Effects of mean piston speed,equivalence ratio and cylinder wall temperature on performance of an Atkinson engine

The performance of an air standard Atkinson cycle is analyzed using finite-time thermodynamics. In the model, the linear relation between the specific heat ratio of the working fluid and its temperature, the friction loss computed according to the mean velocity of the piston, the internal irreversibility described by using the compression and expansion efficiencies and the heat transfer loss are considered. The relations between the power output and the compression ratio and between the power output and the thermal efficiency are derived by detailed numerical examples. The results show that if the compression ratio is less than a certain value, the power output decreases with increasing mean piston speed, while if the compression ratio exceeds a certain value, the power output first increases and then starts to decrease with increasing mean piston speed. With further increase in the compression ratio, the increase of mean piston speed results in decreasing the power output. Throughout the compression ratio range, the power output increases with increasing cylinder wall temperature while it first increases and then starts to decrease with the increase of equivalence ratio. The conclusions of this investigation are of importance when considering the designs of actual Atkinson engines.     

Thermal-fluid-structure coupling analysis for valve plate friction pair of axial piston pump in electrohydrostatic actuator (EHA) of aircraft

This paper deals with thermal-fluid-structure coupling analysis for valve plate friction pair of axial piston pump in electrohydrostatic actuator (EHA) of aircraft. The axial piston pump with high pressure and high rotational speed to be widely applied in EHA of more electric aircraft can increase the power density, but it also deteriorates thermal-fluid-structure coupling of the friction pairs. In order to reveal its interior multiphysics field coupling mechanism, taking the valve plate friction pair in three key friction pairs for example, this study carries out the research on multiphysics field coupling. Firstly, Navier–Stokes equations and energy equation of the incompressible fluid considering the influence of temperature and pressure on the oil properties, heat conduction governing equation with many boundary conditions including heat flux, heat convection, heat radiation and considering the influence of the structure deformation on the temperature and the influence of the temperature on the material properties, the elastic mechanics model of the structure exerted together by temperature, fluid pressure and mechanical load, are established. On this basis, a complete set of fast and effective thermal-fluid-structure coupling method is originally presented, and the numerical analysis is conducted using it for the valve plate friction pair. By the calculation results, the evolution laws with time and space are revealed regarding to the pressure and temperature of the fluid in the chambers, and the temperature, stress and deformation of the valve plate friction pair, the wedge-shaped clearance forms between them, even mixed friction occurs, and the corresponding improving measures aimed at the discovered problems are discussed. These results can provide the theoretical evidence for the design and development of the pump of EHA.     

An Efficient Thermo-Kinematic (ETK) Model for Long-Time Simulation of High Speed Railway Brake Dynamics

High speed railway brakes transfer a large amount of kinetic energy into heat during the brake operation. Due to its design one major problem is tapered wear, which could significantly reduce brake performance and safety as well as increase aftermarket costs. Modeling and simulation of these brake systems is rather complicated with respect to the coupled multiphysics, multiscaled phenomena, friction and wear, especially on long time scale. Here, we present the so-called Efficient Thermo-Kinematic (ETK) model, which include the complexities of the multiphysics of the brake process in the efficient way. Using this model, we are able to proceed the simulation of the brake dynamics in long-time scale. The partial differential equations are derived based on the coupled manner. The simulation with ETK model shows reasonable results with very fast computational time. The ratio of computing time to real time can reach 1:2000 (with a standard personal computer). Thus, investigations on tapered wear can be performed not only in one brake operation but in many times of brake operations. The simulation results will support the development process of railway brakes in order to mitigate tapered wear of the brake pads. (© 2017 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Heating load density optimization of an irreversible simple Brayton cycle heat pump coupled to counter-flow heat exchangers

