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Wheel Aerodynamics is an important part of vehicle aerodynamics. The wheels can notably influence the total aerodynamic drag, lift and ventilation drag of vehicles. In order to simulate the real on-road condition of driving cars, the moving ground and wheel rotation is of major importance in CFD. However, the wheel rotation condition is difficult to be represented exactly, so this is still a critical topic which needs to be worked on. In this paper, a study, which focuses on two types of cars: a fastback sedan and a notchback DrivAer, is conducted. Comparing three different wheel rotating simulation methods: steady Moving wall, MRF and unsteady Sliding Mesh, the effects of different methods for the numerical simulation of vehicle aerodynamics are revealed. Discrepancies of aerodynamic forces between the methods are discussed as well as the flow field, and the simulation results are also compared with published experimental data for validation.

A rapid path-planning algorithm that generates drivable paths for an autonomous vehicle operating in structural road is proposed in this paper. Cubic B-spline curve is adopted to generating smooth path for continuous curvature and, more, parametric basic points of the spline is adjusted to controlling the curvature extremum for kinematic constraints on vehicle. Other than previous approaches such as inverse kinematics, model-based prediction postprocess approach or closed-loop forward simulation, using the kinematics model in each iteration of path for smoothing and controlling curvature leading to time consumption increasing, our method characterized the vehicle curvature constraint by the minimum length of segment line, which synchronously realized constraint and smooth for generating path. And Differ from the path of robot escaping from a maze, the intelligent vehicle traveling on road in structured environments needs to meet the traffic rules.

Combustion diagnostics of highly diluted mixtures are essential for the estimation of the combustion quality, and control of combustion timing in advanced combustion systems. In this paper, a novel fast response flame detection technique based on active plasma is introduced and investigated. Different from the conventional ion current sensing used in internal combustion engines, a separate electrode gap is used in the detecting probing. Further, the detecting voltage across the electrode gap is modulated actively using a multi-coil system to be slightly below the breakdown threshold before flame arrival. Once the flame front arrives at the probe, the ions on the flame front tend to decrease the breakdown voltage threshold and trigger a breakdown event. Simultaneous electrical and optical measurements are employed to investigate the flame detecting efficacy via active plasma probing under both quiescent and flow conditions.

The vibration characteristics of hybrid vehicles are very different from that of traditional fuel vehicles. In this paper, the active and passive control schemes are used to inhibit the vibration issues in vehicle hybrid powertrain system. Firstly the torsional vibration mechanical model including engine, motor and planetary gear subsystems is established. Then the transient vibration responses of typical working condition are analyzed through power control strategy. Consequently the active and passive control of torsional vibration in hybrid powertrain system is proposed. The active control of the motor and generator torque is designed and the vehicle longitudinal vibration is reduced. The vibration of the planetary gear system is ameliorated with passive control method by adding torsional vibration absorbers to power units. The vibration characteristics in vehicle hybrid powertrain system are effectively improved through the active and passive control.

As turbulence modeling has become an indispensable approach to perform flow simulation in a wide range of industrial applications, how to enhance the prediction accuracy has gained increasing attention during the past years. Of all the turbulence models, RANS is the most common choice for many OEMs due to its short turn-around time and strong robustness. However, the default setting of RANS is usually benchmarked through classical and well-studied engineering examples, not always suitable for resolving complex flows in specific circumstances. Many previous researches have suggested a small tuning in turbulence model coefficients could achieve higher accuracy on a variety of flow scenarios. Instead of adjusting parameters by trial and error from experience, this paper introduced a new data-driven method of turbulence model recalibration using adjoint solver, based on Generalized k-ω (GEKO) model, one variant of RANS.

An online fault detection and isolation (FDI) method for several common sensor faults and even demagnetization of PMSM is proposed by combining model-based and signal analysis technology. To begin with, the field reconstruction method (FRM) of PMSM is employed to obtain the flux residuals which are used as the criterion of fault detection. Then, the flux residuals are transformed by multi sequence harmonic synchronous rotating transformation and inputted into low pass filters (LPFs) in order to obtain the DC components. Last, offset and gain faults of the two phase current sensors, offset fault of the rotor angle sensor and permanent magnet (PM) demagnetization can be isolated by comparing the DC components and preset thresholds. The detection and isolation strategy of PMSM is validated by motor controller hardware in motor bench tests.

Based on the emergency lane change cases extracted from the China naturalistic driving data, the driving steering behavior divides into three phases: collision avoidance, lateral movement and steering stabilization. Using the steering primitive fitting by Gaussian function, the distribution of the duration time, the relationship between steering wheel rate and deflection were analyzed in three phases. It is shown that the steering behavior essentially is composed of steering primitives during the emergency lane-change. However, the combination of the steering primitives is different according to the specific steering constraints in three phases. In the collision avoidance phase, a single steering primitive with high peak is used for the fast steering; in the lateral movement and stabilization phase, a combination of two or even more steering primitives is built to a more accurate steering.

