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Controllability is defined in ISO 26262 as a driver’s ability to avoid a specified harm caused by a malfunction of electrical and electronic systems installed in road vehicles. According to Annex C of Part 12 of ISO 26262, simulation is one of the techniques that the Controllability Classification Panel (CCP) can use to evaluate comprehensively the controllability class (C class) of motorcycles. With outputs of (i) an index for the success of harm avoidance and (ii) the magnitude of the rider’s compensatory control action required to avoid harm, the simulation is useful for evaluating the C class of the degrees of malfunction that cannot be implemented in practice for the sake of the test rider’s safety. To aim at supplying data that the CCP can use to judge the C class, we try to estimate the vehicle behavior and a rider’s compensatory control actions following a malfunction using vehicle dynamics simulations.

The ISO 26262 standard specifies the requirement for functional safety of electrical and electronic systems within road vehicles. We have accumulated case studies based on actual riding tests by subjective judgment of expert riders to define a method for determining the controllability class (C class). However, the wide variety of practical traffic environments and vehicle behaviors in case of malfunction make it difficult to evaluate all C classes in actual running tests. Furthermore, under some conditions, actual riding tests may cause unacceptable risks to test riders. In Part 12 Annex C of ISO/DIS 26262, simulation is cited as an example of a technique for comprehensive evaluations by the Controllability Classification Panel. This study investigated the usefulness of mathematical simulations for evaluating the C class of a motorcycle reproducing a malfunction in either the front or rear brakes.

To meet the strict emission regulations for diesel engines, an advanced processing device such as a Urea-SCR (selective catalytic reduction) system is used to reduce NOx emissions. The Real Driving Emissions (RDE) test, which is implemented in the European Union, will expand the range of conditions under which the engine has to operate [1], which will lead to the construction of a Urea-SCR system capable of reducing NOx emissions at lower and higher temperature conditions, and at higher space velocity conditions than existing systems. Simulations are useful in improving the performance of the urea-SCR system. However, it is necessary to construct a reliable NOx reduction model to use for system design, which covers the expanded engine operation conditions. In the urea-SCR system, the mechanism of ammonia (NH3) formation from injected aqueous urea solution is not clear. Thus, it is important to clarify this mechanism to improve the NOx reduction model.

The advanced Pedestrian Legform Impactor (aPLI) incorporates a number of enhancements for improved lower limb injury prediction capability with respect to its predecessor, the FlexPLI. The aPLI also incorporates a simplified upper body part (SUBP), connected to the lower limb via a mechanical hip joint, that expands the impactor’s applicability to evaluate pedestrian’s lower limb injury risk also in high-bumper cars.As the aPLI has been developed to be used in standardized testing, further considerations on the impactor’s manufacturability, robustness, durability, usability, and repeatability need to be accounted for.. The aim of this study is to define and verify, by means of numerical analysis, a battery of design modifications that may simplify the manufacturing and use of physical aPLIs, without reducing the impactors’ biofidelity. Eight candidate parameters were investigated in a two-step numerical analysis.

In the urea SCR system, urea solution is injected by injector installed in the front stage of the SCR catalyst, and NOx can be purified on the SCR catalyst by using NH3 generated by the chemical reaction of urea. NH3 is produced by thermolysis of urea and hydrolysis of isocyanic acid after evaporation of water in the urea solution. But, biuret and cyanuric acid which may cause deposit are sometimes generated by the chemical reactions without generating NH3. Spray behavior and chemical reaction of urea solution injected into the tail-pipe are complicated. The purpose of this study is to reveal the spray behavior and NH3 generation process in the tail-pipe, and to construct the model capable of predicting those accurately. In this report, the impingement spray behavior is clarified by scattered light method in high temperature flow field. Liquid film adhering to the wall and deposit generated after evaporation of water from the liquid film are photographed by the digital camera.

A methodology for simulating effect of international variations in fuel compositions on spray combustion is proposed. The methodology is validated with spray combustion experiments with real fuels from three different countries. The compositions of those fuels were analyzed through GC×GC and H-NMR. It was found that ignition delay times, flame region and flame luminosity were significantly affected by the compositional variations. For the simulation, an evaporation surrogate consisting of twenty two species, covering basic molecular types and a wide range of carbon numbers, is developed. Each species in the evaporation surrogate is then virtually converted to a reaction surrogate consisting of n-hexadecane, methylcyclohexane and 1,2,4-trimethyl benzene so that combustion reactions can be calculated with a published kinetic model. The virtual species conversion (VSC) is made so as to take over combustion-related properties of each species of evaporation surrogates.

Current legform impact test methods using the FlexPLI have been developed to protect pedestrians from lower limb injuries in collisions with low-bumper vehicles. For this type of vehicles, the influence of the upper body on the bending load generated in the lower limb is compensated by setting the impact height of the FlexPLI 50 mm above that of pedestrians. However, neither the effectiveness of the compensation method of the FlexPLI nor the influence of the upper body on the bending load generated in the lower limb of a pedestrian has been clarified with high-bumper vehicles. In this study, therefore, two computer simulation analyses were conducted in order to analyze: (1) The influence of the upper body on the bending load generated in the lower limb of a pedestrian when impacted by high-bumper vehicles and (2) The effectiveness of the compensation method for the lack of the upper body by increasing impact height of the FlexPLI for high-bumper vehicles.

