Automotive Engineering Commons^™

Study Of Cooling-Drag In A Generic Passenger Car Using Cfd And Wind Tunnel, Md Maruf Hossain

Masters Theses

The focus of the study is to explore aerodynamic aspects of cooling airflow. As a result of this study, an efficient multi-domain aero-thermal model was developed to analyze the cooling drag of a generic passenger vehicle. Cooling drag is described as the additional force that the production vehicle has to overcome while moving in comparison to the force if all the openings were closed. Though this model was developed based on the sedan class vehicle, the applied methodology could be generalized for other ground vehicle types. As a part of the presented model, a unique simplified geometric model is developed …

A Fea/Cfd Study Of Heat Transfer To Semi-Trailer Disc Brake Wheel-End Components During A Braking Event, Justin P. Fisher

Masters Theses

Foundation air disc brakes bring Class 8 semi-trailers to a stop by converting kinetic energy into thermal energy. Recently, side skirts have been added to the underside of semi-trailers to improve fuel economy. The reduction in airflow under the trailer they create has potential to increase brake temperatures by reducing convection heat transfer. This will require an increase in conduction and radiation heat transfer to the surrounding wheel-end parts. Additional heat transfer to the surrounding parts could increase the temperatures in the hub and bearing to damaging levels.

CFD analyses were developed to model the airflow under the semi-trailer with …

Finite Element Model Validation And Testing Of An Off-Road Vehicle Under Dynamic Loading Conditions, Mackenzie Susan Cunningham

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

In the vehicle design life cycle, validation tests consume a significant portion of the available development time. With a short, one-year design cycle, the Embry-Riddle Baja Team leverages computer-aided engineering (CAE) tools to simulate critical test cases whose loading conditions can be accurately represented by a series of static loads and constraints. Using these conditions, a Finite Element Model (FEM) can be employed to accurately predict the effects of the loading conditions in the components. During the initial design of the front suspension, one major load case was determined to be the main failure load. However, after validation testing the …

10_Fdr_Written_Project Central Vehicle Controller For Hybrid Racecar, Elias D. Bello, Trammell J. Saltzgaber, Leina C. Mcdermott, Alex S. Newman, Jennifer Jain

ENGS 89/90 Reports

Our ENGS 89/90 team has designed and tested a new central vehicle controller for the Dartmouth Formula Racing team's hybrid racecar. The new controller allows for the implementation of various control strategies, logs data from sensors onboard the vehicle, and is accompanied by well-documented firmware and hardware and an automotive-grade enclosure.

Torsional Stiffness Of A Race Car, Reiley A. Schraeger, Cameron Kao, Raymond Deng, Omar Roman

Mechanical Engineering

Torsional stiffness plays a major role in any road vehicle. To understand torsional stiffness of a vehicle and make future iterations and improvements, a proper torsional stiffness jig is required to prove accurate and useful data. This report encompasses the new and improved testing jig and potential improvement ideas for more accurate results. With real data result relating to FEA calculations, designers can be confident in the FEA changes to torsional stiffness is accurate and will yield the probably results they desired. This report shows the methodology, manufacturing process and testing procedure to use on any Baja or SAE vehicle …

Sensing And Quantifying A New Mechanism For Vehicle Brake Creep Groan, Dejian Meng, Lijun Zhang, Xiaotian Xu, Yousef Sardahi, Gang Chen

All Engineering Faculty Research

This paper investigates the creep groan of a vehicle’s brake experimentally, analytically, and numerically. Experimentally, the effects of acceleration on caliper and strut, noise, brake pressure, and tension are measured. The results show that the measured signals and their relevant spectra broadly capture the complex vibrations of creep groan. This includes the simple stick-slip, severe stick-slip vibrations/resonances, multiple harmonics, half-order harmonics; stick-slip-induced impulsive vibrations, steady/unstable vibrations, and their transitions. Analytically, a new mathematical model is presented to capture the unique features of half-order harmonics and the connections to fundamental stick-slip/resonant frequency and multiple harmonics. The analytical solution and the experimental …

Myopic Versus Farsighted Behaviors In A Low-Carbon Supply Chain With Reference Emission Effects, Jun Wang, Xianxue Cheng, Xinyu Wang, Hongtao Yang, Shuhua Zhang

