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The attenuation of vibrations transmitted from the road surface to vehicle occupants is an important issue for the minimization of discomfort levels which effect operator efficiency. Active vibration isolation strategies for automobiles have included active and passive suspension components which reduce the vibration levels of the sprung mass relative to the unsprung mass. However, an obstacle to the widespread deployment of these systems resides in the actuator's energy requirements to reduce the vibrations of the masses. To address the energy demand, research has been conducted on the attenuation of vibrations between the sprung mass and the seating system through a combination of passive and active isolation strategies. In this paper, a set of nonlinear models will be presented which describes the vehicle's passive suspension and seating system, and the occupant's vertical dynamics.

A recent trend within the automotive industry has been an emphasis on the development of modular assemblies for future vehicle applications. This trend has created a need for the development of methods to predict the performance of modules within the vehicle environment. In particular, the development of system models that account for the interactions between components within a modular assembly is necessary to insure that a module is properly designed. This paper describes a finite element system model of a damper module as installed in a McPherson strut front suspension. The modeling techniques used to construct the components within the modular assembly are discussed. The results of a study of the structural behavior of a damper module model subjected to quasi-static loading conditions are presented. Additionally, the effects of changes in individual component specifications on the overall system response are considered and the results are displayed.

Structure borne sound is one of the most important reasons of noise pollution in the automobiles and aircraft's. Noise is mostly generated by the vibrating panels excited by either a mechanical or an acoustical excitation. Examples of the typical vibrating structures in automobiles are engine cylinder, gearbox cover, transmission system covers, panels of the body etc. Sound radiation characteristics are also important in the phenomenon of resonant sound transmission through a panel. Resonant sound transmission occurs because of resonant modes of the panel within the frequency bandwidth of interest. Typical example of resonant sound transmission is the transmission through a firewall of an automobile, which forms the partition between the engine compartment and the cabin interior. Radiation characteristics can be typically defined by radiated sound power, radiation efficiency and space average mean square velocity of the panel.

It is well known that hydrocarbon reduction during a cold start is a major issue in achieving ultra low emissions standards. This paper describes one of the possible approaches for reducing the cold-start hydrocarbon emissions by using a fast “light-off” planar oxygen sensor. The goal of this study was to verify the operation characteristics of Delphi's fast “light-off” planar oxygen sensor's (INTELLEK OSP) operating characteristics and the closed-loop performance for achieving improved hydrocarbon control for stringent emission standards. Tests were conducted in open-loop and closed-loop mode under steady and transient conditions using a 1996 model year 2.4-liter DOHC in-line 4-cylinder engine with a close-coupled catalytic converter. Overall performance of the OSP showed relatively quick reaction time to reach the operating temperature.

This paper reviews the current and new engine technologies that are suitable to be implemented in light-weight outdoor power equipment that is mostly powered by two-stroke engines. It gives insight in the concerns associated with the improvement of known technologies and highlights trends for future engine developments. Among others, the paper covers ways for the conventional scavenging improvement, catalyst development, low pressure mixture injection, direct fuel injection, stratified scavenging and also four-stroke technology. These concepts are assessed with respect to performance, cost, size and weight. Special emphasis is laid on the research and development of a catalyst concept for high-performance two-strokes and direct fuel injection. The catalyst is one of the easiest and most effective ways for emission reduction. However, measures have to be found to overcome the severe thermal difficulties.

New exhaust emission laws require significant reduction of tailpipe hydocarbon emissions. The cold start phase of engine operation is a critical period when HC emissions must be minimized. High driveability index (DI) or low volatility fuel causes the open loop air/fuel (A/F) ratio during an initial cold start of the engine to shift lean which in turn contributes to unstable combustion. To compensate for this lean shift, the open loop A/F ratio must be commanded richer than necessary to allow acceptable driveability with high DI fuels which consequently increases tailpipe HC emissions. With engine cold start conditions being equal, (coolant temperature, engine speed, engine load, ignition timing, and commanded A/F ratio), the difference in cold start engine-out A/F ratio can only be attributed to the volatility characteristics of the fuel. The A/F ratio in a combustion chamber and hence, the temperature of the exhaust gas, is a function of the volatility of the fuel.

The new SULEV legislation for passenger cars with gasoline powered engines, which will be introduced with the California LEV II program in the year 2003, requires a further development of the exhaust aftertreatment system. Three fundamentally different system approaches, each with very high efficiency in reducing cold start hydrocarbons, will be discussed in this paper. Vehicle test results will be presented to illustrate the potential of the respective systems towards the SULEV requirements. Durability aspects are also considered since an increased durability of 120 000 and even 150 000 miles is imposed by the legislation.

