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Lean-burn hydrogen internal combustion engines are a good option for future transportation solutions since they do not emit carbon-dioxide and unburned hydro-carbons, and the emissions of nitric-oxides (NOx) can be kept low. However, under lean-burn conditions the combustion duration increases, and the combustion stability decreases, leading to a reduced thermal efficiency. Turbulent jet ignition (TJI) can be used to extend the lean-burn limit, while decreasing the combustion duration and improving combustion stability. The objective of this paper is to investigate the feasibility of a passive pre-chamber TJI system on a heavy-duty hydrogen engine under lean-burn conditions using CFD modelling. The studied concept is mono-fuel, port-fuel injected, and spark ignited in the pre-chamber. The overall design of the pre-chamber is discussed and the effect of design parameters on the engine performance are studied.

Increasing fuel and electricity prices create high pressure to develop efficient external aerodynamics of road cars. At the same time, development cycles are getting shorter to meet changing customer preferences while physical testing capacities remain limited, creating a pressing need for fast and accurate turbulence models to predict aerodynamic performance. This paper introduces and discusses different turbulence modelling approaches beyond the well-known and established models used today in the industry. The RANS Lag Elliptic Blending (Lag EB) k − ϵ model, which enables highly accurate steady-state RANS, was chosen as the baseline approach. As a medium fidelity approach Scale-Resolving Hybrid (SRH) model was utilized, which modifies a RANS base model to produce a smooth transition between URANS and LES behavior. The Wall-Modelled LES (WMLES) method was chosen for high fidelity simulations.

There continues to be massive advancements in modern connected vehicles and with these advancements, connectivity continues to rapidly become more integral to the way these vehicles are designed and operated. Vehicle connectivity was originally introduced for the purpose of providing software updates to the vehicle’s main system software, and we have seen the adoption of Over The Air updates (OTA) become mainstream with most OEMs. The exploitation of this connectivity is far more reaching than just basic software updates. In the latest vehicles it is possible to update software not just on the main vehicle systems, but to potentially update embedded software in all smart ECUs within the vehicle. Only using the connectivity to push data to the vehicle is not making full use of the potential of this increased connectivity. Being able to collect vehicle data for offline analysis and processing also brings huge benefits to the use of this technology.

Defining a global powertrain roadmap is a challenging yet crucial step towards meeting sustainability goals. OEMs usually start from independent market research, competition, market requirements and regulations to build this roadmap. However, how do they make sure that the preliminary powertrain choices they make will meet the defined requirements? How big are the assumptions they take at this early stage of powertrain development? In this paper a holistic system simulation method is proposed to assess, compare, and rank different powertrain choices for different markets under different regulations, from the tailpipe CO2 emissions point of view. This method relies on simplified powertrain and vehicles graphical models that are compared together for different mission profiles, corresponding to different markets. It includes battery electric, hybrid, plug-in hybrid, fuel cell electric and conventional vehicles.

The vehicle industry being in the middle of transformation, the development of electric drives has come into engineers’ focus. The parameter evaluation of dynamic systems can be cumbersome when having nonlinearity in the structure, for example nonlinear stiffness characteristics. In such case, the standard linear approach, including EMA (Experimental Modal Analysis), modal superposition, FRF measurement (Frequency Response Function) and modal synthesis can not be applied. However, one of the main challenges in addressing nonlinearities is the lack of general tools to approach them. In this paper, a general framework to study nonlinearities in a structural dynamic context is presented. The method relies on standard random and sine sweep testing approaches to detect and localize nonlinearities, and on dedicated processing techniques to analyze the data and extract information on the nature of the analyzed nonlinearity.

The automotive industry is facing new emission regulations, changing customer preferences and technology disruptions. All have in common, that external aerodynamics plays a crucial role to achieve emission limits, reduce fuel consumption and extend electric driving range. Probably the most challenging components in terms of numerical aerodynamic drag prediction are the wheels. Their contribution to the overall pressure distribution is significant, and the flow topology around the wheels is extremely complicated. Furthermore, deltas between different rim designs can be very small, normally in the range of only a few drag counts. Therefore, highly accurate numerical methods are needed to predict rim rankings and deltas. This paper presents experimental results of four different production rim designs, mounted to a modified production car. An accurate representation of the loaded, deformed tire geometry is used in all calculations for comparable conditions between wind tunnel and CFD.

A model-based control approach is proposed to give proper reference for the feed-forward combustion control of Partially Pre-mixed Combustion (PPC) engines. The current study presents a simplified first principal model, which has been developed to provide a base estimation of the ignition properties. This model is used to describe the behavior of a single-cylinder heavy-duty diesel engine fueled with a mix of bio-butanol and n-heptane (80vol% bio-butanol and 20 vol% n-heptane). The model has been validated at 8 bar gross Indicated Mean Effective Pressure (gIMEP) in PPC mode. Inlet temperature and pressure have been varied to test the model capabilities. First the experiments were conducted to generate reference points with BH80 under PPC conditions. And then CFD simulations were conducted to give initial parameter set up, e.g. fuel distribution, zone dividing, for the multi-zone model.

