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An essential feature of the Audi Quattro permanent four-wheel drive system is in the inter-axle differential located on the hollow output shaft in the gearbox: the drive is taken from this differential forward to the front differential through the inside of the hollow shaft, and rearward to a propellor shaft driving the rear differential. The major advantages in everyday driving include improved traction and a reduced tendency toward throttle induced changes of attitude. The greater traction allows not only better progress in difficult road conditions; it also gives better acceleration in difficult traffic situations, such as when joining a busy main road. The more easily predictable handling response to throttle changes means that Quattro vehicles have better tracking stability. Altogether, the active safety and "roadability" are considerably improved.

A 10 KWe dual-mode space power system concept has been identified which is based on INEL's Small Externally-fueled Heat Pipe Thermionic Reactor (SEHPTR) concept. This power system will enhance user capabilities by providing reliable electric power and by providing two propulsion systems; electric power for an arc-jet electric propulsion system and direct thrust by heating hydrogen propellant inside the reactor. The low thrust electric thrusters allow efficient station keeping and long-term maneuvering. The direct thrust capability can provide tens of pounds of thrust at a specific impulse of around 730 seconds for maneuvers that must be performed more rapidly. The direct thrust allows the nuclear power system to move a payload from Low Earth Orbit (LEO) to Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO) in less than one month using approximately half the propellant of a cryogenic chemical stage.

Panic braking can cause an “in-position” unbelted occupant to become “out-of-position.” Although the braking event dynamics and initial positioning of the occupant affect the final position at time of impact (if any), general trends are assumed. FMVSS208 now includes “out-of-position” (OOP) performance for Anthropomorphic Test Devices (ATDs) sizes twelve month to six year-old. Airbag suppression technologies currently address that range of OOP occupants. The objective of this study is to develop an approach to defining OOP test positions for the recently released 10 year old ATD and to assist restraint engineers in developing strategies to help reduce the risk of inflation induced injury to the larger out-of-position child. A series of panic brake tests was conducted with the 10 year-old Hybrid III to study panic braking kinematics. Antilock braking (ABS) generated the desired constant deceleration from high initial speeds (40 to 60mph) in three types of vehicles.

A first attempt to study civil aircraft operations comprehensively, prior to having the airplane, occurred before the initial operation of U.S. subsonic jets. One airline carried out a manual-simulated “paper jet” operation lasting fifteen months. Today, computerized simulation of machines, methods, and operations has become commonplace, and replaces the slide rule and tedious day-by-day inputs of aircraft operational criteria. Computerized simulations are also applied to every aspect of the SST design and operations. These are important, but the results being should be used with caution and judgement.

An air cushion restraint system has been available to the public on certain model passenger cars since January 1974. In response to this opportunity to obtain field experience, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has established a nationwide reporting network and investigative capability for accidents involving air-bag equipped cars. The reporting criteria for accidents require that the car be towed as a result of the accident, or that a front-seat occupant was injured, or that bag deployment occurred. The principal objective is to obtain the injury-reducing effectiveness of this restraint system in the total accident environment. This environment encompasses “towaway” accidents resulting in bag deployment and non-deployment. Definitive results are expected at the conclusion of the study. This paper summarizes the experience during the first year of the program, during which time the rate of accident occurrence was far less than originally expected.

This paper presents a summary of body structural analysis applied to the 1989 Suzuki Sidekick/Geo Tracker at various stages of development and design. The structure analysis techniques were applied previously to rigidity, vibration, strength, crashworthiness and optimization. The studies confirm that the CAE technique for body structure analysis is more beneficial if it is utilized in the earlier structure development stages particularly for vibration and crashworthiness. Through the extensive use of the structural analysis technique in conjunction with the experiment, the design concept of the Sidekick/Tracker body has been optimized to a most extent.

The Cardinal is a Super Short Takeoff and Landing (SSTOL) aircraft, which is designed to fulfill the desire for center-city to center-city travel by utilizing river “barges” for short takeoffs and landings to avoid construction of new runways or heliports. In addition, the Cardinal will fulfill the needs of the U.S. Navy for a Carrier On-board Delivery (COD) aircraft to replace the C-2 Greyhound. Design requirements for the Cardinal included a takeoff ground roll of 300 ft, a landing ground roll of 400 ft, cruise at 350 knots with a range of up to 1500 nm with reserves, payload of 24 passengers and baggage for a commercial version or a military version with a 10,000 lb payload, capable of carrying two GE F110 engines for the F-14D, and a spot factor requirement of 60 feet by 29 feet.

