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Diesel exhaust aftertreatment systems are required for meeting both EPA 2010 and final Tier 4 emission regulations while meeting the stringent packaging constraints of the vehicle. The aftertreatment system for this study consists of a fuel dosing system, mixing elements, fuel reformer, lean NOx trap (LNT), diesel particulate filter (DPF), and a selective catalytic reduction (SCR) catalyst. The fuel reformer is used to generate hydrogen (H₂) and carbon monoxide (CO) from injected diesel fuel. These reductants are used to regenerate and desulfate the LNT catalyst. NOx emissions are reduced using the combination of the LNT and SCR catalysts. During LNT regeneration, ammonia (NH₃) is intentionally released from the LNT and stored on the downstream SCR catalyst to further reduce NOx that passed through the LNT catalyst. This paper addresses system packaging and exhaust flow optimization for heavy-duty line-haul and severe service applications.

Virtual simulation of passenger compartment climatic conditions is becoming increasingly important as a complement to the wind tunnel and field testing to achieve improved thermal comfort while reducing the vehicle development time and cost. The vehicle cabin is subjected to various thermal environments. At the same time many of the design parameters are dependent on each other and the relationship among them is quite complex. Therefore, an experimental parametric study is very time consuming. The present 3-D RadTherm analysis coupled with the 3-D CFD flow field analysis takes into account the geometrical configuration of the passenger compartment which includes glazing surfaces and pertinent physical and thermal properties of the enclosure with particular emphasis on the glass properties. Virtual Thermal Comfort Engineering (VTCE) is a process that takes into account the cabin thermal environment coupled with a human physiology model.

Future government emission regulations have lead to the development and implementation of advanced aftertreatment systems to meet stringent emission standards for both on-road and off-road vehicles. These aftertreatment systems require sophisticated control and diagnostic strategies to ensure proper system functionality while minimizing tailpipe NOx and PM emissions across all engine operating conditions. In this paper, an integrated algorithm design approach with controls and diagnostics for an aftertreatment system consisting of a fuel doser, fuel reformer, LNT, DPF, and SCR is discussed.

Current concerns about climate change, energy security and record high oil prices have triggered high enthusiasm and push for plug-in vehicles. Widespread adoption of plug-in vehicles would result in significant reductions in CO2 emissions from transportation. It would also reduce our dependence on fossil fuels by replacing petroleum-sourced energy with renewable, domestically produced electricity. While a few OEMs have successfully launched hybrid vehicles and even toyed with plug-in hybrid solutions in the passenger car market segment, little attention has been placed on heavier commercial vehicles. Large utilities operate fleets of several hundred diesel-power trouble trucks to repair and maintain their transmission and distribution infrastructure. Medium-duty segment is over a million vehicles annually. These vehicles are typically driven in densely populated neighborhoods.

Many approaches have been taken to determine the burning velocity in internal combustion engines. Experimentally, the burning velocity has been determined in optically accessible gasoline engines by tracking the propagation of the flame front from the spark plug to the end of the combustion chamber. These experiments are costly as they require special imaging techniques and major modifications in the engine structure. Another approach to determine the burning velocity is from 3D CFD simulation models. These models require basic information about the mechanisms of combustion which are not available for distillate fuels in addition to many assumptions that have to be made to determine the burning velocity. Such models take long periods of computational time for execution and have to be calibrated and validated through experimentation.

An experimental study was conducted to evaluate the effect of water absorption on tensile and fatigue behaviors of an impact-modified short glass fiber polyamide-6 and a short glass fiber polybutylene terephthalate. Specimens were prepared in the longitudinal and transverse directions with respect to the injection mold flow direction and immersed in water. Kinetics of water absorption was studied and found to follow the Fick's law. Tensile tests were performed at room temperature with specimens in the longitudinal and transverse directions and with various degrees of water absorption. Mathematical relations were developed to represent tensile properties as a function of water content. Load-controlled tension-tension fatigue tests were conducted in both longitudinal and transverse directions and correlations between tensile and fatigue strengths were obtained. Specimen fracture surfaces were also microscopically studied and mechanisms of tensile and fatigue failures were identified.

Due to magnesium alloy's poor weldability, other joining techniques such as laser assisted self-piercing rivet (LSPR) are used for joining magnesium alloys. This research investigates the fatigue performance of LSPR for magnesium alloys including AZ31 and AM60. Tensile-shear and coach peel specimens for AZ31 and AM60 were fabricated and tested for understanding joint fatigue performance. A structural stress - life (S-N) method was used to develop the fatigue parameters from load-life test results. In order to validate this approach, test results from multijoint specimens were compared with the predicted fatigue results of these specimens using the structural stress method. The fatigue results predicted using the structural stress method correlate well with the test results.