Gasoline engine control strategies ensure a combustion control around stoichiometry. That is because the three-way catalytic converter allows CO and HC oxidation under lean operating conditions while ensuring NOx reduction for rich mixtures. In case of engine malfunction, the controller must adapt to compensate for potential torque loss and other critical attributes, potentially leading to significant deviation of the fuel-air mixture richness from stoichiometry and higher emission levels. Therefore, during development of the engine fault diagnostics, the impact on the pollutant emissions must be considered. In this paper, a model-based development process is proposed. It is based on system simulation modelling techniques, where a complete exhaust line is represented in order to predict tail-pipe emissions under stoichiometric, lean and rich conditions, for engine control design purposes. Two different modelling approaches are applied and evaluated in this paper.

With the advent of the electrification era, rolling noise is set to become a dominant source of noise for electric vehicles due to the phasing out of the internal combustion engine. The vibrations generated by tire-road interaction are transferred through the wheel center to the knuckle and subsequently through the vehicle cabin. With the advance of the simulation techniques, the description of tire operational phenomena has improved. However, some limitations are present. These include low computational efficiency in a full-vehicle simulation and absence of direct validation with the real tire in the same operational conditions. Siemens Digital Industries Software currently offers a lightweight combined test and model-based solution for tire NVH for the assessment of structure-borne noise. The aim of this paper is to demonstrate the potential of a pragmatic approach able to capture the static tire dynamic behavior up to 300 Hz.

Target setting at Body-In-White (BIW) level is typically done for natural frequencies of global modes. Target values are commonly set based on experience or from benchmark studies with competitor vehicles. A link between these targets at BIW level and the vibro-acoustic targets at Trimmed Body (TB) level is not yet well established. Therefore, it is not always guaranteed that the TB targets will be met when the targets at BIW level are reached. Also, the other way around, not reaching a frequency target for a certain BIW mode does not necessarily imply that TB targets will not be met. Hence, there is a clear need for getting more insights in the relation between BIW dynamic properties and TB vibration behavior. In this paper techniques will be presented that establish the link between BIW and TB dynamic behavior. In addition, a large DOE campaign has been carried out to further link these dynamic properties to specific areas in the body design.

The ever-increasing quest for sustainable mobility is pushing the automotive sector towards electric-based technologies, allowing the reduction of localized emission sources in highly populated urban areas. Among the many possible solutions, Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells (PEMFC) have the potential to de-carbonise the automotive sector without the range anxiety of present and future batteries. The interaction between physical and chemical processes in PEMFC is crucial to their maximum attainable efficiency, albeit the complexity of such interplay still limits a complete understanding of the governing processes. In this paper a canonical PEMFC from literature is simulated using 3D-CFD, and results are compared against experiments. A Eulerian multi-phase/multi-physics non-isothermal framework is used to account for both fluid (gas channels, porous gas diffusion layers) and solid (bi-polar plates, membrane), as well as for electrochemical and sorption reactions.

Water transport at high current densities is of main concern for polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cells. The water content of the membrane must be high enough to provide maximum electrical conductivity and thus optimal stack performance. Dry-out may also lead to membrane degradation. However, a too high level of humidity leads to cell flooding, blocking the air and fuel flows to the catalyst sites and thus the reactions, resulting in a drop-in efficiency. Fuel cells water transport physics requires further investigation due to its complexity [1,2] and numerical modelling can improve the fundamental understanding of the phenomena. In this work, a 3D comprehensive model for fuel cells is presented. The PEM fuel cell is modelled in Siemens Simcenter STAR-CCM+ [3]. Anode and cathode GDL are modelled as porous media, with electrochemical reactions calculated in an infinitely thin catalyst layer.

This paper focusses on the application of bioalcohols (ethanol and butanol) derived from seaweed in Heavy-Duty (HD) Compression Ignition (CI) combustion engines. Seaweed-based fuels do not claim land and are not in competition with the food chain. Currently, the application of high octane bioalcohols is limited to Spark Ignition (SI) engines. The Reactivity Controlled Compression Ignition (RCCI) combustion concept allows the use of these low carbon fuels in CI engines which have higher efficiencies associated with them than SI engines. This contributes to the reduction of tailpipe CO2 emissions as required by (future) legislation and reducing fuel consumption, i.e. Total-Cost-of-Ownership (TCO). Furthermore, it opens the HD transport market for these low carbon bioalcohol fuels from a novel sustainable biomass source. In this paper, both the production of seaweed-based fuels and the application of these fuels in CI engines is discussed.

