Automotive Engineering Commons^™

Enabling Energy Efficiency In Connected And Automated Vehicles Through Predictive Control Techniques, Farhang Motallebiaraghi

Dissertations

The transportation sector is a significant contributor to global energy consumption and emissions, necessitating the development of sustainable transportation systems. In this regard, connected and automated vehicles (CAVs) have emerged as a potential solution to transform the transportation industry. By harnessing advanced mapping and location technologies, Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) and Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I) communication, CAVs offer the promise of improving efficiency, reducing traffic congestion, and enhancing safety and comfort. However, the adoption of CAVs also brings about various challenges, including energy efficiency concerns that need to be addressed to fully realize their potential benefits. This dissertation investigates energy-efficient control techniques for transportation …

Sensor Updates For Bigheaded Carp-Tracking Autonomous Boat, Jordan Kaufmann

Honors College Theses

Bigheaded carp are an invasive species that overpopulate and compete with the native species of Kentucky Lake as well as many other North American aquatic ecosystems. The movement patterns of Bigheaded carp are being studied nationwide by the United States Geological Survey and multiple universities. These studies ultimately seek to control their spread and reduce or reverse the ecosystem destabilization caused by this invasive species. Such studies are currently conducted manually on Kentucky Lake by graduate students affiliated with the Murray State University (MSU) Biology Department and Hancock Biological Station, and these manual studies are an arduous and time-consuming effort. …

Deep Reinforcement Learning And Game Theoretic Monte Carlo Decision Process For Safe And Efficient Lane Change Maneuver And Speed Management, Shahab Karimi

All Dissertations

Predicting the states of the surrounding traffic is one of the major problems in automated driving. Maneuvers such as lane change, merge, and exit management could pose challenges in the absence of intervehicular communication and can benefit from driver behavior prediction. Predicting the motion of surrounding vehicles and trajectory planning need to be computationally efficient for real-time implementation. This dissertation presents a decision process model for real-time automated lane change and speed management in highway and urban traffic. In lane change and merge maneuvers, it is important to know how neighboring vehicles will act in the imminent future. Human driver …

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 …

Jack And Alex Rc-Baja, Alex Vornbrock

All Undergraduate Projects

Teams of two mechanical engineering students were tasked with the construction of an RC Baja car qualified by the rules and regulations of the Baja competition as well as specifications set by the individual team member for their portion of the vehicle. This proposal focuses on the Chassis and Drivetrain of the vehicle while team member Jack Stutz oversaw the steering and suspension. Teams will compete against each other in various modes to determine the best vehicles of the competitors. The chassis was made of standard aluminum, the remaining parts made by the students were made with PLA; both materials …

Rc Baja Suspension And Steering, Garrett Bailey

All Undergraduate Projects

The RC Baja team set out to engineer and construct a working remote-control device that can compete in the ASME Baja Competition. The students have a focus on either suspension and steering or drivetrain and chassis. This report is centered on the suspension and steering. First, multiple analyses were completed using engineering methods such as mechanical design, statics, strengths of materials, and dynamics for parts of the device. The calculations found in the analysis are then used to create designs for the parts so that they will meet the requirements and be successful in the competition. After the parts are …

Study Of Eco-Driving And Charging Planning In Connected And Automated Vehicles Environment, Pradeep Bhat

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

In this dissertation, the development of eco-driving and charging planning algorithms in the connected and automated vehicle environment (CAV) are presented. CAV technologies provide opportunities for potential energy savings and efficiency improvement of transportation networks, which are explored through multiple research tasks in this study.

