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In the present study, Large Eddy Simulations (LES) have been performed with a 3D model of a step nozzle injector, using n-pentane as the injected fluid, a representative of the high-volatility components in gasoline. The influence of fuel temperature and injection pressure were investigated in conditions that shed light on engine cold-start, a phenomenon prevalent in a number of combustion applications, albeit not extensively studied. The test cases provide an impression of the in-nozzle phase change and the near-nozzle spray structure across different cavitation regimes. Results for the 20oC fuel temperature case (supercavitating regime) depict the formation of a continuous cavitation region that extends to the nozzle outlet. Collapse-induced pressure wave dynamics near the outlet cause a transient entrainment of air from the discharge chamber towards the nozzle.

Nowadays, proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell is widely seen as a promising energy conversion device especially for transportation application scenario because of its high efficiency, low operation temperature and nearly-zero road emission. Extensive modeling work have been done based on different dimensions during the past decades, including one-dimensional (1D), two-dimensional (2D), three-dimensional (3D) and intermediate combinations in between (e.g. “1+1D”). 1D model benefits from a rationally-chosen set of assumptions to obtain excellent calculation efficiency, yet at the cost of accuracy to some extent. In contrast, 3D model has great advantage over 1D model on acquiring more comprehensive information inside the fuel cell. For macro-scale modeling work, one compromise aiming to realize both acceptable computation speed and reasonable reflection of cell operation state is to simplify the membrane electrode assembly (MEA).

Future CO2 emission legislation requires the internal combustion engine to become more efficient than ever. Of great importance is the boosting system enabling down-sizing and down-speeding. However, the thermodynamic coupling of a reciprocating internal combustion engine and a turbocharger poses a great challenge to the turbine as pulsating admission conditions are imposed onto the turbocharger turbine. This paper presents a novel approach to a turbocharger turbine development process and outlines this process using the example of an asymmetric twin scroll turbocharger applied to a heavy duty truck engine application. In a first step, relevant operating points are defined taking into account fuel consumption on reference routes for the target application. These operation points are transferred into transient boundary conditions imposed on the turbine.

For the investigation of the tribological behavior of lubricated contacts, the choice and the calibration of the adopted asperity contact model is fundamental, in order to properly mimic the mixed lubrication conditions. The Greenwood/Tripp model is extensively adopted by the commercial software commonly employed to simulate lubricated contacts. This model, based on a statistic evaluation of the number of asperities in contact and on the Hertzian contact theory, has the advantage of introducing a simple relationship between oil film thickness and asperity contact pressure, considerably reducing the simulation time. However, in order to calibrate the model, some non-standard roughness parameters are required, that are not available from commercial roughness measuring equipment. Standard values, based on some limited experiences, are typically used, and a limited literature can be found focusing on how to evaluate them, thus reducing the predictivity of the model.

The use of twin-scroll turbocharger turbine in automotive powertrain has been known for providing better transient performance over conventional single-scroll turbine. This has been accredited to the preservation of exhaust flow energy in the twin-scroll volute. In the current study, the performance comparison between a single and twin-scroll turbine has been made experimentally on a 1.5L passenger car gasoline engine. The uniqueness of the current study is that nearly identical engine hardware has been used for both the single and twin-scroll turbine volutes. This includes the intake and exhaust manifold geometry, turbocharger compressor, turbine rotor and volute scroll A/R variation trend over circumferential location. On top of that, the steady-state engine performance with both the volutes, has also been tuned to have matching brake torque.

Bearings represent one of the main causes of friction losses in internal combustion engines, and their lubrication performance has a crucial influence on the operating condition of the engine. In particular, the conrod small-end bearing is one of the most critical engine parts from a tribological point of view since limited contact surfaces have to support high inertial and combustion forces. In this contribution an analysis is performed of the tribological behavior of the lubricated contact between the piston pin and the conrod small-end of a high performance motorbike engine. A mass-conserving algorithm is employed to solve the Reynolds equation based on a complementarity formulation of the cavitation problem. The analysis of the asperity contact problem is addressed in detail. A comparison between two different approaches is presented, the former based on the standard Greenwood/Tripp theory and the latter based on a complementarity formulation of the asperity contact problem.

The use of twin-scroll turbocharger turbines has gained popularity in recent years. The main reason is its capability of isolating and preserving pulsating exhaust flow from engine cylinders of adjacent firing order, hence enabling more efficient pulse turbocharging. Asymmetrical twin-scroll turbines have been used to realize high pressure exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) using only one scroll while designing the other scroll for optimal scavenging. This research is based on a production asymmetrical turbocharger turbine designed for a heavy duty truck engine of Daimler AG. Even though there are number of studies on symmetrical twin entry scroll performance, a comprehensive modeling tool for asymmetrical twin-scroll turbines is yet to be found. This is particularly true for a meanline model, which is often used during the turbine preliminary design stage.

