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In order to solve the environmental pollution and energy crisis, Electric Vehicles (EVs) have been developed rapidly. Lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery is the key power supply equipment for EVs, and the scientific and accurate prediction of its Remaining Useful Life (RUL) has become a hot topic in the field of new energy research. The internal resistance and capacity are often used to characterize the Li-ion battery State of Health (SOH) from which RUL is obtained. However, in practical applications, it is difficult to obtain internal resistance and capacity information by using the non-intrusive measurement method. Therefore, it is necessary to extract the measurable parameters to characterize the degradation of Li-ion battery. At present, the methods of extracting health indicators based on measurable parameters have gained preliminary results, but most of them are derived from the Li-ion battery discharging data.

Formula One (F1) racing cars are often running at high-speed with the pitching angle changing frequently due to road conditions. These pitching angle changes result in changes to the car’s aerodynamic characteristics that will directly affect handling stability and other performance factors including safety. This paper takes a F1 racing car as the model; the influence of the change of pitching angle on aerodynamic drag force and lift force are investigated. CFD code-PowerFLOW based LBM is used to simulate the aerodynamic characteristics with different pitching angles. The distribution of aerodynamic coefficients, velocity and pressure in the flow field are obtained; and the differences between different pitching angles were analyzed. The results show that as the pitching angle increases, the drag force increases and the lift force decreases. The down-force of the car is mainly supplied by the front wing and the rear wing.

Numerical simulations on the fluid-structure interaction were conducted using commercial software STAR-CCM+ and ABAQUS. The aeroelastic responses of a deflector under several different working conditions were simulated utilizing finite volume and finite element methods to investigate the aeroelastic problem of automotive deflectors. Results showed that the structural response of a top deflector is minimal under the influence of aerodynamics given its large structural stiffness. The size of the top deflector was optimised by using thickness as a variable. The volume and quality of the top deflector were significantly reduced, and its lightweight performance was improved to satisfy the stiffness performance requirement. The vibration of a side deflector structure was mainly induced by the turbulence on the structure surface. The amplitude of vibration was small and the vibration gradually converged in a few seconds without obvious regularity.

A rapid inexpensive evaluation and comparison of the cyclic properties of three steels used in the automotive industry is presented. This evaluation ranges from the endurance limit through the transition life and low cycle regions to the monotonic results. Smooth and notched specimens, tested in strain control and load control, respectively, provide data that are used to indicate notch sensitivity and size effects, cyclic strength and ductility, and cyclic deformation response. The effect of overloads on fatigue damage is given and prestrained smooth specimens demonstrate the possible effect of a few large plastic strain cycles on fatigue resistance. Overloaded notched specimens indicate reductions in life due to both large plastic strain cycles and the induced tensile residual stress. These data are suitable for direct insertion into the design process and also provide a broad base for continuing studies of cyclic behavior.

In the process of designing the aerodynamic kit for Formula SAE racing cars, there is a lot of repetitive work and low efficiency in optimizing parameters such as wing angle of attack and chord length. Moreover, the optimization of these parameters in past designs heavily relied on design experience and it's difficult to achieve the optimal solution through theoretical calculations. By establishing a parametric model in CAD software and integrating it with CFD software, we can automatically modify model parameters, run a large number of simulations, and analyze the simulation results using statistical methods. After multiple iterations, we achieve fully automatic parameter optimization and obtain higher negative lift. At the same time, the simulation process is optimized, and simulations are run based on GPUs, resulting in a significant increase in simulation speed compared to the original.

This work outlines the evaluation of static and dynamic dent resistance of medium scale structural assemblies fabricated using AA6111 and AA5754. The assemblies fabricated attempt to mimic common automotive hood designs allowing for a parametric study of the support spacing, sheet thickness and panel curvature. Closure panels of AA6111, of two thicknesses (0.8, and 0.9mm), are bonded to re-usable inner panels fabricated using AA5754 to form the structural assemblies tested. While normal practice would use the same alloy for both the inner and the outer, in the current work, AA5754 was adopted for ease of welding. Numerical simulations were performed using LS DYNA. A comparison of experimental and numerically simulated results is presented. The study attempts to establish an understanding of the relationship between structural support conditions and resulting dent depths for both static and dynamic loading conditions.