The objective of the first study presented in Chapter 2 is to reduce vehicle dynamic losses and required tractive force while completing trip distance within a given travel time. Sequential Quadratic Programming method is employed for this nonlinearly constrained optimization problem. The validation result illustrates the benefits of optimal velocity trajectories. The objective of the …

Design And Manufacture Of An Aerodynamic Body That Meets Scaling Law Requirements And Survives Severe G-Load Environment For Free-Flight Testing, Anthony R. Gonzalez

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Design and Manufacture of an Aerodynamic Body that Meets Scaling Law Requirements and Survives Severe G-load Environment for Free-Flight Testing

Anthony Gonzalez

Developing scale models to test functionality and ascertain aerodynamic properties is critical before manufacturing full-size products. Through dimensional analysis and similitude, engineers create scale models to test any parameter of interest. This research aims to design a scale model of an aerodynamic body for repeated free-flight testing. The Froude number is the dominant scale model law used to determine the geometric, mass, and inertia scaling laws. A critical requirement for this research is that the model should be …

Enhancing Traffic Safety In Unpredicted Environments With Integration Of Adas Features With Sensor Fusion In Intelligent Electric Vehicle Platform With Implementation Of Environmental Mapping Technology, David S. Obando Ortegon

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

A major objective on society is to reduce the number of accidents and fatalities on the road for drivers, and pedestrians. Therefore, the automotive engineering field is working on this problem through the development and integration of safety technologies such as advanced driving assistance systems. For this reason, this work was intended to develop and evaluate the performance of different ADAS features and IV technologies under unexpected scenarios. This by the development of safety algorithms applied to the intelligent electric vehicle designed and built in this work, through the use of ADAS sensors based on sensor fusion. Evaluation of AEB, …

Combustion Characteristics Of Methane, Ethane, Propane, And Butane Blends Under Conditions Relevant Of A Dual-Fuel Diesel And Natural Gas Engine, Christopher Joseph Ulishney

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

As natural gas production infrastructure is already in place in most of the world and will continue expanding for the foreseeable future, natural gas is an alternative to traditional liquid petroleum fuels in heavy-duty engines. Dedicated natural gas or dual-fuel diesel-natural gas heavy-duty engines are alternatives to diesel-only power generation equipment. One challenge is the large variation in the natural gas composition available for such applications, which is known to significantly affect engine’s combustion characteristics and the emissions composition. As the literature on dual-fuel combustion under low load engine operating conditions that use more realistic natural gas mixtures (i.e., mixtures …

Design And Validation Of An Aerodynamic System For A Formula Sae® Vehicle Using Vehicle Dynamic Simulation And Experimentation, Evan S. Cole

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This thesis presents the design, simulation, and experimental validation for the aerodynamic system for a Formula SAE® vehicle. The Society of Automotive Engineers ® (SAE) hosts a collegiate competition annually called Formula SAE® where students design, fabricate, and test a small “formula style” vehicle. The vehicle performs in relatively slow maneuvers, around different courses and tests to evaluate the vehicle’s overall performance. Over the years, collegiate teams have put significant research into the design and manufacturing of the aerodynamics of these vehicles. In order to justify this undertaking for future teams at West Virginia University’s Formula SAE® program, a comprehensive …

Supporting Us Army Next-Generation Ground Vehicle Simulation Modeling Using An Integrated Ontology Suite, Edward Louis

All Theses

The development of the US Army’s next-generation of ground vehicle systems is supported by simulations that predict vehicle performance and inform engineering design choices in the design and acquisition process. In this paper, we describe the development of an Integrated Ontology Suite to support modeling and simulation of next generation military ground vehicles. The ontology suite is intended to address model reuse challenges and increase the shared understanding of ground vehicle system simulations. It is intended to function in a Model Library structure that stores, documents, assembles, and executes vehicle simulations. The ontology suite consists of four domain ontologies: Vehicle …

Multiple Heat Exchanger Cooling System For Automotive Applications – Design, Mathematical Modeling, And Experimental Observations, Zaker Syed

All Dissertations

The design of the automotive cooling systems has slowly evolved from engine-driven mechanical to computer-controlled electro-mechanical components. With the addition of computer-controlled variable speed actuators, cooling system architectures have been updated to maximize performance and efficiency. By switching from one large radiator to multiple smaller radiators with individual flow control valves, the heat rejection requirements may be precisely adjusted. The combination of computer regulated thermal management system should reduce power consumption while satisfying temperature control objectives. This research focuses on developing and analyzing a multi-radiator system architecture for implementation in ground transportation applications. The premise is to use a single …

