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With Post Euro 6 emission standards in discussion, stricter particulate number (PN) targets as well as a decreased PN cut-off size from 23 to 10 nm are expected. Sub-23 nm particulates are considered particularly harmful to human health, but are not yet taken into account in the current vehicle certification process. Not considering sub-23 nm particulates during the development process could lead to significant additional efforts for Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) to comply with future Post Euro 6 PN emission limits. It is therefore essential to increase knowledge about the formation and filtration of particulates below 23 nm. In the present study, a holistic Gasoline Particulate Filter (GPF) characterization has been carried out on an engine test bench under varying boundary conditions and on a burner bench with a novel ash loading methodology.

The interaction of biofuel sprays from an outward opening hollow cone injector and the flow field inside an internal combustion engine is analyzed by Mie-Scattering Imaging (MSI) and high-speed stereoscopic particle-image velocimetry (stereo-PIV). Two fuels (ethanol and methyl ethyl ketone (MEK)), four injection pressures (50, 100, 150, and 200 bar), three starting points of injection (60°, 277°, and 297° atdc), and two engine speeds (1,500 rpm and 2,000 rpm) define the parameter space of the experiments. The MSI measurements determine the vertical penetration length and the spray cone angle of the ethanol and MEK spray. Stereo-PIV is used to investigate the interaction of the flow field and the ethanol spray after the injection process for a start of injection at 60° atdc. These measurements are compared to stereo-PIV measurements without fuel injection performed in the same engine [19].

Stochastic Pre-Ignition (SPI) or Low Speed Pre-Ignition (LSPI) is an abnormal combustion event that can occur during the operation of modern, highly boosted direct-injection gasoline engines. This abnormal combustion event is characterized by an undesired and early start of combustion that is not initiated by the spark plug. Early SPI events can subsequently lead to violent auto-ignitions that are referred to as Mega- or Super-Knock in literature and have the potential to severely damage engines in the field. Numerous studies to analyze impact factors on SPI occurrence and severity have been conducted in recent years. While initial studies have focused strongly on engine oil formulation, calibration and engine design and their respective impact on SPI initiation, the impact of physical and chemical properties of the fuel have also become of interest in recent years.

Past experimental studies conducted by the current authors on a 13 liter 16.7:1 compression ratio heavy-duty diesel engine have shown that diesel-Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) Reactivity Controlled Compression Ignition (RCCI) combustion targeting low NOx emissions becomes progressively difficult to control as the engine load is increased. This is mainly due to difficulty in controlling reactivity levels at higher loads. For the current study, CFD investigations were conducted in CONVERGE using the SAGE combustion solver with the application of the Rahimi mechanism. Studies were conducted at a load of 5 bar BMEP to validate the simulation results against RCCI experimental data. In the low load study, it was found that the Rahimi mechanism was not able to predict the RCCI combustion behavior for diesel injection timings advanced beyond 30 degCA bTDC. This poor prediction was found at multiple engine speed and load points.

Due to increasing environmental awareness, standards for pollutant and CO2 emissions are getting stricter in most markets around the world. In important markets such as Europe, also the emissions during real road driving, so called “Real Driving Emissions” (RDE), are now part of the type approval process for passenger cars. In addition to the proceeding hybridization and electrification of vehicles, the complexity and degrees of freedom of conventional powertrains with internal combustion engines (ICE) are also continuing to increase in order to comply with stricter exhaust emission standards. Besides the different requirements placed on vehicle emissions, the drivability capabilities of passenger vehicles desired by customers, are essentially important and vary between markets.

Direct injection (DI) of compressed natural gas (CNG) is a promising technology to increase the indicated thermal efficiency of internal combustion engines (ICE) while reducing exhaust emissions and using a relatively low-cost fuel. However, design and analysis of DI-CNG engines are challenging because supersonic gas jet emerging from the DI injector results in a very complex in-cylinder flow field containing shocks and discontinuities affecting the fuel-air mixing. In this article, numerical simulations are used supported by validation to investigate the direct gas injection and its influence on the flow field and mixing in an optically accessible ICE. The simulation approach involves computation of the in-nozzle flow with highly accurate Large-Eddy Simulations, which are then used to obtain a mapped boundary condition. The boundary condition is applied in Unsteady Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes simulations of the engine to investigate the in-cylinder velocity and mixing fields.

Demanding CO2 and fuel economy regulations are continuing to pressure the automotive industry into considering innovative powertrain and vehicle-level solutions. Powertrain engineers continue to minimize engine internal friction and transmission parasitic losses with the aim of reducing overall vehicle fuel consumption. In Part 1 of the study (2017-01-0893) described aspects of the test stand design that provides flexibility for adaptation to various test scenarios. The results from measurements for a number of front-end accessory drive (FEAD) components were shown in the context of scatterbands derived from multiple component tests. Key results from direct drive and belt-driven component tests were compared to illustrate the influence of the belt layout on mechanical efficiency of the FEAD system. The second part of the series will focus exclusively on the operation of the alternator. Two main elements of the study are discussed.

