Inlet port flow characteristics are critical in determining the overall performance of diesel combustion systems. The relationship between inlet port geometry and performance has long been a subject of interest to many researchers, although as yet a comprehensive understanding remains elusive. The ongoing need to provide advanced powertrain design solutions in order to meet increasingly stringent emissions legislation, whilst meeting customer expectations and minimising engineering costs, has driven the development of new approaches to engine design. In particular, the fundamental advantages of multivalve technology, coupled with rapidly improving fuel delivery systems has placed new requirements on inlet port performance characteristics. Statistical methods and knowledge-based design are emerging as potentially powerful tools in this field of research, supported by rapid developments in computing power.

The previously introduced fuel droplet heating and evaporation models, taking into account temperature gradients, recirculations, and species diffusion within droplets, are further developed and generalised for the application to a broad range of automotive fuel droplets. The research has been conducted in three directions: modelling of biodiesel fuel droplets, modelling of Diesel fuel droplets, and modelling of gasoline fuel droplets.

This work is concerned with the development of a new quantitative kinetic model for the analysis of hydrocarbon fuel droplet heating and evaporation, suitable for practical engineering applications. The work mainly focuses on the following two areas. Firstly, a new molecular dynamics (MD) algorithm for the simulation of complex hydrocarbon molecules, with emphasis on the evaporation/condensation process of liquid n-dodecane (C12H26), which is used as an approximation for Diesel fuel, has been developed. The analysis of n-dodecane molecules has been reduced to the analysis of simplified molecules, consisting of pseudoatoms, each representing the methyl (CH3) or methylene (CH2) groups. This analysis allows us to understand the underlying physics of the evaporation/condensation process of n-dodecane molecules and to estimate the values of its evaporation/condensation coefficients for a wide range of temperatures related to Diesel engines. Nobody, to the best of our knowledge, has considered MD simulation of molecules at this level of complexity. Secondly, a new numerical algorithm for the solution of the Boltzmann equation, taking into account inelastic collisions between complex molecules, has been developed. In this algorithm, additional dimensions referring to inelastic collisions have been taken into account alongside three dimensions describing the translational motion of molecules as a whole. The conservation of the total energy before and after collisions has been considered. A discrete number of combinations of the values of energy corresponding to translational and internal motions of molecules after collisions have been allowed and the probabilities of the realisation of these combinations have been assumed to be equal. This kinetic model, with the values of the evaporation coefficient estimated based on MD simulations, has been applied to the modelling of the heating and evaporation processes of n-dodecane droplets in Diesel engine-like conditions. In the previously developed kinetic models, applied to this modelling, all collisions were assumed to be elastic and the evaporation coefficient was assumed equal to 1. It is shown that the effects of inelastic collisions lead to stronger increase in the predicted droplet evaporation time relative to the hydrodynamic model, compared with the similar increase predicted by the kinetic model considering only elastic collisions. The effects of a non-unity evaporation coefficient are shown to be weak at gas temperatures around or less than 1,000 K but noticeable for gas temperatures 1,500 K. The application of the rigorous kinetic model, taking into account the effects of inelastic collisions and a non-unity evaporation coefficient, and the model considering the temperature gradient inside droplets is recommended when accurate predictions of the values of droplet surface temperature and evaporation time in Diesel engine-like conditions are essential.

Nowadays, the European automotive market is dominated by Diesel engines. Despite their high efficiency, these produce significant levels of pollutants. Among the various pollutants released, nitrogen oxides and soot are the main issues. Their formation is linked to the combustion process and attempts to reduce one often lead to an increase of the other. Laser diagnostics are among the best tools for experimental, non-intrusive studies inside combustion chambers for a better understanding of the complex combustion processes. Depending on the optical diagnostic, numerous combustion characteristics and processes can be investigated. The work presented here intends initially to develop a quantitative laser technique for characterising soot and, secondly, to further the knowledge on soot formation in Diesel engines by the application of this technique in an optical combustion chamber. Some of the main characteristics describing soot formation are the soot volume fraction, number density and particle sizes. Soot volume fraction is the major one as it is representative of the volume of soot produced. Planar characterisation of soot volume fraction, number density and particle size were achieved for the first time by simultaneous recording laser-induced incandescence (LII), laser scattering and two-colour time-resolved (2C-TiRe) LII signals. Qualitative planar distributions of particle diameter and soot volume fraction were derived from the image ratio of scattering and incandescence signals. 2C- TiRe LII technique allowed the simultaneous recording of the temporal LII signal for two different wavelengths in order to obtain quantitative values of the laser-heated particles temperature, soot volume fraction and particle size for a local or global part of the flame. These were used to recalibrate relative size and soot volume distributions. An initial development of the technique was performed on a laminar diffusion flame (Santoro burner) to validate its viability and performance. Equivalent temperature, soot volume fraction and particle diameter were determined throughout the flame. The results were found to be in good agreement with the ones published in the literature. The diagnostic was subsequently applied to an optical Diesel rapid compression machine, and further refinements were undertaken to cope with the higher soot concentration and lower LII signal. Tests were conducted for in-cylinder pressures ranging from 4 to 10 MPa, and injection pressures up to 160 MPa. A fixed injection timing and injected fuel quantity were used. Effects of in-cylinder pressure, fuel injection pressure and cetane number on soot formation and characteristics were observed. High injection pressure, cetane number and in-cylinder pressure caused a reduction of soot particle size and volume fraction but an increase of the soot particle density.

Vetronics in modern day military vehicles have evolved to include network enabled capability (NEC) allowing the use of electronics architectures to integrate different sub-systems. Integrated vehicle electronics (vetronics) offer improved performance, efficiency and new capabilities at the sub-system, system and system-of-systems level. However, this integration is associated with magnified risk and compromise from cyber-attacks. Potential cyber-attacks could be from an external source where a node is accessed by a malicious intruder using NEC, or internal to the vehicle such as a passive attack waiting to be triggered by an event. The aim of this work is to provide an understanding of applying survivable systems principles of preventive and reactive mechanisms, and proposes a vetronics survivability framework for the vehicle’s integrated vetronics in order to mitigate internal and external threats.