Mathematical Sciences Faculty Research

The increased carbon emissions cause relatively climate deterioration and attract more attention of governments, consumers, and enterprises to the low-carbon manufacturing. This paper considers a dynamic supply chain, which is composed of a manufacturer and a retailer, in the presence of the cap-and-trade regulation and the consumers’ reference emission effects. To investigate the manufacturer’s behavior choice and its impacts on the emission reduction and pricing strategies together with the profits of both the channel members, we develop a Stackelberg differential game model in which the manufacturer acts in both myopic and farsighted manners. By comparing the equilibrium strategies, it can …

Dynamic Analysis Of Vehicle Performance For Changes To Rear Axle Housing, Diane Peters, Yaomin Dong, Vimal Patel

Mechanical Engineering Presentations And Conference Materials

This paper explores the performance improvements of a 2013 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 resulting from changes to the rear axle housing. In previous work, described in [1, 2], the rear axle housing was optimized in order to minimize its weight. It was expected that the decrease in weight would lead to improved fuel economy; in this work, the vehicle was simulated for the EPA highway drive cycle (HWFET) both before and after the optimization of the housing, in order to quantify the changes in fuel economy. It was found that the optimization of the housing did produce a modest improvement …

Autojack - Hydraulic Powertrain System, Tyce Vu

All Undergraduate Projects

A primary problem for mechanics and automotive enthusiasts is the risk associated with lifting and securing a vehicle with conventional jack stands. Often times, improper jack-stand installation results in the vehicle collapsing unexpectedly, causing injury and/or death. This problem can be minimized through the application of a newly re-designed vehicle lifting system. The conventional method for lifting cars is time consuming and can be unsafe in many circumstances. A better, safer, and more efficient lift design was needed; the AutoJack. The approach of the AutoJack design was entirely focused on the safety of lifting a vehicle. Safety was improved by …

(Invited) Emerging Role Of Silicon Carbide And Gallium Nitride Based Power Electronics In Power And Transportation Sectors, Prahaladh Paniyil, Rajendra Singh

Publications

Free fuel-based energy sources (solar and wind) are pointing towards a future in which sustainable energy is affordable, abundant and deployed with high energy efficiency. Driven by advancements in the technology of lithium batteries and the availability of low-cost sustainable clean electric power, the electrification of transportation is going through fundamental disruptive transformation. Without any doubt, both power and transportation sectors will provide phenomenal growth of power electronics in the 21st century. Recently, both SiC and GaN are drawing the attention as potential replacement of Si-based power electronics. These may open some new markets where Si based power electronics cannot …

Decarbonising The Automotive Industry: The Future For Irish Motorists., Robert Maher

Theses

This research study is an examination of the current state of the Irish automotive industry, which is being reshaped by the imminent shift to electric vehicles. This transition is designed to assist in solving Ireland's air quality and environmental challenges in line with the worldwide move to combat climate change. The research topic of the decarbonisation of the automotive industry determined the research question: "Decarbonising the Automotive Industry: The Future for Irish Motorists". This inquiry focuses on private cars owned for social, pleasure and domestic use. Secondary research was completed to verify the most prevalent and current existing information. A …

An Analysis Of Resistance Spot Weld Quality Based On Acoustic And Electrical Signatures, Ivan Charles Butler

Theses and Dissertations--Manufacturing Systems Engineering

The union of a set of materials by way of Resistance Spot Welding is designed so that once fused together, a substantial amount of intentional, external force must be applied to separate the contents. Therefore, Resistance Spot Welding is often the preferred fusion method in high-volume manufacturing processes. The result of Resistance Spot Welding however is the formation of a weld nugget which is not visible to the naked eye. Destructive and/or ultrasonic methods applied off-line must be used to determine the quality of each weld; both inefficient and expensive processes. The following research analyzes the data fed back during …

Edge Heterogeneous Hardware Evaluation Based On Real Connected And Autonomous Vehicles (Cavs) Workloads, Mustafa Ahmad

Research Opportunities for Engineering Undergraduates (ROEU) Program 2018-19

There has recently been a wide expansion of hardware to assist in autonomous driving tasks. On this project, we focus on using some state-of-the-art deep learning workloads in connected autonomous vehicle (CAV) scenarios,such as object detection and object tracking to evaluate the heterogeneous hardware.