One fundamental subprocess for the utilization of alternative fuels for automotive applications is the in-cylinder mixture formation and therefore the fuel injection, which largely affects the combustion efficiency of internal combustion engines. This study analyzes the influence of the physical properties of various model-fuels on atomization and spray propagation at temperatures and pressures matching the operating conditions of today's gasoline engines. The experiments were carried out using an outwardly opening, piezo-driven gasoline injector. In order to cover a wide range of potential fuels the following liquids were investigated: Alcohols (Ethanol, Butanol and Decanol), alkanes (Iso-Octane, Dodecane and Heptane) and one furane (Tetrahydrofurfuryl Alcohol). The macroscopic spray propagation of the fuels was investigated using shadowgraphy. For complementary spray characterization droplet sizes and velocities were measured using Phase-Doppler Anemometry.

Demanding CO2 and fuel economy regulations are continuing to pressure the automotive industry into considering innovative powertrain and vehicle-level solutions. Powertrain engineers continue to minimize engine internal friction and transmission parasitic losses with the aim of reducing overall vehicle fuel consumption. Strip friction methods are used to determine and isolate components in engines and transmissions with the highest contribution to friction losses. However, there is relatively little focus on friction optimization of Front-End-Accessory-Drive (FEAD) components such as alternators and Air Conditioning (AC) compressors. This paper expands on the work performed by other researchers’ specifically targeting in-depth understanding of system design and operating strategy.

RCCI strategy gained popularity in automotive applications due to lower fuel consumption, less emissions formation and higher engine performance in compared with other diesel combustion strategies. This study presents results of an experimental and numerical investigation on RCCI combustion using natural gas as a low reactivity premixed fuel with advanced injection of diesel fuel as a high reactivity fuel in a CI engine. An advanced three dimensional CFD simulation coupled with chemical kinetic developed to examine the effects of diesel injection timing, diesel/natural gas ratio and diesel fuel included spray angle on combustion and emissions formation in various engine loads and speeds, in a heavy duty diesel engine.

With the implementation of the “Worldwide harmonized Light duty Test Procedure” (WLTP) and the highly dynamic “Real Driving Emissions” (RDE) tests in Europe, different engineering methodologies from virtual calibration approaches to Engine-in-the-loop (EiL) methods have to be considered to define and calibrate efficient exhaust gas aftertreatment technologies without the availability of prototype vehicles in early project phases. Since different types of testing facilities can be used, the effects of test benches as well as real and virtual vehicle operators have to be determined. Moreover, in order to effectively reduce harmful emissions, the reproducibility of test cycles is essential for an accurate and efficient application of exhaust gas aftertreatment systems and the calibration of internal combustion engines.

In-use compliance under LEV III emission standards, GHG, and fuel economy targets beyond 2025 poses a great opportunity for all ICE-based propulsion systems, especially for light-duty diesel powertrain and aftertreatment enhancement. Though diesel powertrains feature excellent fuel-efficiency, robust and complete emissions controls covering any possible operational profiles and duty cycles has always been a challenge. Significant dependency on aftertreatment calibration and configuration has become a norm. With the onset of hybridization and downsizing, small steps of improvement in system stability have shown a promising avenue for enhancing fuel economy while continuously improving emissions robustness. In this paper, a study of current key technologies and associated emissions robustness will be discussed followed by engine and aftertreatment performance target derivations for LEV III compliant powertrains.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and California Air Resources Board (CARB) have recently announced rulemakings focused on tighter emission limits for oxides of nitrogen (NOx) from heavy-duty trucks. As part of the new rulemaking CARB has proposed a Low Load Cycle (LLC) to specifically evaluate NOx emission performance over real-world urban and vocational operation typically characterized by low engine loads, thereby demanding the implementation of continuous active thermal management of the engine and aftertreatment system. This significant drop in NOx levels along with continued reduction in the Green House Gas (GHG) limits poses a more significant challenge for the engine developer as the conventional emission reduction approaches for one species will likely result in an undesirable increase in the other species.

The reduction of harmful emissions is a key challenge in fighting climate change and global warming. Besides battery electric vehicles (BEVs), improved engine efficiency and alternate fuels, such as e-fuels or biofuels, can improve the emission budget of the transportation sector. Pred ictive simulations can be utilized as these avoid relying on slow manufacturing processes and expensive experiments. As the properties of alternative fuels can change drastically compared to classical fuels, even engine parameters, such as the mass flow rate, need to be reevaluated and optimized. However, simulation frameworks often rely on mass flow rates as input quantity, and hence, a prediction is impossible. This paper gives accurate pressure-based boundary conditions for multiphase systems and focuses on equations of state (EOS) employed in homogeneous equilibrium models (HEMs). Additionally, a dual-density approach is introduced to correct modeling errors that are intrinsic to a particular EOS.

