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This article analyzes the aerodynamic performance of Class 8 tractor-trailer geometries made available by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) using CFD simulation. Large Eddy Simulations (LES) were carried out with the CFD package, Simerics-MP+. A Sleeper tractor and a 53-foot box trailer configuration was considered. The configuration featured a detailed underbody, an open-grille under-hood engine compartment, mirrors, and the radiator and condenser. Multiple tractor-trailer variants were studied by adding aerodynamic surfaces to the baseline geometries. These include tank fairings and side extenders for the cabins, two types of trailer skirts, and a trailer tail. The effect of these devices towards reducing the overall vehicle drag was investigated. Mesh generation was carried out directly on the given geometry, without any surface modifications, using Simerics’ Binary-Tree unstructured mesher.

Internal combustion engines will continue to be the leading power-train in the heavy-duty, on-highway sector as technologies like hydrogen, fuel cells, and electrification face challenges. Natural gas (NG) engines offer several advantages over diesel engines including near zero particle matter (PM) emissions, lower NOx emissions, lower capital and operating costs, availability of vast domestic NG resources, and lower CO2 emissions being the cleanest burning of all hydrocarbons (HC). The main limitation of this type of engine is the lower efficiency compared to diesel counterparts. Addressing the limitations (knock and misfire) for achieving diesel-like efficiencies is key to accomplishing widespread adoption, especially for the US market. With the aim to achieve high brake thermal efficiency (BTE), three (3) computational fluid dynamics (CFD) optimized pistons with three different compression ratios (CR) have been tested.

The lack of inherent security controls makes traditional Controller Area Network (CAN) buses vulnerable to Machine-In-The-Middle (MitM) cybersecurity attacks. Conventional vehicular MitM attacks involve tampering with the hardware to directly manipulate CAN bus traffic. We show, however, that MitM attacks can be realized without direct tampering of any CAN hardware. Our demonstration leverages how diagnostic applications based on RP1210 are vulnerable to Machine-In-The-Middle attacks. Test results show SAE J1939 communications, including single frame and multi-framed broadcast and on-request messages, are susceptible to data manipulation attacks where a shim DLL is used as a Machine-In-The-Middle. The demonstration shows these attacks can manipulate data that may mislead vehicle operators into taking the wrong actions.

Safety, fuel economy and uptime are key requirements for the operation of heavy-duty line-haul trucks within a fleet. With the penetration of connectivity and automation technologies, energy optimal and safe operation of the trucks are further improved through Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS) features and automated technologies as in truck platooning. Understanding the braking capability of the vehicle is very important for optimal ADAS and platooning control system design and integration. In this paper, the importance of tire connectivity and tire conditions on truck stopping distance are demonstrated through testing. The test data is further utilized to develop tire models for integration in an optimal vehicle automation for platooning. New ways to produce and use the tire related information in real-time optimal control of platooning trucks are proposed and the contribution of tire information in fuel economy is quantified through simulations.

Evaluation of the platooning legislative space suggests a limited near-term opportunity for autonomous vehicles as currently only nine states have platooning and autonomous favorable legislations. An extensive closed-loop vehicle model simulation was conducted to quantify two-truck platooning fuel economy entitlement benefits across all United States (US) interstate routes (I-xx) spanning over 40,000 miles as compared to a single truck. A simultaneous study was carried out to identify the density of Class 8 heavy-duty trucks on these interstates, using the Freight Analysis Framework (FAF) 4 database. These two studies were combined to ascertain interstates that foresee the least fuel consumption due to platooning and thus identifying states with the most platooning benefits. Identification of states with most platooning benefits provides realistic data to push for autonomous driving and platooning legislations.

Range-extended hybrids are an attractive option for medium- and heavy-duty commercial vehicle fleets because they offer the efficiency of an electrified powertrain with the driving range of a conventional diesel powertrain. The vehicle essentially operates as if it was purely electric for most trips, while ensuring that all commercial routes can be completed in any weather conditions or geographic terrain. Fuel use and point-source emissions can be significantly reduced, and in some cases eliminated, as many shorter routes can be fully electrified with this architecture. Under a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)-funded project for Medium- and Heavy-Duty Vehicle Powertrain Electrification, Cummins has developed a plug-in hybrid electric Class 6 truck with a range-extending engine designed for pickup and delivery application.