The objective of the current study was to provide a comprehensive characterization of human biomechanical response to whole-body, lateral impact. Three approximately 50th-percentile adult male PMHS were subjected to right-side pure lateral impacts at 4.3 ± 0.1 m/s using a rigid wall mounted to a rail-mounted sled. Each subject was positioned on a rigid seat and held stationary by a system of tethers until immediately prior to being impacted by the moving wall with 100 mm pelvic offset. Displacement data were obtained using an optoelectronic stereophotogrammetric system that was used to track the 3D motions of the impacting wall sled; seat sled, and reflective targets secured to the head, spine, extremities, ribcage, and shoulder complex of each subject. Kinematic data were also recorded using 3-axis accelerometer cubes secured to the head, pelvis, and spine at the levels of T1, T6, T11, and L3. Chest deformation in the transverse plane was recorded using a single chestband.

A total of eight low-speed, rear-end impact tests using two Post Mortem Human Subjects (PMHS) in a seated posture are reported. These tests were conducted using a HYGE-style mini-sled. Two test conditions were employed: 8 kph without a headrestraint or 16 kph with a headrestraint. Upper-body kinematics were captured for each test using a combination of transducers and high-speed video. A 3-2-2-2-accelerometer package was used to measure the generalized 3D kinematics of both the head and pelvis. An angular rate sensor and two single-axis linear accelerometers were used to measure angular speed, angular acceleration, and linear acceleration of T1 in the sagittal plane. Two high-speed video cameras were used to track targets rigidly attached to the head, T1, and pelvis. The cervical spine kinematics were captured with a high-speed, biplane x-ray system by tracking radiopaque markers implanted into each cervical vertebra.

A numerical method specially designed to predict unsteady aerodynamics of road vehicle was developed based on unstructured Large-Eddy Simulation (LES) technique. The code was intensively optimized for the Earth Simulator in Japan to deal with the excessive computational resources required for LES, and could treat numerical meshes of up to around 120 million elements. Moving boundary methods such as the Arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian (ALE) or the sliding method were implemented to handle dynamic motion of a vehicle body during aerodynamic assessment. The method can also model a gusty crosswind condition. The method was applied to three cases in which unsteady aerodynamics are expected to be crucial.

In order to clarify future automobile technologies and fuel qualities to improve air quality, second phase of Japan Clean Air Program (JCAPII) had been conducted from 2002 to 2007. Predicting improvement in air quality that might be attained by introducing new emission control technologies and determining fuel qualities required for the technologies is one of the main issues of this program. Unregulated material WG of JCAPII had studied unregulated emissions from gasoline and diesel engines. Eight gaseous hydrocarbons (HC), four Aldehydes and three polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were evaluated as unregulated emissions. Specifically, emissions of the following components were measured: 1,3-Butadiene, Benzene, Toluene, Xylene, Ethylbenzene, 1,3,5-Trimethyl-benzene, n-Hexane, Styrene as gaseous HCs, Formaldehyde, Acetaldehyde, Acrolein, Benzaldehyde as Aldehydes, and Benzo(a)pyrene, Benzo(b)fluoranthene, Benzo(k)fluoranthene as PAHs.

One of the world's largest unsteady turbulence simulations of flow around a formula car was conducted using Large Eddy Simulation (LES) on the Earth Simulator in Japan. The main objective of our study is to investigate the validity of LES for the assessment of vehicle aerodynamics, as an alternative to a conventional wind tunnel measurement or the Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) simulation. The aerodynamic forces estimated by LES show good agreement with the wind tunnel data (within several percent!) and various unsteady flow features around the car is visualized, which clearly indicate the effectiveness of large-scale LES in the very near future for the computation of flow around vehicles with complex configurations.

The engine in the research is a single cylinder DI diesel using the emission reduction techniques such as high boost, high injection pressure and broad range and high quantity of exhaust gas recirculation (EGR). The study especially focuses on the reduction of particulate matter (PM) under the engine operating conditions. In the experiment the authors measured engine performance, exhaust gases and mass of PM by low sulfur fuel such as 3 ppm and low sulfur lubricant oil such as 0.26%. Then the PM components were divided into soluble organic fraction (SOF) and insoluble organic fraction (ISOF) and they were measured at each engine condition. The mass of SOF was measured from the fuel fraction and lubricant oil fraction by gas chromatography. Also each mass of soot fraction and sulfate fraction was measured as components of ISOF. The experiment was conducted at BMEP = 2.0 MPa as full load condition of the engine and changing EGR rate from 0% to 40 %.