Turbocharging has become the favored approach for downsizing internal combustion engines to reduce fuel consumption and CO2 emissions, without sacrificing performance. Matching a turbocharger to an engine requires a balance of various design variables in order to meet the desired performance. Once an initial selection of potential compressor and turbine options is made, corresponding performance maps are evaluated in 1D engine cycle simulations to down-select the best combination. This is the conventional matching procedure used in industry and is ‘passive’ since it relies on measured maps, thus only existing designs may be evaluated. In other words, turbine characteristics cannot be changed during matching so as to explore the effect of design adjustments. Instead, this paper presents an ‘adaptive’ matching methodology for the turbocharger turbine.

Internal combustion engines are routinely developed using 1D engine simulation tools. A well-known limitation is the accuracy of the turbocharger compressor and turbine sub-models, which rely on hot gas bench-measured maps to characterize performance. Such discrete map data is inherently too sparse to be used directly in simulation, and so a preprocessing algorithm interpolates and extrapolates the data to generate a wider, more densely populated map. Methods used for compressor map interpolation vary. They may be mathematical or physical in nature, but there is no unified approach, except that they typically operate on input map data in SAE format. For decades it has been common practice for turbocharger suppliers to share performance data with engine OEMs in this form. This paper describes a compressor map interpolation technique based on the nondimensional compressor flow and loading coefficients, instead of SAE-format data.

Road vehicles usually operate within windy environments. The combination of typical wind distributions and vehicle speeds, imposes on such vehicles aerodynamic yaw angles, β, which are often almost uniform up to 6° and relevant up to 14°. Drag saving devices are often optimized for zero cross-wind scenarios, minimizing drag only around these design conditions. This work presents the drag saving increase that an adaptive system can provide over a classic boat-tail. In the experimental set up employed, two flaps are located at the rear lateral edges of an Ahmed body and respectively set at angles θ1 and θ2 with respect to the model. To evaluate the efficacy of different flap positioning strategies under cross-wind, the model was tested in a wind tunnel, , with and without flaps at yaw angles β = 0°, 3°, 6° or 9°. The flap sizes tested, δ, were 9% or 13% of the body width. For each β and δ, the maps of drag against the two flap angles were obtained.

In the Big Data era, the capability in statistical and probabilistic data characterization, data pattern identification, data modeling and analysis is critical to understand the data, to find the trends in the data, and to make better use of the data. In this paper the fundamental probability concepts and several commonly used probabilistic distribution functions, such as the Weibull for spectrum events and the Pareto for extreme/rare events, are described first. An event quadrant is subsequently established based on the commonality/rarity and impact/effect of the probabilistic events. Level of measurement, which is the key for quantitative measurement of the data, is also discussed based on the framework of probability. The damage density function, which is a measure of the relative damage contribution of each constituent is proposed. The new measure demonstrates its capability in distinguishing between the extreme/rare events and the spectrum events.

The purpose of this work was to gain a fundamental understanding of which fuel property parameters are responsible for particulate emission characteristics, associated with key intermediate behavior in the engine cylinder such as the fuel film and insufficient mixing. Accordingly, engine tests were carried out using various fuels having different volatility and chemical compositions under different coolant temperature conditions. In addition, a fundamental spray and film visualization analysis was also conducted using a constant volume vessel, assuming the engine test conditions. As for the physical effects, the test results showed that a low volatility fuel displayed high particulate number (PN) emissions when the injection timing was advanced. The fundamental test clearly showed that the amount of fuel film on the impingement plate increased under such operating conditions with a low volatility fuel.

Engine stop/start and cylinder deactivation are increasingly in use to improve fuel consumption of internal combustion engine in passenger cars. The stop/start technology switches off the engine to whenever the vehicle is at a stand-still, typically in a highly-congested area of an urban driving. The inherent issue with the implementation of stop/start technology in Southeast Asia, with tropical climate such as Malaysia, is the constant demand for the air-conditioning system. This inevitably reduces the duration of engine switch-off when the vehicle at stop and consequently nullifying the benefit of the stop/start system. On the other hand, cylinder deactivation technology improves the fuel consumption at certain conditions during low to medium vehicle speeds, when the engine is at part load operation only. This study evaluates the fuel economy benefit between the stop/start and cylinder deactivation technologies for the actual Kuala Lumpur urban driving conditions in Malaysia.