Most of current jet aircraft circulate fuel on the airframe to match heat loads with available heat sink. The demands for thermal management in wide range of air vehicle systems are growing rapidly along with the increased mission power, vehicle survivability, flight speeds, and so on. With improved aircraft performance and growth of heat load created by Aircraft Mounted Accessory Drive (AMAD) system and hydraulic system, effectively removing the large amount of heat load on the aircraft is gaining crucial importance. Fuel is becoming heat transfer fluid of choice for aircraft thermal management since it offers improved heat transfer characteristics and offers fewer system penalties than air. In the scope of this paper, an AMESim model is built which includes airframe fuel and hydraulic systems with AMAD gearbox of a jet trainer aircraft. The integrated model will be evaluated for thermal performance.

Recently, society has demanded better performance from motorcycle regarding comfort, fuel economy, exhaust emission, and safety, in addition to traditional performance indicators. In the development of power trains, therefore, compact and lightweight hardware with improved transmission efficiency has been introduced, along with system technologies that optimize the engine revolution speed range and reduction ratio to suit driving conditions. This approach focuses on improving overall efficiency and addressing the issues of easier drivability and greater active safety. Electronic Controlled Continuously Variable Transmission (ECCVT) with high transmission efficiency is characterized by a Dry Hybrid Belt, in addition to an electronic controlled DC motor-driven shift mechanism, and an Electronic Controlled wet multi-plates Clutch (ECC).

Although in-cylinder optical diagnostics have provided significant understanding of conventional diesel combustion, most alternative combustion strategies have not yet been explored to the same extent. In an effort to build the knowledge base for alternative low-temperature combustion strategies, this paper presents a comparison of three alternative low-temperature combustion strategies to two high-temperature conventional diesel combustion conditions. The baseline conditions, representative of conventional high-temperature diesel combustion, have either a short or a long ignition delay. The other three conditions are representative of some alternative combustion strategies, employing significant charge-gas dilution along with either early or late fuel injection, or a combination of both (double-injection).

Cross-sectional distributions of the liquid phase temperatures in fuel sprays were measured using a laser-induced fluorescence technique. The liquid fuel (n-hexadecane or squalane) was doped with pyrene(C16H10). The fluorescence intensity ratios of the pyrene monomer and excimer emissions has temperature dependence, and were used to determine the liquid phase temperatures in the fuel sprays. The measurements were performed on two kinds of sprays. One was performed on pre-heated fuel sprays injected into surrounding gas at atmospheric conditions. The other was performed on fuel sprays exposed to hot gas flow. The spray was excited by laser radiation at 266nm, and the resulting fluorescence was imaged by an intensified CCD camera. The cross-sectional distribution of the liquid phase temperature was estimated from the fluorescence image by the temperature dependence of the intensity ratio.

Structure enhancement based on data monitored in a traditional side impact evaluation is primarily a trial and error exercise resulting in a large number of computer runs. This is because how the structure gets loaded and the degree of contribution of local structural components to resist the impact while absorbing energy during a side collision is not completely known. Developing real time complete load profiles on a body side during the time span of an impact is not an easy task and these loads cannot be calculated from that calculated at the barrier mounting plate. This paper highlights the load distribution, calculated by a procedure using computer aided engineering (CAE) tools, on a typical 2-door vehicle body side when struck by moving deformable barriers used in the insurance institute for highway safety (IIHS), EuroNCAP and LINCAP side impact evaluations.

A test program was conducted to characterize the impact response of an experimental 2-ply windshield construction with a polyurethane (PUR) plastic inner layer. Windshield impact tests were conducted using a linear impactor test facility. Principle among the findings was that the impact response of prototype PUR 2-ply windshields does not differ that significantly from that of baseline 3-ply HPR (High Penetration Resistance) windshields for the subcompact vehicle geometry tested. However, the impact responses of both PUR 2-ply and 3-ply HPR subcompact vehicle windshields were found to be highly variable. Average performance of either construction could thus be enhanced if ways could be found (and then implemented) to reduce this variability.

A test program was conducted to characterize the impact response of an experimental 2-ply windshield construction with a polyvinyl butyral / polyester (PVB/PET) inner plastic laminate. Windshield impact tests were conducted using a linear impactor test facility. Principal among the findings was that the measured impact response of prototype PVB/PET 2-ply windshields was highly variable. Average performance of this construction could thus be improved if ways could be found (and then implemented) to reduce this variability.