In this paper, an optimization method is proposed to improve the efficiency of a transmission equipped electric vehicle (EV) by optimizing gear shift strategy. The idea behind using a transmission for EV is to downsize the motor size and decrease overall energy consumption. The efficiency of an electric motor varies with its operating region (speed/torque) and this plays a crucial role in deciding overall energy consumption of EVs. A lot of work has been done to optimize gear shift strategy of internal combustion engines (ICE) based automatic transmission (AT), and automatic-manual transmissions (AMT), but for EVs this is still a new area. In case of EVs, we have an advantage of regeneration which makes it different from the ICE based vehicles. In order to maximize the efficiency, a heuristic search based algorithm - Genetic Algorithm (GA) is used.

In response to the need for lightweight design in industries, composite materials are increasingly used to replace traditional metal tubes. However, subsurface defects such as voids, delaminations, and microcracks are still remaining common issues in composite pressure tubes. This paper introduces an application of Digital Shearography method in the Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) of high-pressure composite tubes. A new prototype high-pressure composite tube with a working pressure of 1000 psi range is tested using the digital Shearography method. To detect the sub-surface defects, a reference Shearographic phase map is created at 0 psi state, after that the composite tube is pressured using an oil pump, then the second Shearographic phase map is created at the pressured state. By subtracting the two shearographic phase maps created in different pressure state, the sub-surface defects can be identified clearly. The Shearographic NDT result is then compared with CT scan result.

Gas Metal Arc Welding (GMAW) is widely employed for joining relatively thick sheet steels in automotive body-in-white structures and frames. The GMAW process is very flexible for various joint geometries and has relatively high welding speed. However, fatigue failures can occur at welded joints subjected to various types of loads. Thus, vehicle design engineers need to understand the fatigue characteristics of welded joints produced by GMAW. Currently, automotive structures employ various advanced high strength steels (AHSS) such as dual-phase (DP) and transformation-induced plasticity (TRIP) steels to produce lighter vehicle structures with improved safety performance and fuel economy, and reduced harmful emissions. Relatively thick gages of AHSS are commonly joined to conventional high strength steels and/or mild steels using GMAW in current body-in-white structures and frames.

Stringent space constraints for on and off highway vehicles require compact exhaust aftertreatment system packaging to meet both EPA 2010 and final Tier 4 emission regulations. Development and validation of a compact diesel fuel vaporization and mixing system is the focus of this work. The fuel vaporization and mixing system is comprised of a fuel dosing system, catalytic monolith and mechanical mixer. A fuel reformer, lean NOx trap (LNT), diesel particulate filter (DPF) and a selective catalytic reduction (SCR) catalysts are positioned downstream of the fuel vaporizer system. A 44% reduction in total fuel vaporization / mixing path length was achieved using an optimized injection chamber, catalytic monolith and mixing element. Reformer outlet temperature results confirm that reformer inlet fuel vapor uniformity targets meet design specifications. Similarly, the fuel reformer efficiency using the fuel vaporizer met the design targets within the compact packaging envelope.

Aerodynamic forces are the result of various complex viscous flow phenomena such as three-dimensional turbulent boundary layer on the body surfaces, longitudinal vortices induced by three-dimensional boundary layer separation, and high turbulence caused by flow separations. Understanding the flow characteristics and, especially, how the aerodynamic forces are influenced by the changes in the vehicle body shape, are very important in order to improve vehicle aerodynamics (particularly for low drag shapes). The present study was an attempt to provide insights for better understanding of the complex three-dimensional flow field around a vehicle by observing the limiting surface streamlines and the surface pressure gradients in the stream-wise and the transverse directions. The main objective of this work is to provide a comprehensive diagnostic analysis of the basic flow features in order to learn more about the flow separations in three-dimensions.

The current Brazilian tax legislation promotes vehicles, powered by engines with up to 1.0l displacement. In order to offer the customer an engine with the maximum tax advantage, a supercharged derivative of the Ford 1.0l Zetec RoCam engine was developed. The market specific boundary conditions in South America require powertrains with immediate response especially at low engine speeds. This can be achieved by a supercharged engine concept. The paper discusses the required engine modifications for the supercharger application. The combustion system was changed to benefit from the higher volumetric efficiency, including the optimisation of the intake, exhaust and bypass control system. Extensive modifications of the base engine were required to adapt the engine to the higher thermal load and the specific boundary condition of a supercharger application.

