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Shorter product development cycles, densely packed engine compartments and intensified noiselegislation increase the need for accurate predictions of IC-engine air intake noise at earlystages. The urgent focus on the increasing CO2 emissions and the efficiency of IC-engines, aswell as new techniques such as homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI) mightworsen the noise situation. Nonlinear one-dimensional (1D) gas dynamics time-domainsimulation software packages are used within the automotive industry to predict intake andexhaust orifice noise. The inherent limitation of 1D plane wave propagation, however, limitsthis technique to sufficiently low frequencies where non-plane wave effects are small. Thereforethis type of method will first fail in large components such as air cleaners. Further limitations,that might not be important for simulation of engine performance but indeed for acoustics,include difficulties to apply frequency dependent boundary conditions and losses as well as toinclude effects of vibrating walls. The first part of this thesis treats two different strategies to combine nonlinear and linearmodelling of intake systems in order to improve the accuracy of the noise predictions. Paper Adescribes how a linear time-invariant one-port source model can be extracted using nonlineargas dynamics simulations. Predicted source data for a six-cylinder naturally aspirated engine isvalidated using experimental data obtained from engine test bench measurements. Paper Bpresents an experimental investigation on the influence of mean flow and filter paper on theacoustics of air intake systems. It also suggests how a linear source, extracted from nonlinearsimulations can be coupled to acoustic finite elements describing the intake system and toboundary elements describing the radiation to the surroundings. Simulations and measurementsare carried out for a large number of engine revolution speeds in order to make the firstsystematic validation of an entirely virtual intake noise model that includes 3D effects for awide engine speed range. In Paper C an initial study on a new technique for the use of two-portsin the time domain for automotive gas dynamics applications is presented. Tabulated frequencydomaintwo-port data representing an air cleaner unit on the impedance form is inverselytransformed to the time domain and used as FIR filters in nonlinear time-domain calculations. The second part of the thesis considers detailed modelling of sound propagation in capillarytubes. Thermoviscous boundary effects and interaction between sound waves and turbulencecan, for sufficiently narrow tubes, yield significant attenuation. Several components in the gasexchange system of IC-engines are based on arrays of narrow ducts and might haveunderestimated silencing capabilities. In particular the sound transmission properties of chargeair coolers (CAC) have so far gained interest from very few authors. In Paper D a detailedinvestigation of the acoustic properties of CACs is presented. As a result the first linearfrequency-domain model for CACs, which includes a complete treatment of losses in the narrowtubes and 3D effects in the connecting tanks, is proposed. Interesting low frequency dampingmost likely due to interaction between sound and turbulence is observed in the experimentaldata. A new numerical model that describes this dissipative effect in narrow tubes is suggestedin Paper E. Validation is carried out using experimental data from the literature. Finally, inPaper F the CAC-model presented in Paper D is updated with the new model for interactionbetween turbulence and acoustic waves proposed in Paper E. The updated model is shown toyield improved predictions. / QC 20100723

A number of experimental and theoretical studies, performed in the field of technical flow duct acoustics are presented in this thesis. The acoustical methods treated are implemented on turbocharged IC-engines and engine gas exchange system components. A new method based on the well-known two-load technique has been developed. The method was applied to characterise the source data of various piston-engines with non-linear behaviour including a 6 cylinder turbo-charged truck diesel engine. The source characterisation results were compared to the results obtained using the linear two-load technique. It was demonstrated that the new non-linear multi-load technique gives improved results when the source is slightly non-linear. The use of active one-port models has been tested to characterize an air terminal device (ATD) as a source of flow generated noise. In order to predict the noise generation at different operating points of the device a scaling law was derived and verified. In the experimentally derived scaling law a flow speed dependence of 3 was found for the narrow band spectra, corresponding to a dipole-like behavior of the source in the plane wave range. The proposed technique was validated successfully and the results indicated a good prediction of in-duct sound generation by the air terminal device. Sound reflection from hot flow duct openings has been investigated experimentally. The reflection coefficient was measured for flow temperatures up to 500 ºC and jet velocities up to 108m/s. The results have been compared with famous Munt’s theory. It was concluded that at low Mach number and Helmholz number cases the results agree well with the Munt’s model. This was the first experimental validation of the theory for hot flow conditions. Experimental procedures to determine the sound transmission through automotive turbo-charger compressors were developed and described in detail. An overview of a unique turbocharger testing facility established at KTH CICERO in Stockholm is given. The facility can be used to measure acoustic two-port data for turbo-compressors. Results from measurements on a passenger car turbo-compressor are presented and the influence of operating conditions on the sound transmission is discussed. Current wave action models developed in CMT for computation of the gas exchange processes in I.C. engines have been implemented to determine the acoustic wave transmission through the turbo- compressor. The models are validated with the experimental data and the results are presented for different operating conditions of a Volvo passenger car turbo-compressor. / QC 20100809

