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For fracture cracks that occurred in the tight coupling exhaust manifold durability test of a four-cylinder gasoline engine with EGR channel, causes and solutions for fracture failure were found with the help of CFD and FEA numerical simulations. Wall temperature and heat transfer coefficient of the exhaust manifold inside wall were first accurately obtained through the thermal-fluid coupling analysis, then thermal modal and thermoplastic analysis were acquired by using the finite element method, on account of the bolt pretightening force and the contact relationship between flange face and cylinder head. Results showed that the first-order natural frequency did not meet the design requirements, which was the main reason of fatigue fracture. However, when the first-order natural frequency was rising, the delta equivalent plastic strain was increasing quickly as well.

In order to predict the thermal fatigue life of the internal combustion engine exhaust manifold effectively, it was necessary to accurately obtain the unsteady heat transfer process between hot streams and exhaust manifold all the time. This paper began with the establishment of unsteady coupled heat transfer model by using serial coupling method of CFD and FEA numerical simulations, then the bidirectional thermal coupling analysis between fluid and structure was realized, as a result, the difficulty that the transient thermal boundary conditions were applied to the solid boundary was solved. What's more, the specific coupling mode, the physical quantities delivery method on the coupling interface and the surface mesh match were studied. On this basis, the differences between strong coupling method and portioned treatment for solving steady thermal stress numerical analysis were compared, and a more convenient and rapid method for solving static thermal stress was found.

Recreational vehicles have a lot of potential consumers in China, especially the type C recreational vehicle is popular among consumers due to its advantages, prompting an increase in the production and sales volumes. The type C vehicle usually has a higher air drag than the common commercial vehicles due to its unique appearance. It can be reduced by optimizing the structural parameters, thus the energy consumed by the vehicle can be decreased. The external flow field of a recreational vehicle is analyzed by establishing its computational fluid dynamic (CFD) model. The characteristic of the RV’s external flow field is identified based on the simulation result. The approximation models of the vehicle roof parameters and air drag and vehicle volume are established by the response surface method (RSM). The vehicle roof parameters are optimized by multi-objective particle swarm optimization (MO-PSO).

A computational fluid dynamics (CFD) guided design optimization was conducted for the piston bowl geometry for a heavy-duty diesel engine. The optimization goal was to minimize engine-out NOx emissions without sacrificing engine peak power and thermal efficiency. The CFD model was validated with experiments and the combustion system optimization was conducted under three selected operating conditions representing low speed, maximum torque, and rated power. A hundred piston bowl shapes were generated, of which 32 shapes with 3 spray angles for each shape were numerically analyzed and one optimized design of piston bowl geometry with spray angle was selected. On average, the optimized combustion system decreased nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions by 17% and soot emissions by 41% without compromising maximum engine power and fuel economy.

Generally, noise will occur during steering with the hydraulic power steering system (hereinafter HPS). The noise producing in the rotary valve takes up a big proportion of the total one. To study the noise in the control valve, 2-D meshes of the flow field between the sleeve and the rotor were set up and a general CFD code-Fluent was used to analyze the flow inside the valve. The areas where the noise may be occurred were shown and some suggestions to silence the noise were given.

Electromagnetic Valve Actuation (EVA) is considered to be a potential substitute of conventional valvetrains for automotive engines. However, valve quiet-seating (soft-landing) is difficult to be achieved. The EVA system and hence its’ mathematic model is nonlinear. Therefore, when linear control is used for EVA, firstly, the model has to be linearized at an equilibrium point through Taylor expansion. Consequently, the linearized model and control are valid only for a small range around the equilibrium point. This paper presents a control strategy for the whole transition of EVA, which combines exact linearization with Linear Quadratic Regulator (LQR). Firstly, the nonlinear EVA model is transformed to be linear in a new coordinate by using exact linearization, so the nonlinear model is not involved. Then the exact-linearized model is used for the EVA control with LQR.

An integrated simulation platform for turbocharged internal combustion engines has been developed. Multi-dimensional computational fluid dynamic (CFD) codes are integrated into the system to model the turbocharging circuit, gas circuit, in-cylinder circuit, coolant and oil circuits. As the turbocharger is a critical factor for the IC engine, a turbocharger through-flow model based on mass, momentum, and energy conservation equations has been developed and added in the integrated platform. Compared with the traditional MAP method, the through-flow model can solve the problems of transient matching and lack of numerous experimental maps during the pre-prototype engine design. Partial systems in the integrated platform, such as the in-cylinder flow and combustion circuit, can be modeled by 3-D CFD codes for the investigation of the detailed flow patterns.

