Computational and experimental study on local ship loads in short and steep waves

Currently, little information exists on the validity of interface-capturing methods in predicting local ship wave loads in short and steep waves. This study compares computational and experimental results in such a case (kA = 0.24, L _wave /L _ship = 0.16). The results allow the variation of wave loading between ten locations in the bow area of the ship to be observed. The computations were performed with an unstructured RANS solver that models free-surface flows with a volume-of-fluid method. In the model tests, the wave loads were measured with pressure sensors. The analysis of the results focuses on the wave conditions and on the pressure histories of the local wave loads. The computational and experimental results are in good qualitative agreement and encourage the further use of the computational results.     

CV-joint remanufacturing parameter optimization

Quality assessment process is based on a standard procedure. These standards are developed as a combined effort. It requires deep knowledge about structural material in addition to component`s behavior under external loads. Remanufactured components pose another difficulty to assess their quality in the form of unknown usage rate. This paper represents optimization of quality assessment criteria for remanufactured CV-joints. Working surface hardness of the CV-joint elements is measured at certain depth interval. A minimum acceptable surface hardness value for the BJ-outer joint elements is suggested based on existing research. Remanufactured CV-joint Housing, Inner race and Cage surface machining steps are studied and machining parameter optimization is performed through laboratory based durability test results. The test results of optimized machining parameters are compared with the test results of unmachined test samples. Mean-time-to-failure is calculated along with Weibull distribution parameters. Also, Birfield joint inner race bending and rotating torque are measured and standard parameters for remanufactured CV-joint are determined. Those quality assessment criteria for remanufactured CV-joints are developed.     

Reliable Shortest Path Problems in Stochastic Time-Dependent Networks

This study investigates the time-dependent reliable shortest path problem (TD-RSPP), which is commonly encountered in congested urban road networks. Two variants of TD-RSPP are considered in this study. The first variant is to determine the earliest arrival time and associated reliable shortest path for a given departure time, referred to as the “forward” TD-RSPP. The second problem is to determine the latest departure time and associated reliable shortest path for a given preferred arrival time, referred as the “backward” TD-RSPP. It is shown in this article that TD-RSPP is not reversible. The backward TD-RSPP cannot be solved by the algorithms designed for the forward problem using the reverse search from destination to origin. In this study, two efficient solution algorithms are proposed to solve the forward and backward TD-RSPP exactly and the optimality of proposed algorithms is rigorously proved. The proposed solution algorithms have potential applications in both advanced traveler information systems and stochastic dynamic traffic assignment models.     

Comparison on rating methods for female dummy in NCAP frontal impact test

From MY2010 US-NCAP, the 5th percentile female Hybrid III dummy has been used for the safety evaluation of the right front passenger position in the frontal impact test. In Korea, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MLIT) decided to evaluate the safety of the 5th percentile female dummy in the frontal impact test from 2013 KNCAP. In this paper, using the frontal NCAP data for the 5 vehicles available from the NHTSA test database, the safety of the 5th percentile female dummy were examined. Using the evaluation and rating method by the KNCAP, 5 vehicles received 5 stars. Using the evaluation and rating method by the US-NCAP, only one vehicle received 5 stars and the remaining 4 vehicles received 4 stars. In the US-NCAP, the N_ij was the most influential factor for the star rating. In the KNCAP, the evaluation and rating method for the 5th percentile female Hybrid III dummy is less stringent than the method of the US-NCAP. The evaluation and rating method is proposed to increase the stringency of the star rating for the female dummy in the KNCAP.     

Combined power management/design optimization for a fuel cell/battery plug-in hybrid electric vehicle using multi-objective particle swarm optimization

In this paper, the combined power management/design optimization problem is investigated for a fuel cell/Liion battery PHEV. Formulated as a constrained multi-objective optimization problem (MOP), the combined optimization problem simultaneously minimizes the vehicle cost and fuel consumption subject to the vehicle performance requirements. With an emphasis on developing a generic optimization algorithm to find the Pareto front for the synthesized MOP, the Pareto based multi-objective particle swarm optimization (PMOPSO) algorithm is developed, which solely depends on the concept of Pareto dominance. Three approaches are introduced to the PMOPSO method to address the constrained MOP. They are: (i) by incorporating system constraints in the original objective functions, the constrained MOP is transformed to an unconstrained MOP; (ii) to avoid being trapped in local minima, a disturbance operator with a decaying mutation possibility is introduced; (iii) to generate a sparsely distributed Pareto front, the concept of crowding distance is utilized to determine the global guidance for the particles. Finally, under the Matlab/Simulink software environment, simulation results are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the PMOPSO in the derivation of the true Pareto front.     