This paper presents a theoretical investigation on the finite time thermodynamic performance for an irreversible Brayton cycle heat pump (BCHP) coupled to counter-flow heat exchangers. The heating load density, i.e. the ratio of heating load to the maximum specific volume in the cycle, is taken as the optimization objective. Relations between heating load density and pressure ratio and between COP (coefficient of performance) and pressure ratio for BCHP in which the irreversibilities of heat resistance losses in the hot and cold-side heat exchangers and non-isentropic losses in the compression and expansion processes are derived. The analytical expression obtained for the cycle performance enabled its optimization through addressing the effects of mechanical and thermal inefficiencies of all components comprising the cycle. The influences of the temperature ratio of the reservoirs, the efficiencies of the compressor and expander and the effectiveness of the heat exchangers on the heating load density are provided. The cycle performance optimizations are performed by searching the optimum distribution of heat conductance of the hot- and cold-side heat exchangers for the fixed total heat exchanger inventory and the optimum heat capacity rate matching between the working fluid and the heat reservoirs. The BCHP design with heat loading density optimization leads to a smaller size of all equipments comprising the heat pump.     

Simulation of quasi-dimensional combustion model for predicting diesel engine performance

In order to improve the precision of quasi-dimensional combustion model for predicting diesel engine performance and promote the real time operating performance of the simulation model, a new phase-divided spray mixing model is proposed and the quasi-dimensional combustion model of diesel engine working process is developed. The software MATLAB/Simulink is utilized to build the quasi-dimensional combustion model of diesel engine working process, and the performance for diesel engine is simulated. The simulation results agree with experimental data quite well. The comparisons between them show that the relative error of power and brake specific fuel consumption is less than 2.8% and the relative error of nitric oxide and soot emissions is less than 9.1%. By utilization of this simulation model with personal computer, the average computational time for one diesel engine working process is 36 s, which presents good real time operating performance of the model. At the same time, the influence of parameters in calculation of air entrainment on prediction precision of diesel engine’s simulation model is analyzed.     

Details on the Computation of Hypersonic Inlet Flows

Within the frame of the Collaborative Research Center (SFB) “Fundamentals of Design of Aerospace Planes”, the design criteria of hypersonic engine inlet flows are studied computationally as well as experimentally. Of special interest are geometrical considerations with respect to the attainable total pressure recovery as well as the thermal load on the engine structure. Thus, the length and base angle of the exterior compression ramps are varied and their influence on the overall pressure gain is investigated. In addition, the length of the subsequent isolator/diffusor, responsible for the interior flow compression, is analyzed with emphasis on the total pressure loss.     

Numerical simulation of two-stage combustion in SI engine with prechamber

Burning lean mixture in spark ignition (SI) engine leads to decrease in temperature of combustion process and is one of the methods of limiting nitric oxide emission and increasing the engine efficiency. The two-stage combustion system of stratified mixture (engine with prechamber) can be an effective method of lean mixture combustion. The paper presents the results of three-dimensional modeling of fuel mixture preparation and combustion in SI engine with sectional combustion chamber powered by liquefied fuel. Three dimensional modeling was performed in KIVA-3V code. The modeling results were compared with results obtained from the analysis of experimental measurements of two-stage combustion test engine operating at the Institute of Internal Combustion Engines and Control Engineering (Czestochowa University of Technology). The performed simulations of the combustion process provided data concerning the spatial and temporal distributions of turbulent kinetic energy, pressure, temperature and nitric oxides concentration in the combustion chambers of the engine. The engine model with two-stage combustion system properly represents the real processes which occur in the combustion chambers of the test engine. Pressure and temperature courses in function of CA obtained from the experiment and modeling were in good qualitative and quantitative consistence. Comparison of modeled and measured nitric oxide emissions revealed relatively significant discrepancies. In case of λ = 1.4, the measured values of NO_x concentration were 1.75 times higher than the modeled values. In case of λ = 2.0, the modeled and measured values were close to each other and were within the range of measurement error.     

