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Vehicle cybersecurity vulnerabilities could impact a vehicle's safe operation. Therefore, engineers should ensure that systems are designed free of unreasonable risks to motor vehicle safety, including those that may result due to existence of potential cybersecurity vulnerabilities. The automotive industry is making vehicle cybersecurity an organizational priority.

Opposed-piston two-stroke engines offer numerous advantages over conventional four-stroke engines, both in terms of fundamental principles and technical aspects. The reduced heat losses and large volume-to-surface area ratio inherently result in a high thermodynamic efficiency. Additionally, the mechanical design is simpler and requires fewer components compared to conventional four-stroke engines. When combining this engine concept with alternative fuels such as hydrogen and pre-chamber technology, a potential route for carbon-neutral powertrains is observed. To ensure safe engine operation using hydrogen as fuel, it is crucial to consider strict safety measures to prevent issues such as knock, pre-ignition, and backfiring. One potential solution to these challenges is the use of direct injection, which has the potential to improve engine efficiency and expand the range of load operation.

Nowadays, green hydrogen can play a crucial role in a successful clean energy transition, thus reaching net zero emissions in the transport sector. Moreover, hydrogen exploitation in internal combustion engines is favoured by its suitable combustion properties and quasi-zero harmful emissions. High flame speeds enable a lean combustion approach, which provides high efficiency and reduces NOx emissions. However, high air flow rates are required to achieve the load levels typical of heavy-duty applications. In this framework, the present study aims to investigate the required boosting system of a 6-cylinder, 13-liter heavy-duty spark ignition engine through 1D numerical simulation. A comparison among various architectures of the turbocharging system and the size of each component is presented, thus highlighting limitations and potentialities of each architecture and providing important insights for the selection of the best turbocharging system.

The hydrogen engine is one of the promising technologies that enables carbon-neutral mobility, especially in heavy-duty on- or off-road applications. In this paper, a methodological procedure for the design of the combustion system of a hydrogen-fueled, direct injection spark ignited commercial vehicle engine is described. In a preliminary step, the ability of the commercial 3D computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code AVL FIRE classic to reproduce the characteristics of the gas jet, introduced into a quiescent environment by a dedicated H2 injector, is established. This is based on two parts: Temporal and numerical discretization sensitivity analyses ensure that the spatial and temporal resolution of the simulations is adequate, and comparisons to a comprehensive set of experiments demonstrate the accuracy of the simulations. The measurements used for this purpose rely on the well-known schlieren technique and use helium as a safe substitute for H2.

For the purpose of achieving carbon-neutrality in the mobility sector by 2050, hydrogen can play a crucial role as an alternative energy carrier, not only for direct usage in fuel cell-powered vehicles, but also for fueling internal combustion engines. This paper focuses on the numerical investigation of high-pressure hydrogen injection and the mixture formation inside a high-tumble engine with a conventional liquid fuel injector for passenger cars. Since the traditional 3D-CFD approach of simulating the inner flow of an injector requires a very high spatial and temporal resolution, the enormous computational effort, especially for full engine simulations, is a big challenge for an effective virtual development of modern engines. An alternative and more pragmatic lagrangian 3D-CFD approach offers opportunities for a significant reduction in computational effort without sacrificing reliability.

Society is moving towards climate neutrality where hydrogen fuelled combustion engines (H2 ICE) could be considered a main technology. These engines run on hydrogen (H2) so carbon-based emission are only present at a very low level from the lube oil. The most important pollutants NO and NO2 are caused by the exhaust aftertreatment system as well as CO2 coming from the ambient air. For standard measurement technologies these low levels of CO2 are hard to detect due to the high water content. Normal levels of CO2 are between 400-500 ppm which is very close or even below the detection limit of commonly used non-dispersive-infrared-detectors (NDIR). As well the high water content is very challenging for NOx measuring devices, like chemiluminescence detectors (CLD), where it results in higher noise and therefore a worse detection limit. Even for Fourier-transformed-infrared-spectroscopy-analysers (FT-IR) it is challenging to deal with water content over 15% without increased noise.

Commercial vehicle powertrain is called to respect a challenging roadmap for CO2 emissions reduction, quite complex to achieve just improving technologies currently on the market. In this perspective alternative solutions are gaining interest, and the use of green H2 as fuel for ICE is considered a high potential solution with fast and easy adoption. NOx emission is still a problem for H2 ICE and can be managed operating the engine with lean air fuel ratio all over the engine map. This combustion strategy will challenge the boosting system as lean H2 combustion will require quite higher air flow compared to diesel for the same power density in steady state. Similar problem will show up in transient response particularly when acceleration starts from low load and the exhaust gases enthalpy is very poor and insufficient to spin the turbine. The analysis presented in this paper will show and quantify the positive impact that a supercharger has on both the above mentions problems.