Prediction procedure for wear distribution of transient rolling tire

As a research method, finite element analysis (FEA) with ABAQUS can help researchers to study throughout the whole process of abnormal tire wear. For precise tread wear simulation, this paper introduces a tire finite element model building method. Then, the model is verified by comparing its simulation results with experiment data. Based on the verified model, tire high-speed rolling procedure is presented by combining steady-state transport analysis and dynamic analysis. To predict the wear distribution, micro tread wear calculation method is described. Finally, the wear prediction procedure of tread mesh evolving is introduced and tire polygonal wear pattern is simulated by this procedure.     

Experimental study on the spray and combustion characteristics of SIDI CNG

Compressed natural gas (CNG) is regarded as one of the most promising alternative fuels. In the spark-ignition (SI) engine, direct injection (DI) technology can significantly increase the engine volumetric efficiency and reduce “pumping losses” in engines without a throttle valve. DI allows engine operation with the stratified charge which enables relatively higher combustion efficiency. In this study, a combustion chamber with a visualization system is designed. The spray development and combustion propagation process of spark-ignition direct injection (SIDI) CNG were digital recorded and analyzed. The ignition probability was also examined. The results of this study can contribute important data for the design and optimization of the SIDI CNG engine.     

Characteristics on NOx adsorption and intermediates of LNT catalyst

Several NOx reduction technologies under development in recent years have now been commercialized, including selective catalytic reduction (SCR) with NH₃ or hydrocarbons, and Lean NOx Trap. The aim of the present study is to investigate characteristics on NOx adsorption according to the oxygen concentration, de-NOx performance according to lean/rich injection cycle and toxic intermediates at LNT downstram for lean-burn gasoline engine. Under oxygen of 6%, NOx storage capacity was the highest, showed the highest NOx conversion of 98%. The reason for this phenomena is because the excited oxygen atoms at high oxygen concentration increased oxidizing power of NO. Under low temperature of 205°C, LNT catalyst showed the least NOx conversion of 14% because its activity became lower, while the generation rate of toxic HNCO was highest as CO which is generated during the rich condition, reacts with NOx stored on Ba site.     

Large-eddy simulation of air entrainment during diesel spray combustion with multi-dimensional CFD

Large-Eddy Simulation (LES) was used to perform computations of air entrainment and mixing during diesel spray combustion. The results of this simulation were compared with those of Reynolds Averaged Navier Stokes (RANS) simulations and an experiment. The effect of LES on non-vaporizing and vaporizing sprays was evaluated. The validity of the grid size used for the LES analysis was confirmed by determining the subgrid-scale (SGS) filter threshold on the turbulent energy spectrum plot, which separates a resolved range from a modeled one. The results showed that more air was entrained into the jet with decreasing ambient gas temperatures. The mass of the evaporated fuel increased with increasing ambient gas temperatures, as did the mixture fraction variance, showing a greater spread in the profile at an ambient gas temperature of 920 K than at 820 K. Flame lift-off length sensitivity was analyzed based on the location of the flame temperature iso-line. The results showed that for the flame temperature iso-line of 2000oC, the computed lift-off length values in RANS matched the experimental values well, whereas in LES, the computed lift-off length was slightly underpredicted. The apparent heat release rate (AHRR) computed by the LES approach showed good agreement with the experiment, and it provided an accurate prediction of the ignition delay; however, the ignition delay computed by the RANS was underpredicted. Finally, the relationships between the entrained air quantity and mixture fraction distribution as well as soot formation in the jet were observed. As more air was entrained into the jet, the amount of air-fuel premixing that occurred prior to the initial combustion zone increased, upstream of the lift-off length, and therefore, the soot formation downstream of the flame decreased.     

Reliability-based topology optimization based on bidirectional evolutionary structural optimization using multi-objective sensitivity numbers

Reliability-based topology optimization (RBTO) is used to obtain an optimal topology satisfying given constraints, as well as to consider uncertainties in design variables. In this study, RBTO was applied to obtain an optimal topology for the inner reinforcement of a vehicle’s hood based on bidirectional evolutionary structural optimization (BESO). A multi-objective topology optimization technique was implemented to obtain the optimal topology for two models with different curvatures while simultaneously considering the static stiffness of bending, torsion, and natural frequency. A performance measure approach (PMA) with probabilistic constraints formulated in terms of the reliability index was employed to evaluate the probabilistic constraints. The optimal topology obtained by RBTO was evaluated and compared to that obtained by deterministic topology optimization (DTO). A more suitable topology was obtained through RBTO than DTO even though the final volume obtained by RBTO was generally slightly greater than that obtained by DTO. The multiobjective optimization technique based on BESO can be applied very effectively with topology optimization for a vehicle’s hood reinforcement.