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The new fuel, 2, 5-dimenthylfuran, known as DMF, captured worldwide attention since the discovery of its new production method. As a potential bio-fuel, DMF is competitive to gasoline in many areas, such as energy density, combustion efficiency and emissions. However, little work has been performed on its unconventional combustion mode. In this work, high speed imaging and thermal investigation are carried out to study DMF and gasoline dual-injection on a single cylinder, direct injection spark ignition optical engine. This dual-injection strategy combines direct injection (DI) and port fuel injection (PFI) simultaneously which means two different fuels can blend in the cylinder with any ratio. It provides a flexible way to use bio-fuels with gasoline. DMF DI with gasoline PFI and ethanol DI with gasoline PFI are studied under different injection proportions (by volume) and IMEPs.

Hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) simulations have long been used to test electronic control units (ECUs) and software in car manufacturers. It provides an effective platform to the rapid development process of the ECU control algorithms and accommodates the added complexity of the plant under control. Accurate Model based HIL simulation (AMHIL) is considered as a most efficient and cost effective way for exploration of new designs and development of new products, particularly in calibration and parameterization of vehicle stability controllers. The work presented in the paper is to develop a mathematical model of a windscreen wiper system for the purpose of conducting HIL vehicle test and eventually to replace the real component with the model for cost cutting and improved test efficiency. The model is developed based on the electro-mechanical engineering principles.

JLR is on track to develop stop-start, parallel hybrid and plug-in parallel hybrid vehicles in the next few years. Plug-in hybridization is arguably the most suitable technology for large, premium luxury vehicles for the foreseeable future. Range_e is a UK based demonstrator for a plug-in hybrid system and has brought into sharp focus the attribute issues and wider challenges that need to be taken into consideration when moving towards production. Presenter Paul Bostock, Jaguar Land Rover

Statistical Energy Analysis (SEA) is the standard analytical tool for predicting vehicle acoustic and vibration responses at high frequencies. SEA is commonly used to obtain the interior Sound Pressure Level (SPL) due to each individual noise or vibration source and to determine the contribution to the interior noise through each dominant transfer path. This supports cascading vehicle noise and vibration targets and early evaluation of the vehicle design to effectively meet NVH targets with optimized cost and weight. A common misconception is that SEA is only capable of predicting a general average interior SPL for the entire vehicle cabin and that the differences between different locations such as driver's ear, rear passenger's ear, lower interior points, etc., in the vehicle cannot be analytically determined by an SEA model.

The notion of open source systems has been well established in systems software and typified by the development of the Linux operating system. An open source community is a community of interest that makes use of software tools in research and development. Their ongoing development is part of the free flow of ideas on which the community. The motivation for the work reported in this paper is to provide the research community in engine controls with a ready access to a complete engine management solution and the component parts. The work described in this paper extends open source principles to engine control with a portable spark ignition (SI) control strategy assembled using Simulink. The underlying low level drivers are written in C and designed for portability. A calibration tool is written in C and works over a controller area network (CAN) link to the engine control unit (ECU). The ECU hardware is based on the Infineon Tricore microcontroller.

The vehicle dynamics control systems are traditionally based upon utilizing wheel brakes as actuators. However, there has been recently strong interest in the automotive industry for introduction of other vehicle dynamics actuators, in order to improve the overall vehicle stability, responsiveness, and agility features. This paper considers various actuators such as active rear and central differentials and active front and rear steering, and proposes design of related yaw rate control systems. Different control subsystems such as reference model, feedback and feedforward control, allocation algorithm, and time-varying controller limit are discussed. The designed control systems are verified and compared by computer simulation for double lane change and slalom maneuvers.

This paper presents a methodology for simulating Fluid Structure Interaction (FSI) for a typical vehicle bonnet (hood) under a range of onset flow conditions. The hood was chosen for this study, as it is one of the panels most prone to vibration; particularly given the trend to make vehicle panels lighter. Among the worst-case scenarios for inducing vibration is a panel being subjected to turbulent flow from vehicle wakes, and the sudden peak loads caused by emerging from a vehicle wake. This last case is typical of a passing manoeuvre, with the vehicle suddenly transitioning from being immersed in the wake of the leading vehicle, to being fully exposed to the free-stream flow. The transient flowfield was simulated for a range of onset flow conditions that could potentially be experienced on the open road, which may cause substantial vibration of susceptible vehicle panels.

