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For many technical applications it is necessary to avoid or to reduce vibrations. Factors benefiting from vibration reduction are for example the durability of the application, which is increased, as well as cost expenses and the level of noise, which are both decreased. Rough, bolted interfaces are common in most machines and can be used as damping devices with some effort. Perhaps in future such contact surfaces could be used as damping devices at the interfaces of an automotive engine or exhaust system. Nevertheless it is difficult to predict the effect of a change in contact interface parameters on the dynamic behavior of the entire mechanical system. Therefore a method for calculating the steady state behavior of elastic multi-body systems was developed. The basis of this method is a finite element model of each contacting unit. On each model a modal reduction is applied in order to reduce the degrees of freedom.

The enhancement of efficiency will play a more and more important role in the development of future (small) internal combustion engines. In recent years, the Atkinson (or Extended Expansion) cycle, realized over the crank drive, attracted increasing attention. Several OEMs have investigated this efficiency-increasing principle in the whole range from small engines up to automotive engines until now. In prior publications, the authors outlined the remarkable efficiency potentials of an Extended Expansion (EE) cycle. However, for an internal combustion engine, a smooth running performance as well as low vibrations and noise emissions are relevant aspects. This is especially true for an Extended Expansion engine realized over the crank drive. Therefore, design measures concerning friction and NVH need to be taken to enable possible series production status. Basically, these measures strongly depend on the reduction of the free mass forces and moments.

Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) computations of heat transfer involving wall bounded flows at elevated Prandtl numbers typically suffer from a lack of accuracy and/or increased mesh dependency. This can be often attributed to an improper near-wall turbulence modeling and the deficiency of the wall heat transfer models (based on the so called P-functions) that do not properly account for the variation of the turbulent Prandtl number in the wall proximity (y+< 5). As the conductive sub-layer gets significantly thinner than the viscous velocity sub-layer (for Pr >1), treatment of the thermal buffer layer gains importance as well. Various hybrid strategies utilize blending functions dependent on the molecular Prandtl number, which do not necessarily provide a smooth transition from the viscous/conductive sub-layer to the logarithmic region.

This paper describes the development of a 0-D-sulfur poisoning model for a NOx storage catalyst (NSC). The model was developed and calibrated using findings and data obtained from a passenger car diesel engine used on testbed. Based on an empirical approach, the developed model is able to predict not only the lower sulfur adsorption with increasing temperature and therefore the higher SOx (SO2 and SO3) slip after NSC, but also the sulfur saturation with increasing sulfur loading, resulting in a decrease of the sulfur adsorption rate with ongoing sulfation. Furthermore, the 0-D sulfur poisoning model was integrated into an existing 1-D NOx storage catalyst kinetic model. The combination of the two models results in an “EAS Model” (exhaust aftertreatment system) able to predict the deterioration of NOx-storage in a NSC with increasing sulfation level, exhibiting higher NOx-emissions after the NSC once it is poisoned.

The continuously decreasing emission limits lead to a growing importance of exhaust aftertreatment in Diesel engines. Hence, methods for achieving a rapid catalyst light-off after engine cold start and for maintaining the catalyst temperature during low load operation will become more and more necessary. The present work evaluates several valve timing strategies concerning their ability for doing so. For this purpose, simulations as well as experimental investigations were conducted. A special focus of simulation was on pointing out the relevance of exhaust temperature, mass flow and enthalpy for these thermomanagement tasks. An increase of exhaust temperature is beneficial for both catalyst heat-up and maintaining catalyst temperature. In case of the exhaust mass flow, high values are advantageous only in case of a catalyst heat-up process, while maintaining catalyst temperature is supported by a low mass flow.

Usually the power output of 50 cm₃ two wheelers is higher than necessary to reach the maximum permitted vehicle speed, making engine power restriction necessary. This publication deals with different power restriction strategies for four-stroke engines and their effect on exhaust emissions. Alternative power limitation strategies like EGR and leaning were investigated and compared with the common method of spark advance reduction to show the optimization potential for this certain engine operation conditions. From these tests, a substantial set of data showing the pros and cons in terms of emissions, combustion stability and fuel economy could be derived for each speed limiting technique.

CFD simulation (Computational Fluid Dynamics) is a state of the art tool for the development of internal combustion engines, especially for internal mixture preparation, scavenging process and combustion. Simulation offers an array of information in the early development phase without the need of building a prototype engine. It shortens the development time, reduces the number of prototypes and therewith test bench costs. In previous investigations [SAE 2005-32-0099] and [SAE 2007-32-0030] a new coupling methodology which bases on the combination of three-dimensional (3D), one-dimensional (1D), and zero-dimensional (0D) CFD calculation has been presented. This methodology uses a new multidimensional interface technology and is able to handle 3D-0D, 3D-1D and 3D-3D connections. The special feature of this methodology is the capability of being placed on any position in the 3D CFD mesh.

