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Dual-fuel combustion using liquid fuels with differing reactivity has been shown to achieve low-temperature combustion with moderate peak pressure rise rates, low soot and NOx emissions, and high indicated efficiency. Varying fractions of gasoline-type and diesel-type fuels enable operation across a range of low- and mid-load operating conditions. Expanding the operating range to cover the full operating range of a heavy-duty diesel engine, while maintaining the efficiency and emissions benefits, is a key objective. With dissimilar properties of the two utilized fuels lying at the heart of the dual-fuel concept, a tool for enabling this load range expansion is altering the properties of the two test fuels - this study focuses on altering the reactivity of the diesel fuel component. Tests were conducted on a 13L six-cylinder heavy-duty diesel engine modified to run dual-fuel combustion with port gasoline injection to supplement the direct diesel injection.

Low temperature combustion through in-cylinder blending of fuels with different reactivity offers the potential to improve engine efficiency while yielding low engine-out NOx and soot emissions. A Navistar MaxxForce 13 heavy-duty compression ignition engine was modified to run with two separate fuel systems, aiming to utilize fuel reactivity to demonstrate a technical path towards high engine efficiency. The dual-fuel engine has a geometric compression ratio of 14 and uses sequential, multi-port-injection of a low reactivity fuel in combination with in-cylinder direct injection of diesel. Through control of in-cylinder charge reactivity and reactivity stratification, the engine combustion process can be tailored towards high efficiency and low engine-out emissions. Engine testing was conducted at 1200 rpm over a load sweep.

Simulations used to estimate carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and fuel consumption of medium- and heavy-duty vehicles over prescribed drive cycles often employ engine fuel maps consisting of engine measurements at numerous steady-state operating conditions. However, simulating the engine in this way has limitations as engine controls become more complex, particularly when attempting to use steady-state measurements to represent transient operation. This paper explores an alternative approach to vehicle simulation that uses a “cycle average” engine map rather than a steady state engine fuel map. The map contains engine CO2 values measured on an engine dynamometer on cycles derived from vehicle drive cycles for a range of generic vehicles. A similar cycle average mapping approach is developed for a powertrain (engine and transmission) in order to show the specific CO2 improvements due to powertrain optimization that would not be recognized in other approaches.

Extensive empirical work indicates that exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) is effective to lower the flame temperature and thus the oxides of nitrogen (NOx) production in-cylinder in diesel engines. Soot emissions are reduced in-cylinder by improved fuel/air mixing. As engine load increases, higher levels of intake boost and fuel injection pressure are required to suppress soot production. The high EGR and improved fuel/air mixing is then critical to enable low temperature combustion (LTC) processes. The paper explores the properties of the Fuels for Advanced Combustion Engines (FACE) Diesel, which are statistically designed to examine fuel effects, on a 0.75L single cylinder engine across the full range of load, spanning up to 15 bar IMEP. The lower cetane number (CN) of the diesel fuel improved the mixing process by prolonging the ignition delay and the mixing duration leading to substantial reduction of soot at low to medium loads, improving the trade-off between NOx and soot.

Diesel engine manufacturers have faced stringent emission regulations for oxides of nitrogen and particulate emissions for the last two decades. The emission challenges have been met with a host of technologies such as turbocharging, exhaust gas recirculation, high- pressure common rail fuel injection systems, diesel aftertreatment devices, and electronic engine controls. The next challenge for diesel engine manufacturers is fuel-economy regulations starting in 2014. As a prelude to this effort the department of energy (DOE) has funded the Supertruck project which intends to demonstrate 50% brake-thermal efficiency on the dynamometer while meeting US 2010 emission norms. In order to simultaneously meet the emission and engine efficiency goals in the cost effective manner engine manufacturer have adopted a systems approach, since individual fuel saving technologies can actually work against each other if fuel economy is not approached from a total vehicle perspective.

