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The ignition quality of a fuel is described by its cetane number. Experimental methods used to determine cetane number employ Co-operative fuel research (CFR) engine and Ignition quality tester (IQT) which are expensive, have less repeatability and require skilled operation, and hence least preferred. There are many prediction models reported, which involve number of double bonds and number of carbon atoms whose determination is not direct. Using models that relate biodiesel composition to its cetane number is limited by the range of esters involved. Hence, a model to predict cetane number of biodiesels that addresses the limitations of the existing models, without ignoring the influence of factors such as degree of unsaturation and number of carbon atoms, is needed. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) could be one such method.

Graphite plays a crucial role in friction materials, since it has good thermal conductivity, lubricity and act as a friction modifier. The right type, amount, shape, and size of the particles control the performance of the brake-pads. The theme of the study was investigating the influence of size of graphite particles (having all other specifications identical) on performance properties of brake-pads containing graphite particles in the average size of 60 μm, 120 μm, 200 μm and 400 μm. Physical, mechanical and chemical characterization of the developed brake-pads was done. The tribological performance was studied using a full- scale inertia brake dynamometer following a Japanese automobile testing standard (JASO C406). Tribo-performance in terms of fade resistance, friction stability and wear resistance were observed best for smaller graphite particles. It was concluded that smaller size serves best for achieving best performance properties barring compressibility.

The effect of variation in injection pressure and Injection timing on the performance and exhaust emission characteristics of a direct injection, naturally aspirated Diesel engine operating on Diesel and Diesel-Biodiesel Blends were studied. A three-way factorial design consisting of four levels of injection pressure (150,210, 265,320 bar), four levels of injection timing (19° btdc, 21.5° btdc, 26° btdc, and 30.5° btdc) and five different fuel types (D100, B10, B20, B40, and B60) were employed in this test. The experimental analysis shows that when operating with Linseed Oil Methyl Ester-Diesel blends, we could increase the injection pressure by about 25% over the normal value of 20MPa. The engine performance and exhaust emission characteristics of the engine operating on the ester fuels at advanced injection timing were better than when operating at increased injection pressure.

Fatigue design has to account for the scatter of component geometry, material behavior and loading. Scatter of the first two variables is mainly due to manufacturing and material sourcing. Loading on the other hand depends decisively on operating conditions and customer usage. Loading is certainly most difficult to determine. Tests on proving ground or even long-term real time measurements are used to obtain actual load time histories. Because of the costs of measurements and safety measure, real-time measurements are used exceptionally to gain changes in the usage profile. In this paper, an attempt has been made to find the difference in the extrapolated data to the actual data. A comparison has been made between the actual road distance of 2000 km to the extrapolated data of 100 km, 500 km and 1000 km to 2000 km. The front Axle channel is taken for the study.

Biodiesel developed from non- edible seeds grown in the wasteland in India can be very effectively utilized in the existing diesel engines used for various applications. This paper presents the results of investigations carried out in studying the fuel properties of mahua oil methyl ester (MOME) and its blend with diesel from 20% to 80% by volume. These properties were found to be comparable to diesel and confirming to both the American and Indian standards. The performance of mahua biodiesel (MOME) and its blend with diesel in a Kirloskar DAF8 engine has been observed. The addition of MOME to diesel fuel has significantly reduced CO, UBHC and smoke emissions but increases the NOx emission slightly. The reductions in exhaust emissions could help in controlling air pollution. The results show that no significant power reduction in the engine operation when operated with blends of MOME and diesel fuel.

In a significant number of automobile crashes involving pedestrians, the ligaments which control the stability of the knee, often get severely loaded. In lateral impact on knee during automotive crashes, varus-valgus motion results in failure of ligament by avulsion or by rupture in the middle region It is known that properties vary in different regions of the ligament. Experimental measurement of tensile load-elongation behavior of the middle region of bovine medial collateral ligament at strain rates of 10−4 /s to 160/s are reported here. The results show that the stress-strain behavior is linear under quasi-static loading whereas it is nonlinear and strain rate sensitive in dynamic loading conditions.

An analysis of the rollover propensity of a make of a TSR used extensively in S.E. Asia roads is presented using a 6-degree of freedom simulation. Verification of the model was against measured accelerations measured over speed breakers. Rollover stability was analyzed through simulating Increasing Steer, NHTSA J Turn, and Road Edge Recovery maneuvers.