The increased application of lightweight materials, such as aluminium has initiated many investigations into new joining techniques for aluminium alloys. As a result, Self-piercing riveting (SPR) was introduced into the automotive industry as the major production process to join aluminium sheet body structures. Although both hydraulic and servo types of SPR equipment are used by the industry, the servo type is most commonly used in a volume production environment. This type uses stored rotational inertia to set the rivet. The initial rotational velocity of the mass dictates the setting force and hence the tool is described as velocity-controlled. A study was therefore conducted to examine the effect of setting velocity on the process including tooling and joint performance. It was found that the setting velocity would have a significant effect on tooling life. Over 80kN force could be introduced into the tooling depending on selection of the setting velocity.

With the growing complexity of, and reliance on, safety-related electrical/electronic (E/E) systems in the automotive sector, the development of an explicit safety case is highly recommended to provide assurance to the different stakeholders interested in automotive functional safety. The production of a safety case is explicitly mandated by the draft automotive functional safety standard ISO26262. A safety case should consider all organisational and technical factors that may contribute to safety. For example, it should provide assurance for the safe behaviours of a particular system as well as assurance for the process by which this system is developed, operated and maintained. In this paper, we address one component of the overall safety case, namely the assurance of the functional safety concept. In particular, we examine how model-driven development and assessment can provide a basis for the systematic generation of functional safety requirements.

Electrical power requirements for vehicles continue to increase. Future vehicle applications require the development of reliable and robust power supply strategies that operate over various ambient temperatures and driving conditions. Insufficient charge balance is one of the major concerns for conventional lead-acid battery systems when operated with limited charging times during short journeys or extreme climate conditions. For vehicle power supply analysis, a detailed understanding of the operational characteristics of the major components and how they interact as a part of the electric power system, including environmental and road conditions, is essential if the analysis is to aid system optimization. This paper presents a model based technique that enhances the process of vehicle electrical power system design. Vehicle system optimization using virtual prototypes has become critically important as more electrical features are added to future vehicles.

Vehicle wind noise is becoming increasingly important to customer satisfaction. Early wind noise assessment is critical to get things right during the early design phase. In this paper, SEA modeling technique is used to predict vehicle interior noise caused by the exterior turbulence. Measured surface turbulence pressures over vehicle greenhouse panels are applied as wind noise load. SEA representation of wind noise load case is investigated. It has been found that current SEA wind noise load case over-estimates at frequencies below window glass coincident frequency. A new concept of noise source pole index is introduced and a new wind noise load coupling has been developed. Comparison with vehicle wind tunnel measurements shows that the proposed load case significantly improved prediction accuracy.

This paper presents a series of observations of time-averaged wake asymmetry for a range of “notchback” vehicle geometries. The primary focus is on a reduced scale experiment using full-sized saloon geometry. Substantial flow asymmetry was observed in the vehicle “notch”. Similar asymmetries are reported for a full scale experiment on the same geometry along with others as diverse as production models of a luxury and mid-sized saloon; basic car shapes and a simple body. In one case a physical explanation is proposed, based on the degeneration of an unstable symmetric wake structure.

Simulation of local flow structures in the A-pillar/side glass region of bluff SUV geometries, typical of Land Rover vehicles, presents a considerable challenge. Features such as relatively tight A-pillar radii and upright windscreens produce flows that are difficult to simulate. However, the usefulness of aerodynamics simulations in the early assessment of wind noise depends particularly on the local accuracy obtained in this region. This paper extends work previously published by the author(1) with additional data and analysis. An extended review of the relevant published literature is also provided. Then the degree to which a commercial Lattice-Boltzman solver (Exa PowerFLOW™) is currently able to capture both the local flow structure and surface pressure distribution (both time averaged and unsteady) is evaluated. Influential factors in the simulation are shown to be spatial resolution, turbulence and boundary layer modelling.