Multi-Robot Symbolic Task And Motion Planning Leveraging Human Trust Models: Theory And Applications, Huanfei Zheng

All Dissertations

Multi-robot systems (MRS) can accomplish more complex tasks with two or more robots and have produced a broad set of applications. The presence of a human operator in an MRS can guarantee the safety of the task performing, but the human operators can be subject to heavier stress and cognitive workload in collaboration with the MRS than the single robot. It is significant for the MRS to have the provable correct task and motion planning solution for a complex task. That can reduce the human workload during supervising the task and improve the reliability of human-MRS collaboration. This dissertation relies …

Design And Development Of A Multi-Material, Cost-Competitive, Lightweight Mid-Size Sports Utility Vehicle’S Body-In-White, Amit M. Deshpande, Rushabh Rajesh Sadiwala, Nathan Brown, Sai Aditya Pradeep, Leon M. Headings, Ningxiner Zhao, Brad Losey, Ryan Hahnlen, Marcelo J. Dapino, Gang Li, Srikanth Pilla

Publications

Vehicle light-weighting has allowed automotive original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to improve fuel efficiency, incorporate value-adding features without a weight penalty, and extract better performance. The typical body-in-white (BiW) accounts for up to 40% of the total vehicle mass, making it the focus of light-weighting efforts through a) conceptual redesign b) design optimization using state-of-the-art computer-aided engineering (CAE) tools, and c) use of advanced high strength steels (AHSS), aluminum, magnesium, and/or fiber-reinforced plastic (FRP) composites. However, most of these light-weighting efforts have been focused on luxury/sports vehicles, with a relatively high price range and an average production of 100,000 units/year or …

Effect Of Passive Clean Air Injection Into The Wake Region Of A Moving Ground Vehicle, Angelos Kaminis

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

The wake region on a moving ground vehicle is responsible for 70% of the aerodynamic drag when the speed of 90km/h is achieved. The topic of wake region manipulation has been revisited multiple times and with varying techniques. When manipulating the flow utilizing a fully passive method, pressure drag can be reduced, increasing the overall performance of the vehicle. To ensure high velocity fluid injection, a venturi shaped roof was implemented with an inlet size of 352mm x 12.7mm, and 2 outlets of size 88.011mm x 25.4mm resulting in an area of 4,470.959 for both inlet and outlet to maintain …

A Cfd-Based Scaling Analysis On Liquid And Paint Droplets Moving Through A Weak Concurrent Airflow Stream, Masoud Arabghahestani, Nelson Akafuah, Tianxiang Li, Kozo Saito

Progress in Scale Modeling, an International Journal

We conducted volume of fluids (VOF) multiphase model numerical simulations to obtain the interaction among all the major governing forces identified in our previous paper. Our numerical experiments are intended to assess the droplet generation process and the jetting behavior by providing specific input conditions, offering CFD as a tool to study scaling correlations instead of physical experiments. Water droplets that can represent waterborne paints were generated by piezo-generated sinusoidal waveforms at the inlet of the nozzle. The governing forces included the external piezo-based wave-generation force, the inertial force of droplets, the inertial force of air, the viscose force of …

Modeling And Control Of A Planar Bounding Quadrupedal Robot, Patrick John Ward

Master's Theses

Legged robots have the potential to be a valuable technology that provides agile and adaptive locomotion over complex terrain. To realize legged locomotion's full abilities a control design must consider the nonlinear piecewise dynamics of the systems. This paper aims to develop a controller for the planar bounding of a quadrupedal robot.

