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Intensive R&D is currently performed worldwide on hybrid and electric vehicles. For full electric vehicles the driving range is limited by the capacity of currently available batteries. If such a vehicle shall increase its driving range some range extending backup system should be available. Such a Range Extender is a small system of combustion engine and electric generator which produces the required electricity for charging the batteries in time. Since the acoustic response of an electric motor driving the vehicle and of a combustion engine as part of a Range Extender is very different by nature an extensive acoustic tuning of the Range Extender is necessary to meet the requirements of exterior vehicle noise and passenger comfort. This paper describes the NVH (noise, vibration & harshness) development work of a range extender within the AVL approach of an electrically driven passenger car with range extender.

The target of the investigation is the particular influence of a fuel injection system and its components as a noise source in automotive engines. The applied methodology is demonstrated on an automotive Inline 4-cylinder Diesel engine using a common rail system. This methodology is targeted as an extension of a typical standard acoustic simulation approach for combustion engines. Such approaches basically use multi-body dynamic simulation with interacting FEM based flexible structures, where the main excitation crank train, timing drive, valve train system and piston secondary motion are considered. Within the extended approach the noise excitation of the hydraulic and mechanical parts of the entire fuel system is calculated and subsequently considered within the multi-body dynamic simulation for acoustic evaluation of structural vibrations.

The need for significant reduction of fuel consumption and CO₂ emissions has become the major driver for development of new vehicle powertrains today. For the medium term, the majority of new vehicles will retain an internal combustion engine (ICE) in some form. The ICE may be the sole prime mover, part of a hybrid powertrain or even a range extender; in every case potential still exists for improvement in mechanical efficiency of the engine itself, through reduction of friction and of parasitic losses for auxiliary components. A comprehensive approach to mechanical efficiency starts with an analysis of the main contributions to engine friction, based on a measurement database of a wide range of production engines. Thus the areas with the highest potential for improvement are identified. For each area, different measures for friction reduction may be applicable with differing benefits.

A cooling fan is one of the primary components affecting the cooling performance of an engine cooling system. In recent years, with the increase in electric vehicles (EVs) and hybrid vehicles (HVs), the cooling performance and noise level of the cooling fan have become very important. Thus, the development of a low-noise fan with the same cooling performance is urgently required. To address this issue, it is critical to find the relation between the performance of the fan and the flow structures generated around it, which is discussed in the present paper. Specifically, a computational method is employed that uses unsteady Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (URANS) coupling with a sliding mesh (SLM). Measurements of the P-Q (Pressure gain-Flow rate) characteristics are performed to validate the predictive accuracy of the simulation.

This works presents a real-time capable simulation model for dual fuel operated engines. The computational performance is reached by an optimized filling and emptying modeling approach applying tailored models for in-cylinder combustion and species transport in the gas path. The highly complex phenomena taking place during Diesel and gasoline type combustion are covered by explicit approaches supported by testbed data. The impact of the thermodynamic characteristics induced by the different fuels is described by an appropriate set of transport equations in combination with specifically prepared property databases. A thermodynamic highly accurate 6-species approach is presented. Additionally, a 3-species and a 1-species transport approach relying on the assumption of a lumped fuel are investigated regarding accuracy and computational performance. The comparison of measured and simulated pressure and temperature traces shows very good agreement.

This paper analyzes low-speed pre-ignition (LSPI), a sudden pre-ignition phenomenon that occurs in downsized boosted gasoline engines in low engine speed high-load operation regions. This research visualized the in-cylinder state before the start of LSPI combustion and observed the behavior of particles, which are thought to be the ignition source. The research also analyzed pre-ignition by injecting deposit flakes and other combustible particulate substances into the combustion chamber. The analysis found that these particles require at least two combustion cycles to reach a glowing state that forms an ignition source. As a result, deposits peeling from combustion chamber walls were identified as a new mechanism causing pre-ignition. Additionally, results also suggested that the well-known phenomenon in which the LSPI frequency rises in accordance with greater oil dilution may also be explained by an increase in deposit generation.

The DESTA project, funded by the European Commission under the FCH JU program, is a collaborative effort of AVL List GmbH, Eberspächer Climate Control Systems, Topsoe Fuel Cell (TOFC), Volvo and Forschungszentrum Jülich to bring fuel cell based auxiliary power units (APU) for heavy duty truck idling elimination closer to the market. Within this project Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC) technology is used, which enables the use of conventional diesel fuel. During the project the technology is significantly optimized and around 10 APU systems are thoroughly tested. In 2014 a vehicle demonstration on board of a US type Volvo class 8 truck will be performed.