The implementation of Synthetic Jet Actuators (SJAs) on Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) provides a safe test-bed for analysis of improved performance, in the hope of certification of this technology on commercial aircraft in the future. The use of high resolution numerical methods (i.e. CFD) to capture the details of the effects of SJAs on flows and on the hosting lifting surface are computationally expensive and time-consuming, which renders them ineffective for use in real-time flow control implementations. Suitable alternatives include the use of Reduced Order Models (ROMs) to capture the lower resolution overall effects of the jets on the flow and the hosting structure. This research paper analyses the effects of SJAs on aircraft wings using a ROM for the purpose of determining the unsteady aerodynamic forces modified by the presence of the SJAs. The model developed is a 3D unsteady panel code where the jets are represented by source panels.

Throttling loss of downsized gasoline engines is significantly smaller than that of naturally aspirated counterparts. However, even the extremely downsized gasoline engine can still suffer a relatively large throttling loss when operating under part load conditions. Various de-throttling concepts have been proposed recently, such as using a FGT or VGT turbine on the intake as a de-throttling mechanism or applying valve throttling to control the charge airflow. Although they all can adjust the mass air flow without a throttle in regular use, an extra component or complicated control strategies have to be adopted. This paper will, for the first time, propose a de-throttling concept in a twin-charged gasoline engine with minimum modification of the existing system. The research engine model which this paper is based on is a 60% downsized 2.0L four cylinder gasoline demonstrator engine with both a supercharger and turbocharger on the intake.

In a turbocharged engine, preserving the maximum amount of exhaust pulse energy for turbine operation will result in improved low end torque and engine transient response. However, the exhaust flow entering the turbine is highly unsteady, and the presence of the turbine as a restriction in the exhaust flow results in a higher pressure at the cylinder exhaust ports and consequently poor scavenging. This leads to an increase in the amount of residual gas in the combustion chamber, compared to the naturally-aspirated equivalent, thereby increasing the tendency for engine knock. If the level of residual gas can be reduced and controlled, it should enable the engine to operate at a higher compression ratio, improving its thermal efficiency. This paper presents a method of turbocharger matching for reducing residual gas content in a turbocharged engine.

Cylinder deactivation has been utilized by vehicle manufacturers since the 80's to improve fuel consumption and exhaust emissions. Cylinder deactivation is achieved by cutting off fuel supply and ignition in some of the engine cylinders, while their inlet and outlet valves are fully closed. The vehicle demand during cylinder deactivation is sustained by only the firing cylinders, hence increasing their indicated power. Conventionally, half the number of cylinders are shut at certain driving conditions, which normally at the lower demand regime. An optimal strategy will ensure cylinder deactivation contributes to the fuel saving without compromising the vehicle drivability. Cylinder deactivation has been documented to generally improve fuel consumption between 6 to 25 %, depending on the type-approval test drive cycle. However, type-approval test has been reported to differ from the “real-world” fuel consumption values.

Engines equipped with pressure charging systems are more prone to knock partly due the increased intake temperature. Meanwhile, turbocharged engines when operating at high engine speeds and loads cannot fully utilize the exhaust energy as the wastegate is opened to prevent overboost. The turboexpansion concept thus is conceived to reduce the intake temperature by utilizing some otherwise unexploited exhaust energy. This concept can be applied to any turbocharged engines equipped with both a compressor and a turbine-like expander on the intake loop. The turbocharging system is designed to achieve maximum utilization of the exhaust energy, from which the intake charge is over-boosted. After the intercooler, the turbine-like expander expands the over-compressed intake charge to the required plenum pressure and reduces its temperature whilst recovering some energy through the connection to the crankshaft.

Industry and academia agree that brake squeal is a nonlinear phenomenon. Consequently, using solely linear finite-element (FE) models and assessing the tendency of a brake system to squeal exclusively on the stability of the trivial solution is not appropriate. However, the latter approach - in the brake community known as complex eigenvalue analysis (CEA) - is extensively used in industry. Until now, nonlinear simulation approaches considering existence and stability of periodic solutions are mostly limited to minimal models. Among the variety of reasons for this the complexity of large-scale nonlinear models as well as the identification of nonlinear material and system parameters are crucial. This contribution discusses the relevance of nonlinearities in friction brake noise, vibration, harshness (NVH) and presents a novel simulation approach for brake squeal.

The paper discusses the concept, design and final results from the ‘Ultra Boost for Economy’ collaborative project, which was part-funded by the Technology Strategy Board, the UK's innovation agency. The project comprised industry- and academia-wide expertise to demonstrate that it is possible to reduce engine capacity by 60% and still achieve the torque curve of a modern, large-capacity naturally-aspirated engine, while encompassing the attributes necessary to employ such a concept in premium vehicles. In addition to achieving the torque curve of the Jaguar Land Rover naturally-aspirated 5.0 litre V8 engine (which included generating 25 bar BMEP at 1000 rpm), the main project target was to show that such a downsized engine could, in itself, provide a major proportion of a route towards a 35% reduction in vehicle tailpipe CO2 on the New European Drive Cycle, together with some vehicle-based modifications and the assumption of stop-start technology being used instead of hybridization.