Hydraulic retarder is one of main auxiliary braking devices of the vehicle. When the vehicle is braking, a great pressure from high-speed fluid is received by hydraulic retarder blades. It is difficult to predict rational hydraulic retarder strength, owing to the complexity of the internal flow of oil. An optimal calculation way of hydraulic retarder strength is proposed based on CFD and FEA, concluding a reasonable result. The 3-D model of hydraulic retarder is built in the general CAD software. The model of fluid passage is extracted, according to the condition when the whole flow passage is filled with oil, and imported to CFD software. The inner flow field of hydraulic retarder is analyzed and the hydraulic surface pressure distribution of the hydraulic retarder blade is obtained at the highest rotary speed of turbine wheel.

Hydraulic Engine Mount (HEM) is now widely used as a highly effective vibration isolator in automotive powertrain. A lumped parameter model is a traditional model for modeling the dynamic characteristics of HEM, in which the system parameters are usually obtained by experiments. In this paper, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) method and nonlinear Finite Element Analysis (FEA) are used to determine the system parameters. A Fluid Structure Interaction (FSI) FEA technique is used to estimate the parameters of volumetric compliances, equivalent piston area, inertia and resistance of the fluid in the inertia track and decoupler of a HEM. A nonlinear FEA method is applied to determine the dynamic stiffness of rubber spring of the HEM. The system parameters predicated by FEA are compared favorably with experimental data and/or analytical solutions.

A conceptual approach to help understand and simulate droplet induced pre-ignition is presented. The complex phenomenon of oil-fuel droplet induced pre-ignition has been decomposed to its elementary processes. This approach helps identify the key fluid properties and engine parameters that affect the pre-ignition phenomenon, and could be used to control LSPI. Based on the conceptual model, a 3D CFD engine simulation has been developed which is able to realistically model all of the elementary processes involved in droplet induced pre-ignition. The simulation was successfully able to predict droplet induced pre-ignition at conditions where the phenomenon has been experimentally observed. The simulation has been able to help explain the observation of pre-ignition advancement relative to injection timing as experimentally observed in a previous study [6].

In order to overcome hysteresis and dead zone problems caused by friction for the proportional solenoid valve, and improve rapidity and stability of the pneumatic system on hydraulic retarder, a closed-loop control strategy based on valve coil current was proposed. The high-frequency low-amplitude dither signal was introduced into the proportional solenoid valve. With the proper dither signal, the stick-slip motion of the valve core was transformed into a steady one, and its dynamic performance was improved. Consequently, response time of retarder was reduced during gear changing. The proportional valve coil current was measured as a feedback for a closed-loop control strategy. Combining with the closed-loop strategy, the PI control algorithm was adopted to make sure that valve current was in accordance with the target value. Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) signal was used for the driving of proportional solenoid valve.

As a key component of airstream system equipped in the road sweeper, the structure of the suction nozzle determines its internal flow field distribution, which affects the dust-sucking efficiency to a great degree. This research is aiming to determine a better suction nozzle structure. Starting with an analysis of the one used in a certain type of road sweeper, the initial model of the suction nozzle is established, and the internal flow field is simulated with typical computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software named FLUENT. Based on the simulation results, the dust-sucking capability of the initial structure is evaluated from the aspects of pressure and velocity distribution. Furthermore, in order to explore the influence of different structural parameters on the flow field distribution within the suction nozzle, models with different cavity heights and shoulder angles are established, and Univariate Method is utilized to analyze the contrast models.

In this work, large eddy simulation (LES) with a K-equation subgrid turbulent kinetic energy model is implemented into the CFD code KIVA3V to study the features of liquid fuel spray and combustion using gradually varying grid in a constant volume chamber. The characteristic time-scale combustion model (CTC) incorporating a turbulent timescale is adopted to predict the combustion process and the SHELL auto-ignition model is used to predict auto-ignition. Combustion is also simulated using Parallel Detailed Chemistry with Lu's n-heptane reduced mechanism (58 species), which has been added into the KIVA3V-LES code. The computational results are compared with Sandia experimental data for non-reacting and reacting cases. As a result, LES can capture the complex structure of the spray and temperature distribution as well as the trend of ignition delay and flame lift-off length variations. Better results are obtained using the Parallel Detailed Chemistry than the CTC model.