The Autodrive Challenge: Autonomous Vehicles Education And Training Issues, Diane Peters, Jennifer Bastiaan, Juan R. Pimentel, Mehrdad Zadeh

Mechanical Engineering Presentations And Conference Materials

Automotive companies are focusing significant research and development efforts on autonomous vehicles. As they do so, they recognize the need for a large, well-trained workforce that is equipped to conduct these research and development projects, particularly in light of the projected shortages of STEM professionals in the United States. Some of these companies have found various ways to engage with professional societies and with universities to encourage the development of this workforce, and to promote themselves to STEM students while they are still in school. One such effort is the SAE / GM AutoDrive ChallengeTM, a new collegiate competition organized …

Application Of Sensor Fusion For Si Engine Diagnostics And Combustion Feedback, Fnu Muralidhar Nischal

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Shifting consumer mindsets and evolving government norms are forcing automotive manufacturers the world over to improve vehicle performance and also reduce greenhouse gas emissions. A critical aspect of achieving future fuel economy and emission targets is improved powertrain control and diagnostics.

This study focuses on using a sensor fusion based approach to improving control and diagnostics in a gasoline engine. A four cylinder turbocharged engine was instrumented with a suite of sensors including ion sensors, exhaust pressure sensors, crank position sensors and accelerometers. The diagnostic potential of these sensors was studied in detail. The ability of these sensors to detect …

The Effect Of Communication And Vehicle Properties On The Search Performance Of A Swarm Of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, Jenna E. Newcomb, Andrew Ning

Faculty Publications

An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) swarm allows for a more time-efficient method of searching a specified area than a single UAV or piloted plane. There are a variety of factors that affect how well an area is surveyed. We specifically analyzed the effect both vehicle properties and communication had on the swarm search performance. We used non-dimensionalization to examine the effect vehicle properties had on search performance so the results can be applied to any domain size with any number and type of vehicle. We found that even if vehicles could only sense 10% of the grid area at any …

Reduction Of Nox Emissions In A Single Cylinder Diesel Engine Using Sncr With In-Cylinder Injection Of Aqueous Urea, Anthony Timpanaro

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The subject of this study is the effect of in-cylinder selective non-catalytic reduction (SNCR) of NO_x emissions in diesel exhaust gas by means of direct injection of aqueous urea ((NH₂)₂CO) into the combustion chamber. A single cylinder diesel test engine was modified to accept an electronically controlled secondary common rail injection system to deliver the aqueous urea directly into the cylinder during engine operation.

Direct in-cylinder injection was chosen in order to ensure precise delivery of the reducing agent without the risk of any premature reactions taking place. Unlike direct in-cylinder injection of neat water, …

Modeling Of Optimized Neuro-Fuzzy Logic Based Active Vibration Control Method For Automotive Suspension, Mohammad Adom Safiullah

Masters Theses

In this thesis, an active vibration control system was developed. The control system was developed and tested using a quarter car model of an adaptive suspension system. For active vibration control, an actuator was implemented in addition to the commonly used passive spring damper system. Due to nature of unpredictability of force required two different fuzzy inference system (FIS) were developed for the actuator. First a sequential fuzzy set was built, that resulted lower vertical displacement compared to basic damper spring model, but system had limited effect with disturbances of higher magnitude and continuous vibrations (rough road). To improve the …

Energy Intensity As An Ecological Factor In The Selection Of The Manufacturing Process, Artur Soroczyński, Roman Haratym, Krzystof Rechowicz

VMASC Publications

The article presents the analysis of the implementation of selected elements of car transport in the aspect of ecology. The basic issue that affects the protection of the environment (ecology) is the value of energy intensity in the manufacture of products. The elements made in the production process of plastic mouldings were compared. The amount of energy in kJ needed to produce 1 kg of a given product was estimated. Next, the dependencies between the value of computational energy intensity and the emission of gases affecting the environment of CO₂, SO₂, NO_x were presented. As …

Leveraging Contracting Strategies With Private Shipyards For Increasing Naval Fleet Operational Availability, Kaitlynn M. Castelle, Joseph M. Bradley, Sanjeev Gupta

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

A major rethink of NAVSEA’s shipyard contracting strategy is required to support the critical need of improving our naval fleet availability. Operational Fleet material availability is reduced when various parts of the “NAVSEA production system” operate at cross-purposes. By increasing alignment between major players (i.e., NAVSEA and the private shipyards), major improvements in delivery performance, cost, and even throughput can be realized. Developing strategies and specific actions to do so is a rich field given the current state of the system. We take an analytical as well as evidence-based approach to propose strategies that can be successful given the peculiar …