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Robustness testing of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) features is a crucial step in ensuring the safety and reliability of these systems. ADAS features include technologies like adaptive cruise control, lateral and longitudinal controls, automatic emergency braking, and more. These systems rely on various sensors, cameras, radar, lidar, and software algorithms to function effectively. Robustness testing aims to identify potential vulnerabilities and weaknesses in these systems under different conditions, ensuring they can handle unexpected scenarios and maintain their performance. Mileage accumulation is one of the validation methods for achieving robustness. It involves subjecting the systems to a wide variety of real-world driving conditions and driving scenarios to ensure the reliability, safety, and effectiveness of the ADAS features.

Engine and vehicle tailpipe emissions can be measured in laboratories equipped with engine dynamometers and chassis dynamometers, respectively. In addition to laboratory testing, there is an increase in interest to measure on-road vehicle emissions using portable emissions measurement systems in order to determine real-driving emissions. Current methods to quantify engine, vehicle tailpipe, and real-driving emissions include the raw continuous, dilute continuous, and dilute bag measurement methods. Although the dilute bag measurement method is robust, recent improvements to the raw and dilute continuous measurement methods can account for the time delay between the probe tip and analyzer in addition to gas transport dynamics in order to reliably recover the tailpipe concentration signals. These improvements significantly increase the reliability of results using the raw and dilute continuous measurement methods, making them possible alternatives to the bag method.

Over the last two decades, engine research was mainly focused on reducing fuel consumption in view of compliance with more stringent homologation cycles and customer expectations. As it is well known, the objective of overall engine efficiency optimization can be achieved only through the improvement of each element of the efficiency chain, of which mechanical constitutes one of the two key pillars (together with thermodynamics). In this framework, the friction reduction for each mechanical subsystem has been one of the most important topics of modern Diesel engine development. The present paper analyzes the crankshaft potential as contributor to the mechanical efficiency improvement, by investigating the synergistic impact of crankshaft design itself and oil viscosity characteristics (including new ultra-low-viscosity formulations already discussed by the author in [1]).

Over the last two decades, engine research has been mainly focused on reducing fuel consumption in view of compliance with stringent homologation targets and customer expectations. As it is well known, the objective of overall engine efficiency optimization can be achieved only through the improvement of each element of the efficiency chain, of which mechanical constitutes one of the two key pillars (together with thermodynamics). In this framework, the friction reduction for each mechanical subsystems has been one of the most important topics of modern Diesel engine development. In particular, the present paper analyzes the lubrication circuit potential as contributor to the mechanical efficiency improvement, by investigating the synergistic impact of oil circuit design, oil viscosity characteristics (including new ultra-low formulations) and thermal management. For this purpose, a combination of theoretical and experimental tools were used.

Loss of power steering assist (LoA) is viewed as a potential hazard in certain vehicle operational scenarios. Despite the importance of this steering failure mode, few published test protocols for the objective or subjective evaluation of vehicle performance in a loss of assist situation exist. The first part of this paper examines five of the key steering failure modes that can result in LoA and discusses why LoA persists as a key industry challenge. The second part analyzes the situational dynamics affecting vehicle controllability during a LoA event and proposes a subjective evaluation driving course that facilitates evaluations in various LoA scenarios. A corresponding objective test procedure and metric is also proposed. These evaluation methods support consistent performance evaluation of physical vehicles while also enabling the prediction of vehicle characteristics early in the vehicle development process (VDP).

This paper presents an overview of the aerodynamic development of the 2019 Chevrolet Corvette C7 ZR1. Extensive wind tunnel testing and computational fluid dynamics simulations were completed to engineer the ZR1’s aerodynamics to improve lift-to-drag efficiency and track capability over previous Corvette offerings. The ZR1 architecture changes posed many aerodynamic challenges including increased vehicle cooling, strict packaging demands, wider front track width, and aggressive exterior styling. Through motorsports-inspired aerodynamic development, the ZR1 was engineered to overcome these challenges through the creation of new devices such as a raised rear wing and front underwing. The resulting Standard ZR1 achieved a top speed of 212 mph making it the fastest Corvette ever [1]. Optionally, the ZR1 with the ZTK Performance Package provides the highest downforce of any Corvette, generating approximately 950 pounds at the ZTK’s top speed [1].

Side mirrors are a known source of aerodynamically generated noise in vehicles. In this work we focus on mirrors for heavy duty trucks, they are large, often not designed with main focus on aero-acoustics and are located in a cumbersome position on the up-right A-pillar of European trucks. First the test method itself is discussed. To allow fast and cost effective design loops a bespoke vehicle, where the powertrain is separated from the cab, is developed. This vehicle can be run on a standard test track. While running the tests the wind speed is monitored, any variations are then compensated for in the post processing allowing averaging over longer time periods. For the mirror tests the door of the vehicle was especially trimmed to reduce other transmission paths into the cab than the side window. Additionally other possible aeroacoustic sources were reduced as much as practically possible.