As alternate fuels, ethyl and methyl alcohols stand out because of the feasibility of producing them in bulk from plentifully available raw materials. In the present work, methanol is used as the only fuel, in a Low Heat Rejection(LHR) engine by adapting three different methods. In the first method, methanol as the sole fuel was used in the LHR engine with a ceramic glowplug and in the second spark plug assistance was used to initiate combustion of the injected methanol. In the third method, methanol was used as the sole fuel in a LHR engine by a new method in which part of the methanol fuel was inducted through a heated inlet manifold using a carburetor and another part of methanol (with 1% castor oil for lubrication) was injected through the normal injector. With inducted methanol air charge temperature at 70 C and above the engine operated smoothly.

Fuel atomization and air-fuel mixing processes play a dominant role on engine performance and emission characteristics in a direct injection compression ignition engine. Understanding of microscopic spray characteristics is essential to predict combustion phenomena. The present work investigated near nozzle flow and atomization characteristics of biodiesel fuels in a constant volume chamber. Waste cooking oil, Jatropha, and Karanja biodiesels were applied and the results were compared with those of conventional diesel fuel. The tested fuels were injected by a solenoid injector with a common-rail injection system. A high-speed camera with a long distance microscopic lens was utilized to capture the near nozzle flow. Meanwhile, Sauter mean diameter (SMD) was measured by a phase Doppler particle analyzer to compare atomization characteristics.

Biodiesel is a renewable, carbon neutral alternative fuel to diesel for compression ignition engine applications. Biodiesel could be produced from a large variety of feedstocks including vegetable oils, animal fats, algae, etc. and thus, vary significantly in their composition, fuel properties and thereby, engine characteristics. In the present work, the effects of biodiesel compositional variations on engine characteristics are captured using a multi-linear regression model incorporated with two new biodiesel composition based parameters, viz. straight chain saturation factor (SCSF) and modified degree of unsaturation (DUm). For this purpose, biodiesel produced from seven vegetable oils having significantly different compositions are tested in a single cylinder diesel engine at varying loads and injection timings. The regression model is formulated using 35 measured data points and is validated with 15 other data points which are not used for formulation.

In commercial vehicles, exhaust system is normally mounted on frame side members (FSM) using hanger brackets. These exhaust system hanger brackets are tested either as part of full vehicle durability testing or as a subsystem in a rig testing. During initial phases of product development cycle, the hanger brackets are validated for their durability in rig level testing using time domain signals acquired from mule vehicle. These signals are then used in uni-axial, bi-axial or tri-axial rig facilities based on their severity and the availability of test rigs. This paper depicts the simulation method employed to replicate the bi-directional rig testing through modal transient analysis. Finite Element Method (FEM) is applied for numerical analysis of exhaust system assembly using MSC/Nastran software with the inclusion of rubber isolator modeling, meshing guidelines etc. Finite Element Analysis (FEA) results are in good agreement with rig level test results.

In this study, 3D air-flow-field evolution in a single cylinder optical research engine was determined using tomographic particle imaging velocimetry (TPIV) at different engine speeds. Two directional projections of captured flow-field were pre-processed to reconstruct the 3D flow-field by using the MART (multiplicative algebraic reconstruction technique) algorithm. Ensemble average flow pattern was used to investigate the air-flow behavior inside the combustion chamber during the intake and compression strokes of an engine cycle. In-cylinder air-flow characteristics were significantly affected by the engine speed. Experimental results showed that high velocities generated during the first half of the intake stroke dissipated in later stages of the intake stroke. In-cylinder flow visualization indicated that large part of flow energy dissipated during the intake stroke and energy dissipation was the maximum near the end of the intake stroke.

Yaw rate of a vehicle is highly influenced by the lateral forces generated at the tire contact patch to attain the desired lateral acceleration, and/or by external disturbances resulting from factors such as crosswinds, flat tire or, split-μ braking. The presence of the latter and the insufficiency of the former may lead to undesired yaw motion of a vehicle. This paper proposes a steer-by-wire system based on fuzzy logic as yaw-stability controller for a four-wheeled road vehicle with active front steering. The dynamics governing the yaw behavior of the vehicle has been modeled in MATLAB/Simulink. The fuzzy controller receives the yaw rate error of the vehicle and the steering signal given by the driver as inputs and generates an additional steering angle as output which provides the corrective yaw moment.

As alternate fuels, ethyl and methyl alcohols stand out because of the feasibility of producing them in bulk from plentifully available raw materials. In the present work, ethanol is used as the only fuel, in the standard and Low Heat Rejection(LHR) diesel engines by adopting three different methods. In the first method, ethanol as the sole fuel was used in the LHR engine with normal metal glowplug and in the second method spark plug assistance was used to initiate combustion. In the third method, ethanol was used as the sole fuel in a LHR engine and a ceramic glow plug was used to initiate combustion. The engine was tested for performance and emissions for the above three methods of 100% ethanol operation in both the standard and LHR diesel engine and the results are compared. The spark plug assisted ethanol operation in the LHR engine gave the highest brake thermal efficiency and the lowest emissions.