Premixed charged compression ignition (PCCI) is an advanced combustion strategy, which has the potential to achieve ultra-low nitrogen oxide and soot emissions at high thermal efficiencies. PCCI combustion is characterized by a complex nonlinear chemical-physical process, which indicates that a physical description involves significant development times and also high computation cost. This paper presents a method to use cylinder pressure data and engine operations parameters for prediction of PCCI engine emissions by unsupervised learning and nonlinear identification techniques. The proposed method first uses principal component analysis (PCA) to reduce the dimension of the cylinder-pressure data. Based on the PCA analysis, a multi-input multi-out model was developed for nitrogen oxide and soot emission prediction by multi-layer perceptron (MLP) neural network.

In order to reduce engine out CO2 emissions, it is a main subject to find new alternative fuels from renewable sources. For identifying the specification of an optimized fuel for engine combustion, it is essential to understand the details of combustion and pollutant formation. For obtaining a better understanding of the flame behavior, dynamic structure large eddy simulations are a method of choice. In the investigation presented in this paper, an n-heptane spray flame is simulated under engine relevant conditions starting at a pressure of 50 bar and a temperature of 800 K. Measurements are conducted at a high-pressure vessel with the same conditions. Liquid penetration length is measured with Mie-Scatterlight, gaseous penetration length with Shadowgraphy and lift-off length as well as ignition delay with OH*-Radiation. In addition to these global high-speed measurement techniques, detailed spectroscopic laser measurements are conducted at the n-heptane flame.

Two-stage variable compression ratio (VCR) systems for spark ignited engines offer a CO2 reduction potential of approx. 5%. Due to their modularity, connecting rod based VCR-systems can be integrated into existing engine assembly systems, where engines can be built in parallel with or without such a system, depending on performance and market requirements. In order to comply with the new RDE emission standards with high specific power engine variants, VCR systems enable high load engine operation without fuel enrichment. The interactions between the hydraulic-, mechanical - and oil supply systems of a VCR-system with variable connecting rod length are complex and require a well-developed and adapted layout of all subsystems. This demands the use of tailored measurement and simulation tools during the development and application phases. In this context, Advanced Functional Pulse Testing enables single-parameter analyses of VCR con rods.

Modern combustion engines must meet increasingly higher requirements concerning emission standards, fuel economy, performance characteristics and comfort. Especially fuel consumption and the related CO2 emissions were moved into public focus within the last years. One possibility to meet those requirements is downsizing. Engine downsizing is intended to achieve a reduction of fuel consumption through measures that allow reducing displacement while simultaneously keeping or increasing power and torque output. However, to reach that goal, downsized engines need high brake mean effective pressure levels which are well in excess of 20bar. When targeting these high output levels at low engine speeds, undesired combustion events with high cylinder peak pressures can occur that can severely damage the engine. These phenomena, typically called low speed pre-ignition (LSPI), set currently an undesired limit to downsizing.

The increasingly stringent limits on pollutant emissions from internal combustion engine-powered vehicles require the optimization of advanced combustion systems by means of virtual development and simulation tools. Among the gaseous emissions from spark-ignition engines, the unburned hydrocarbon (HC) emissions are the most challenging species to simulate because of the complexity of the multiple physical and chemical mechanisms that contribute to their emission. These mechanisms are mainly three-dimensional (3D) resulting from multi-phase physics - e.g., fuel injection, oil-film layer, etc. - and are difficult to predict even in complex 3D computational fluid-dynamic (CFD) simulations. Phenomenological models describing the relationships between the physical-chemical phenomena are of great interest for the modeling and simplification of such complex mechanisms.

As the world strives toward the common goal of carbon neutrality by 2050, motorsport cannot be allowed to stand alone as an exception. A gradual energy transition is clearly underway in the automotive industry but has already begun in motorsport as well. Among other initiatives, the Dakar Rally and the FIA have created the T1 ultimate category for prototypes powered by low-carbon fuels, including hydrogen. The Dakar is the pinnacle of off-road endurance rally competitions. It offers a great opportunity to ORECA Magny-Cours and FEV to expose their jointly developed internal combustion engine (ICE), fuelled with hydrogen only, to extreme conditions. In addition, the racing environment imposes a unique pace of development which can serve as a catalyst for spurring the H2-ICE technology. Moreover, a hydrogen powered engine is an interesting fit for motorsports because it combines high power output, a relatively long driving range and driving pleasure with an excellent carbon footprint.