This paper presents a model for fatigue life prediction for metals subjected to variable amplitude service loading. The model, which is based on crack growth and crack closure mechanisms for short fatigue cracks, incorporates a strain-based damage parameter, EΔε*, determined from the effective or open part of a strain cycle along with a fatigue resistance curve that takes the form: EΔε* = A(Nf)b, where E is the elastic modulus, Nf is the number of cycles to failure, and A and b are experimentally determined material constants. The fatigue resistance curve is generated for a SAE 1045 steel and the model is used successfully to predict the fatigue lives of smooth axial specimens subjected to two variable amplitude strain histories. The model is also used to predict the magnitude of non-damaging cycles that can be omitted from the strain histories to accelerate fatigue testing.

Porous silicon as gas/chemical sensing material has been widely investigated in recent years. In this paper, the humidity sensing property of n-type porous silicon with ordered structure is studied for the first time. The ordered porous silicon used in this experiment has uniform pore size, pore shape and distribution. Both the membrane and closed bottom samples were studied. The resistance change of the porous silicon was measured. A 22-28% decrease of resistance was observed when relative humidity was changed from 1% to 100%. Both the response time and the recovery time were within 10 minutes, and 90% of the response can be reached in 6 minutes for the PS membrane sample. The possible sensing mechanism and future work are also discussed in this paper.

The hydraulic retarder, an important auxiliary brake, has been widely used in heavy vehicles. Under the non-braking working condition, the air resistance torque in the working chamber, which is formed by the rotor of hydraulic retarder's stirring the air, causes pumping loss. This research designs a new type of hydraulic retarder, whose helium is charged into working chamber through closed loop gas system under non-braking working condition, can reduce the parasitic power loss of transmission system. First, under non-braking working condition, the resistance characteristics are analyzed on the base of hydraulic retarder pumping model; then, considering some parameters, such as the volume of chambers and the initial gas pressure, the working chamber gas charge model is established, and the transient gas charge characteristics are also analyzed under non-braking working condition.

Direct injected natural gas diesel engines are currently being developed. Numerical analyses results are presented for 20.0 MPa (≈ 3000 psia; 200 atm), 444 K, natural gas injection into 4.0 MPa cylinder air where the ambient turbulence field is representative of diesel engines. Two very important non-intuitive, observations are made. First, the seemingly reasonable spatially uniform velocity profile currently used at the injector exit is not appropriate, rather a double-hump profile is correct. Second, a spatially uniform, injector exit, temperature profile results in local temperature overestimates as large as 300 K. Considering the strong role of temperature on chemical kinetics, this second observation may have profound implications on the validity of conclusions reached using uniform exit profiles.

In this study, a finite element software application (SORPAS®) is used to simulate the effect of pulsing on the expected weld thermal cycle during resistance spot welding (RSW). The predicted local cooling rates are used in combination with experimental observation to study the effect pulsing has on the microstructure and mechanical properties of Zn-coated DP600 AHSS (1.2mm thick) spot welds. Experimental observation of the weld microstructure was obtained by metallographic procedures and mechanical properties were determined by tensile shear testing. Microstructural changes in the weld metal and heat affect zone (HAZ) were characterized with respect to process parameters.

The underbody diffusers are used widely in race cars to improve the flow field structure at the bottom of the car and provide enough downforce. In recent years, passenger cars have begun to use bottom diffuser to improve aerodynamic characteristics, so as to reduce drag and increase downforce. In this paper, the aerodynamic characteristics of the bus with different underbody diffuser angles and channel numbers are studied by numerical simulation analysis. Firstly, the aerodynamics of the bus under different diffuser inlet and outlet angles are studied, and then an optimal inlet and outlet angle is determined based on the simulation results. Then, using this angle as a constant, the 2, 3, and 4 channel numbers were chosen as the diffuser channel variables to study the influence of the multiple-channel diffusers on the aerodynamic drag of the vehicle.

The autoignition delay of a turbulent methane jet in a Diesel-like environment is calculated by the conditional moment closure(CMC) model. Methane is injected into hot air in a constant volume chamber under various temperatures and pressures. Detailed chemical reaction mechanisms are implemented with turbulence-chemistry interaction treated by the first order CMC. The CMC model solves the conditional mean species mass fraction and temperature equations with the source term given in terms of the conditional mean quantities. The flow and mixing field are calculated by the transient SIMPLE algorithm with the k -ε model and the assumed beta function pdf. The CMC equations are solved by the fractional step method which sequentially treats the transport and chemical reaction terms in each time step. The predictions in quiescent homogeneous mixture are presented to evaluate the effects of turbulence in jet ignition.