A stochastic approach for the optimization of open-loop engine control systems

The operation of sensors and actuators in engine control systems is always affected by errors, which are stochastic in nature. In this paper it is shown that, because of the non-linear interactions between engine performance and control laws in an open-loop engine control system, these errors can give rise to unexpected deviations of control variables, fuel consumption and emissions from the optimal values, which are not predictable in an elementary way.A model for vehicle performance evaluation on a driving cycle is presented, which provides the expected values of fuel consumption and emissions in the case of stochastic errors in sensors and actuators, utilizing only steady-state engine data.The stochastic model is utilized to obtain the optimal control laws; the resultant non-linear constrained minimization problem is solved by an Augmented Lagrangian approach, using a Quasi-Newton technique. The results of the stochastic optimization analysis indicate that significant reductions in performance degradation may be achieved with respect to the solutions provided by the classical deterministic approach.     

Mathematical modeling on the effect of equivalence ratio in emission characteristics of compression ignition engine with hydrogen substitution

The investigation presented in this paper concerns on the computational simulation of emissions characteristics in compression ignition engine with hydrogen substitution. Combustion process has been modeled based on Equilibrium Constants Method (ECM) with MATLAB program to calculate the mole fractions of 18 combustion products when hydrogen is burnt along with diesel fuel at variable equivalence ratios. It can be observed that hydrogen substitution causes significant increase in NH₃, H₂, atom H emissions during rich combustion and OH, NO₂, HNO₃ emissions during lean combustion. As the equivalence ratio increases during rich combustion, mole fractions of HCN, CH₄, CO and atom C decreases with increment of hydrogen substitution. N₂, atom N and CO₂ emissions decrease whereas no significant changes in O₂, NO, O₃ and atom O emissions throughout all equivalence ratios as hydrogen is added to the combustion.     

Identification and estimation of parameters defining a class of hybrid systems

In this paper, we consider the problem of parameter estimation in an air brake system. In an air brake system, the pressure of air in the brake chamber and the displacement of the pushrod and their derivatives form a set of states that characterize the system. The position of a valve or mass flow rate of air is an input and the pressure is the measured variable or the output. The pressure acting on the pushrod of the brake chamber causes motion, and the mode in which the system operates depends on the displacement of the pushrod. The mode-dependent nature of the system is a result of different sets of spring compliances associated with the piston in different ranges of its displacement. The mode to mode transition in the air brake system is governed by a parameter which is the clearance between the brake pads and the drum. The clearance between the brake pads and the drum can vary due to a variety of factors — for example, brake pad wear or brake fade. In these applications, characterizing the transition from one mode to another requires a lot of constitutive assumptions, and it can be difficult to calibrate the parameters associated with the constitutive assumptions. We therefore treat the air brake system as a system in which the parameter governing the transition from one mode to another (clearance between the brake pads and the drum) is not known exactly. Clearly, this parameter dictates the time delay and lag between the command and delivery of the brake torque at the wheels and affects the stopping distance of the vehicles considerably. The problem of identification considered in this paper is as follows. Suppose that the pressure of the fluid were to be measured and that the motion of the piston is not measured. Is it possible to estimate the final displacement of the piston without knowing the parameters that govern the system to transition from one mode to another?     

Finite time exergoeconomic performance for six endoreversible heat engine cycles: Unified description

The operation of a universal steady flow endoreversible heat engine cycle model consisting of two constant thermal-capacity heating branches, a constant thermal-capacity cooling branch and two adiabatic branches is viewed as a production process with exergy as its output. The finite time exergoeconomic performance optimization of the universal endoreversible heat engine cycle is investigated by taking profit optimization criterion as the objective. The analytical formulae for power, efficiency and profit rate function of the universal endoreversible heat engine cycle with heat resistance loss are derived. The focus of this paper is to search the compromised optimization between economics (profit) and the utilization factor (efficiency) for endoreversible cycles. Moreover, analysis and optimization of the model are carried out in order to investigate the effect of cycle process on the performance of the universal endoreversible heat engine cycle using numerical examples. The results obtained herein include the performance characteristics of six endoreversible heat engines, including Carnot, Diesel, Otto, Atkinson, Brayton and Dual cycles.     

