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Advanced diesel engines developed for the commercial market need to be adapted to the military requirements by OPERAS (Optimizing the injection pressure P, the Exhaust gas recirculation E, injection events Retard and/or Advance and the swirl ratio S). The different after treatment devices, already used or expected to be applied to diesel engines, require feed gases of appropriate properties for their efficient operation. To produce these gases some OPERAS are needed to control the diesel combustion process. Since military vehicles do not need the after treatment devices, the OPERAS of the commercial engines should be modified to meet the military requirements for high power density, better fuel economy, reduction of parasitic losses caused by the cooled EGR system, and reduction of invisible black and white smoke in the field.

Contrary to the thick thermal barrier coating approach used in adiabatic diesel engines, the authors have investigated the merits of thin coatings. Transient heat transfer analysis indicates that the temperature swings experienced at combustion chamber surfaces depend primarily on material thermophysical properties, i.e., conductivity, density, and specific heat. Thus, cyclic temperature swings should be alike whether thick or thin (less than 0.25 mm) coatings are applied, Furthermore, thin coatings would lead to lower mean component temperatures and would be easier to apply than thick coatings. The thinly-coated engine concept offers several advantages including improved volumetric efficiency, lower cylinder liner wall temperatures, improved piston-liner tribological behavior, and improved erosion-corrosion resistance and thus greater component durability.

High thermal stresses in the cylinder heads of low heat rejection (LHR) engines can lead to low cycle fatigue failure in the head. In order to decrease these stresses to a more acceptable level, novel designs are introduced. One design utilizes scallops in the bridge area, and three others utilize a high-strength, low thermal conductivity titanium faceplate inserted into the firedeck (combustion face) of a low heat rejection engine cylinder head. The faceplates are 5mm thick disks that span the firedeck from the injector bore to approximately 10mm outside of the cylinder liner. Large-scale finite element models for these four different LHR cylinder head configurations were created, and used to evaluate their strength performance on a pass/fail basis. The complex geometry of this cylinder head required very detailed three-dimensional analysis techniques, especially in the valve bridge area. This area is finely meshed to allow for accurate determination of stress gradients.

The future of maintaining a superior mobile military ground vehicle fleet rests in high power density propulsion systems. As the U.S. Government desires to convert its powerplant base to heavy fuel operation, there arises the opportunity to incorporate new advanced materials into these heavy fuel engines. These newer materials serve the purpose of decreasing powerplant weight and develop new component designs to take advantage of improved strength and temperature capability of those materials. In addition, the military continues the effort for a non-watercooled Low Heat Rejection (LHR) diesel engine. This type of engine demands the use of ceramic and advanced ceramic composite material hardware. Furthermore, today's higher pressure fuel injection systems, coupled with reduced air/fuel ratio as a means of increasing horsepower to size and weight, will require thermal protection or change in material specification for many of the engine's components.

Thermal barrier coatings (TBC) are perceived as enabling technology to increase low heat rejection (LHR) diesel engine performance and improve its longevity. The state of the art of thermal barrier coating is the plasma spray zirconia. In addition, other material systems have been investigated for the next generation of thermal barrier coatings. The purpose of this TBC program is to focus on developing binder systems with low thermal conductivity materials to improve the coating durability under high load and temperature cyclical conditions encountered in the real engine. Research and development (R&D) and analysis were conducted on aluminum alloy piston for high output turbocharged diesel engine coated with TBC.

An investigation into the fuel economy of a U.S. Army M813 5-ton truck with an “adiabatic” (uncooled) 14 liter (855 in3) diesel engine was made with three different driving schedules. The results were used to verify a newly written vehicle simulation. This simulation was used to compare the fuel economy of an uncooled turbocharged engine, a water cooled turbocharged engine, and a water cooled naturally aspirated engine in the same vehicle. Results indicate that, depending on the duty cycle a 16% to 37% improvement in fuel economy (depending on the duty cycle) can be achieved with an uncooled engine in this vehicle.

A previous paper (1)* described the performance improvements which can be obtained by using an “adiabatic” (uncooled) engine for military trucks. The fuel economy improved 16% to 37% (depending upon the duty cycle) and was documented by dynamometer testing and vehicle testing and affirmed by vehicle simulation. The purpose of this paper is to document a NATO cycle 400 hour durability test which was performed on the same model adiabatic engine. The test results showed that the engine has excellent durability, low lubricating oil consumption and minimal deposits.

