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Improving Future Vehicle Fuel Economy And Operational Design Domain Through Novel Data Pipelines, Kyle James Carow
Improving Future Vehicle Fuel Economy And Operational Design Domain Through Novel Data Pipelines, Kyle James Carow
Masters Theses
Modern automobiles have greatly advanced in recent years, with technological developments that enhance performance, safety, and comfort. However, there is still much room for improvement. Today’s vehicles are heavily reliant on the combustion of fossil fuels, proven to be harmful for the environment on both a local and global scale. In addition, the safety benefits of autonomous vehicles and advanced driver assistance systems are not yet fully realized due to the limited operational design domain of these technologies. In this research, these needs are addressed through the development of two novel data pipelines. In the first study, a novel methodology …
Gearbox Baffle Optimization, Megan Arduin
Gearbox Baffle Optimization, Megan Arduin
Masters Theses
Current literature reveals there is limited consensus on the placement of baffles within a gearbox to reduce churning losses. Thus, there is a need for a process to identify baffle clearances that result in maximum and minimum churning losses. There are two types of baffles: axial and radial. While both axial and radial baffles cause reductions in churning losses to various degrees, the focus is on the effect of radial baffles. The effect of a board (rectangular plate) baffle location on the churning losses of a single gear gearbox are evaluated using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) implemented in Ansys. Several …
Cfd Study Of Aerodynamic Drag Reduction Tool Of A Generic Sports Utility Vehicle (Suv), Samira Ishrat Jahan
Cfd Study Of Aerodynamic Drag Reduction Tool Of A Generic Sports Utility Vehicle (Suv), Samira Ishrat Jahan
Masters Theses
The Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) has been a popular automobile choice in North America for over 50 years due to its seating and hauling versatility and good towing capacity. This widespread popularity has resulted in manufacturers pushing for increased horsepower and cabin size. Unfortunately, the limiting factor has been fuel economy which is governed by the vehicle aerodynamics. A reduction in aerodynamic drag can result in better fuel economy. The goal of this study is to reduce the aerodynamic drag of a generic SUV and the efficient application of drag reduction devices to control flow separation. An initial study has …
Improving The Efficiency Of Wind Farm Turbines Using External Airfoils, Shujaut Bader
Improving The Efficiency Of Wind Farm Turbines Using External Airfoils, Shujaut Bader
Masters Theses
Wind turbine efficiency typically focuses on the shape, orientation, or stiffness of the turbine blades. In this thesis, the focus is instead on using static fixed airfoils in proximity to the wind turbine to control the airflow coming out of the turbine. These control devices have three beneficial effects. (1) They gather air from “higher up” where the air is moving faster on average (and therefore has more kinetic energy in it). (2) They throw the used (and slowed down air) downwards. This means that any turbines in the wind farm behind the lead turbines do not get “stale” air. …
Simulation Of An Intake Manifold Pre-Heater For Cold Diesel Engine Startup, Patrick K. Kreun
Simulation Of An Intake Manifold Pre-Heater For Cold Diesel Engine Startup, Patrick K. Kreun
Masters Theses
Ensuring consistent, reliable diesel engine startups in cold temperatures is of utmost importance in a number of applications. Under extreme temperatures, the use of glow plugs is complemented by intake manifold heaters. In these, the energy released from combustion increases the intake air temperature before the air enters the main combustion chamber. Since the process also alters the stoichiometry of the fuel-air mixture at the intake ports, the preheater operation must be optimized in order to guarantee successful and reliable in-cylinder combustion during engine startups. This paper describes the development of an intake manifold model incorporating an air pre-heater for …
Development Of Cfd Models For The Purposes Of Exploring Free Surface Wave Phenomena, Leonard P. Stoehr
Development Of Cfd Models For The Purposes Of Exploring Free Surface Wave Phenomena, Leonard P. Stoehr
Masters Theses
With the push for finding alternative, green energy sources, the harnessing of energy from ocean and lake waves is becoming a more researched field. To fully understand the behavior of wave interactions and optimize designs to extract this energy, it is necessary to develop computer models that can accurately replicate this behavior. A case is presented in which previous work done using the wave tank found in the Western Michigan University fluids lab is examined. The case involves harnessing the energy generated by ocean waves through the usage of plates of different shapes resting horizontally on the water’s surface. The …
Computational Investigations Of Characteristic Performance Improvements For Subkilogram Laser Micropropulsion, Richard Joel Thompson
Computational Investigations Of Characteristic Performance Improvements For Subkilogram Laser Micropropulsion, Richard Joel Thompson
Masters Theses
Experimental investigations have evaluated the feasibility of using laser-driven plasma microthrusters for small-thrust, high-specific-impulse space maneuvers, particularly for micro- and nanosatellite missions. Recent work made use of the Mach2 hydromagnetics code for the construction of an adequate computational model of the micro-thruster opera- tion. This thesis expounds on this previous work by extending the computational modeling capabilities, allowing for the determination of plasma plume properties and characteristic performance assessment of the microthruster; this allows for further computational investi- gation of the performance improvements achieved by new design considerations. Two par- ticular design changes are implemented and measured: (i) the simulation …