This paper addresses the brake pad particle emission during the braking process of a vehicle in motion. The frictional-constant contact between the disc brake and pads results in an increased temperature and wear of the pads. The emission of brake pad particles into the atmosphere leads to an increase in air pollution and hence becomes hazardous to the human body. In this paper, a wheel brake disc is installed in a ventilation system where the specific air flow is introduced in order to investigate the thermal performance and the emission of particles from the brake pads. A mathematical model using the fundamental parameters of the brake disc and ventilation system is established. The behavior of the heat transfer is studied using computational fluid dynamics (CFD). The particle emission rate from the pads is calculated under the assumption of uniform constant pressure distribution at the contact surface of the brake disc and pad.

At first, the dynamic electromagnetic characteristics of a pulsed solenoid valve is analyzed by experiments. The fast valve response is obtained by material modifications. Then, the intelligent solenoid driving method is discussed. The new techniques of the “active” PWM and the “d2i/dt2” detection are developed for feedback control of the solenoid holding current and the valve closure timing. Finally, the control and diagnosis method for the valve closure duration is investigated. A sensing mechanism utilizing momentary camshaft speed fluctuations of fuel injection pump is presented, which provides the basis for feedback control and diagnosis of the valve closure duration and diesel fuel injection process.

The development of high precision flow divider/combiner valves has received considerable attention by the authors over the past decade. Several different valve designs for division and combination of flow have been designed which display small flow dividing/combining error (1-2%) when compared to conventional designs (2-10%). Recent studies have improved upon the design in order to reduce cost, weight and complexity of the valve. This paper will present the latest of the authors research into the development of a high precision, autoregulated flow divider/combiner valve with an integral shuttle valve. The autoregulator extends the operating range of the integrated flow divider/combiner valve (for errors less than 2 %) to 10-50 lpm compared to 30-50 lpm for the unregulated valve.

A flow divider valve is a device which allows a single stream of fluid to be split into two paths according to a predetermined ratio and independent of variations or differences in the load pressures. A flow combiner valve combines two paths of fluid into one stream such that the ratio of the flow rates coming into the valve remains independent of any variation or difference between the inlet pressures. This paper describes the design, operation and performance of an integrated flow divider/combiner valve. This design maintains the small flow dividing/combining error of high precision valves (less than 1.5% at rated flow) but incorporates the shuttle valve into the main spool system. This new design reduces the weight of the valve by 20% reducing the cost by approximately 10%. The new structure simplifies the construction of high precision valves and reduces a source of flow dividing/combining error (leakage).

High speed on-off valves (HSVs) are widely used in advanced hydraulic braking actuators, including regenerative braking systems and active safety systems, which take crucial part in improving the energy efficiency and safety performance of vehicles. As a component involving multiple physical fields, the HSV is affected by the interaction of the fields-fluid, electromagnetic, and mechanical. Since the opening of the HSV is small and the flow speed is high, cavitation and vortex are inevitably brought out so that increase the valve’s noise and instability. However, it is costly and complex to observe the flow status by visual fluid experiments. Hence, in this article a visual multi-physics system simulation model of the HSV is explored, in which the flow field model of the HSV built by computational fluid dynamic (CFD) is co-simulated with the model of hydraulic actuator established by AMESim.

Diesel particulate filter (DPF) is indispensable for diesel engines to meet the increasingly stringent emission regulations. Both the peak temperature and the maximum temperature gradient of the DPF during active regeneration should be well controlled in order to enhance the reliability and durability of the filter. In this paper, the temperature field of the DPF during active regeneration with hydrocarbon (HC) injection was investigated with engine bench tests and numerical simulation. For the experimental study, 24 thermocouples were inserted into the DPF channels to measure the inner temperature of the filter to capture its temperature field, and the circumferential, axial and radial distribution of the filter temperature was analyzed to understand the DPF temperature field behavior during active regeneration.

Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), because of its low cost, high H/C ratio, and high octane number, has great potential in automotive industry, especially for heavy-duty commercial vehicles. However, relative slow flame speed of natural gas leads to long combustion duration and low thermal efficiency and tends to cause knock combustion at high load, which will aggravate engine thermal load and reliability. Enhancing turbulence intensity in combustion chamber is an effective way to accelerate flame propagation speed and improve combustion performance. In this study, the flow simulations of several piston bowls with different inner-convex forms were carried out using three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics (3D-CFD) software CONVERGE. The numerical results showed the piston bowls with inner-convex could disturb the charge swirl motion and enhance turbulence of different intensity. A hexagram geometry bowl was proved to have the best function in strengthening turbulence intensity.