In two-stroke S.I. engines, direct fuel injection prevents fuel loss from the exhaust port, since only air is employed for the scavenging process. However, to solve the problem of combustion irregularity at light loads due to excessive presence of residual gas in the charge, fuel injection should also produce charge stratification. An alternative to stratification is ATAC (Active Thermo Atmosphere Combustion), which turns the effect of residual gas from negative to positive, since residual gas energy is exploited to prime the combustion of fresh gas. For the first time, the feasibility of ATAC combined with liquid high-pressure direct injection is proved in this paper. To illustrate the compatibility of ATAC with fuel injection, ATAC behaviours are shown in the cases of liquid high-pressure direct injection, air-assisted medium-pressure direct injection and indirect injection.

Low-frequency pressure fluctuations which occur at certain flow speeds are an undesired feature in many open jet wind tunnels. This so called ‘wind tunnel pumping’ affects the aerodynamic quality of the flow and thus the quality of the measured data. In this paper a novel approach is presented to control the pulsation phenomenon by active damping of the acoustic resonant modes of the wind tunnel circuit. The acoustic mechanism of the resonance effect was investigated using a 1/20 scale pilot wind tunnel with a complete and detailed representation of test section, ducting, turning vanes and fan. The newly devised Active Resonance Control (ARC) System essentially consists of a microphone which picks up the pressure fluctuations in the plenum, a loudspeaker which is mounted in the tunnel wall and a time delay to adjust the phase relation between the microphone signal and the loudspeaker output.

Audi's new full scale aeroacoustic wind tunnel is under full operation now. The new facility is designed for full scale automotive testing of aerodynamics and aeroacoustics for vehicles up to 3 m2 frontal area at wind speeds up to 300 kph. The highlights are the unique ground simulation system with boundary layer suction and a 5-belt-system, and the extremely low background noise of only 60 dB(A) at 160 kph. First the background of the project is illustrated and the need for the special features of the tunnel is deduced form the industrial requirements. Then an overview of the facility design is given with a detailed description of the key technical components. The calibration of the self-correcting test section will be discussed and the physical background for it will be examined more closely. For the calibrated wind tunnel the results of two correlation tests including open jet as well as closed wall wind tunnels show a reasonable conformity.

A small-scale aeroacoustic wind tunnel has been designed and built to investigate tonal cavity noise in the frequency range applicable to passenger vehicles; 1 - 16 kHz. The tunnel is required for testing associated with an investigation into tonal cavity noise on passenger-vehicle wing mirrors. It was designed to operate in the low subsonic speed range (60 - 140 km/h) with a nozzle exit cross-sectional area of 0.02 m2 and a 4:1 aspect ratio. The design was intended to achieve a smooth, quiet flow facility. In this paper the design process is summarised and the factors leading to particular design decisions are detailed. An initial evaluation has shown that only minimal changes are required to achieve very smooth, even flow at the nozzle exit at all required test speeds. The acoustic design needs further work as there is a significant amount of flow noise at the nozzle exit between 1 and 13 kHz.

A uniform flow distribution at converter inlet is one of the fundamental requirements to meet high catalytic efficiency. Commonly used tools for optimization of the inlet flow distribution are flow measurements as well as CFD analysis. This paper puts emphasis on the experimental procedures and results. The interaction of flow measurements and CFD is outlined. The exhaust gas flow is transient, compressible and hot, making in-situ flow measurements very complex. On the other hand, to utilize the advantages of flow testing at steady-state and cold conditions the significance of these results has to be verified first. CFD analysis under different boundary conditions prove that - in a first approach - the flow situation can be regarded as a sequence of successive, steady-state situations. Using the Reynolds analogy a formula for the steady-state, cold test mass flow is derived, taking into account the cylinder displacement and the rated speed.

The accuracy of computational fluid dynamics, CFD, has improved considerably over the years but still, large errors are present and vehicle parameters such as drag and lift are often poorly predicted. The current work is investigating how transient CFD would cope with a very complex flow structure around a surface mounted cube. A transient Reynolds averaged Navier Stokes model, RANS model, is presented together with a large eddy simulation model, LES model. Furthermore, two “industrial like” test cases have been simulated using a transient RANS model.

