-RS) anthropomorphic test device (ATD), also known as a test dummy, in the APTA sled test in order to incorporate a reference to the H3-RS in the safety standard. The Volpe Center contracted with the manufacturer of the H3-RS, Transport Research Laboratory (TRL), in the U.K. to conduct a series of sled tests [3] with energy-absorbing tables, donated by various table manufacturers. The tables were either already compliant with the RSSB table standard or were being developed to comply with the APTA table standard. The sled test specified in Option A of the APTA table standard involves the use of two different 50th percentile male frontal impact ATDs. The H3-RS and the standard Hybrid-III (H3-50M) ATDs performed as expected. The H3-RS, which features bilateral deflection sensors in the chest and abdomen, was able to measure abdomen deflections while the H3-50M, which features a single sensor measuring chest compression, was not equipped to measure abdomen deflection. This study attempts to validate a finite element (FE) model of the APTA 8G sled test with respect to the thorax response of the H3-RS and H3-50M. The model uses a simplified rigid body-spring representation of one of the energy absorbing tables tested by TRL. The FE models of the H3-RS ATD and the H3-50M ATD were provided by TRL and LSTC, respectively. Results from the sled tests and FE simulations are compared using data obtained from the chest accelerometer, the chest and abdomen deflection sensors, and the femur load cells. Using video analysis, the gross motion of the dummies and table are also compared. Technical challenges related to model validation of the 8G sled test are also discussed. This study builds on previous analyses conducted to validate the abdomen response of the H3-RS FE model, which are presented in a companion paper [4].

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) promulgated Part 50.69 to Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), “Risk-informed categorization and treatment of structures, systems and components for nuclear power reactors,” in November 2004 (hereafter referred to as 10 CFR 50.69). The rule provides a voluntary alternative to compliance with many regulations which require “special treatment,” or regulatory requirements which go beyond industrial controls, including: specific inspection, testing, qualification, and reporting requirements. The voluntary alternative includes a process for categorization of structures, systems, and components (SSCs) as having either low safety significance (LSS) or high safety significance (HSS). The categorization process can result in increased requirements for HSS SSCs which were previously treated as non-safety-related, and reduced requirements for LSS SSCs which were previously treated as safety-related. The categorization process includes plant-specific risk analyses which are used in combination with an integrated decision-making panel (IDP) to determine whether the SSC has a low or high safety significance. Seismic probabilistic risk assessment (SPRA) is one of the risk analyses options to account for the seismic risk contribution. Because the 10 CFR 50.69 rule has currently not been implemented widely, the significance of various SPRA assumptions and sources of uncertainty to the categorization process has had limited evaluation for a broad spectrum of U.S. nuclear power plants. This paper will assess the importance of certain aspects of the seismic risk contribution to the categorization process. NRC Standardized Plant Analysis Risk (SPAR) models will be used to perform sensitivity studies to quantify the impact of various assumptions and sources of uncertainty on the outcome of the categorization process.

Automobile Braking System is one of the most important sub systems of the vehicle. It is the primary safety system since the stopping of the vehicle is majorly dependent on this system. This system utilises the frictional force between the tire and the road to stop the vehicle. The braking force required by the vehicle is governed by two factors. One of them is the coefficient of friction between the tire and the road surface, the other one is the load on the vehicle. Thus, required braking force to halt the vehicle with the minimum possible stopping distance varies with the load in the vehicle. If the applied braking force is greater than the required brake force, wheel gets locked which results in increased stopping distance. In order to prevent the wheel lock at low load conditions, a variable braking force system is developed. In Motorcycles, the pillion load majorly contributes to the overall weight. Thus, the amount of braking force required to stop with minimum stopping distance also varies drastically with respect to pillion load condition. Hence, the amount of braking force developed between the road surface and the tire is varied in the variable braking force system. In this project, variable brake force system is achieved by varying the effective disc radius. The maximum braking force developed between the ground and the tire is controlled based on the pillion load on the motor cycle, if friction is present between the tire and the ground. Two calipers are mounted on the brake disc of which one is fixed at a constant distance (constant effective disc radius – 67mm) and the other is movable depending on the load on the motorcycle. The movable caliper slides upwards and downwards such that the effective disc radius is varied based on the pillion load. Using a load cell, the load of the vehicle is determined. A microcontroller is programmed to move the caliper with the help of a stepper motor based on the load on the motorcycle. This way, the effective disc radius is varied for various loads on the motorcycle.