This paper presents tribological modeling, experimental work, and validation of tribology parameters of a single cylinder turbocharged diesel engine run at various loads, speeds, intake boost pressures, and cylinder liner temperatures. Analysis were made on piston rings and liner materials, rings mechanical and thermal loads, contact pressure between rings and liner, and lubricant conditions. The engine tribology parameters were measured, and used to validate the engine tribology models. These tribology parameters are: oil film thickness, coefficient of friction between rings and liner, friction force, friction power, friction torque, shear rate, shear stress and wear of the sliding surfaces. In order to measure the oil film thickness between rings and liner, a single cylinder AVL turbocharged diesel engine was instrumented to accept the difference in voltage drop method between rings, oil film, and liner.

Thin thermal barrier ceramic coatings were applied to a standard production direct injection diesel engine. The resultant fuel economy when compared to the standard metallic engine at full load and speed (2600) was 6% better and 3.5% better at 1600 RPM. Most coated diesel engines todate have not shown significant fuel economy one way or the other. Why are the results more positive in this particular case? The reasons were late injection timing, high injection pressure with high injection rates to provide superior heat release rates with resultant lower fuel consumption. The recent introduction of the high injection pressure fuel injection system makes it possible to have these desirable heat release rates at the premixed combustion period. Of course the same injection characteristics were applied to the standard and the thin thermal barrier coating case. The thin thermal barrier coated engine displayed superior heat release rate.

This paper deals with the analysis of heat release characteristics of an insulated turbocharged, six cylinder, DI contemporary diesel engine. The engine is fully insulated with thin thermal barrier coatings. Effect of insulation on the heat release was experimentally verified. Tests were carried over a range of engine speeds at 100%, 93%, 75% and 50% of rated torque. Fuel injection system was instrumented to obtain injection pressure characteristics. The study shows that rate of heat release, particularly in the major portion of the combustion, is higher for the insulated engine. Improvement in heat release and performance are primarily attributed to reduction in heat transfer loss due to the thin thermal barrier coating. Injection pressure at the rated speed and torque was found to be 138 MPa and there was no degradation of combustion process in the insulated engine. Improvements in BSFC at 93% load are 3.25% and 6% at 1600 and 2600 RPM, respectively.

Experimental results focused towards developing tribological surface coatings coupled with liquid lubricant boundary layer effects, for advanced high temperature military diesel engine applications are presented. The primary focus of this work is in the area of advanced, low heat rejection (LHR) high output diesel engines, where high temperature boundary lubrication between the piston ring and the cylinder liner wall surface is critical for successful engine operation. The target temperature focused upon in our research is an operating top ring reversal (TRR) temperature of approximately 538°C. The technology advancement used for this application involves treating porous iron oxide/titanium oxide (Fe2O3/TiO2) and molybdenum (Mo) based composite thermal sprayed coatings with chemical binders to improve coating strength, integrity, and tribological properties. This process dramatically decreases open porosity to form an almost monolithic appearing coating at the surface1.

The use of biodiesel and its blends with ultra low sulfur diesel (ULSD) is gaining significant importance due to its ability to burn in conventional diesel engines with minor modifications. However the chemical and physical properties of biodiesel are different compared to the conventional ULSD. These differences directly impact the injection, spray formation, auto ignition and combustion processes which in turn affect the engine-out emissions. To understand the effect of fueling with B-20, tests were conducted on a single cylinder 0.42L direct injection research diesel engine. The engine is equipped with a common rail injection system, variable EGR and swirl control systems and was operated at a constant engine speed of 1500 rpm and 3 bar IMEP to simulated turbocharged conditions. Injection timing and duration were adjusted with B-20 at different locations of peak premixed combustions (LPPC) and two different swirl ratios to achieve 3 bar IMEP.

Fuel wall impingement commonly occurs in small-bore diesel engines. Particularly during engine starting, when wall temperatures are low, the evaporation rate of fuel film remaining from previous cycles plays a significant role in the autoignition process that is not fully understood. Pre-injection chemiluminescence (PIC), resulting from low-temperature oxidation of evaporating fuel film and residual gases, was measured over 3200 μsec intervals at the end of the compression strokes, but prior to fuel injection during a series of starting sequences in an optical diesel engine. These experiments were conducted to determine the effect of this parameter on combustion phasing and were conducted at initial engine temperatures of 30, 40, 50 and 60°C, at swirl ratios of 2.0 and 4.5 at 1000 RPM. PIC was determined to increase and be highly correlated with combustion phasing during initial cycles of the starting sequence.

The fuel injection pressure and the swirl motion have a great impact on combustion in small bore HSDI diesel engines running on the conventional or advanced combustion concepts. This paper examines the effects of injection pressure and the swirl motion on engine-out emissions over a wide range of EGR rates. Experiments were conducted on a single cylinder, 4-valve, direct injection diesel engine equipped with a common rail injection system. The pressures and temperatures in the inlet and exhaust surge tanks were adjusted to simulate turbocharged engine conditions. The load and speed of the engine were typical to highway cruising operation of a light duty vehicle. The experiments covered a wide range of injection pressures, swirl ratios and injection timings. Engine-out emission measurements included hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, smoke (in Bosch Smoke Units, BSU) and NOx.