Traditionally, most charge air coolers (CACs) have been constructed using the Nocolok aluminum brazing process. The Nocolok process uses flux, some of which remains after the manufacturing process, and migrates through the intake tract to the engine during normal use. This migration and deposition on engine components can cause a variety of issues with engine operation. Currently the only alternative to Nocolok brazed CACs for engines sensitive to flux migration is vacuum brazing, which comes at a significant price increase. In the effort to reduce cost and increase efficiency, there is interest in whether a Nocolok brazed CAC with a reduced amount of flux residue can be successfully applied to flux-sensitive engines.

Fuel usage negatively impacts the environment and is a significant portion of operational costs of moving freight globally. Reducing fuel consumption is key to lessening environmental impacts and maximizing freight efficiency, thereby increasing the profit margin of logistic operators. In this paper, fuel economy improvements of a cab-over style 49T heavy duty Foton truck powered by a Cummins 12-liter engine are studied and systematically applied for the China market. Most fuel efficiency improvements are found within the vehicle design when compared to opportunities available at the engine level. Vehicle design (improved aerodynamics), component selection/matching (low rolling resistance tires), and powertrain electronic features integration (shift schedule/electronic trim) offer the largest opportunities for lowering fuel consumption.

Cummins has recently launched next-generation aftertreatment technology, the Single ModuleTM aftertreatment system, for medium-duty and heavy-duty engines used in on-highway and off-highway applications. Besides meeting EPA 2010+ and Euro VI regulations, the Single ModuleTM aftertreatment system offers 60% volume and 40% weight reductions compared to current aftertreatment systems. In this work, we present model-based approaches that were systematically adopted in the design and development of the Cummins Single ModuleTM aftertreatment system. Particularly, a variety of analytical and experimental component-level and system-level validation tools have been used to optimize DOC, DPF, SCR/ASC, as well as the DEF decomposition device.

When developing and designing new technology for integrated vehicle systems deployment, standard cycles have long existed for chassis dynamometer testing and tuning of the powertrain. However, to this day with recent developments and advancements in plug-in hybrid and battery electric vehicle technology, no true “work day” cycles exist with which to tune and measure energy storage control and thermal management systems. To address these issues and in support of development of a range-extended pickup and delivery Class 6 commercial vehicle, researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in collaboration with Cummins analyzed 78,000 days of operational data captured from more than 260 vehicles operating across the United States to characterize the typical daily performance requirements associated with Class 6 commercial pickup and delivery operation.

Actuators are the key to allowing machines to become more sophisticated and perform complex tasks that were previously done by humans, providing motion in a safe, controlled manner. As defined in this book, actuator design is a subset of mechanical design. It involves engineering the mechanical components necessary to make a product move as desired. Fundamentals of Engineering High-Performance Actuator Systems, by Ken Hummel, was written as a text to supplement actuator design courses, and a reference to engineers involved in the design of high-performance actuator systems. It highlights the design approach and features what should be considered when moving a payload at precision levels and/or speeds that are not as important in low-performance applications.

For renewable fuels to displace petroleum, they must be compatible with emissions control devices. Pure biodiesel contains up to 5 ppm Na + K and 5 ppm Ca + Mg metals, which have the potential to degrade diesel emissions control systems. This study aims to address these concerns, identify deactivation mechanisms, and determine if a lower limit is needed. Accelerated aging of a production exhaust system was conducted on an engine test stand over 1001 h using 20% biodiesel blended into ultra-low sulfur diesel (B20) doped with 14 ppm Na. This Na level is equivalent to exposure to Na at the uppermost expected B100 value in a B20 blend for the system full-useful life. During the study, NOx emissions exceeded the engine certification limit of 0.33 g/bhp-hr before the 435,000-mile requirement.

Piston cooling nozzles/jets play several crucial roles in the power cylinder of an internal combustion engine. Primarily, they help with the thermal management of the piston and provide lubrication to the cylinder liner and the piston’s wrist pin. In order to evaluate the oil jet characteristics from various piston cooling nozzle (PCN) designs, a quantitative and objective process was developed. The PCN characterization began with a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) turbulent model to analyze the mean oil velocity and flow distribution at the nozzle exit/tip. Subsequently, the PCN was tested on a rig for a given oil temperature and pressure. A high-speed camera captured images at 2500 frames per second to observe the evolution of the oil stream as a function of distance from the nozzle exit. An algorithm comprised of standard digital image processing techniques was created to calculate the oil jet width and density.

