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In the paper some methods are presented, with the corresponding practical examples, related to MonteCarlo (MC) techniques for thermal model/test correlation purposes. The MonteCarlo techniques applied to model correlation are intended to be used as an alternative to empirical ‘manual’ correlation techniques, gradients methods, matrix methods based on least square fit minimization. First of all, Design Of Experiments (DoE) tools are used to determine the model response to uncertain parameters and the confidence level of such a response. A sensitivity map is built, allowing the design of the test to maximize the response of the system to the uncertain parameters. Techniques derived from the extreme statistics are used to extrapolate data beyond test limits, with a sufficient confidence in the queue behaviour.

The match between the increasing performance demands and stringent requirements of emissions and fuel consumption reduction needs a strong evolution in the 2-wheel vehicle technology. In particular many steps forward should be taken for the optimization of modern small motorcycle and scooter at low engine speeds and low temperature start. To this aim, the detailed understandings of thermal and fluid-dynamic phenomena that occur in the combustion chamber are fundamental. In this work, experimental activities were realized in the combustion chamber of a single-cylinder 4-stroke optical engine. The engine was equipped with a four-valve head of a commercial scooter engine. High spatial resolution imaging was used to follow the flame kernel growth and flame front propagation. Moreover, the effects of an abnormal combustion due to firing of fuel deposition near the intake valves and on the piston surface were investigated.

Automotive exhaust systems give a major contribution to the sound quality of a vehicle and must be properly designed in order to produce acceptable acoustic performances. Obviously, noise attenuation is strictly related to the used materials and to its internal geometry. This last influences the wave propagation and the gas-dynamic field. The purpose of this paper is to describe advantages and disadvantages of different numerical approaches in evaluating the acoustic performance in terms of attenuation versus frequency (Transmission Loss) of a commercial two perforated tube muffler under different conditions. At first, a one-dimensional analysis is performed through the 1D GTPower® code, solving the nonlinear flow equations which characterize the wave propagation phenomena. The muffler is characterized as a network of properly connected pipes and volumes starting from 3D CAD information. Then, two different 3D analyses are performed within the commercial STS VNOISE® code.

A numerical methodology to simulate the high pressure spray evolution and the fuel-air mixing in diesel engines is presented. Attention is focused on the employed atomization model, a modified version of the Huh and Gosman, on the definition of a turbulence length scale limiter and of an adaptive local mesh refinement technique to minimize the result grid dependency. All the discussed models were implemented into Lib-ICE, which is a set of libraries and solvers, specifically tailored for engine simulations, which runs under the open-source CFD technology OpenFOAM®. To provide a comprehensive assessment of the proposed methodology, the validation procedure consisted into simulating, with a unique and coherent setup of all models, two different sets of experiments: a non-evaporating diesel fuel spray in a constant-volume vessel with optical access and an evaporating non-reacting diesel fuel spray in an optical engine.

Multi-fuel operation is one of the main topics of investigative research in the field of internal combustion engines. Spark ignition (SI) power units are relatively easily adaptable to alternative liquid-as well as gaseous-fuels, with mixture preparation being the main modification required. Numerical simulations are used on an ever wider scale in engine research in order to reduce costs associated with experimental investigations. In this sense, quasi-dimensional models provide acceptable accuracy with reduced computational efforts. Within this context, the present study puts under scrutiny the assumption of spherical flame propagation and how calibration of a two-zone combustion simulation is affected when changing fuel type. A quasi-dimensional model was calibrated based on measured in-cylinder pressure, and numerical results related to the two-zone volumes were compared to recorded flame imaging.

Advanced numerical techniques, such as fuzzy logic and neural networks have been applied in this work to digital images acquired on a mono-component fuel spray (iso-octane), in order to define, in a stochastic way, the gas-liquid interface evolution. The image is a numerical matrix and so it is possible to characterize geometrical parameters and the time evolution of the jet by using deterministic, statistical stochastic and other several kinds of approach. The algorithm used works with the fuzzy logic concept to binarize the shades gray of the pixel, depending them, by using the schlieren technique, on the gas density. Starting from a primary fixed threshold, the applied technique, can select the ‘gas’ pixel from the ‘liquid’ pixel and so it is possible define the first most probably boundary lines of the spray.

The characteristics of the intake system affect both engine power output and gas-dynamic noise emissions. The latter is particularly true in downsized VVA engines, where a less effective attenuation of the pressure waves is realized, due to the intake line de-throttling at part-load. For this engine architecture, a refined air-box design is hence requested. In this work, the Transmission Loss (TL) of the intake air-box of a commercial VVA engine is numerically computed through a 3D FEM approach. Results are compared with experimental data, showing a very good correlation. The validated model is then coupled to an external optimizer (ModeFRONTIERTM) to increase the TL parameter in a prefixed frequency range. The improvement of the acoustic attenuation is attained through a shape deformation of the inner structure of the base device, taking into account constraints related to the device installation inside the engine bay.