The effects of different blends of Soybean Methyl Ester (biodiesel) and ultra low sulfur diesel (ULSD) fuel: B-00 (ULSD), B-20, B-40, B-60, B-80 and B-100 (biodiesel); on autoignition, combustion, performance, and engine out emissions of different species including particulate matter (PM) in the exhaust, were investigated in a single-cylinder, high speed direct injection (HSDI) diesel engine equipped with a common rail injection system. The engine was operated at 1500 rpm under simulated turbocharged conditions at 5 bar IMEP load with varied injection pressures at a medium swirl of 3.77 w ithout EGR. Analysis of test results was done to determine the role of biodiesel percentage in the fuel blend on the basic thermodynamic and combustion processes under fuel injection pressures ranging from 600 bar to 1200 bar.

The effect of biodiesel on the Particulate emissions is gaining significant attention particularly with the drive for the use of alternative fuels. The particulate matter (PM), especially having a diameter less than 50 nm called the Nanoparticles or Nucleation mode particles (NMPs), has been raising concerns about its effect on human health. To better understand the effect of biodiesel and its blends on particulate emissions, steady state tests were conducted on a small-bore single-cylinder high-speed direct-injection research diesel engine. The engine was fueled with Ultra-Low Sulfur Diesel (ULSD or B-00), a blend of 20% soy-derived biodiesel and 80% ULSD on volumetric basis (B-20), B-40, B-60, B-80 and 100% soy-derived biodiesel (B-100), equipped with a common rail injection system, EGR and swirl control systems at a load of 5 bar IMEP and constant engine speed of 1500 rpm.

The focus of this study is to determine the effect of using B-20 (a blend of 20% soybean methyl ester biodiesel and 80% ultra low sulfur diesel fuel) on the combustion process, performance and exhaust emissions in a High Speed Direct Injection (HSDI) diesel engine equipped with a common rail injection system. The engine was operated under simulated turbocharged conditions with 3-bar indicated mean effective pressure and 1500 rpm engine speed. The experiments covered a wide range of injection pressures and EGR rates. The rate of heat release trace has been analyzed in details to determine the effect of the properties of biodiesel on auto ignition and combustion processes and their impact on engine out emissions. The results and the conclusions are supported by a statistical analysis of data that provides a quantitative significance of the effects of the two fuels on engine out emissions.

Adiabatics, Inc., with the support of the U.S. Army Tank Automotive Research & Development Engineering Center (TARDEC) has developed a low cost, durable ceramic composite cylinder bore coating for diesel engines operating under severe conditions. This bore coating is a ceramic composite consisting primarily of Iron Oxide, Iron Titanate and Partially Stabilized Zirconia. It is applied by unique chemical thermal bonding technology developed at Adiabatics, Inc. and is referred to as Low Temperature Iron Titanate (LTIT). This coating has been tested against a wide range of cylinder bore treatments ranging from hard chrome plate to hard Nickel Silicon Carbide (NikaSil) and found to provide a superior sliding wear surface. It is superior because it is compatible against most common piston ring materials and coatings.

Joint development of the adiabatic engine by Cummins Engine Company and the U. S. Army began with a feasibility analysis ten years ago. The effort was initially driven by the expectation of substantial performance improvement, a reduction in cooling system size, and several additional benefits. Program emphasis turned quickly to experimentation with the goal of demonstrating the feasibility of the adiabatic engine in working hardware. Several significant achievements were realized as have been reported earlier. Further development of the adiabatic engine is expected to be more evolutionary, paced by available technology in the areas of materials and tribology. Analysis capability necessary for insulated engine development has been found to be inadequate. Additional effort has gone into the development and validation of insulated engine analysis tools, both for cycle simulation and structural modeling.

JP-8 is an aviation turbine engine fuel recently introduced for use in military ground vehicle applications and generators which are mostly powered by diesel engines. Many of these engines are designed and developed for commercial use and need to be adapted for military applications. This requires more understanding of the auto- ignition and combustion characteristics of JP-8 under different engine operating conditions. This paper presents the results of a comparative analysis of an engine operation using JP-8 and ultra low sulfur diesel fuel (ULSD). Experiments were conducted on 0.42 liter single cylinder, high speed direct injection (HSDI) diesel engine equipped with a common rail injection system. The results indicate that the distillation properties of fuel have an effect on its vaporization rate. JP-8 evaporated faster and had shorter ignition delay as compared to ULSD. The fuel economy with JP-8 was better than ULSD.