Car-pedestrian collision fatalities have been reported for a significant number of roadside accidents around the world. In order to reduce the lower extremity injuries in car-pedestrian collisions, it is important to determine the impact forces on the pedestrian and conditions that the car frontal side impacts on the lower extremities of the pedestrian. The Working Group 17 (WG17) of the European Enhanced Vehicle-safety Committee (EEVC) has developed a legform subsystem impactor and procedure for assessing pedestrian collisions and potential injuries. This research describes a methodology for the evaluation of the legform impactor kinematics after a collision utilizing finite element (FE) models of the legform and cars and comparing the simulation results with the ones from a multi-body legform model as well as a 50th percentile male human pedestrian model responses. Two approaches are carried out in the process. First, the collision strike simulations with the FE model using an FE lower legform is considered and validated against the EVVC/WG17 regulation criteria. Secondly, the collision strike simulations with a multi-body legform and an ellipsoidal multi-body car model are conducted to compare the responses from the FE model and the multi-body model. The results from the impact simulations of FE legform and the multi-body legform are also compared with the ones from a full-size pedestrian model at constant speeds. All the models and simulation in this are using the LS-DYNA nonlinear FE code, while the multibody legform, car, and full-sized pedestrian models are developed and evaluated in MADYMO. The results from this study demonstrate the differences between the subsystem legform and the full-size pedestrian responses as well as suitability of various FE and multibody models related to pedestrian impact responses. Different workbenches comparisons with finite model and ellipsoidal models gives more better correlation to this research.

In the United States, approximately 44 children under the age of five years old drown each year after gaining unauthorized access to above-ground pools via pool ladders. Approximately 704 additional children sustain submersion-related injuries after gaining unauthorized access to above-ground pools via pool ladders. In many cases, these events occurred during brief lapses of adult supervision. The societal cost associated with these deaths and injuries ranges from 134 to 342 million dollars per year. In addition to societal costs, there is also a significant loss in quality of life for near-drowning victims and their families. Since the 1960’s, several medical studies have been published that discuss children under the age of five accessing above-ground pools and drowning. Several of these medical studies propose solutions to reduce the likelihood of drowning. Despite the proposed solutions in these studies, the rate of such drownings in above-ground pools has not decreased. However, the medical studies do not address how proper and safe engineering design of pool ladders can and should be used to prevent such occurrences. This paper adds engineering science to these medical studies by including safety engineering principles that can be used to prevent young children from gaining unauthorized access to above-ground pools via pool ladders. Specifically, this paper addresses, hazard and risk assessment, passive safety systems that can be added to pool ladders to prevent drowning incidences, and the economic and technological feasibility of such passive safety systems. This paper shows that the benefits associated with the reduction in societal costs of drowning or near-drowning outweigh the cost of adding passive safety systems to pool ladders.

One of the most important safety features of an automobile is its braking system. The ability of a braking system to provide safe and repeatable stopping is the key to safe motoring. Mechatronics subsystems are more and more developed in automotive industries and in the recent years modern control techniques have been applied to a wide range of many electronic control systems in the automotive industry such as Anti-Lock Brake Systems (ABS). This article proposed an intelligent adaptive control for anti-lock braking system (ABS), to control the desired slip ratio that prevents wheels from locking. A Fuzzy controller having Gaussian memberships is developed to calculate the amount of reduction of the applied torque based on the error signal (the difference between the measured slip ratio and the desired slip ratio). Results of the proposed controller are compared with the results of a PID controller. The scheme is implemented using a quarter car model and simulation tests were carried out in different conditions. The simulation results show that the proposed scheme is robust and effective.