When developing new combustion concepts, CFD simulations is a powerful tool. The modeling of spray formation is a challenging but important part when it comes to CFD modelling of non-premixed combustion. There is a large difference in the accuracy and robustness among different spray models and their implementation in different CFD codes. In the work presented in this paper a spray model, designated as VSB2 has been implemented in OpenFOAM. VSB2 differ from traditional spray models by replacing the Lagrangian parcels with stochastic blobs. The stochastic blobs consists of a droplet size distribution rather than equal sized droplets, as is the case with the traditional parcel. The VSB2 model has previously been thoroughly validated for spray formation and combustion of n-heptane. The aim of this study was to validate the VSB2 spray model for ethanol spray formation and combustion as a step in modelling dual-fuel combustion with alcohol and diesel.

This paper will examine the regulatory development process, discuss the technical principles of the Economic Commission for Europe (ECE), R51.03 test, and discuss the overall objectives of the ECE R51.03 noise emission regulation. The development of this global noise emission regulation was a multi-stakeholder process which has resulted in new test procedures and new noise emission regulation principles. New test procedures based on ISO 362-1:2015 move the test basis to representative in-use noise emission, independent of vehicle propulsion technology. As part of the regulatory development, a monitoring program was conducted by the European Union to assess the applicability of the proposed test to provide representative vehicle noise emission results. The monitoring results also provided the basis to determine equivalent stringency between the test procedures of ECE R51.02 and R51.03.

Quantification of heat exchanger performance in its operative environment is in many engineering applications an essential task, and the air flow rate through the heat exchanger core is an important optimizing parameter. This paper explores an alternative method for quantifying the air flow rate through compact heat exchangers positioned in the underhood of a passenger car. Unlike conventional methods, typically relying on measurements of direct flow characteristics at discrete probe locations, the proposed method is based on the use of load-cells for direct measurement of the total force acting on the heat exchanger. The air flow rate is then calculated from the force measurement. A direct comparison with a conventional pressure based method is presented as both methods are applied on a passenger car’s radiator tested in a full scale wind tunnel using six different grill configurations. The measured air flow rates are presented and discussed over a wide range of test velocities.

Automakers are designing smaller displacement engines with higher power densities to improve vehicle fuel economy, while continuing to meet customer expectations for power and drivability. The specific power produced by the spark-ignited engine is constrained by knock and fuel octane. Whereas the lowest octane rating is 87 AKI (antiknock index) for regular gasoline at most service stations throughout the U.S., 85 AKI fuel is widely available at higher altitudes especially in the mountain west states. The objective of this study was to explore the effect of gasoline octane rating on the net power produced by modern light duty vehicles at high altitude (1660 m elevation). A chassis dynamometer test procedure was developed to measure absorbed wheel power at transient and stabilized full power operation. Five vehicles were tested using 85 and 87 AKI fuels.

Suppliers and integrators are working with SAE’s HM-1 standards team to develop a mechanism to allow “Health Ready Components” to be integrated into larger systems to enable broader IVHM functionality (reference SAE JA6268). This paper will discuss how the design data provided by the supplier of a component/subsystem can be integrated into a vehicle reference model with emphasis on how each aspect of the model is transmitted to minimize ambiguity. The intent is to enhance support for the analytics, diagnostics and prognostics for the embedded component. In addition, we describe functionality being delegated to other system components and that provided by the supplier via syndicated web services. As a specific example, the paper will describe the JA6268 data submittal for a typical automotive turbocharger and other engine air system components to clarify the data modeling and integration processes.

The Austempering heat treatment is a well-known solution to improve the mechanical properties of ductile cast irons, therefore being referred as 'ADI' (Austempered Ductile Iron). The improved mechanical properties of ADI's with respect to conventional ductile iron is attributed to its resulting microstructure, which contains mainly carbide-free bainite with stabilized retained austenite. More recently, ductile cast irons were submitted to another heat treatment, known as 'Quenching and Partitioning' (Q&P). In this case, the ductile cast iron is austenitized, quenched to a temperature between Mf and Ms temperatures and subsequently heated to a temperature above Ms in order to partition the carbon from the martensite to the remaining austenite. The resulting microstructure comprises mainly low carbon martensite, austenite (stabilized by the carbon partition) and carbide-free bainite. Such microstructure resulted in equal or better properties than ADI.