The road feature has an important influence on the safe speed of the unmanned vehicle and the safe space between two vehicles. Real-time access to the features of the road ahead of time and timely adjustment of engine torque are significant to unmanned driving. Most of the researches nowadays make full use of vehicle sensor technology and environment perception technology. Vehicle sensor is widely used to collect the features of the road. While in this paper, a new type of road feature extraction is proposed based on vehicle speed change. Under the premise of less sensor installed, vehicle speed-time data series is collected. The pavement parameters can be estimated with vehicle speed. Based on the vehicle dynamics, this paper studies the relationship between vehicle speed and rolling resistance. Different road features have different influences on road friction resistance.

The concept of “bionic design” has driven the developments of automotive design. In this paper, a novel beak-shaped automotive tail fin with honeycomb cellular structure is proposed based on the idea of “bionic design”. Beak-shaped appearance is utilized to meet the requirement of aerodynamics performance, inner honeycomb cellular structure is filled to achieve more lightweight space. This paper starts from the establishment of three dimensional (3D) model based on the real characteristics of sparrow’s beak. On this basis, aerodynamic performances of novel beak-shaped tail fin and conventional shark tail fin are analyzed by experiment. Finally, the stiffness and modal analyses of solid beak-shaped tail fin and honeycomb beak-shaped tail fin are carried out respectively. The results indicate that the deformation of solid beak-shaped tail fin and honeycomb beak-shaped tail fin satisfy the basic requirements.

There are a large number of curves and slopes in the mountainous areas. Unreasonable acceleration and deceleration in these areas will increase the burden of the brake system and the fuel consumption of the vehicle. The main purpose of this paper is to introduce a speed planning and promotion system for commercial vehicles in mountainous areas. The wind, slope, curve, engine brake, and rolling resistances are analyzed to establish the thermal model of the brake system. Based on the thermal model, the safe speed of the brake system is acquired. The maximum safe speed on the turning section is generated by the vehicle dynamic model. And the economic speed is calculated according to the fuel consumption model. The planning speed is provided based on these models. This system can guide the driver to handle the vehicle speed more reasonably.

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 cold worked and induction hardened SAE1045 steel component exhibited excessive distortion after cold working and straightening, as well as cracking during straightening after induction hardening. Since the problems occurred only in certain heats of electric furnace (EF) steel, in which nitrogen content can vary widely and in some cases be quite high, and never occurred for basic oxygen furnace (BOF) steel for which nitrogen contents are uniformly low it was suspected that the source of the problem was low temperature nitrogen strain aging in heats of EF steel with a high nitrogen content. The measured distortion and mechanical properties at various stages in the fabrication process showed that while nitrogen content had no significant effect on the hot rolled steel the component distortion and strength after cold working and after induction hardening increased with increasing nitrogen content.

The hydraulic retarder, which is an auxiliary brake device for enhancing traffic safety, has been widely used in kinds of heavy commercial vehicles. When the vehicle equipped with the retarder is traveling in non-braking state, the transmission loss would be caused because of the stirring air between working wheels of the rotor and the stator no matter if the retarder connects in parallel or in series with the transmission [1]. This paper introduces an elaborate hydraulic retarder air-friction reduction system (AFRS) which consists of a vacuum generating module and pneumatic control module. AFRS works to reduce the air friction by decreasing the gas density between working wheels when the retarder is in non-braking state. The pneumatic control model of hydraulic retarder is built first. Then various driving conditions are considered to verify the performance of the AFRS. The stability of the AFRS is analyzed based on the complete driveline model.

It aims to study the unsteady flow characteristic of the side-view mirror wake field, and reduce the wind noise by means of unsteady flow control. In this paper, the PIV test in a wind tunnel is used to capture the unsteady flow in the wake field of the side-view mirror, which is used to verify the accuracy of the steady simulation method with RANS after being averaged. Then LES turbulence model is used to obtain the wind noise, and the unsteady flow characteristic like vortex shedding of the side-view mirror is studied. The results show that, in the wake of the side-view mirror, there is a vortex pair similar to Karman Vortex Street. In both horizontal and vertical sections, these two vortexes are respectively separated from the upper and lower edges of the side-view mirror. Accompanied by a significantly uncertain periodic shedding, they continue to extend back until dissipating.