The exhaust system design has an important influence on the charge mass and the composition of the charge inside the cylinder, due to its gas dynamic behavior. Therefore the exhaust system determines the characteristics of the indicated mean effective pressure as well. The knowledge of the heat transfer and the post-combustion process of fuel losses inside the exhaust system are important for the thermodynamic analysis of the working process. However, the simulation of the heat transfer over the exhaust pipe wall is time consuming, due to the demand for a transient simulation of many revolutions until a cyclic steady condition is reached. Therefore, the exhaust pipe wall temperature is set to constant in the conventional CFD simulation of 2-stroke engines. This paper covers the discussion of a simulation strategy for the exhaust system of a 2-cylinder 2-stroke engine until cyclic steady condition including the heat transfer over the exhaust pipe wall.

In the course of the last few years a continuous increase of the injection pressure level of gasoline direct injection systems appeared. Today's systems use an injection pressure up to 200bar and the trend shows a further increase for the future. Although several benefits go along with the increased injection pressure, the disadvantages such as higher system costs and higher energy demand lead to the question of the lowest acceptable injection pressure level for low cost GDI combustion systems. Lowering injection pressure and costs could enable the technological upgrading from MPFI to GDI in smaller engine segments, which would lead to a reduction of CO2 emission. This publication covers the investigation of a low pressure GDI system (LPDI) with focus on small and low cost GDI engines. The influence of the injection pressure on the fuel consumption and emission behavior was investigated using a 1.4l series production engine.

The advantages of 2-stroke engines, high power and low weight, are in conflict with their disadvantages, high emissions and bad fuel economy. As these disadvantages are caused by the scavenging process, a reason for the problem can be analyzed by using three dimensional computational fluid dynamics simulation (3D CFD simulation). The scavenging losses can be dramatically reduced with a high pressure fuel injection strategy. The purpose of this strategy is to prevent a fuel concentration in the incoming charge and to reduce the fuel concentration inside the exhaust system. These advantages can only be successfully exploited with the application of an optimal injection strategy. This paper covers a spray study for a gasoline direct injection (GDI) high performance 2-stroke engine using the commercial CFD Code Fluent.

The greenhouse gas emission reduction targets agreed at Kyoto represent a first step to reduce emissions in the long term in order to stabilize the earth's climate. The European Union has made an important contribution to the Kyoto agreement and the European Commission intends to develop a strategy to reach the Union's Kyoto target. This will require action in all sectors of the economy including the transport sector. Of the six gases covered by the Kyoto protocol, carbon dioxide (CO2) is the most important as it accounts for about 80% of the total global warming potential of all six greenhouse gases. In the European Union, the share of transport CO2 emissions in total increased from 19% in 1985 to 26% in 1995. Road traffic is the most important source, and largely determines the trend in the transport sector; and road freight accounts for about 35% of transport CO2 emissions. As well as CO2, road freight transport causes considerable amounts of other pollutant emissions.

The release of the “Regulation No. 168/2013” for the approval and market surveillance of two- or three-wheel motorcycles and quadricycles of the European Union started a new challenge for the motorcycle industry. One goal of the European Union is to achieve emission parity between passenger cars (EURO 6) and motorcycles (EURO 5) in 2020. The hybridization of motorcycle powertrains is one way to achieve these strict legislation limits. In the automotive sector, hybridization is well investigated and has already shown improvements of fuel consumption, efficiency and emission behavior. Equally, motorcycle applications have a high potential to improve efficiency and to meet customer needs as fun to drive as well. This paper describes a methodical approach to analyze conventional motorcycles regarding the energy and power demand for different driving cycles and driving conditions. Therefore, a dynamic or forward vehicle simulation within MATLAB Simulink is used.

A worldwide decrease of legal limits for CO2 emissions and fuel economy led to stronger efforts for achieving the required reductions. The task is to evaluate technologies for CO2 reduction and to define a combination of such measures to ensure the targets. The challenge therefor is to find the optimal combination with respect to minimal costs. Individual vehicles as well as the whole fleet have to be considered in the cost analysis - which raises the complexity. Hereby, the focus of this work is the consideration and improvement of a new model series against the background of a fleet and the selection of measures. The ratio between the costs and the effect of the measures can be different for the each vehicle configuration. Also, the determination of targets depends whether a fleet or an individual vehicle is selected and has impact on the selection and optimization process of those measures.