In the context of a transport sustainability, some solutions could be proposed from the integration of many disciplines, architects, environmentalists, policy makers, and consequently it may be addressed with different approaches. These solutions would be applied at different geographical levels, i.e. national, regional or urban scale. Moreover, the assessment of cars emissions in real use plays a fundamental role for their reductions. This is also the direction of the new harmonized test procedures (WLTP). Furthermore, it is fundamental to keep in mind that the new WLTC cycle will reproduce a situation closer to the reality comparing to the EUDC/NEDC driving cycle. In this paper, we will be focused on vehicle kinematic evaluation aimed at valuation of traffic situation and emissions.

The management of multiple injections in compression ignition (CI) engines is one of the most common ways to increase engine performance by avoiding hardware modifications and after-treatment systems. Great attention is given to the profile of the injection rate since it controls the fuel delivery in the cylinder. The Injection Rate Shaping (IRS) is a technique that aims to manage the quantity of injected fuel during the injection process via a proper definition of the injection timing (injection duration and dwell time). In particular, it consists in closer and centered injection events and in a split main injection with a very small dwell time. From the experimental point of view, the performance of an IRS strategy has been studied in an optical CI engine. In particular, liquid and vapor phases of the injected fuel have been acquired via visible and infrared imaging, respectively. Injection parameters, like penetration and cone angle have been determined and analyzed.

Premixed charge compression ignition (PCCI) has been shown to be a promising strategy to simultaneously reduce emissions while realizing improved fuel economy. PCCI combustion uses high levels of pre-combustion mixing to lower both NOx and soot emissions by ensuring low equivalence ratio and low flame temperatures. The high level of pre-combustion mixing results in a primarily kinetics controlled combustion process. In this work, optical diagnostics have been applied in a transparent DI diesel engine equipped with the head of Euro5 commercial engine and the last generation CR injection system. In order to realize the PCCI combustion the injection of neat ethanol has been performed in the intake manifold. The engine run in continuous way at 1500 rpm engine speed and commercial diesel fuel has been injected into the cylinder. The PCCI combustion has been analyzed by means of UV- Visible digital imaging and the mixing process, the autoignition of the charge have been investigated.

The increased limitations to both NOx and soot emissions have pushed engine researchers to rediscover gasoline engines. Among the many technologies and strategies, gasoline direct injection plays a key-role for improving fuel economy and engine performance. The paper aims to investigate an extremely complex task such as the idle operating engine condition when the engine runs at very low engine speeds and low engine loads and during the warm-up. Due to the low injection pressure and to the null contribution of the turbocharger, the engine condition is far from the standard points of investigation. Taking into account the warm-up engine condition, the analyses are performed with a temperature of the coolant of 50°C. The paper reports part of a combined numerical and experimental synergic activity aiming at the understanding of the physics of spray/wall interaction within the combustion chamber and particular care is used for air/fuel mixing and the combustion process analyses.

The interest of the vehicle producers in fulfillment emission legislations without adopting after treatment systems is driving to the use of non-conventional energy sources for modern engines. A previous test campaign dealing with the use of blends of diesel and propane in a CI engine has pointed out the potential of this non-conventional fuel for diesel engines. The soft adaptation of the common rail injection system and the potential benefits, in terms of engine performances and pollutant emissions, encourage the use of propane-diesel blends if an optimization of the injection strategies is performed. In this work, the performances of a propane-diesel mixture in a research diesel engine have been investigated. The injection strategies of Euro 5 calibration have been used as reference for the development of optimized strategies. The aim of the optimization process was to ensure the same engine power output and reduce the pollutant emissions.

In the present paper, infrared (IR) measurements were performed in order to study the development of injection and combustion in a transparent Euro 5 diesel engine operating in premixed mode. An elongated single-cylinder engine equipped with the multi-cylinder head of commercial passenger car and with common rail (CR) injection system, respectively, was used. A sapphire window was set in the bottom of the combustion chamber, and a sapphire ring was placed between the head and the top of the cylinder line. Measurements were carried out through both accesses by a new high-speed infrared (IR) digital imaging system obtaining information that was difficult to achieve by the conventional UV-visible camera. IR camera was able to detect the emitted light in the wavelength range 1.5-5 μm that is relevant for the emission bands of CO₂ and H₂O. The evaporation phase of pre and main injection, and subsequent combustion evolution were analyzed.

