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In a recent study, quantitative measurements were presented of in-cylinder spatial distributions of mixture equivalence ratio in a single-cylinder light-duty optical diesel engine, operated with a non-reactive mixture at conditions similar to an early injection low-temperature combustion mode. In the experiments a planar laser-induced fluorescence (PLIF) methodology was used to obtain local mixture equivalence ratio values based on a diesel fuel surrogate (75% n-heptane, 25% iso-octane), with a small fraction of toluene as fluorescing tracer (0.5% by mass). Significant changes in the mixture's structure and composition at the walls were observed due to increased charge motion at high swirl and injection pressure levels. This suggested a non-negligible impact on wall heat transfer and, ultimately, on efficiency and engine-out emissions.

A system was developed which provides nutrients and water to plants while maintaining good aeration at the roots and preventing water from escaping in reduced gravity. The nutrient solution is circulated through porous tubes under negative pressure and moves through the tube wall via capillary forces into the rooting matrix, establishing a non-saturated condition in the root zone. Tests using prototypes of the porous tube water and nutrient delivery system indicate that plant productivity in this system is equivalent to standard soil and solution culture growing procedures. The system has functioned successfully in short-term microgravity during parabolic flight tests and will be flown on the space shuttle. Plants are one of the components of a bioregenerative life support system required for long duration space missions.

A fundamentally based quasi-dimensional NOx emission model for spark ignition direct injection (SIDI) gasoline engines was developed. The NOx model consists of a chemical mechanism and three sub-models. The classical extended Zeldovich mechanism and N₂O pathway for NOx formation mechanism were employed as the chemical mechanism in the model. A characteristic time model for the radical species H, O and OH was incorporated to account for non-equilibrium of radical species during combustion. A model of homogeneity which correlates fundamental dimensionless numbers and mixing time was developed to model the air-fuel mixing and inhomogeneity of the charge. Since temperature has a dominant effect on NOx emission, a flame temperature correlation was developed to model the flame temperature during the combustion for NOx calculation. Measured NOx emission data from a single-cylinder SIDI research engine at different operating conditions was used to validate the NOx model.

Experiments were performed with a 4-stroke, natural gas fueled SI engine to investigate the effects of several parameters on engine performance under lean operating condition. A favorable effect of charge swirl on stable lean burn operation was observed at a conventional compression ratio. There was an optimum EGR rate which gave a substantial reduction in NOx emissions with minor penalties in efficiency and UHC emissions. Marginal improvement was noticed with lean operations in a long spark duration ignition system. The flame jet ignition system displayed noticeable capability in extending the lean limit. In addition, shadowgraph visualization tests were performed for combustion diagnostic purposes.

The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of fuel viscosity and the effects of nozzle inlet configuration on the characteristics of high injection pressure sprays. Three different viscosity fuels were used to reveal the effects of viscosity on the spray characteristics. The effects of nozzle inlet configuration on spray characteristics were studied using two mini-sac six-hole nozzles with different inlet configurations. A common rail injection system was used to introduce the spray at 90 MPa injection pressure into a constant volume chamber pressurized with argon gas. The information on high pressure transient sprays was captured by a high speed movie camera synchronized with a pulsed copper vapor laser. The images were analyzed to obtain the spray characteristics which include spray tip penetration, spray cone angle at two different regions, and overall spray Sauter Mean Diameter (SMD).

A transport equation residual model incorporating refined G-equation and detailed chemical kinetics combustion models has been developed and implemented in the ERC KIVA-3V release2 code for Gasoline Direct Injection (GDI) engine simulations for better predictions of flame propagation. In the transport equation residual model a fictitious species concept is introduced to account for the residual gases in the cylinder, which have a great effect on the laminar flame speed. The residual gases include CO2, H2O and N2 remaining from the previous engine cycle or introduced using EGR. This pseudo species is described by a transport equation. The transport equation residual model differentiates between CO2 and H2O from the previous engine cycle or EGR and that which is from the combustion products of the current engine cycle.

The simulation of combustion chemistry in internal combustion engines is challenging due to the need to include detailed reaction mechanisms to describe the engine physics. Computational times needed for coupling full chemistry to CFD simulations are still too computationally demanding, even when distributed computer systems are exploited. For these reasons the present paper proposes a time scale separation approach for the integration of the chemistry differential equations and applies it in an engine CFD code. The time scale separation is achieved through the estimation of a characteristic time for each of the species and the introduction of a sampling timestep, wherein the chemistry is subcycled during the overall integration. This allows explicit integration of the system to be carried out, and the step size is governed by tolerance requirements.