To promote advanced combustion strategies complying with stringent emission regulations of CI engines, computational models have to accurately predict the injector inner flow and cavitation development in the nozzle. This paper describes a coupled 1D/2D/3D modeling technique for the simulation of fuel flow and nozzle cavitation in diesel injection systems. The new technique comprises 1D fuel flow, 2D multi-body dynamics and 3D modeling of nozzle inner flow using a multi-fluid method. The 1D/2D model of the common rail injector is created with AVL software Boost-Hydsim. The computational mesh including the nozzle sac with spray holes is generated with AVL meshing tool Fame. 3D multi-phase calculations are performed with AVL software FIRE. The co-simulation procedure is controlled by Boost-Hydsim. Initially Hydsim performs a standalone 1D simulation until the needle lift reaches a prescribed tolerance (typically 2 to 5 μm).

Global warming is the driver for introduction of CO2 and fuel consumption legislation worldwide. Indian truck manufacturers are facing the introduction of Indian fuel efficiency norms. In the European Union the CO2 emission monitoring phase of the most relevant truck classes was completed in June 2020 by usage of the Vehicle Energy Consumption Calculation TOol VECTO. Indian rule makers are currently considering an adaptation of VECTO for the usage in India, too. Indian truck market has always been very cost sensitive. Introduction of Bharat Stage VI Phase I has already led to a significant cost increase for emission compliance. Therefore, it will be of vital importance to keep the additional product costs for achievement of future fuel consumption legislation as low as possible as long as the real-world operation will not be promoted by the government.

This paper presents calculations of engine flows by using the Partially-Averaged Navier Stokes (PANS) method (Girimaji [1]; [2]). The PANS is a scale-resolving turbulence computational approach designed to resolve large scale fluctuations and model the remainder with appropriate closures. Depending upon the prescribed cut-off length (filter width) the method adjusts seamlessly from the Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) to the Direct Numerical Solution (DNS) of the Navier-Stokes equations. The PANS method was successfully used for many applications but mainly on static geometries, e.g. Basara et al. [3]; [4]. This is due to the calculation of the cut-off control parameter which requires that the resolved kinetic energy is known and this is usually obtained by suitably averaging of the resolved field. Such averaging process is expensive and impractical for engines as it would require averaging per cycles.

One of the most important safety issues for automotive engineering is to avoid any fire due to the ignition of flammable liquids, which may result from leaks. Fire risk is a combination of hot temperature, fast vaporisation and accumulation of vapor in a cavity. In IC engines, potentially flammable liquids are fuel and oil. To guarantee safety, flammable liquids must not come into contact with hot parts of the engine. Consequently, shields are designed to guide the flow path of possible leakages and to take any flammable liquid out of the hot areas. Simulation is a great help to optimize the shape of the shield by investigating a large number of possible leakages rapidly. Recent breakthroughs in numerical methods make it possible to apply simulations to industrial design concepts. The employed approach is based on the Lagrangian Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) method.

Grown interest in complex modern Hybrid Electric Vehicle (HEV) concepts has raised new challenges in the field of NVH. The switch between the Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) and the Electric Motor (EM) at low speeds produces undesirable vibrations and a sudden raise of noise levels that effects the sound quality and passenger comfort achieved by the close-to-silent electric powertrain operation. Starting the ICE in the most suitable driving situation to create a seamless transition between driving modes can be the key to minimize the NVH quality impact in driver and passenger’s perception in HEVs. To integrate this important aspect in the early stages of the development and design phase, simulation technologies can be used to address the customer acceptance. By analyzing NVH measurements, the different noise components of the vehicle operation can be separated into ICE-related noise, EM-related noise and driving noise.

This paper describes the simulation tool chain serving to design and optimize the transmission of an electric axle drive from concept to final design with respect to NVH. A two-stage transmission of an eAxle is designed from scratch by the initial layout of gears and shafts, including the optimization of gear micro geometry. After the shaft system and bearings are defined, the concept design of the transmission housing is evaluated with the help of a basic topology optimization regarding stiffness and certain eigenfrequencies. In the next step a fully flexible multi-body dynamic (MBD) and acoustic analysis of the transmission is performed using internally calculated excitations due to gear contact and bearing interaction with shaft and gear dynamics for the entire speed and load range. Critical operating conditions in terms of shaft dynamics, structure borne noise and noise radiation are evaluated and selected as target for optimization in the following steps.