Wheel loader subsystems are multi-domain in nature, including controls, mechanisms, hydraulics, and thermal. This paper describes the process of developing a multi-domain simulation of a wheel loader. Working hydraulics, kinematics of the working tool, driveline, engine, and cooling system are modeled in LMS Imagine.Lab Amesim. Contacts between boom/bucket and bucket/ground are defined to constrain the movement of the bucket and boom. The wheel loader has four heat exchangers: charge air cooler, radiator, transmission oil cooler, and hydraulic oil cooler. Heat rejection from engine, energy losses from driveline, and hydraulic subsystem are inputs to the heat exchangers. 3D CFD modeling was done to calibrate airflows through heat exchangers in LMS Amesim. CFD modeling was done in ANSYS FLUENT® using a standard k - ε model with detailed fan and underhood geometry.

Various 1D simulation tools (KULI & LMS Amesim) and 3D simulation tools (ANSYS FLUENT®) can be used to size and evaluate truck cooling system design. In this paper, ANSYS FLUENT is used to analyze and validate the design of medium duty truck cooling systems. LMS Amesim is used to verify the quality of heat exchanger input data. This paper discusses design and simulation of parent and derivative trucks. As a first step, the parent truck was modeled in FLUENT (using standard' k - ε model) with detailed fan and underhood geometry. The fan is modeled using Multiple Reference Frame (MRF) method. Detailed geometry of heat exchangers is skipped. The heat exchangers are represented by regular shape cell zones with porous medium and dual cell heat exchanger models to account for their contributions to the entire system in both flow and temperature distribution. Good agreement is observed between numerical and experimental engine out temperatures at different engine operating conditions.

Fan and fan-shroud design is critical for underhood air flow management. The objective of this work is to demonstrate a method to optimize fan-shroud shape in order to maximize cooling air mass flow rates through the heat exchangers using the Adjoint Solver in STAR-CCM+®. Such techniques using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) analysis enable the automotive/transport industry to reduce the number of costly experiments that they perform. This work presents the use of CFD as a simulation tool to investigate and assess the various factors that can affect the vehicle thermal performance. In heavy-duty trucks, the cooling package includes heat exchangers, fan-shroud, and fan. In this work, the STAR-CCM+® solver was selected and a java macro built to run the primal flow and the Adjoint solutions sequentially in an automated fashion.

Simulations used to estimate carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and fuel consumption of medium- and heavy-duty vehicles over prescribed drive cycles often employ engine fuel maps consisting of engine measurements at numerous steady-state operating conditions. However, simulating the engine in this way has limitations as engine controls become more complex, particularly when attempting to use steady-state measurements to represent transient operation. This paper explores an alternative approach to vehicle simulation that uses a “cycle average” engine map rather than a steady state engine fuel map. The map contains engine CO2 values measured on an engine dynamometer on cycles derived from vehicle drive cycles for a range of generic vehicles. A similar cycle average mapping approach is developed for a powertrain (engine and transmission) in order to show the specific CO2 improvements due to powertrain optimization that would not be recognized in other approaches.

This paper investigates the aerodynamic influence of multiple on-highway trucks in different platooning configurations. Complex pressure fields are generated on the highways due to interference of multiple vehicles. This pressure field causes an aerodynamic drag to be different than the aerodynamic drag of a vehicle in a no-traffic condition. In order to study the effect of platooning, three-dimensional modeling and numerical simulations were performed using STAR-CCM+® commercial Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) tool. The aerodynamic characteristics of vehicles were analyzed in five different platooning configurations with two and three vehicles in single and multiple lanes. A significant Yaw Averaged Aerodynamic Drag (YAD) reduction was observed in both leading and trailing vehicles. YAD was based on the average result of three different yaw angles at 0°, −6° and 6°. In single-lane traffic, YAD reduction was up to 8% and 38% in leading and trailing vehicles, respectively.

With increasing energy prices and concerns about the environmental impact of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, a growing number of national governments are putting emphasis on improving the energy efficiency of the equipment employed throughout their transportation systems. Within the U.S. transportation sector, energy use in commercial vehicles has been increasing at a faster rate than that of automobiles. A 23% increase in fuel consumption for the U.S. heavy duty truck segment is expected from 2009 to 2020. The heavy duty vehicle oil consumption is projected to grow while light duty vehicle (LDV) fuel consumption will eventually experience a decrease. By 2050, the oil consumption rate by LDVs is anticipated to decrease below 2009 levels due to CAFE standards and biofuel use. In contrast, the heavy duty oil consumption rate is anticipated to double. The increasing trend in oil consumption for heavy trucks is linked to the vitality, security, and growth of the U.S. and global economies.

This paper presents an extension of our earlier work on Cummins Vehicle Mission Simulation (VMS) software. Previously, we presented VMS as a Windows based analysis tool to simulate vehicle missions quickly and to gauge, communicate, and improve the value proposition of Cummins engines to customers. Presenter Nagesh Belludi, Cummins Inc.