A new concept of misfire detection in spark ignition engines using a wide-range oxygen sensor is introduced. A wide-range oxygen sensor, installed at the confluence point of the exhaust manifold, was adopted to measure the variation in oxygen concentration in case of a misfire. The signals of the wide-range oxygen sensor were characterized over the various engine-operating conditions in order to decide the monitoring parameters for the detection of the misfire and the corresponding faulty cylinder. The effect of the sensor position, the transient response characteristics of the sensor and the cyclic variation in the signal fluctuation were also investigated. Limited response time of a commercially available sensor barely allowed to observe misfire. It was found that a misfiring could be distinguished more clearly from normal combustion through the differentiation of the sensor response signal. The differentiated signal has twin peaks for a single misfiring in a cylinder.

We present an approach in which an open-source software infrastructure is used for testing the behavior of autonomous vehicles through computer simulation. This software infrastructure is called CAVE, from Connected Autonomous Vehicle Emulator. As a software platform that allows rapid, low-cost and risk-free testing of novel designs, methods and software components, CAVE accelerates and democratizes research and development activities in the field of autonomous navigation.

Airflow characteristics surrounding non-evaporating transient diesel sprays were investigated using a 6-hole injector. Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) was used to measure the gas velocities surrounding a spray plume as a function of space and time. A hydraulically actuated, electronically controlled unit injector (HEUI) system was used to supply the fuel into a pressurized constant volume chamber at room temperature. The chamber gas densities in this study were 10 kg/m3, 20 kg/m3 and 30 kg/m3. The injection pressure was 96.5 MPa. Two frequency doubled (532 nm) Nd:YAG lasers were used to create coincident laser sheets to illuminate the test section at two instances after start of injection (ASI). The double exposed images of sprays and Al2O3 seed particles were developed and velocity vectors of the gas surrounding the transient diesel sprays were obtained using a numerical autocorrelation PIV method.

Two distinct atomization strategies are contrasted through the measurement of time and spatially dependent mass flux. The two systems investigated include a pressure atomizer (6.9 MPa opening pressure) and an air-assist atomizer. Both systems have potential for use in direct injection spark ignition engines. The mass flux data presented were obtained using a spray patternator that was developed to allow phased sampling of the spray. The temporal mass related history of the spray was reconstructed as volume versus time plots and interpolated mass flux contour plots. Results indicate substantial differences in the distribution of both mass and mass flux in space and time for the two injection systems. For example, the pressure atomizer at high mass delivery rates produced a spray that collapsed into a dispersed cylindrical shape while at low rates, generated a hollow cone structure.

This paper presents the results of an experimental program in which a Texaco L-163S engine was fueled with methanol and operated in its traditional stratified charge mode and then modified to run as a homogeneous charge spark ignited engine. The primary data taken were the aldehyde and unburned fuel emissions (UBF). These data were taken using a continuous time-averaging sampling probe at the exhaust tank and at the exhaust port and with a rotary time-resolving sampling valve located at the exhaust port. The data are for two loads, 138.1 kPa (20 psi) and 207.1 kPa (30 psi) BMEP and three speeds, 1000, 1400 and 1800 rpm. The data indicate that for both the stratified charge and the homogeneous charge modes of operation formaldehyde was the only aldehyde detected in the exhaust and it primarily originated in the cylinder.

An experimental study was conducted using the dumping technique (total cylinder sampling) to produce cylinder mass-averaged nitric oxide histories. Data were taken using a four stroke diesel research engine employing a quiescent chamber, high pressure direct injection fuel system, and simulated turbocharging. Two fuels were used to determine fuel cetane number effects. Two loads were run, one at an equivalence ratio of 0.5 and the other at a ratio of 0.3. The engine speed was held constant at 1500 rpm. Under the turbocharged and retarded timing conditions of this study, nitric oxide was produced up to the point of about 85% mass burned. Two different models were used to simulate the engine run conditions: the phenomenological Hiroyasu spray-combustion model, and the three dimensional, U.W.-ERC modified KIVA-II computational fluid dynamic code. Both of the models predicted the correct nitric oxide trend.

A hydrostatic dynamometer capable of accurately controlling the speed and torque of an engine has been designed and constructed. The thrust of this work is not only to build a better dynamometer, it is the first step in creating a system for laboratory simulation of the actual load environment of engines and powertrains. This paper presents the design, construction, and evaluation of a hydrostatic dynamometer. The evaluation includes speed and torque limits, and bandwidth of the dynamometer. Also, the dynamometer is compared with those in common use, and the feasibility of accurately reproducing the engine or powertrain load environments are assessed. This is the first phase of a development program; future research is discussed.

