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MIT Lincoln Laboratory is tasked by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration to investigate the use of the NEXRAD polarimetric radars* for the remote sensing of icing conditions hazardous to aircraft. A critical aspect of the investigation concerns validation that has relied upon commercial airline icing pilot reports and a dedicated campaign of in situ flights in winter storms. During the month of February in 2012 and 2013, the Convair-580 aircraft operated by the National Research Council of Canada was used for in situ validation of snowstorm characteristics under simultaneous observation by NEXRAD radars in Cleveland, Ohio and Buffalo, New York. The most anisotropic and easily distinguished winter targets to dual pol radar are ice crystals.

An appropriate energy management strategy can further reduce the fuel consumption of P2 hybrid electric vehicles (HEV) with simple hybrid configuration and low cost. The rule-based real-time energy management strategy dominates the energy management strategies utilized in commercial HEVs, due to its robustness and low computational loads. However, its performance is sensitive to the setting of parameters and control actions. To further improve the fuel economy of a P2 HEV, the energy management strategy of the HEV has been re-designed based on the globally optimal control theory. An optimization strategy model based on the longitudinal dynamics of the vehicle and Bellman’s dynamic programming algorithm was established in this research and an optimal power split in the dual power sources including an internal combustion engine (ICE) and an electric machine at a given driving cycle was used as a benchmark for the development of the rule-based energy management strategy.

We report on a feasibility study of an optical micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) flow sensor to measure flow rate using Moiré fringe displacement of a floating element. Due to constraints on weight, power, and size for space environmental systems, the development of sensor components that minimize the equivalent systems mass (ESM) while maintaining or exceeding required specifications is highly desirable. A feature of the optical detection method is a physical separation of electrical components from the flow stream. The geometric Moiré fringe shift optically amplifies small displacements by the ratio of the fringe pitch to the movable grating pitch that is detected using an external CCD imager, providing an electrically isolated, robust, direct scheme for detecting flow from shear stress induced displacement.

Climate change mitigation is the main challenge for the automotive industry, as the government issues legislation to combat CO2 emissions. In addition to electrification and battery electric vehicles, using low-carbon and zero-carbon fuels in Internal Combustion (IC) engines can also be an effective way to reach net zero-carbon transport. This study investigated and compared the combustion characteristics, performance and emissions of a highly boosted spark ignition (SI) engine fuelled with EU VI 95 RON E10 gasoline and blends of second-generation bio-gasoline with different ethanol contents of 5% (E5), 10% (E10), and 20% (E20). The single-cylinder SI engine was equipped with a centrally mounted high-pressure injector and supplied externally boosted air. Engine experiments were conducted at 2000 RPM and 3000 RPM with low and high load operations.

Concept of a new decoupled cylinder liner design for internal combustion (IC) engines is presented from the framework of axiomatic design to improve friction and wear characteristics. In the current design, the piston rings fail to satisfy their functional requirements at the two dead centers of the piston stroke where lubrication is poor. It is proposed that by using undulated cylindrical surfaces selectively along the cylinder liner, much of the existing friction and wear problems of IC engines may be solved. The main idea behind undulated surface is to trap wear particles at the piston-cylinder interface in order to minimize plowing, and thus maintain low friction even in areas where lubrication fails to be hydrodynamic. In dry sliding tests using a modified engine motored at low speeds, undulated cylinders operated for significantly longer time than smooth cylinders without catastrophic increase in friction.

The NOx emission and knock characteristics of a PFI engine operating on ethanol/gasoline mixtures were assessed at 1500 and 2000 rpm with λ =1 under Wide-Open-Throttle condition. There was no significant charge cooling due to fuel evaporation. The decrease in NOx emission and exhaust temperature could be explained by the change in adiabatic flame temperature of the mixture. The fuel knock resistance improved significantly with the gasohol so that ignition could be timed at a value much closer or at MBT timing. Changing from 0% to 100% ethanol in the fuel, this combustion phasing improvement led to a 20% increase in NIMEP and 8 percentage points in fuel conversion efficiency at 1500 rpm. At 2000 rpm, where knocking was less severe, the improvement was about half (10% increase in NIMEP and 4 percentage points in fuel conversion efficiency).

In an engine system, the piston pin is subjected to high loading and severe lubrication conditions, and pin seizures still occur during new engine development. A better understanding of the lubricating oil behavior and the dynamics of the piston pin could lead to cost- effective solutions to mitigate these problems. However, research in this area is still limited due to the complexity of the lubrication and the pin dynamics. In this work, a numerical model that considers structure deformation and oil cavitation was developed to investigate the lubrication and dynamics of the piston pin. The model combines multi-body dynamics and elasto-hydrodynamic lubrication. A routine was established for generating and processing compliance matrices and further optimized to reduce computation time and improve the convergence of the equations. A simple built-in wear model was used to modify the pin bore and small end profiles based on the asperity contact pressures.

Ground impact caused by road debris can result in very severe fire accident of Electric Vehicles (EV). In order to study the ground impact accidents, a Finite Element model of the battery pack structure is carefully set up according to the practical designs of EVs. Based on this model, the sequence of the deformation process is studied, and the contribution of each component is clarified. Subsequently, four designs, including three enhanced shield plates and one enhanced housing box, are investigated. Results show that the BRAS (Blast Resistant Adaptive Sandwich) shield plate is the most effective structure to decrease the deformation of the battery cells. Compared with the baseline case, which adopts a 6.35-mm-thick aluminum sheet as the shield plate, the BRAS can reduce the shortening of cells by more than 50%. Another type of sandwich structure, the NavTruss, can also improve the safety of battery pack, but not as effectively as the BRAS.

Accurately predicting real-world vehicle energy consumption is essential for optimizing vehicle designs, enhancing energy efficiency, and developing effective energy management strategies. This paper presents a data-driven approach that utilizes machine learning techniques and a comprehensive dataset of vehicle parameters and environmental factors to create precise energy consumption prediction models. The methodology involves recording real-world vehicle data using data loggers to extract information from the CAN bus systems for ICE and hybrid electric, as well as hydrogen and battery fuel cell vehicles. Data cleaning and cycle-based analysis are employed to process the dataset for accurate energy consumption prediction. This includes cycle detection and analysis using methods from statistics and signal processing, and then pattern recognition based on these metrics.