The bounding of the quadruped robot is characterized by a simplified hybrid model that consists of two subsystems for stance and flight phases and the switching laws between the two states. An additional model, the Multibody model, with fewer simplifications, is used concurrently to best approximate real-world behavior. …

Baja Bug Suspension, James Ankers, Rebecca Hansen, Dakota Robert Hollingsworth, Thomas Alfred Spycher

Mechanical Engineering

The goal of this senior project was to design and build a long travel front suspension system for a VW Bug. This started by defining the scope of the project and performing preliminary research. In this step, similar products were investigated, and research was done on stakeholders and customers. Next, concept development, design, and evaluation were performed. With this, the first iteration of our CAD model was designed, and physical prototypes were made. Using all this information, and feedback from advisors and sponsors, multiple iterations of our CAD were performed until the design was ready to manufacture. Drawings were taken …

B.A.C.O.N. (Battery-Powered Autonomous Cart Conversion) Autonomous Vehicle Design, Robyn C. Ribet, Damond Li, Tanner Hillman, Christopher Or

Mechanical Engineering

The goal of our project is to convert an electric go cart into an autonomous testing platform. We must enable autonomous braking, steering, and acceleration with electro-mechanical systems. We began the project with ideation to create our initial design and have since received ample feedback from faculty, students, and our sponsor. With this feedback we were able to refine our preliminary ideas and produce a detailed design supported with ample analysis, research, and external advice. We have developed our project in four main subsystems: Steering, braking, acceleration, and emergency braking. Following, we procured, manufactured, and assembled all of our designed …

Model Predictive Controller Design For Internal Combustion Engines Based On The Second Law Of Thermodynamics, Muataz Abotabik

Dissertations

Energy resources depletion and worldwide strict emissions policies pose challenges that automotive manufacturers try to overcome through researching advanced powertrain technologies such as lean-burn gasoline, direct injection, homogeneous charge compression ignition engines, powertrain electrification, etc. Most of these developments have been focused on conventional internal combustion engines (ICE) emissions and performance enhancements. Most ICE control strategies are built based on the First Law of Thermodynamics (FLT) i.e., to deliver a specific load requirement, enhancing thermal efficiency, etc. The FLT doesn’t account for in-cylinder high temperature thermodynamics process irreversibilities that cause losses in the work potential; up to 25% of the …

Control, Decision-Making, And Learning Approaches For Connected And Autonomous Driving Systems With Humans-In-The-Loop, Fangjian Li

All Dissertations

By virtue of vehicular connectivity and automation, the vehicle becomes increasingly intelligent and self-driving capable. However, no matter what automation level the vehicle can achieve, humans will still be in the loop despite their roles. First, considering the manual driving car as a disturbance to the connected and autonomous vehicles (CAVs), a novel string stability is proposed for mixed traffic platoons consisting of both autonomous and manual driving cars to guarantee acceptable motion fluctuation and platoon safety. Furthermore, humans are naturally considered as the rider in the passenger vehicle. A human-centered cooperative adaptive cruise control (CACC) is designed to improve …

Investigation Of The Low-Temperature Combustion Phenomena Of A Fischer-Tropsch Synthetic Aerospace Fuel In A Constant Volume Combustion Chamber For Greenhouse Gas Reduction, Lily H. Parker

Honors College Theses

Greenhouse gases (GHG) have a harmful effect on our environment as they trap heat in the atmosphere accelerating climate change. As such, the Federal Aviation Administration’s 2025 strategic plan to reduce GHG emissions from air transportation. This call to action for a more environmentally friendly option highlights the importance of synthetic fuels as they are more sustainable compared to traditional fossil fuels. An investigation was conducted into the thermal-physical properties of Synthetic Fischer-Tropsch (F-T) Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF) and the Low Temperature Combustion (LTC). LTC is composed of the Low Temperature Heat Release (LTHR) and Negative Temperature Coefficient (NTC) region, …

Baja Sae Semi-Active Suspension, Philip Pang, Stassa Cappos, Harrison Hirsch, John Deboer

Mechanical Engineering

This Final Design Review (FDR) Report outlines the senior design project of the Baja SAE Semi-Active Suspension group, which includes mechanical and electrical engineering students at California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo. This document compiles the Baja SAE Semi-Active Suspension senior project team’s research and development of a semi-active suspension system for the Cal Poly Racing Baja SAE racecar. The goal is to design a system that adjusts the damping constant of the racecar’s spring-damper suspension while the vehicle is being driven in order to improve vehicle dynamics and driver comfort. None of the semi-active dampers that exist on …