In practice, the piston wrist pin is either fixed to the connecting rod or floats between the connecting rod and the piston. The tribological behavior of fixed wrist pins have been studied by several researchers, however there have been few studies done on the floating wrist pin. A new bench rig has been designed and constructed to investigate the tribological behavior between floating pins and pin bore bearings. The experiments were run using both fixed pins and floating pins under the same working conditions. It was found that for fixed pins there was severe damage on the pin bore in a very short time (5 minutes) and material transfer occurs between the wrist pin and pin bore; however, for the floating pin, even after a long testing time (60 minutes) there was minimal surface damage on either the pin bore or wrist pin.

Nowadays, much focus for vehicle manufacturers is directed towards improving the energy efficiency of their products. The aerodynamic drag constitutes one major part of the total driving resistance for a vehicle travelling at higher speeds. In fact, above approximately 80km/h the aerodynamic drag is the dominating resistance acting on a truck. Hence the importance of reducing this resistance is apparent. Cooling drag is one part of the total aerodynamic drag, which arises from air flowing through the heat exchangers, and the irregular under-hood area. When using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) in the development process it is of great importance to ensure that the methods used are accurately capturing the physics of the flow. This paper deals with comparative studies between CFD and wind-tunnel tests. In this paper, two comparative studies are presented.

The paper examines how the issue of lengthy development times can be mitigated by adopting a multivariable physics based control method for the development and deployment of complex engine control algorithms required for modern diesel engines equipped with Lean NOx Trap aftertreatment technology. The proposed approach facilitates manufacturers to consider lower cost powertrain configurations for selected markets while maintaining higher performance configurations for other markets. The contribution includes on-engine results from joint work between General Motors and Honeywell. The Honeywell OnRAMP Design Suite which applies model predictive control techniques was used for model identification, control design (using model predictive control) and its calibration. With no prior work on the engine this process of calibrating an engine model and achieving transient drive cycle control on the engine required ten days in the test cell and five days of offline work using the OnRAMP software.

A performance investigation of Front Underride Protection Devices (FUPDs) with varying collision interface is presented by monitoring occupant compartment intrusion of Toyota Yaris and Ford Taurus FEA models in LS-DYNA. A newly proposed simplified dual-spring system is developed and validated for this investigation, offering improvements over previously employed fixed-rigid simplified test rigs. The results of three tested collision interface profiles were used to guide the development of two new underride protection devices. In addition, these devices were set to comply with Volvo VNL packaging limitations. Topology optimization is used to aid engineering intuition in establishing appropriate load support paths, while multi-objective optimization subject to simultaneous quasi-static loading ensures minimal mass and deformation of the FUPDs.

Cab climate conditioning is one of the primary reasons for operating the main engine in a long-haul truck during driver rest periods. In the United States, sleeper cab trucks use approximately 667 million gallons of fuel annually for rest period idling. The U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory's (NREL) CoolCab Project works closely with industry to design efficient thermal management systems for long-haul trucks that minimize engine idling and fuel use while maintaining occupant comfort. Heat transfer to the vehicle interior from opaque exterior surfaces is one of the major heat pathways that contribute to air conditioning loads during long-haul truck daytime rest period idling. To quantify the impact of paint color and the opportunity for advanced paints, NREL collaborated with Volvo Group North America, PPG Industries, and Dometic Environmental Corporation.

Carbon, hydrogen and oxygen are major elements in vehicle fuels. Knowledge of fuels elemental composition is helpful in addressing its performance characteristics. Carbon, hydrogen and oxygen composition is an important parameter in engine calibration affecting vehicle performance, emissions and fuel economy. Biodiesel, a fuel comprised of mono-alkyl esters of long-chain fatty acids also known as Fatty Acid Methyl Esters(FAME), derived from vegetable oils or animal fats, has become an important commercial marketplace automotive fuel in the United States (US) and around the world over last few years. FAME biodiesels have many chemical and physical property differences compared to conventional petroleum based diesel fuels. Also, the properties of biodiesel vary based on the feedstock chosen for biodiesel production. One of the key differences between petroleum diesel fuels and biodiesel is the oxygen content.

This paper presents results and a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) method for simulation of a detailed louvered fin for a multi-louvered compact heat-exchanger. The airflow was angled at 90°, +30° and −30° relative to the heat-exchanger to evaluate changes in static pressure drop and airflow characteristics. The investigation was based on three heat-exchangers with thicknesses of 52mm and two of 19mm. One period of a detailed louvered fin was simulated for two airflows for each heat-exchanger. The pressure drop data was thereafter compared to experimental data from a full-size heat-exchanger. From the pressure drop and the airflow characteristic results recommendations were made that those kinds of simulations could be defined as steady state, and with the kω-SST turbulence model. For the same heat-exchanger angle the airflow within the core was similar, with a turbulent characteristic behind it.