In this paper, the modifications realized to make optically accessible a commercial high performance spark ignition and direct injection (DI) 4-cylinder engine are reported. The engine has been designed trying to keep as much as possible its thermo-fluid dynamic configuration in order to maintain its performance and emissions. Two optical accesses have been realized in order to interfere as little as possible with the combustion chamber geometry. A first optical access has been achieved in the piston head and a second by inserting an endoscopic fiber probe in the head. Preliminary results demonstrated that this optical assessment responds to the design targets and allowed a characterization of a commercial GDI engine working with homogeneous and stratified charge mode.

The addition of alcohol to conventional hydrocarbon fuels for a spark-ignition engine can increase the fuel octane rating and the power for a given engine displacement and compression ratio. In this work, the influence of butanol addition to gasoline was investigated. The experiments were performed in an optical ported fuel injection single-cylinder SI engine with an external boosting device. The engine was equipped with the head of a commercial SI turbocharged engine having the same geometrical specifications (bore, stroke and compression ratio). The effect of a blend of 20% of n-butanol and 80% of gasoline (BU20) on in-cylinder combustion process was investigated by cycle-resolved visualization. The engine worked at low speed, medium boosting and wide open throttle. Changes in spark timing and fuel injection phasing were considered. Comparisons between the flame luminosity and the combustion pressure data were performed.

The paper reports an innovative method of analysis based on an advanced statistical techniques applied to images captured by a high-speed camera that allows highlighting phenomena and anomalies hardly detectable by conventional optical diagnostic techniques. The images, previously elaborated by neural network tools in order for clearly identifying the contours, have been analyzed in their time evolution as pseudo-chaotic variables that may have internal periodic components. In addition to the Fourier analysis, tools as Lyapunov and Hurst exponents and average Kω permitted to detect the chaos level of the signals. The use of this technique has permitted to distinguish periodic oscillations from chaotic variations and to detect those parameters that actually determine the spray behavior.

A three dimensional numerical simulation of the ECN “Spray A” is presented. Both primary and secondary breakup of the spray are included. The fuel is n-Dodecane. The n-Dodecane kinetic mechanism is modeled using a skeletal mechanism that consists of 103 species and 370 reactions [9]. The kinetic mechanism is computationally heavy when coupled with three dimensional numerical simulations. Multidimensional chemistry coordinate mapping (CCM) approach is used to speedup the simulation. CCM involves two-way mapping between CFD cells and a discretized multidimensional thermodynamic space, the so called multidimensional chemistry coordinate space. In the text, the cells in the discretized multidimensional thermodynamic space are called zone to discriminate them from the CFD cells. In this way, the CFD cells which are at the similar thermodynamic state are identified and grouped into a unique zone. The stiff ODEs operates only on the zones containing at least one CFD cell.

During the last years, a number of techniques aimed at the experimental identification of the knocking onset in Spark-Ignition (SI) Internal Combustion Engines have been proposed. Besides the traditional procedures based on the processing of in-cylinder pressure data in the frequency domain, in the present paper two innovative methods are developed and compared. The first one is based on the use of statistical analysis by applying an Auto Regressive Moving Average (ARMA) technique, coupled to a prediction algorithm. It is shown that such parametric model, applied to the instantaneous in-cylinder pressure measurements, is highly sensitive to knock occurrence and is able to identify soft or heavy knock presence in different engine operating conditions. An alternative, more expensive procedure is developed and compared to the previous one.

The improvement in engines efficiency and reduction of emissions is the permanent aim of engine industry in order to meet European standards regulation. To optimize small internal combustion engines it is necessary to improve the basic knowledge of thermo-fluid dynamic phenomena occurring during the combustion. This paper describes the combustion process in an optically accessible two-stroke spark-ignition engine used in a commercial 43 cm3 chainsaw. Two different feeding systems were tested: standard and CWI one. The engine head was modified in order to allow the visualization of the combustion using endoscopic system coupled with a high spatial resolution ICCD camera. Flame front propagation was evaluated through an image processing procedure. The image visualization and chemiluminence allowed to follow the combustion process from the spark ignition to the exhaust phase at high engine speed. All the optical data were correlated with engine parameters and exhaust emissions.

In this paper the methane-gasoline dual fuel combustion was investigated. Gasoline was injected in the intake manifold (PFI fuel), while methane was injected in the combustion chamber (DI fuel), in order to reproduce a stratified combustion. The combustion process and the related engine performance and pollutant emissions were analyzed. The measurements were carried out in an optically accessible small single-cylinder four-stroke engine. It was equipped with the cylinder head of a commercial 250 cc engine representative of the most popular two-wheel vehicles in Europe. Optical measurements were performed to analyze the combustion process with high spatial and temporal resolution. In particular, optical techniques based on 2D-digital imaging were used to follow the flame front propagation and the soot and temperature concentration in the combustion chamber.