To minimize nitrogen oxide (NOx) as well as carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrocarbon (HC) emissions to fulfil the new European real driving emissions (RDE) legislation, the LNT operation strategy - especially for DeNOx events (rich mode) - has to be optimized. On one hand the DeNOx purges should be long enough to fully regenerate the lean NOx trap, on the other hand the purges should be as short as possible to reduce the fuel consumption penalty from rich mode. Fundamental experiments have been conducted on a synthetic-gas-test-bench, purposely designed to test LNT catalysts. This methodology allowed to remove NOx from the gasfeed after the lean storage phase. The actually reduced amount of NOx could be easily calculated from the NOx storage before a regeneration event minus the NOx that was desorbed during the DeNOx event and afterwards thermally desorbed NOx.

For a broad acceptance of electric vehicles, the trade-off between all electric range and battery cost respectively weight represents the most important challenge. The all electric range obtained under real world conditions most often deviates significantly from the nominal value which is measured under idealized conditions. Under extreme conditions - slow traffic and demanding requirements for cabin heating or cooling - the electrical range might become less a question of spatial distance but even more of total operation time. Whereas with conventional powertrain, high flexibility of the total driving range can be obtained without sacrificing cost, with a pure battery vehicle this results in extreme high cost and weight of the energy storage. Therefore the difference between the typical daily driving range (e.g. in Germany 80-90% is below 50 km) and the minimum total range requested by most customers for acceptance of battery vehicles (200- 250 km), becomes essential.

Measuring emissions of internal combustion engines-not only at steady-state conditions, but also with highly dynamic test cycles-is an important issue in modern engine development. Due to the fact that ambient conditions have an essential influence on power and emissions of internal combustion engines, test beds used for such measurements typically incorporate intake air and exhaust back pressure control for reasons of repeatability, accuracy and comparability. As test cycle dynamics get faster and legal pressure tolerances get narrower, pressure control becomes more demanding and simple PI control schemes are pushed to their limits; therefore, more sophisticated control schemes are necessary. In this paper, a linearised model is first derived and then used to both simplify and optimise PI controller tuning. This is done by means of frequency domain methods. Limitations to such controllers and possible approaches to overcome them are discussed.

As the number of different engine and vehicle concepts for powered-two wheelers is very high and will even rise with hybridization, the simulation of emissions and fuel consumption is indispensable for further development towards more environmentally friendly mobility. In this work, an adaptive artificial neural network based predictive model for emission and fuel consumption simulation of motorcycles operated in real world conditions is presented. The model is developed in Matlab and Simulink and is integrated into a longitudinal vehicle dynamic simulation whereby it is possible to simulate various and not yet measured test cycles. Subsequently, it is possible to predict real drive emissions RDE and on-road fuel consumption by a minimum of previous measurement effort.

Looking at upcoming emission legislations for two-wheelers, it is quite obvious that the fulfilment of these targets will become one of the biggest challenges within the engine development process. The gradual harmonization of emission limits for two-wheelers with existing automotive standards will subsequently lead to new approaches regarding mixture preparation and exhaust gas aftertreatment. Referring to these future scenarios, a state-of-the-art in development of catalytic converters for two- or three-wheeler applications should be presented. After choosing a suitable test carrier, which has already been equipped with EFI components including an oxygen sensor for λ=1 operation mode, a basic injection system calibration was used to optimize the combustion process. Based on this setup, a variable exhaust system was manufactured to be able to integrate different catalyst configurations.

The Institute for Internal Combustion Engines and Thermodynamics, Graz University of Technology, has presented several applications of its 2-stroke LPDI (low pressure direct injection) technology in the previous years ([1], [2], [3]). In order to improve the competitiveness of the 2-stroke LPDI technology, an air cooled 50cm3 scooter application has been developed. All previous applications have been liquid cooled. This air cooled application demonstrates the EURO 4 (2017) ability of the technology and shows that the 2S-LPDI technology can also be applied to low cost air-cooled engines. Hence, the complete scooter and moped fleet can be equipped with this technology in order to fulfil both the emission standards and the COP (conformity of production) requirements of Euro 4 emission stage. The paper presents the Euro 4 Scooter results and describes the efficient conversion process of the existing carburetor engine to the LPDI version.

These days a new generation of hybrid electric vehicles (HEV) are penetrating the global vehicle market - the plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs). Compared to conventional HEVs, PHEVs have additional significant potential. They are able to improve fuel efficiency and reduce local emissions due to higher battery capacities, and they can be recharged from external outlets. Energy management has a major impact on the PHEVs performance. In this publication, an innovative operation strategy for PHEVs is presented. This is due to the fact that both increasing fuel efficiency and enhancing the vehicle's longitudinal performance requires a fine balance between the consumption of fossil and electric energy. The new operation strategy combines advanced predictive and adaptive algorithms. In contrast to the charge-sustaining strategy of HEVs, the charge-depleting mode for PHEVs is more appropriate.