The paper presents a numerical study aimed at converting a commercial lightweight 2-Stroke Indirect Injection (IDI) Diesel aircraft engine to Direct Injection(DI). First, a CFD-1D model of the IDI engine was built and calibrated against experiments at the dynamometer bench. This model is the baseline for the comparison between the IDI and the DI combustion systems. The DI chamber design was supported by extensive 3D-CFD simulations, using a customized version of the KIVA-3V code. Once a satisfactory combustion system was identified, its heat release and wall transfer patterns were entered in the CFD-1D model, and a comparison between the IDI and the DI engine was performed, considering the same Air-Fuel Ratio limit. It was found that the DI combustion system yields several advantages: better take-off performance (higher power output), lower fuel consumption at cruise conditions, improved altitude performance, reduced cooling requirements.

The paper describes a numerical study, supported by experiments, on light aircraft 2-Stroke Direct Injected Diesel engines, typically rated up to 110 kW (corresponding to about 150 imperial HP). The engines must be as light as possible and they are to be directly coupled to the propeller, without reduction drive. The ensuing main design constraints are: i) in-cylinder peak pressure as low as possible (typically, no more than 120 bar); ii) maximum rotational speed limited to 2600 rpm. As far as exhaust emissions are concerned, piston aircraft engines remain unregulated but lack of visible smoke is a customer requirement, so that a value of 1 is assumed as maximum Smoke number. For the reasons clarified in the paper, only three cylinder in line engines are investigated. Reference is made to two types of scavenging and combustion systems, designed by the authors with the assistance of state-of-the-art CFD tools and described in detail in a parallel paper.

Airbag systems have been part of passenger car and truck programs since the mid-1980's. However, systems designed for medium and heavy duty truck applications are relatively new. The release of airbag systems for medium duty truck has provided some unique challenges, especially for the airbag sensing systems. Because of the many commercial applications within the medium duty market, the diversity of the sensing environments must be considered when designing and calibrating the airbag sensing system. The 2003 Chevrolet Kodiak and GMC TopKick airbag sensing development included significant work, not only on the development of airbag deployment events but also non-deployment events – events which do not require the airbag to deploy. This paper describes the process used to develop the airbag sensing system deployment events and non-deployment event used in the airbag sensing system calibration.

The accuracy of the Powertrain Control Module (PCM) Event Data Recorder (EDR) was tested on a 2009 Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor during both straight line steady state conditions and maximum ABS braking, at the Michigan State Police training facility in Lansing, MI. Six runs were made starting from 64 km/h (40 mph) and six runs starting from 96km/h (60 mph). Data was collected from the PCM EDR and the primary speed reference instrumentation was a Racelogic VBOX III (with IMU) 100 Hz differential GPS speed data acquisition system. On selected runs Radar was used as additional steady state speed verification and for the braking portion a Vericom 3000 was used to verify speed loss and calculated stop distance. Visible ABS tire marks were documented following each test, and the length of marks was compared to the calculated braking distance from each measurement device. Graphs of PCM speed/brake/accel pedal data versus VBOX speed over time are presented.

The U. S. Coast Guard has recently put into service new 210 ft cutters designed for search and rescue work, law enforcement, oceanographic work, and possible future ASW. This paper outlines the structure and capabilities of the vessel. An important feature of the cutter is its helicopter handling facilities, which have greatly increased the cutter's search and rescue capability by extending the area it can cover. The cutter is the first in Coast Guard service to be powered by a combination diesel engine and gas turbine installation. The combination gives a top speed of 18 knots and a cruising range of 5000 miles.

Aircraft potable (drinking) water systems haven’t changed significantly in the last half-century. These systems consist of cylindrical water tanks pressurized by bleed air from the jet engines, with insulated stainless steel distribution lines. What has changed recently is the increase in the possibility of aircraft picking up contaminated drinking water at foreign and domestic stops. Customer awareness of these problems has also changed - to the point where having reliable drinking water is now a competitive issue among airlines. Old style potable water systems that are used on modern aircraft are high maintenance and exacerbate the growth of microbes because the water is static much of the time. The integrity of some pressurized water tanks are also a concern after years of use. Cost-effective mechanical and biological solutions exist that can significantly reduce the amount of chemicals added and provide good potable water.