Use of methanol and ethanol in conventional diesel engines is associated with problems on account of the high self ignition temperature of these fuels. The Hot Surface Ignition (HSI) method wherein a part of the injected fuel is made to touch an electrically heated hot surface for ignition, is an effective way of utilizing these fuels in conventional diesel engines. In the present work two types of HSI engines, one using a large ceramic base and the other using a conventional glowplug were developed. These engines were tested with methanol, M.spirit (about 90 % methanol and 10 % ethanol) and diesel. The results of performance, fuel economy emissions and combustion parameters including heat release rates for these fuels with both the types of HSI engines are presented. Diesel engines are commonly used as primemovers in the mass transportation and agricultural sectors because of their high brake thermal efficiency and reliability.

The performance of a conventional, carbureted, two-stroke spark-ignition (SI) engine can be improved by providing moderate thermal insulation in the combustion chamber. This will help to improve the vaporization characteristics in particular at part load and medium loads with gasoline fuel and high-latent-heat fuels such as methanol. In the present investigation, the combustion chamber surface was coated with a 0.5-mm thickness of partially stabilized zirconia, and experiments were carried out in a single-cylinder, two-stroke SI engine with gasoline and methanol as fuels. Test results indicate that with gasoline as a fuel, the thin ceramic-coated combustion chamber improves the part load to medium load operation considerably, but it affects the performance at higher speeds and at higher loads to the extent of knock and loss of brake power by about 18%. However, with methanol as a fuel, the performance is better under most of the operating range and free from knock.

The use of alcohol-gasoline blends enables the favorable features of alcohols to be utilized in spark ignition (SI) engines while avoiding the shortcomings of their application as straight fuels. Eucalyptus and orange oils possess high octane values and are also good potential alternative fuels for SI engines. The high octane value of these fuels can enhance the octane value of the fuel when it is blended with low-octane gasoline. In the present work, 20 percent by volume of orange oil, eucalyptus oil, methanol and ethanol were blended separately with gasoline, and the performance, combustion and exhaust emission characteristics were evaluated at two different compression ratios. The phase separation problems arising from the alcohol-gasoline blends were minimized by adding eucalyptus oil as a co-solvent. Test results indicate that the compression ratio can be raised from 7.4 to 9 without any detrimental effect, due to the higher octane rating of the fuel blends.

This work demonstrates how the performance of a standard spark-assisted alcohol engine can be improved by using the Low Heat Rejection (LHR ) concept. The improved combustion is attained by better using the greater heat energy in the combustion chamber of a LHR engine - in this case for the faster vaporisation and better mixing of the alcohol fuels. For this program the LHR engine used has a single cylinder diesel and alcohols sued as sole fuels were ethanol and methanol. For spark assistance an extended electrode spark plug was used and location and projection were optimised for best results. These configurations were evaluated for performance and emissions with and without LHR implementation. The results show that the engine with LHR, ethanol fuel and spark assistance has the highest brake thermal efficiency with the lowest emissions.

The purpose of this study was to assess, by use of computer simulations, the effectiveness of motorcycle helmets in reducing head and neck injuries in motorcyclist impacts. The computer model used was the MVMA Two-Dimensional Crash Victim Simulator. The study investigated a wide variety of impact conditions in order to establish a broad overall view of the effectiveness of helmets. It was found that helmet use invariably reduces dynamic responses which have a role in producing head injury and, in addition, almost always reduces the severity of neck response as well. For no configuration or condition does the helmet greatly increase the likelihood of neck injury. Thus, these simulations of a wide spectrum of motorcyclist impacts provide further evidence that helmet use significantly reduces the likelihood and severity of both head and neck injuries. This study was supported by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

In this work methanol was port injected while diesel was injected using a common rail system in a single cylinder non-road CI engine. Experiments were conducted with single (SPI) and double (DPI - pilot and main) injection of the directly injected diesel at 75% load and at a constant speed of 1500 rpm. The effects of methanol to diesel energy share (MDES) and injection scheduling on combustion stability, efficiency and emissions were evaluated. Initially, in the SPI mode, the methanol to diesel Energy Share (MDES) was varied, while the injection timing of diesel was always fixed for best brake thermal efficiency (BTE). Increase in the MDES resulted in a reduction in NOx and smoke emissions because of the high latent heat of vaporization of methanol and the oxygen available. Enhanced premixed combustion led to a raise in brake thermal efficiency (BTE). Coefficient of variation of IMEP, peak pressure and BTE were deteriorated which limited the usable MDES to 43%.