An experimental study was performed to investigate diesel particulate filter (DPF) performance during filtration with the use of real-time measurement equipment. Three operating conditions of a single-cylinder 2.3-liter D.I. heavy-duty diesel engine were selected to generate distinct types of diesel particulate matter (PM) in terms of chemical composition, concentration, and size distribution. Four substrates, with a range of geometric and physical parameters, were studied to observe the effect on filtration characteristics. Real-time filtration performance indicators such as pressure drop and filtration efficiency were investigated using real-time PM size distribution and a mass analyzer. Types of filtration efficiency included: mass-based, number-based, and fractional (based on particle diameter). In addition, time integrated measurements were taken with a Rupprecht & Patashnick Tapered Element Oscillating Microbalance (TEOM), Teflon and quartz filters.

An investigation of several diesel injector nozzles that produced different engine emissions performance was performed. The nozzle styles used were two VCO type nozzles that were manufactured using two different techniques, and two mini-sac nozzles that provided comparison. Fired experiments were conducted on a Detroit Diesel Series 50 engine. Optical access was obtained by substituting a sapphire window for one exhaust valve. Under high speed, high load, retarded injection timing conditions, it was discovered that each nozzle produced different specific soot and NOx emissions. High-speed film images were obtained. It was discovered that the temperature and KL factor results from the 2-color optical pyrometry showed significant differences between the nozzles. The authors propose the possibility that differences in air entrainment, caused by potential differences in CD due to surface finish, may contribute to the variance in emissions performance.

Combustion under stratified operating conditions in a direct-injection spark-ignition engine was investigated using simultaneous planar laser-induced fluorescence imaging of the fuel distribution (via 3-pentanone doped into the fuel) and the combustion products (via OH, which occurs naturally). The simultaneous images allow direct determination of the flame front location under highly stratified conditions where the flame, or product, location is not uniquely identified by the absence of fuel. The 3-pentanone images were quantified, and an edge detection algorithm was developed and applied to the OH data to identify the flame front position. The result was the compilation of local flame-front equivalence ratio probability density functions (PDFs) for engine operating conditions at 600 and 1200 rpm and engine loads varying from equivalence ratios of 0.89 to 0.32 with an unthrottled intake. Homogeneous conditions were used to verify the integrity of the method.

Progress on the development and validation of a CFD model for diesel engine combustion and flow is described. A modified version of the KIVA code is used for the computations, with improved submodels for liquid breakup, drop distortion and drag, spray/wall impingement with rebounding, sliding and breaking-up drops, wall heat transfer with unsteadiness and compressibility, multistep kinetics ignition and laminar-turbulent characteristic time combustion models, Zeldovich NOx formation, and soot formation with Nagle Strickland-Constable oxidation. The code also considers piston-cylinder-liner crevice flows and allows computations of the intake flow process in the realistic engine geometry with two moving intake valves. Significant progress has been made using a modified RNG k-ε turbulence model, and a multicomponent fuel vaporization model and a flamelet combustion model have been implemented.

Dimethyl Ether (DME) has been considered as one of the most attractive alternative fuels for compression ignition engine. Its main advantage in compression-ignition engine application is high efficiency of diesel cycle with soot free combustion though conventional fuel injection system has to be modified due to the intrinsic properties of the DME. Experimental study of the DME and conventional diesel spray employing a common-rail type fuel injection system with a sac type injector was performed in a constant volume vessel pressurized by nitrogen gas. A CCD camera was employed to capture time series of spray images, so that spray cone angles and penetrations of the DME spray were characterized and compared with those of diesel. Intermittent hesitating DME spray appeared at injection pressures of 25MPa and 40MPa in both atmospheric and 3MPa chamber pressures.

A direct calibration has been performed on laser-induced fluorescence measurements of the oil film in a single cylinder air-cooled research engine by simultaneously measuring the minimum oil film thickness by the capacitance technique. At the minimum oil film thickness the capacitance technique provides an accurate measure of the ring-wall distance, and this value is used as a reference for the photomultiplier voltage, giving a calibration coefficient. This calibration coefficient directly accounts for the effect of temperature on the fluorescent properties of the constituents of the oil which are photoactive. The inability to accurately know the temperature of the oil has limited the utility of off-engine calibration techniques. Data are presented for the engine under motoring conditions at speeds from 800 - 2400 rpm and under varying throttle positions.