The current generation of sports racing cars such as those competing under the Le Mans “LM”P and “LM”GTP regulations are particularly sensitive to the pitch of the vehicle. This is a consequence of the low ground clearances that must be adopted to maximise the benefits that can be gained from ground effect and of the very large floor plan area of these cars. To achieve optimum cornering and straight line performance the suspension characteristics are often tuned to the aerodynamic forces in order to reduce the pitch and hence the drag of the vehicle at high speeds whilst retaining relatively high downforce when cornering. A series of accidents at the 1999 Le Mans 24-hour race have highlighted the potential instability of these vehicles which resulted in the catastrophic ‘take-off’ of one of the “LM”GTP cars during the race and others during qualifying and the pre-race ‘warm-up’.

High-frequency pressure probes were used to map the airflow around a full-scale truck during on-road testing and around a model-scale truck during wind tunnel testing. Several configurations were tested during each type of testing. Results are presented for on-road ‘pass-by’ tests and detail velocity and coefficient of pressure variation alongside the truck at different heights. The wind tunnel data are results of flow mapping about a 10% scale model and show the velocity and coefficient of pressure distribution under and around the model truck for different configurations.

Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) is a recent measuring technique, which has been used up to now mainly by University Laboratories in small-scale wind tunnels and by Aeronautical Research Centers in small and large facilities. Its use in full-scale automotive testing is not common. It is not so easy, often rather difficult, due to a number of problems, sometimes of practical nature, sometime caused by technology limitations. This paper reports the results of some tests, carried out by CIRA (Centro Italiano Ricerche Aerospaziali) in the Pininfarina wind tunnel on a full-scale car, in the frame of the European Thematic Network “PIVNET”. A description of the test set up, of the instrumentation used for these tests, as well as an analysis of the advantages provided by this technique and of its present limitations, are reported. During the tests, in order to outline the potential of this measuring technique, some specific areas of the car flow field, have been investigated.

The frontal crash standard in the USA specifies that the full front of a vehicle impact a rigid barrier. Subsequently, the European Union developed a frontal crash standard that requires 40 percent of the front of a vehicle to impact a deformable barrier. The present study conducted paired crashes of vehicles using the full-frontal barrier procedure and the 40 percent offset deformable barrier procedure. In part, the study was to examine the feasibility of adding an offset test procedure to the frontal crash standard in the USA. Frontal-offset and full-frontal testing was conducted using both the mid-size (50th percentile male Hybrid III) and the small stature (5th percentile female Hybrid III) dummies. Five vehicle models were used in the testing: Dodge Neon, Toyota Camry, Ford Taurus, Chevrolet Venture and Ford Contour. In the crash tests, all dummies were restrained with the available safety belt systems and frontal air bags.

Transient force and surface pressure data has been measured on a range of simple geometric shapes in order to gain an understanding of the complex time dependent and separated flow around a vehicle when subjected to a crosswind. The experiments were carried out using the Cranfield University model crosswind facility. It is found that the leeward face is the dominant area of transient activity. Maximum and minimum peak yawing moments at gust entry and exit are compared

Wind tunnel experiments have been conducted to study the transient aerodynamic forces experienced by the members of a four-car platoon during passing maneuvers with a single vehicle. The drag and side force coefficients on each of the four platoon members are measured simultaneously using strain gauge balances during the maneuver to characterize the transient effects. The results show that every car in the platoon experiences significant changes of drag and side force coefficients when the passing model moves to the proximity of each car. Influences of the lateral spacing and relative velocity between the platoon and the passing model, as well as the shape of the passing model, have also been investigated. Similar trends in force coefficients are observed in both simulation of a vehicle passing a platoon and a platoon overtaking a vehicle.

Transient wake surveys have been conducted on a generic three dimensional vehicle shape. The flow conditions were those generated by the unique crosswind facility at Durham University, which imitates a vehicle passing through a sharp-edged, finite length cross-wind gust. Each survey consisted of some 7000 cross-wind gusts, with each point in the wake being phase-averaged over 20 gusts. The surveys clearly show the development of the wake structure from the familiar axial flow conditions, through the transient to a nominally steady yawed flow. Although both the structure and total pressure loss that develop in the wake flow are comparable to those found for quasi-steady flow conditions, the developing flow reveals characteristics that are not found in the quasi-steady measurements. New data are also presented with regard to the character of the gust that develops in this wind tunnel and their impact upon the reported wake measurements is discussed.