In the North American automotive industry, various advanced high strength steels (AHSS) are used to lighten vehicle structures, improve safety performance and fuel economy, and reduce harmful emissions. Relatively thick gages of AHSS are commonly joined to conventional high strength steels and/or mild steels using Gas Metal Arc Welding (GMAW) in the current generation body-in-white structures. Additionally, fatigue failures are most likely to occur at joints subjected to a variety of different loadings. It is therefore critical that automotive engineers need to understand the fatigue characteristics of welded joints. The Sheet Steel Fatigue Committee of the Auto/Steel Partnership (A/S-P) completed a comprehensive fatigue study on GMAW joints of both AHSS and conventional sheet steels including: DP590 GA, SAE 1008, HSLA HR 420, DP 600 HR, Boron, DQSK, TRIP 780 GI, and DP780 GI steels.

There is an increased use of elastomers in the automotive industry for sealing, noise isolation, load dampening, insulation, etc., because of their key properties of elasticity and resilience. Elastomers are used in supercharger application for dampening the torsional fluctuation from the engine, to reduce noise issues. Finite element modeling of elastomers is challenging because of its non-linear behavior in different loading directions. It also undergoes very large elemental deformation (~up to 200%), which results in additional complexities in getting numerical convergence. Finally, it also exhibits viscous and elastic behavior simultaneously (viscoelastic effect) and it undergoes softening with progressive cyclic loading (Mullins effect). The present study deals with the characterization of elastomers for its modeling in commercial finite element software packages and verification of some predicted design parameters with physical testing.

The open (standard) differential provides an important function in vehicle dynamics and handling by splitting the applied driveline torque and allowing each wheel or axle to spin at different speeds. This function is necessary to eliminate axle bind-up while negotiating turns. However, it inherently impedes optimal traction and mobility performance by allowing the available torque to be limited by the wheel or axle having the least amount of traction. Loss of traction could result in loss of driveline torque control and a resulting loss of vehicle control. This loss of control could be catastrophic in the case of higher speed maneuvers. The proposed electronically controlled hydraulic limited slip differential solution corrects this problem, seamless to the driver, while maintaining the fundamental open differential function. Furthermore, this system maintains efficient forward motion compared to other solutions that slow the vehicle down while expending valuable energy.

Weld Joints are widely used in automotive and aerospace industry. The main issue in the weld joints is the quality inspection to detect the disconnection in the welded area. In this paper, Shearographic technique with dynamic excitation is introduced to test the weld joints. In the experiments, the coupons are of 4 very thin layers of metal sheets welded together. The goal is to find out if there are any disconnections between the layers. They are clamped and then excited by a PZT actuator from behind. A real time digital Shearographic system with a self-refreshed reference image technology has been developed to display the measuring result, i.e. shearogram. A big range of driving frequencies is scanned to find the proper frequency and amplitude that can help to identify the disconnections. The results show that when the driving frequency reaches the resonance frequency, there will be big amplitude and thus a fringe pattern becomes visible on the coupon surface.

The increased trend of automatic and automated transmissions across a breadth of applications is one of the market drivers for the development of wet clutch systems. Key product differentiators that drive the use of wet clutches in specific applications are (a) Compactness, (b) Low inertia, (c) Higher energy density, (d) Better NVH characteristics, and (e) Longer wear life. The above-stated product differentiators are dependent on performance of both the clutch cooling system and the friction system for two different operating events, namely engagement and disengagement. During engagement, slip under load between the clutch plates generates heat, which must be carried away by the oil, necessitating a high oil flow demand to all friction surfaces. Failing to achieve this leads to excessive plate temperatures and wear, ultimately resulting in poor performance and reduced clutch life.

Eaton has supported the design and development of spoilers for automobile applications. Addition of spoilers in the car influences the external aerodynamics and in turn impacts fuel economy and vehicle stability, in addition to providing improved external aesthetics. With the upward trend in fuel prices, it becomes more critical to quantify the effect of spoiler on the fuel economy. Eaton Corporation has undertaken efforts to establish predictive capability for evaluating the effect of a rear mounted spoiler on fuel economy. A first phase of these efforts focuses on development of a CFD methodology on the Ahmed Reference model and validation with wind tunnel testing. A second phase will focus on leveraging the methodology on an actual automobile and in the last phase, fuel economy models will be built using outputs from the CFD methodology. This paper focuses on detailed discussion about first phase of the work and summary of the second phase.

Creep is responsible for creating time dependent changes in product dimensions and reducing strength that could affect the ability of products to resist design loads. Creep behavior is an important design consideration for polymers as this phenomenon is observed at very low temperatures compared to metals. Literature suggests many mathematical models to represent this complex creep phenomenon; however they are limited to most common polymers. Today's automotive industry is equipped with state of the art polymer materials considering specific design requirements from the stake holders. The current study is focused on the engine oil pan and its sealing requirements for the automotive business. Computer Aided Engineering (CAE) plays a very critical role in today's quest to reduce the design cycle and testing time.