In the Japan Clean Air Program II (JCAP II) Diesel WG, effects of fuel properties on the performance of two types of diesel NOx emission aftertreatment devices, a Urea-SCR system and a NOx storage reduction (NSR) catalyst system, were examined. For a Urea-SCR system, the NOx emission reduction performance with and without an oxidation catalyst installed in front of the SCR catalyst at low exhaust gas temperature operation was compared. For an NSR catalyst system, the effect of fuel sulfur on both emissions and fuel economy during 50,000 km driving was examined. Furthermore, effects of other fuel properties such as distillation on exhaust emissions were investigated. The results show that sulfur is the influential factor for both devices. Namely, high NOx emission reduction performance of the Urea-SCR system with the oxidation catalyst at low exhaust gas temperature operation is influenced by sulfur.

Emission regulations for diesel-powered vehicles have been gradually tightening. Installation of after-treatment devices such as diesel particulate filters (DPF), NOx storage reduction (NSR) catalysts, and so on is indispensable to satisfy rigorous limits of particulate matter (PM) and nitrogen oxides (NOx). Japan Clean Air Program II Oil Working Group (JCAPII Oil WG) has been investigating the effect of engine oil on advanced diesel after-treatment devices. First of all, we researched the impact of oil-derived ash on continuous regeneration-type diesel particulate filter (CR-DPF), and already reported that the less sulfated ash in oil gave rise to lower pressure drop across CR-DPF [1]. In this paper, impact of oil-derived sulfur and phosphorus on NSR catalyst was investigated using a 4L direct injection common-rail diesel engine with turbo-intercooler. This engine equipped with NSR catalyst meets the Japanese new short-term emission regulations.

JAMA-JARI has developed a biofidelic flexible pedestrian leg-form impactor (Flex-PLI 2004) by making several modifications to the Flex-PLI 2003 to improve usability, durability and biofidelity. Biofidelity evaluation for the Flex-PLI 2004 was estimated at the component level (thigh, knee, and leg individually) as well as at the assembly level (thigh-knee-leg complex), using an objective impactor biofidelity evaluation system based on a method developed by Rhule et al. to eliminate any subjective prejudice in an impactor biofidelity evaluation. Applying the biofidelity evaluation system to the Flex-PLI 2004, the average impactor biofidelity rank (IBR) score became 1.22 at the component level and 1.26 at the assembly level. These IBR scores mean that the Flex-PLI 2004 has good biofidelity at the component level as well as at the assembly level.

Four urea SCR systems were developed and evaluated on a C/D and on the road to investigate their potential for Japanese emission regulations in 2005 and beyond. Test results showed that NOx conversion ratios were 50 to 70% during the Japanese D13 mode cycle, and the ratios under the transient driving cycle were lower than those tested during a steady state. Unregulated emissions, such as benzene, aldehyde and benzo[a]pyrene, existed either at a trace level using the oxidation catalyst, or lower than a base diesel engine, when no oxidation catalyst was used. The health effects of particulate matter emitted from the SCR system were almost the same as those from conventional diesel engines, as evaluated by the Ames test and in vitro micronucleus test. Thermal degradation products, such as cyanuric acid and melamine, were two to four figures lower compared with the toxicological information of Safety Information Resources Inc. (SIRI).

Frontal vehicle collisions often result in foot injury of the front seat occupant. Therefore, it is very important to understand the mechanism of the foot injury. For that purpose, several impact experiments have been conducted using a partial human lower extremity. In addition, recently several impact response analyses using a human FE model have been conducted to understand the mechanism. In the present circumstances, a verified FE model is needed, and the verification of kinematical biofidelity is very important in the first place. In this connection, a foot FE model (based on an existing human FE model) was improved to create a foot FE model, which can be used for study of foot injury mechanism in this research. And the kinematics of foot bones of the model was verified by comparing the bone movements of the FE model with the movement of human foot during heel impact.

A biofidelic flexible pedestrian leg-form impactor, called Flex-PLI, was developed by the Japan Automobile Manufactures Association, Inc. (JAMA) and the Japan Automobile Research Institute (JARI). Its latest version is called Flex-PLI 2003. The Flex-PLI 2003 responses have been validated at the component level (thigh, leg, and knee independently) but not at the assembly level (thigh-knee-leg complex). Furthermore, there was no FE Flex-PLI model. This research developed a FE Flex-PLI 2003R model (Flex-PLI 2003R means that the thigh and leg mass of Flex-PLI 2003 is adjusted to AM 50). The FE Flex-PLI 2003R model biofidelity has been evaluated at both the component level and the assembly level, where it demonstrated high biofidelity.

The main objective of the present study is to determine experimentally the injury patterns and response of the human thigh in lateral impacts simulating more closely the real impact conditions in car-pedestrian accidents. We conducted in-vitro experiments on thirteen thighs of eight completely intact Post Mortem Human Subjects (PMHSs). The thigh was hit by a ram at a speed of 35 km/h at the mid-shaft of the femur in each completely intact PMHS. Since the effect of cumulative injuries should be avoided, each thigh was impacted only once. Three impact energies were used; 450J, 600J and 700J. The PMHS motion was not constrained so as to simulate the walking posture of a pedestrian. We analyzed the peak values of the impact force of the ram and the femur acceleration. Injury was assessed by dissecting the lower extremities.