Noise signals of the driver’s right ear include those of engine, environment, chassis dynamometer, loaded gears and unloaded gears when they are recorded in full vehicle on chassis dynamometer in semi-anechoic room. Gear rattle noise signals of the driver’s right ear caused by unloaded gear pairs can’t be identified or quantified directly. To solve the problems, relative approaches are used to identify and quantify the gear rattle noise signals. Firstly, the rattle noise signals of the driver’s right ear are filtered by human ear characteristic functions and steady noise signals are extracted by regression and smoothing processes. The noise signals are regressed at 200ms interval in the hearing critical frequency bands and smoothed in the flanking frequencies. Then, the noise relative approaches are obtained by subtracting the steady noise signals from the filtered noise signals, which are the transient noise signals of the unloaded gear pairs inducing the rattle noise.

With the increasing application of turbochargers on internal combustion engines, there are more and more examples of vibration faults in turbochargers. The dynamics characteristics of the bearing-rotor system of engine turbocharger systems have received extensive attention. The bearing-rotor system dynamics is a discipline that couples bearing fluid lubrication research and rotor dynamics. The lubrication characteristics of the bearing and the dynamic characteristics of the rotor must be studied at the same time. In this paper, the lubrication model of floating ring bearing of turbocharger is established, and the viscosity lubrication condition considering heat transfer effect is obtained. Based on the Capone cylindrical bearing oil film force model, the nonlinear oil film force equation of the floating ring bearing is deduced. Further the dynamic model of the Jeffcott rotor-floating ring bearing system is established.

A driver steering model for emergency lane change based on the China naturalistic driving data is proposed in this paper. The steering characteristic of three phases is analyzed. Using the steering primitive fitting by Gaussian function, the steering behaviors in collision avoidance and lateral movement phases can be described, and the stabilization steering principle of yaw rate null is found. Based on the steering characteristic, the near and far aim point used in steering phases is analyzed. Using the near and far aim point correction model, a driver steering model for emergency lane change is established. The research results show that the driver emergency steering model proposed in this paper performs well when explaining realistic steering behavior, and this model can be used in developing the ADAS system.

In recent years, with the development of computing infrastructure and methods, the potential of numerical methods to reasonably predict aerodynamic noise in turbocharger compressors of heavy-duty diesel engines has increased. However, aerodynamic acoustic modeling of complex geometries and flow systems is currently immature, mainly due to the greater challenges in accurately characterizing turbulent viscous flows. Therefore, recent advances in aerodynamic noise calculations for automotive turbocharger compressors were reviewed and a quantitative study of the effects for turbulence models (Shear-Stress Transport (SST) and Detached Eddy Simulation (DES)) and time-steps (2° and 4°) in numerical simulations on the performance and acoustic prediction of a compressor under various conditions were investigated.

High-nickel lithium-ion batteries extend the driving mileage of electric vehicles (EVs) to 600km without much cost increment. However, thermal accidents commonly occur due to their poor thermal stability, such as thermal runaway. To address the issue, a comprehensive analysis of the thermal runaway behavior of high-nickel lithium-ion batteries with different specifications is conducted. The thermal runaway process is divided into five stages based on self-heating generation, voltage drop, safety valve rupture, and thermal runaway triggering for the three tested cells. The three tested cells demonstrate similar behaviors during each stage of the thermal runaway process. However, there are still apparent differences between their characteristics. This study analyses the thermal runaway features from the following aspects: (i) characteristic temperature; (ii) the relationship between sudden voltage drop and characteristic temperatures; (iii) temperature recovery; (iv) thermodynamics.

Electric centrifugal air compressor is one of the most important auxiliary components for the fuel cell engine, which has great impacts on the system efficiency, cost and compactness. However, the centrifugal compressor works at an ultra-high speed for a long time, which poses a great challenge to the lives of motor, bearing and seal. Therefore, reducing the rotating speed of the impeller and maintaining high pressure ratio and high efficiency are important issues for aerodynamic design of the compressor. In this paper, a centrifugal compressor rotor for a 100kW fuel cell system is designed. Aiming at reducing the rotating speed, the influences of three key structural parameters including inlet blade angle, outlet blade angle and blade outlet radius on performance are investigated. The aerodynamic performance of the compressor is predicted using the Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations with computational fluid dynamic (CFD) tools.