The automotive industry is continuously evolving, demanding innovative approaches to enhance testing methodologies and preventive identify potential issues. This paper proposes an advancement test approach in the area of the overall vehicle system included steering system and power train on a “Road to Rig” test bench. The research aims to revolutionize the conventional testing process by identifying faults at an early stage and eliminating the need to rely solely on field tests. The motivation behind this research is to optimize the test bench setup and bring it even closer to real field tests. Key highlights of the publication include the introduction of an expanded load spectrum, incorporating both steering angle and speed parameters along the test track. The load includes different route and driving profiles like on a freeway, overland and city drive in combination with the steering angles.

Ducted Fuel Injection (DFI) engines have emerged as a promising technology in the pursuit of a clean and efficient combustion process. This article aims at elucidating the effect of piston geometry on the engine performance and emissions of a metal DFI engine. Three different types of pistons were investigated and the main piston design features including the piston bowl diameter, piston bowl slope angle, duct angle and the injection nozzle position were examined. To achieve the target, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations were conducted coupled to a reduced chemical kinetics mechanism. Extensive validations were performed against the measured data from a conventional diesel engine. To calibrate the soot model, genetic algorithm and machine learning methods were utilized. The simulation results highlight the pivotal role played by piston bowl diameter and fuel injection angle in controlling soot emissions of a DFI engine.

Heavy duty truck engines are quite difficult to electrify, due to the large amount of energy required on-board, in order to achieve a range comparable to that of diesels. This paper considers a commercial 6-cylinder engine with a displacement of 12.8 L, developed in two different versions. As a standard diesel, the engine is able to deliver more than 420 kW at 1800 rpm, whereas in the CNG configuration the maximum power output is 330 kW at 1800 rpm. Maintaining the same combustion chamber design of the last version, a theoretical study is carried out in order to run the engine on Hydrogen, compressed at 700 bar. The study is based on GT-Power simulations, adopting a predictive combustion model, calibrated with experimental results. The study shows that the implementation of a combustion system running on lean mixtures of Hydrogen, permits to cancel the emissions of CO2, while maintaining the same power output of the CNG engine.

The issue of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the transportation sector is widely acknowledged. Recent years have witnessed a push towards the electrification of cars, with many considering it the optimal solution to address this problem. However, the substantial battery packs utilized in electric vehicles contribute to a considerable embedded ecological footprint. Research has highlighted that, depending on the vehicle's size, tens or even hundreds of thousands of kilometers are required to offset this environmental burden. Human-powered vehicles (HPVs), thanks to their smaller size, are inherently much cleaner means of transportation, yet their limited speed impedes widespread adoption for mid-range and long-range trips, favoring cars, especially in rural areas. This paper addresses the challenge of HPV speed, limited by their low input power and non-optimal distribution of the resistive forces.

Reducing CO2 emissions in on-the-road transport is important to limit global warming and follow a green transition towards net zero Carbon by 2050. In a long-term scenario, electrification will be the future of transportation. However, in the mid-term, the priority should be given more strongly to other technological alternatives (e.g., decarbonization of the electrical energy and battery recharging time). In the short- to mid-term, the technological and environmental reinforcement of ICEs could participate in the effort of decarbonization, also matching the need to reduce harmful pollutant emissions, mainly during traveling in urban areas. Engine thermal management represents a viable solution considering its potential benefits and limited implementation costs compared to other technologies. A variable flow coolant pump actuated independently from the crankshaft represents the critical component of a thermal management system.

Fossil fuels such as natural gas used in engines still play the most important role worldwide despite such measures as the German energy transition which however is also exacerbating climate change as a result of carbon dioxide emissions. One way of reducing carbon dioxide emissions is the choice of energy sources and with it a more favourable chemical composition. Natural gas, for instance, which consist mainly of methane, has the highest hydrogen to carbon ratio of all hydrocarbons, which means that carbon dioxide emissions can be reduced by up to 35% when replacing diesel with natural gas. Although natural gas engines show an overall low CO2 and pollutant emissions level, methane slip due to incomplete combustion occurs, causing methane emissions with a more than 20 higher global warming potential than CO2.