A 13 L HD diesel engine was converted to run as a flame propagation engine using the HEDGE™ Dual-Fuel concept. This concept consists of pre-mixed gasoline ignited by a small amount of diesel fuel - i.e., a diesel micropilot. Due to the large bore size and relatively high compression ratio for a pre-mixed combustion engine, high levels of cooled EGR were used to suppress knock and reduce the engine-out emissions of the oxides of nitrogen and particulates. Previous work had indicated that the boosting of high dilution engines challenges most modern turbocharging systems, so phase I of the project consisted of extensive simulation efforts to identify an EGR configuration that would allow for high levels of EGR flow along the lug curve while minimizing pumping losses and combustion instabilities from excessive backpressure. A potential solution that provided adequate BTE potential was consisted of dual loop EGR systems to simultaneously flow high pressure and low pressure loop EGR.

The effects of different blends of Soybean Methyl Ester (biodiesel) and ultra low sulfur diesel (ULSD) fuel: B-00 (ULSD), B-20, B-40, B-60, B-80 and B-100 (biodiesel); on autoignition, combustion, performance, and engine out emissions of different species including particulate matter (PM) in the exhaust, were investigated in a single-cylinder, high speed direct injection (HSDI) diesel engine equipped with a common rail injection system. The engine was operated at 1500 rpm under simulated turbocharged conditions at 5 bar IMEP load with varied injection pressures at a medium swirl of 3.77 w ithout EGR. Analysis of test results was done to determine the role of biodiesel percentage in the fuel blend on the basic thermodynamic and combustion processes under fuel injection pressures ranging from 600 bar to 1200 bar.

This paper investigates the effects of variable valve actuation on combustion in a Diesel engine. Early inlet valve closing (EIVC) lowered the pressure and temperature during the compression stroke, resulting in a longer ignition delay as the fuel mixed more homogenously with the charge air ahead of combustion. Combustion was characterized by prominent cool flame chemistry and a faster, more energetic, premixed combustion. Tests were performed on a 6.4L V8 engine at loads up to 5 bar BMEP. The use of EIVC showed significant reductions of soot (above 90%) and fuel efficiency improvements (of 5%) with NOx levels below the US 2010 standard of 0.2g/bhp-hr. The improvements in emissions and fuel economy came from controlling in-cylinder temperatures and optimizing combustion phasing. For a constant engine-out NOx emission, EIVC improved fuel economy as the amount of EGR and the engine back pressure requirement were reduced.

This paper talks about using an approach to simulate snow mass falling from roof of cab on the cowl tray of a commercial truck and predicting the durability life of the cowl tray based on this loading. It has always been a challenge for analysts to model the behavior of snow/slurry in dynamic simulations especially where the area of concern is structure and not the fluid. The conventional approach followed in most industries would be either to model snow as soft rubber or to divert from the conventional Lagrangian algorithm for mesh movement towards Eulerian method (or ALE algorithm). Although modeling snow as soft rubber captures the basic physics of the problem, it is not able to correctly simulate the fluid structure interaction behavior and the pressure wave movement inside the snow/slurry when it comes in contact with the structure.

The effect of engine coolant and oil temperature on the performance was experimentally evaluated on a Navistar 12.4 Liter engine. The engine speed and load selected for evaluation represented the engine conditions typically found during a Class-8 truck’s cruising operation. In order to study the effect of oil and coolant temperature in isolation, the production coolant-cooled oil-cooler was replaced with a separate oil and coolant conditioning system. The piston and liner surface temperature was also logged at select locations to provide solid temperature response to coolant and oil temperature changes. The engine tests showed that oil temperature variation had greater impact on the engine performance compared to the coolant temperature. This performance improvement came primarily from the lower combustion heat rejection and reduced friction at moderate engine loads. At higher engine loads the performance improvement was largely due to lowered heat rejection.

For internal combustion engines, the compression ratio (r) is defined as the ratio of volume at bottom dead center to the volume at top dead center and is a fundamental design parameter influencing the thermodynamic operation of the modern combustion engine. Thermodynamic cycle analysis can show that thermal efficiency increases as the compression ratio increases. An increase in the compression ratio changes the cycle such that peak compression pressure and temperatures are increased resulting in subsequent increases in the peak combustion pressure and temperature. Since the average temperature of heat addition is increased in the cycle, the thermal efficiency would theoretically increase as long as both cycles had the same heat rejection processes. These changes in peak pressure and temperature of the cycle must also be evaluated in terms of anticipated increases in engine friction and changes to the combustion duration respectively.