Diesel spray mixture formation is investigated at target conditions using multiple diagnostics and laboratories. High-speed Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) is used to measure the velocity field inside and outside the jet simultaneously with a new frame straddling synchronization scheme. The PIV measurements are carried out in the Engine Combustion Network Spray A target conditions, enabling direct comparisons with mixture fraction measurements previously performed in the same conditions, and forming a unique database at diesel conditions. A 1D spray model, based upon mass and momentum exchange between axial control volumes and near-Gaussian velocity and mixture fraction profiles is evaluated against the data.

Butanol is an attractive alternative fuel by virtue of its renewable source and low sooting tendency. In this paper, three butanol isomers (n-butanol, isobutanol, and tert-butanol) were induced via port injection respectively and n-heptane was directly injected into the cylinder to investigate reactivity controlled compression ignition in a heavy-duty diesel engine. This work evaluates the potential of applying butanol as low reactivity fuel and the effects of reactivity gradient on combustion and emission characteristics. The experiments were performed from low load to medium-high load. Due to the different reactivities among the butanol isomers, the exhaust gas recirculation rate and the direct injection strategy were varied for a specific butanol isomer and testing load. Particularly, isobutanol/n-heptane can be operated with single direct injection and no exhaust gas recirculation up to medium load due to the high octane rating.

Multiple injection strategies are commonly used in conventional Diesel engines due to the flexibility for optimizing heat-release timing with a consequent improvement in fuel economy and engine-out emissions. This is also desirable in low-temperature combustion (LTC) engines since it offers the potential to reduce unburned hydrocarbon and CO emissions. To better utilize these benefits and find optimal calibrations of split injection strategies, it is imperative that the fundamental processes of multiple injection combustion are understood and computational fluid dynamics models accurately describe the flow dynamics and combustion characteristics between different injection events. To this end, this work is dedicated to the identification of suitable methodologies to predict the multiple injection combustion process.

Rubber is a non-linear viscoelastic material which properties depend upon several factors. In a tire two of these factors, namely the temperature and excitation frequency, are significantly influenced by the vehicle operating conditions. In the past years, applied research studied how rubber viscoelastic characteristics affect structural and frictional tire properties. The present study focuses on how these effects interact with the vehicle handling response. Based on state of the art theory of friction, structural properties of rubber and on experimental evidence, the dependency of key tire parameters on temperature and rolling speed is established. These results are then used in combination with a single-track vehicle model to assess their impact on key vehicle parameters; as an example, the understeer coefficient, yaw resonance peak / damping and maximum acceleration are studied.

CO2 regulations on heavy-duty transport are introduced in essentially all markets within the next decade, in most cases in several phases of increasing stringency. To cope with these mandates, developers of engines and related equipment are aiming to break new ground in the fields of combustion, fuel and hardware technologies. In this work, a novel diesel fuel injector, Delphi’s DFI7, is utilized to experimentally investigate and compare the performance of ramped injection rates versus traditional square fueling profiles. The aim is specifically to shift the efficiency and NOx tradeoff to a more favorable position. The design of experiments methodology is used in the tests, along with statistical techniques to analyze the data. Results show that ramped and square rates - after optimization of fueling parameters - produce comparable gross indicated efficiencies.

N-butanol, as a biomass-based renewable fuel, has many superior fuel properties. It has a higher energy content and cetane number than its alcohol competitors, methanol and ethanol. Previous studies have proved that n-butanol has the capability to achieve lower emissions without sacrifice on thermal efficiency when blended with diesel. However, most studies on n-butanol are limited to low blending ratios, which restricts the improvement of emissions. In this paper, 80% by volume of n-butanol was blended with 20% by volume of n-heptane (namely BH80). The influences of various engine parameters (combustion phasing, EGR ratio, injection timing and intake pressure, respectively) on its combustion and emission characteristics are tested at different loads. The results showed that when BH80 uses more than 40% EGR, the emitted soot and nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions are below the EURO VI legislation.

The accepted model of conventional diesel combustion [1] assumes a rich premixed flame slightly downstream of the maximum liquid penetration. The soot generated by this rich premixed flame is burnt out by a subsequent diffusion flame at the head of the jet. Even in situations in which the centre of combustion (CA50) is phased optimally to maximize efficiency, slow late stage combustion can still have a significant detrimental impact on thermal efficiency. Data is presented on potential late-stage combustion improvers in a EURO VI compliant HD engine at a range of speed and load points. The operating conditions (e.g. injection timings, EGR levels) were based on a EURO VI calibration which targets 3 g/kWh of engine-out NOx. Rates of heat release were determined from the pressure sensor data. To investigate late stage combustion, focus was made on the position in the cycle at which 90% of the fuel had combusted (CA90). An EN590 compliant fuel was tested.