The chassis is one of the main components of the vehicle, which provides not only support and stiffness but also gives the vehicle its shape. Its design is a challenge for the mechanical engineer: to achieve an optimum resistance-weight ratio which can ensure the safety of the pilot. To optimize its design, engineers can rely on the Finite Element Analysis (FEA) an ideal method to predict the behavior of the chassis to the different loads (Mechanical Effort, fatigue, movement) and effects (Vibration, heat, fluid flow, transfer of heat) given in real environments. This analysis is able to describe if a product may break, wear out or, otherwise, it will work as expected. Additionally, it allows the variation of the geometry and materials used so that the most suitable one can be selected for the application in study. This article aims to show the preliminary design of the chassis (Simplified 3D model using CAD) taking into account the rules of the SAE competition and its optimization by using the FEA analysis and also taking into account its geometry. Static load analysis will start by selecting the appropriate mesh size and having as criteria that Von Mises stress should be less than the yield point of the selected material. Likewise, the deformation of the members that make up the chassis should not put at risk the safety of the pilot. Moreover, a Modal Analysis of the chassis to verify the natural frequencies and vibration modes is also made. The result of this research provides a design approach for the validation (theory vs simulation) and optimization of the chassis to ensure better performance as well as to facilitate the manufacture of its parts and assembly.

Boiler systems have many factors that affect the efficiency of the air conditioning process. A traditional control system is complicated and requires physical hardware and software programming. The modern operator console is more compact and works better. Regardless of the boiler system, the operator can run it automatically, allowing changes in many variables such as fuel input, air combustion, water feed flow, steam temperature, etc. In fact, it is impossible to control all of these variables simultaneously in the manual mode. Modern systems have been developed to a high degree of precision that can provide excellent results in maintaining high levels of efficiency, reliability, and safety. The Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) was developed in 1968, and since then it has improved rapidly and applied to many manufacturing industries. Besides the Allen Bradley PLC, other modules were developed such as Human Machine Interface (HMI), Variable Frequency Drives (VFDs), and safety components. In this paper, the Allen Bradley PLC ControlLogix family 1756 model is used to control the boiler system. In addition, this work focuses on improving the boiler efficiency by comparing between the manual and automatic control the fuel-air ratio.

One challenge in nuclear power plant operation is the detection and identification of system faults and plant transients. Timely and accurate identification will reduce operational costs and increase plant safety. This paper describes a combined model-based and data-driven approach to identifying faults in nuclear power plants. Faults are detected for a GSES Generic Pressurized Water Reactor simulator using the multiple-model adaptive estimation (MMAE) technique. In this technique, multiple input-output system models are used that represent different operating conditions. The models predict sensor measurements for both normal and faulted operating conditions simultaneously. The predicted measurements are then compared to the sensor measurements to determine the most likely operating condition. The system models are obtained using system identification techniques for a specific set of faulted conditions. This technique uses sensor measurements from the simulation to identify appropriate parameters for the system models. The MMAE technique is then used to detect similar faults using the identified model. This combination of model-based and data-driven techniques can ultimately be used to create robust fault models that take advantage of both the models created during the design and validation process and real plant data.

Unmanned ground vehicles (UGV) and self-driving cars utilize visual sensors including cameras, Lidars and radars not only for localization and obstacle avoidance purposes but also to generate a 3D map of the surroundings. When an emergency vehicle — such as a fire truck or an ambulance — is approaching, self-driving cars are required to modify their path plan and find a safe spot rapidly. However early detection of a fast approaching emergency vehicle in urban environment is challenging with a visual perception system since it requires direct view without an obstacle in between. To improve the safety of self-driving cars, a localization algorithm is required to maximize the path modification time constraint as well as to minimize location and direction detection time, especially at an intersection in urban environments. To overcome this challenge, we mounted a transducer array on top of a mobile robot and applied beam forming algorithms to predict the location and velocity vector of the remote dynamic vehicle. Even with high uncertainty, this strategy improved time requirement of occupancy grid update which marks all possible unsafe areas to avoid a collision. Two experimental setups of controlled and uncontrolled environments were prepared. Followed by preliminary transducer characteristic analysis in an anechoic chamber, an outdoor experiment with two mobile robots are executed to benchmark the capability of signal processing techniques while both source and observer are in motion.