The use of gasoline fuels in compression ignition engines, with or without diesel pilots, has shown encouraging progress in engine efficiency and emissions. The dual fuel combustion of gasoline-diesel offers the flexibility of modulating the cylinder charge reactivity, but an accurate and reliable control over the ignition in the dual fuel applications is more challenging than in classical engines. In this work, the gasoline-diesel dual fuel operation is investigated on a single cylinder research engine. The effects of the intake boost, exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) rates, diesel/gasoline ratio, and diesel injection timing are studied in regard to the ignition control. The results indicate that at low load, a diesel pilot can improve the cylinder charge reactivity and reduce emissions of incomplete combustion products.

Recent regulations on greenhouse gas (GHG) emission standards for heavy-duty vehicles have prompted government agencies to standardize procedures assessing the aerodynamic performance of Class 8 tractor-trailers. The coastdown test procedure is the primary reference method employed to assess vehicle drag currently, while other valid alternatives include constant speed testing, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations, and wind tunnel testing. The main purpose of this paper is to compare CFD simulations with a corresponding 1/8th scale wind tunnel test. Additionally, this paper will highlight the impacts of wind tunnel testing on the total drag coefficient performance as compared to full scale open road analysis with and without real world, upstream turbulence wind conditions. All scale model testing and CFD simulations were performed on a class 8 tractor with a standard 53-foot dry-box trailer. The wind tunnel testing was performed in the Auto Research Center (ARC) wind tunnel.

Development of new, competitive vehicles in the context of stricter regulations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase fuel economy is driving OEM of commercial vehicles to further explore options for reducing aerodynamic drag in a real-world setting. To facilitate this in regards to the aerodynamics of a vehicle, virtual design methods such as CFD are often used to compliment experiments to help reduce physical testing time and costs. Once validated against experiments, CFD models can then act as predictive models to help speed development. In this paper, a wind tunnel experiment of a Class 8 truck is compared to a CFD simulation which replicates said experiment, validating the CFD model as a predictive tool in this instance. CFD is then used to evaluate the drag and flow around the vehicle in an open road scenario, and the results between the open road and wind tunnel scenarios are compared.

Wobble and shimmy vibrations are commonly observed in commercial highway vehicles with solid-beam front axles. These vibrations are typically self-excited and manifest themselves as sustained oscillations about the kingpin and axle tramp. A study was initiated to investigate and quantify wobble and shimmy behaviors, with a primary focus on wobble. A cross functional team including test and simulation engineers evaluated a vehicle exhibiting these behaviors. The team developed an ADAMS model to reproduce the behaviors and developed a DOE to quantify the impact of variables and combinations of variables. The evaluation demonstrated that dynamic imbalance in the rotating masses is a primary source of excitation. Wheel run-out, caster angle, tire brand, tire wear and tire inflation are also significant sources. Future studies will use these findings to mitigate the concern.

Recent regulations on greenhouse gas (GHG) emission standards for heavy duty vehicles have prompted government agencies to standardize procedures to assess aerodynamic performance of Class 8 tractor-trailers. The coastdown test procedure is the primary reference method to assess vehicle drag and other valid alternatives include wind tunnel testing and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations. While there have been many published studies comparing results between simulations and wind tunnel testing, it is less well understood how to compare results with coastdown testing. Both the wind tunnel and simulation directly measure aerodynamic drag forces in controlled conditions, while coastdown testing is conducted in an open road environment, aerodynamic forces are calculated from a road load equation, and variable wind and vehicle speed introduce additional complexity.

The art and science of glass engineering, specifically applied to automotive projects, are not at all commonplace. Although windshields, side and backlites seem to be obvious parts of any car, truck, or bus, designing, sourcing, and manufacturing them are unique challenges. From the business perspective, cost control makes the choice of the ideal supplier a vital decision, greatly impacting availability and production. From the technical standpoint, the most creative designs can be rendered impractical due to regulations, lack of economies of scale, or convoluted logistics. Glass Engineering: Design Solutions for Automotive Applications tackles all these variables using a no-nonsense, step-by-step approach. Written by Lyn R. Zbinden, a mechanical engineer and glass specialist, this book narrows the gap between the reader and a technical subject by using language that is easy to understand, a good variety of examples, and a series of invaluable reference design tables.