This study explores the feasibility of using a sustainable lignin-based fuel, consisting of 44 % lignin, 50 % ethanol, and 6 % water, in conventional compression ignition (CI) marine engines. Through experimental evaluations on a modified small-bore CI engine, we identified the primary challenges associated with lignin-based fuel, including engine startup and shutdown issues due to solvent evaporation and lignin solidification inside the fuel system, and deposit formation on cylinder walls leading to piston ring seizure. To address these issues, we developed a fuel switching system transitioning from lignin-based fuel to cleaning fuel with 85 vol% of acetone, 10 vol% of water and 5 vol% of ignition improving additive, effectively preventing system clogs.

Although structural intensity was introduced in the 80's, this concept never found practical applications, neither for numerical nor experimental approaches. Quickly, it has been pointed out that only the irrotational component of the intensity offers an easy interpretation of the dynamic behavior of structures by visualizing the vibration energy flow. This is especially valuable at mid and high frequency where the structure response understanding can be challenging. A new methodolodgy is proposed in order to extract this irrotational intensity field from the Finite Element Model of assembled structures such as Bodies In White. This methodology is hybrid in the sense that it employs two distinct solvers: a dynamic solver to compute the structural dynamic response and a thermal solver to address a diffusion equation analogous to the thermal conduction built from the previous dynamic response.

This research aims to develop an inverse control method capable of adaptively simulating dynamic models of car subsystems in the rig-test condition. Accurate simulation of the actual vibration conditions is one of the most crucial factors in realizing reliable rig-test platforms. However, most typical rig tests are conducted under simple random or harmonic sweep conditions. Moreover, the conventional test methods are hard to directly adapt to the actual vibration conditions when switching the dynamic characteristics of the subsystem in the rig test. In the present work, we developed an inverse controller to adaptively control the vibration exciter referring to the target vibration signal. An adaptive LMS filter, employed for the control algorithm, updated the filter weights in real time by referring to the target and the measured acceleration signals.

Let’s start with the uncomfortable truth, climate change is happening, and the automotive industrial network is one of the main industries contributing to greenhouse gas emissions. SKF is an energy intensive business – directly using energy, mainly in the form of electricity and gas, in its operations around the world. In addition, SKF utilizes materials, predominantly steel, and services which can be energy and carbon intensive – such as transports and raw material in production and processing. The combined impact of these direct and indirect energy uses (scope 1, 2 and 3 upstream) generates an excess of over two million metric tons of CO2e per year. This figure would however be significantly higher were it not for the actions SKF has taken to reduce both energy and carbon intensity. In 2000, we were one of the first companies to actually start to report and set climate targets.

The reduction of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions and ever stricter regulations on pollutant emissions in the transport sector require research and development of new, climate-friendly propulsion concepts. The use of renewable hydrogen as a fuel for internal combustion engines promises to provide a good solution especially for commercial vehicles. For optimum efficiency of the combustion process, hydrogen-specific engine components are required, which need to be tested on the test bench and analysed in simulation studies. This paper deals with the simulation-based investigation and optimisation of fuel injection in a 6-cylinder PFI commercial vehicle engine, which has been modified for hydrogen operation starting from a natural gas engine concept.

For electric vehicles, road noise, together with wind noise, is the most important contributor for vehicle interior noise. Road noise is very dependent on the NVH behavior of axle system including wheels and tires. Axle system is part of vehicle platform which should be compatible with different body variants. Therefore, il is important to characterize the NVH performance of an axle system independently of car body structure, so that the design the axle can be optimized at the early stage according to the global requirements of all the related vehicles. The best way to characterize the NVH performance of an axle system is to measure the blocked forces on an appropriate test rig. However, the measurement of blocked forces from an axle system requires very stiff boundary conditions which is difficult to achieve in practice. For axles with rigid mountings, it is nearly impossible to measure the blocked forces on test rig.

Electrified vehicles are particularly quiet, especially at low speeds due to the absence of combustion noises. This is why there are laws worldwide for artificial driving sounds to warn pedestrians. These sounds are generated using a so-called Acoustic Vehicle Alerting System (AVAS) which must maintain certain minimum sound pressure levels in specific frequency ranges at low speeds. The creation of the sound currently involves an iterative and sometimes time-consuming process that combines composing the sound on a computer with measuring the levels with a car on an outside noise test track. This continues until both the legal requirements and the subjective demands of vehicle manufacturers are met. To optimize this process and reduce the measurement effort on the outside noise test track, the goal is to replace the measurement with a simulation for a significant portion of the development.