Mathematical modeling and comparison of air standard Dual and Dual-Atkinson cycles with friction,heat transfer and variable specific-heats of the working fluid

Based on finite-time thermodynamics, a comparative performance analysis of air standard Dual and Dual-Atkinson cycles with heat-transfer loss, friction like term losses and variable specific-heats of the working fluid have been performed. Also the effects of heat loss, as characterized by a percentage of the fuel’s energy, friction and variable specific-heats of the working fluid, on performance of the mentioned irreversible cycles are analyzed. Moreover, detailed numerical examples show the relations between the power output and the compression ratio, between the thermal efficiency and the compression ratio, as well as the optimal relation between the power output and the thermal efficiency of cycles. Results show the importance of consideration of heat loss effects on the both cycles’ performance. Also performance comparison of two cycles show that heat efficiency and power output of a Dual-Atkinson cycle are higher than a Dual cycle’s ones. The results obtained from this paper will provide guidance for the design of Dual-Atkinson engines.     

Ecological optimization of energy selective electron (ESE) heat engine

The ecological performance optimization of an energy selective electron (ESE) heat engine operated at maximum power regime and the intermediate regime (i.e. between maximum power operation and reversible operation) is carried out in this paper by using finite time thermodynamics. In the analyses, the analytical formulae for the entropy generation rate and the ecological function of the ESE heat engine are derived for the two operation regimes, respectively. The performance characteristic curves are obtained by numerical examples. The influence of the resonance widths on the ecological performance of the ESE heat engine at intermediate regime is discussed. The ecological performances are analyzed and compared with the power and efficiency characteristic. It is shown that, when the working point is changed from the maximum power point to the maximum ecological function point, the efficiency increases and the entropy generation rate decreases mostly with only a small power output drop. The results obtained herein have theoretical significance for the understanding of thermodynamic performance of the micro-nano devices.     

Development and experimental validation of a control-oriented Diesel engine model for fuel consumption and brake torque predictions

This article describes the development and experimental validation of a control-oriented, real-time capable, Diesel engine instantaneous fuel consumption and brake torque model under warmed-up conditions with only two inputs: torque request and the engine speed and no other measurements. Such a model, with the capability of reliably and computationally efficiently estimating the aforementioned variables at both steady-state and transient engine-operating conditions, can be utilized in the context of real-time control and optimization of hybrid power train systems. Although Diesel engine dynamics are highly non-linear and very complex, by considering the Diesel engine and its control system, that is, engine control unit together as an entity, it becomes possible to predict the engine instantaneous fuel consumption and torque based on only those two inputs. A synergy between different modelling methodologies including physically based grey-box and data-driven black-box approaches were integrated in the Diesel engine model. The fuelling and torque predictions have been validated by means of experimental data from a medium-duty Diesel engine at both steady-state and transient operations, including engine start-ups and shutdowns.     

Multiaxial constitutive modeling of aircraft engine materials

Based on a newly developed theory (Lu and Weng, Acta Mech., in press) the high temperature behavior of an aircraft engine material is studied under combined stress state. Both monotonic and cyclic deformations are examined to uncover its stress-strain response, as well as its cyclic hardening and strain-ratchetting characteristics. Under a biaxial loading it is disclosed that tensile cyclic hardening is greatly magnified with a superimposed lateral tension, whereas the strain-ratchetting process is led to an enhanced, unsettling state with a superimposed lateral compression. The biaxial transient and steady-state creep strains have also been calculated. The results suggest that while a superimposed lateral tension will inhibit the creep deformation, a lateral compression can greatly promote the inelastic flow. To reflect the practical service conditions of an aircraft engine, the theory is further applied to examine the effect of loading frequency on the development of inelastic strains under concurrent thermal and mechanical loading. It is found that a more frequently flying aircraft will have a greater accumulation of creep strains and, consequently, a greater possibility of material damage in its engine components over the same total flying time.     

Thermodynamic optimization of an irreversible regenerative closed Brayton cycle based on thermoeconomic performance criterion

An irreversible regenerative closed Brayton cycle has been optimized using a thermoeconomic objective criterion which is defined as the ratio of net power output to the total cost rate. The total cost rate includes fuel, investment, environmental and operation & maintenance cost rates. In the considered model pressure drops, heat leakages, irreversibilities due to finite-rate heat transfer and internal dissipations have been included. The effects of design parameters, such as isentropic temperature ratio of compressor and turbine, regenerator effectiveness, pressure loss parameter of the cycle, on the general and optimal thermoeconomic performances have been investigated in detail. The results of the study will be helpful for the performance analysis and optimization of practical Brayton heat engine systems.     