This work concerns a systematic study of IC engine operation with 100% biogas as fuel (as opposed to the dual-fuel mode) with particular emphasis on operational issues and the quest for high efficiency strategies. As a first step, a commercially available 1.2 kW genset engine is modified for biogas operation. The conventional premixing of air and biogas is compared with a new manifold injection strategy. The effect of biogas composition on engine performance is also studied. Results from the genset engine study indicate a very low overall efficiency of the system. This is mainly due to the very low compression ratio (4.5) of the engine. To gain further insight into factors that contribute to this low efficiency, thermodynamic engine simulations are conducted. Reasonable agreement with experiments is obtained after incorporating estimated combustion durations. Subsequently, the model is used as a tool to predict effect of different parameters such as compression ratio, spark timing and combustion durations on engine performance and efficiency. Simulations show that significant improvement in performance can be obtained at high compression ratios. As a step towards developing a more efficient system and based on insight obtained from simulations, a high compression ratio (9.2) engine is selected. This engine is coupled to a 3 kW alternator and operated on 100% biogas. Both strategies, i.e., premixing and manifold injection are implemented. The results show very high overall (chemical to electrical) efficiencies with a maximum value of 22% at 1.4 kW with the manifold injection strategy. The new manifold injection strategy proposed here is found to be clearly superior to the conventional premixing method. The main reasons are the higher volumetric efficiency (25% higher than that for the premixing mode of supply) and overall lean operation of the engine across the entire load range. Predictions show excellent agreement with measurements, enabling the model to be used as a tool for further study. Simulations suggest that a higher compression ratio (up to 13) and appropriate spark advance can lead to higher engine power output and efficiency.

The internal combustion engine is synonyms with the automobile since its invention in late 19th century. The internal combustion engine today is far more advanced and efficient compared to its early predecessors. An intense competition exists today amongst the automotive OEMs in various countries and regions for stepping up sales and increasing market share. The pressure on automotive OEMs to reduce fuel consumption and emission is enormous which has lead to innovations of many variations in engine and engine-related technologies. However, IC engines are in existence for well more than a century and hence have already evolved to a highly refined state. Changes in IC engine are therefore largely incremental in nature. A deterrent towards development of an engine configuration that is significantly different from its predecessor is the phenomenal cost involved in prototyping. Thus, the only viable alternative in exploring new engine concepts and even optimizing designs currently in operation is through extensive use of CAE. In light of published work in the field of analysis of IC engines, current research effort is directed towards development of a rational methodology for arriving at a weight-optimized engine design, which simultaneously meets performance of various attributes such as thermal, durability, vehicle dynamics and NVH. This is in contrast to the current methodology adopted in industry, according to which separate teams work on aspects of engine design such as combustion, NVH (Noise, Vibration and Harshness), acoustics, dynamics, heat transfer and durability. Because of the involvement of heterogeneous product development groups, optimization of an engine for weight, which can have a significant impact on its power-to-weight ratio, becomes a slow process beset with manual interventions and compromise solutions. Thus, following the traditional approach, it is quite difficult to claim that an unambiguous weight-optimized design has been achieved. As a departure from the practiced approach, the present research effort is directed at the deployment of a single multi-physics explicit analysis solver, viz. LS-DYNA - generally known for its contact-impact analysis capabilities, for simultaneously evaluating a given engine design for heat transfer, mechanical and thermal loading, and vibration. It may be mentioned that only combustion analysis is carried out in an uncoupled manner, using proven phenomenological thermodynamic relations, to initially arrive at mechanical and thermal loading/boundary conditions for the coupled thermo-mechanical analysis. The proposed methodology can thus be termed as a semi-integrated technique and its efficacy is established with the case study of designing a single cylinder air-cooled diesel engine from scratch and its optimization.