Thermoforming Process Effects On Structural Performance Of Carbon Fiber Reinforced Thermoplastic Composite Parts Through A Manufacturing To Response Pathway, Madhura Limaye, Sai Aditya Pradeep, Anmol Kothari, Sushil Savla, Akshat Agha, Srikanth Pilla, Gang Li

Publications

Thermoforming process of thermoplastic-based continuous CFRP's offer a major advantage in reducing cycle times for large-scale productions, but it can also have a significant impact on the structural performance of the parts by inducing undesirable effects. This necessitates the development of an optimal manufacturing process that minimizes the introduction of undesirable factors in the structure and thereby achieves the targeted mechanical performance. This can be done by first establishing a relationship between the manufacturing process and mechanical performance and successively optimizing it to achieve the desired targets. The current study focuses on the former part, where a manufacturing-to-response (MTR) pathway …

Rc Baja, Cam Jamison

All Undergraduate Projects

To satisfy the Mechanical Engineering Technology program requirements a senior project was accomplished with an RC car build. An RC car was designed, manufactured, and tested to meet all requirements set forth by American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) RC Baja competition. A two-person team was assembled to build the RC Car. Teammate Paul Lervick was responsible for the suspension and chassis components and the other was responsible for the drivetrain and steering components. During the fall quarter drawings and general designs were created. Many different RC cars and motorized vehicles were referenced when initially coming up with aesthetic ideas. …

Rc Baja Independent Suspension And Chassis Design And Development, Joseph Fritz

All Undergraduate Projects

The goal of this project is to develop an RC car to compete in the MET RC Baja competition. A car will be constructed to be as lightweight, durable, and fast as possible while abiding by ROAR (Remotely Operated Auto Racers) regulations. As such, suspension, steering, chassis and drivetrain systems will need to be devised to form a complete vehicle. The chassis must provide mounting points for all other components of the vehicle and provide a rigid platform in order to create a stable vehicle. The suspension must operate smoothly, allowing for at least 1 inch of ground clearance, …

Human Powered Vehicle Team Challenge, Sydney Nedlik, Spencer Brodie, Maria Griffin, William Schell, Ryan Serraglio

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Design and build a Human Powered Vehicle in a team of five. Compete at the ASME HPVC competition in March of 2022. Re-establish the Human Powered Vehicle Team at the University of Akron.

Concept Evaluation And Development Of A Novel Approach For Integration Of Turbogeneration, Electrification And Supercharging On Heavy Duty Engines, Satyum Joshi

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

While many technologies such as electrically assisted turbocharging, exhaust energy recovery and mild hybridization have already proven to significantly increase heavy-duty engine efficiency, the key challenge to their widespread adoption has been their cost effectiveness and packaging. This research specifically addresses these challenges through evaluation and development of a novel technology concept termed as the Integrated Turbogeneration, Electrification and Supercharging (ITES) system. The concept integrates a secondary compressor, a turbocompound/expander turbine and an electric motor through a planetary gearset into the engine cranktrain. The approach enables a reduced system cost and space-claim, while maximizing the efficiency benefits of independent technologies. …

Analysis Of Bio-Alcohols With Mie-Scattering And Ltc For Lowered Emissions In Pcci, Cesar E. Carapia

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

An investigation was conducted on the optimal engine parameters for facilitating lower NOX and soot emissions of PCCI combustion with either ethanol or n-butanol. The PFI fuels selected were tested at loads of 3, 4, and 5 Bar IMEP for a total of 28 total combustion tests with variations made to the EGR% and boost pressure for each test in order to find the optimal emissions strategy. A Mie-scattering spray fuel analysis was also conducted on the three fuels to gain insight on their influence on combustion/emissions characteristics. It was found that ethanol had a greater average Sauter Mean Diameter …