The effect of cyclone inlet dimensions on the flow pattern and performance

The effect of the cyclone inlet dimensions on the performance and flow field pattern has been investigated computationally using the Reynolds stress turbulence model (RSM) for five cyclone separators. The results show that, the maximum tangential velocity in the cyclone decreases with increasing the cyclone inlet dimensions. No acceleration occurs in the cyclone space (the maximum tangential velocity is nearly constant throughout the cyclone). Increasing the cyclone inlet dimensions decreases the pressure drop. The cyclone cut-off diameter increases with increasing cyclone inlet dimension (consequently, the cyclone overall efficiency decreases due to weakness of the vortex strength). The effect of changing the inlet width is more significant than the inlet height especially for the cut-off diameter. The optimum ratio of inlet width to inlet height b/a is from 0.5 to 0.7.     

Nonlinear explicit analysis and study of the behaviour of a new ring-type brake energy dissipator by FEM and experimental comparison

The aim of this paper is to comprehensively analyse the performance of a new ring-type brake energy dissipator through the finite element method (FEM) (formulation and finite element approximation of contact in nonlinear mechanics) and experimental comparison. This new structural device is used as a system component in rockfall barriers and fences and it is composed of steel bearing ropes, bent pipes and aluminium compression sleeves. The bearing ropes are guided through pipes bent into double-loops and held by compression sleeves. These elements work as brake rings. In important events the brake rings contract and so dissipate residual energy out of the ring net, without damaging the ropes. The rope’s breaking load is not diminished by activation of the brake. The full understanding of this problem implies the simultaneous study of three nonlinearities: material nonlinearity (plastic behaviour) and failure criteria, large displacements (geometric nonlinearity) and friction-contact phenomena among brake ring components. The explicit dynamic analysis procedure is carried out by means of the implementation of an explicit integration rule together with the use of diagonal element mass matrices. The equations of motion for the brake ring are integrated using the explicit central difference integration rule. The presence of the contact phenomenon implies the existence of inequality constraints. The conditions for normal contact are and gλ=0, where λ is the normal traction component and g is the gap function for the contact surface pair. To include frictional conditions, let us assume that Coulomb’s law of friction holds pointwise on the different contact surfaces, μ being the dynamic coefficient of friction. Next, we define the non-dimensional variable τ by means of the expression τ=t/μλ, where μλ is the frictional resistance and t is the tangential traction component. In order to find the best brake performance, different dynamic friction coefficients corresponding to the pressures of the compression sleeves have been adopted and simulated numerically by FEM and then we have compared them with the results from full-scale experimental tests. Finally, the most important conclusions of this study are given.     

Large eddy simulation of in-cylinder turbulent flows in a DISI gasoline engine

A large eddy simulation (LES) approach is used to study the in-cylinder turbulent flows of a direct injection gasoline engine, with emphasis on the relationship between the in-cycle turbulent fluctuations and the inter-cycle, i.e. cycle-to-cycle variation (CCV). In total 13 continuous cycles have been calculated, both the single cycle result and phase-averaged result have been compared with our PIV measurements, and reasonable agreements are obtained. Computational results show that, the in-cylinder turbulence is induced primarily by the intake jet. At the early stage of the intake stroke, both the turbulent fluctuations and cyclic variations are intensive and they are of the same magnitude order. While in the compression stroke, the decay of turbulent fluctuations are greater than that of the cyclic variations, and the ratio between them is less than 15%, and the flow field tends to be isotropic. This study demonstrated that LES is capable to describe more realistically details and rules of the in-cylinder turbulent flow and the cycle-to-cycle variations. By using LES coupled with the Q-criterion, the large scale coherent structures in the turbulent flow field can be identified.