Today’s automotive industry is changing rapidly towards environmentally friendly vehicle propulsion systems. All over the globe, legislative CO2 consumption targets are under discussion and partly already in force. Hybrid powertrain configurations are capable to lower fuel consumption and limit pollutant emissions compared to pure IC-Engine driven powertrains. Depending on boundary conditions a numerous of different hybrid topologies- and its control strategies are thinkable. Typical approach is to find the optimum hybrid layout and strategy, by performing certain technical design tasks in office simulation directly followed by vehicle prototype tests on the chassis dyno and road. This leads to a high number of prototype vehicles, overload on chassis dynos, time consuming road test and finally to tremendous costs. Our developed approach is using the engine testbed with simulation capabilities as bridging element between office and vehicle development environment.

The backward flow of the hot burned gas surrounding a diesel flame was found to be one of the factors dominating the set-off length (also called the lift-off length), that is, the distance from a nozzle exit into which a diffusion flame cannot intrude. In the combustion chamber of an actual diesel engine, the entrainment of the surrounding gas into a spray jet from a multi-hole nozzle is restricted by the walls and adjacent spray jets, which induces the backward flow of the surrounding gas. A new momentum theory to calculate the backward flow velocity was established by extending Wakuri's momentum theory. Shadowgraph imaging in an optical engine successfully visualized the backward flow of the hot burned gas.

Beside hard facts as performance, emissions and fuel consumption especially the brand specific attributes such as styling and sound are very emotional, unique selling prepositions. To develop these emotional characters, within the given boundary conditions of the future pass-by regulation, it is necessary to define them at the very beginning of the project and to follow a consequent development process. The following paper shows examples of motorcycle NVH development work on noise cleaning and sound engineering using a hybrid development process combining front loading, simulation and testing. One of the discussed solutions is the investigation of a piston pin offset in combination with a crankshaft offset for the reduction of friction. The optimization of piston slap noise as a result of the piston secondary motion was performed by simulation. As another example a simulation based development was performed for the exhaust system layout.

This paper presents a newly developed quasi-dimensional multi-zone dual fuel combustion model, which has been integrated within the commercial engine system simulation framework. Model is based on the modified Multi-Zone Combustion Model and Fractal Combustion Model. Modified Multi-Zone Combustion Model handles the part of the combustion process that is governed by the mixing-controlled combustion, while the modified Fractal Combustion Model handles the part that is governed by the flame propagation through the combustion chamber. The developed quasi-dimensional dual fuel combustion model features phenomenological description of spray processes, i.e. liquid spray break-up, fresh charge entrainment, droplet heat-up and evaporation process. In order to capture the chemical effects on the ignition delay, special ignition delay table has been made.

Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) computations of heat transfer involving wall bounded flows at elevated Prandtl numbers typically suffer from a lack of accuracy and/or increased mesh dependency. This can be often attributed to an improper near-wall turbulence modeling and the deficiency of the wall heat transfer models (based on the so called P-functions) that do not properly account for the variation of the turbulent Prandtl number in the wall proximity (y+< 5). As the conductive sub-layer gets significantly thinner than the viscous velocity sub-layer (for Pr >1), treatment of the thermal buffer layer gains importance as well. Various hybrid strategies utilize blending functions dependent on the molecular Prandtl number, which do not necessarily provide a smooth transition from the viscous/conductive sub-layer to the logarithmic region.

Due to more challenging future emission legislations and the trend towards downsizing, the number of turbocharged (TC) engines, especially petrol engines, is steadily increasing. The usage of TC has high risk to cause different noise phenomena apparent in the vehicle interior which are often perceived as annoying for the passengers. In order to further improve consideration of TC topics in the development, objective judgment and monitoring of TC noise issues is of high importance. Therefore, objective parameters and corresponding tools that are especially focusing on TC noise phenomena have to be developed. One main target of these tools is to deliver an objective TC assessment in an efficient way and with minimum additional effort. Application of the criteria presented in this publication therefore allows acoustic engineers to judge the NVH behavior and annoyance of the TC with respect to its vehicle interior noise contribution.

The present work introduces an extended particulate filter model focusing on capabilities to cover catalytic and surface storage reactions and to serve as a virtual multi-functional reactor/separator. The model can be classified as a transient, non-isothermal 1D+1D two-channel model. The applied modeling framework offers the required modeling depth to investigate arbitrary catalytic reaction schemes and it follows the computational requirement of running in real-time. The trade-off between model complexity and computational speed is scalable. The model is validated with the help of an analytically solved reference and the model parametrization is demonstrated by simulating experimentally given temperatures of a heat-up measurement. The detailed 1D+1D model is demonstrated in a concept study comparing the impact of different spatial washcoat distributions.