A specially designed generator has been developed to produce poly-disperse droplet streams: A liquid fuel (n-heptane) is metered to an ultrasonic atomizer to produce droplets, which are then carried and accelerated vertically upwards through a nozzle tube by carrier-air flow. Conditions of the streams at the nozzle exit are modulated by varying the length of nozzle tubes, the fuel and carrier-air flow rate. Optical measurement techniques such as direct photography method, schlieren photography and particle image velocimetry (PIV) are employed to characterize its performance characteristics. Effects of the nozzle tube length, the carrier-air and fuel flow rate are investigated to evaluate the performance of the generator. Longer nozzle tubes provide a better flow guidance for the carrier-air, and tend to generate streams with less and smaller droplets due to the transporting losses.

A Controllable Active Thermo-Atmosphere (CATA) Combustor enables the investigation of stabilization mechanisms in an environment that decouples the turbulent chemical kinetics from the complex recirculating flow. Previous studies on combustion of the low-pressure fuel jets in the Controllable Active Thermo-Atmosphere (CATA) showed non-linear effect of coflow temperature on autoignition delay and the randomness of autoignition sites. In this work, a diesel spray is injected into the CATA with the injection pressure at 20MPa from a single-hole injector and the autoignition and combustion process of the spray is recorded by a high-speed camera video. The multipoint autoignition of diesel spray is observed in the CATA and the subsequent combustion process is analyzed. The results show that autoignition phenomenon plays an important role in the stabilization of the lifted flames of diesel spray under low coflow temperature.

Based on a 1:15 scaled 3/4 open jet automotive wind tunnel, this paper studies the effect of vortex generator on the buffeting phenomenon. The mean velocity, static pressure gradient, turbulent intensity as well as frequencies of fluctuant velocities have been explored experimentally with and without vortex generator. It shows that the less protruding vortex generator could control the buffeting phenomenon and improve the flow quality. Furthermore, the unsteady coherent structures in the jet shear layer have been visualized and analyzed by Detached-eddy simulation (DES). The vortex-ring pairing process is identified in the shear layer along with obvious frequency characteristics and velocity fluctuations. The vortex generator can postpone and restrain this vortex-ring pairing process, then reducing the velocity fluctuations.

External rear view mirror is attached at the side of the vehicle which is to permit clear vision for the driver to the rear of the vehicle. When the vehicle is running, the flow field around external rear view mirror is highly three-dimensional, unsteady, separated and turbulent which is known to be a significant source of aerodynamic noise and a contributor to the total drag force on the vehicle. While among all the researches on the flow field around external rear view mirror, different installation environment were employed. The external rear view mirror is mounted on a production car in most researches which presents the real condition and it can also be mounted on the ground of a wind tunnel, a specially designed table, or a generic vehicle model based on the SAE model. While, the relationship between the flow field around external rear view mirror and the installation environment is not very clear.

Argon Power Cycle (APC) is an innovative future potential power system for high efficiency and zero emissions, which employs an Ar-O2 mixture rather than air as the working substance. However, APC hydrogen engines face the challenge of knock suppression. Compared to hydrogen, methane has a better anti-knock capacity and thus is an excellent potential fuel for APC engines. In previous studies, the methane is injected into the intake port. Nevertheless, for lean combustion, the stratified in-cylinder mixture formed by methane direct injection has superior combustion performances. Therefore, based on a methane direct injection engine at compression ratio = 9.6 and 1000 r/min, this study experimentally investigates the effects of replacing air by an Ar-O2 mixture (79%Ar+21%O2) on thermal efficiencies, loads, and other combustion characteristics under different excess oxygen ratios. Meanwhile, the influences of varying the methane injection timing are studied.

The application of Li(Ni0.8Co0.1Mn0.1)O2 (NCM811) cathode-based lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) has alleviated electric vehicle range anxiety. However, the subsequent thermal safety issues limit their market acceptance. A detailed analysis of the failure evolution process for large-format LIBs is necessary to address the thermal safety issue. In this study, prismatic cells with nominal capacities of 144Ah and 125Ah are used to investigate the thermal runaway (TR) characteristics triggered by lateral overheating. Additionally, TR characteristics under two states of charge (SoCs) (100% and 5%) are discussed. Two cells with 100% SoC exhibit similar characteristics, including high failure temperature, high inhomogeneity of temperature distribution, multi-points jet fire, and significant mass loss. Two cells with 5% SoC demonstrate only a slight rupture of the safety valve and the emission of white smoke.

Sealing system is an important subsystem of modern high-performance engine. Sealing system reliability directly affects the engine operating conditions. Cylinder head gaskets(CHG) sealing system is of the most importance to the engine sealing system, which is not only responsible for sealing chamber, the cooling fluid and lubricating oil passage, for preventing gas leakage, water leakage and oil leakage, but also responsible for force transferring between cylinder head and cylinder body. Basing on nonlinear solution method, the sealing performance of multi-layer-steel cylinder head gaskets to a gasoline engine is studied with the finite element software ABAQUS. The deformations of the cylinder liners and engine block are also considered.