Vehicle durability assessment in the automotive industry requires a good knowledge of the road load input the vehicle will experience while in service. This research explores the approach of artificial intelligence for predicting the road load input for road load simulation in the CAE environment prior to the development of a vehicle prototype. The multi-body dynamics (MBD) simulation of a quarter vehicle test rig, built with the specification of a commercial SUV, and the full vehicle of the same SUV were modelled and validated in SIMPACK using a simple tyre model developed using the tri-axial tyre test rig at the University of Birmingham. The models were used to carry out a road load data characterisation based on the variation in vehicle parameters. An artificial road input tool (ARIT) based on an optimised NARX artificial neural network architecture was developed to predict the road input for variants of vehicle for a particular vehicle behaviour over a road event. The results of the ARIT were used to run MBD simulations and compared with those from drive file iteration. The results of this research show a successful method of artificial intelligence for the generation of road load data from CAE simulations.

Increased diesel vehicle use and growing concerns about the health and environmental effects of exhaust gas pollutants lead to a greater attention upon the reduction of vehicle emissions. The evolution of driving patterns and vehicle technologies lead to lower average exhaust gas temperatures. This can limit the diesel aftertreatment (catalyst) system's ability to meet increasingly stringent emissions legislation. A thermally efficient aftertreatment system can be produced through advanced and novel catalyst designs. The research work presented in this thesis investigates diesel oxidation catalyst (DOC) and exhaust gas properties that can enhance aftertreatment performance at low temperatures. Firstly, an advanced two-catalyst configuration is designed that widens the aftertreatment system operating temperature window. Catalyst cell density, wall thickness and material choices were optimised using theoretical equations, modelling tools and an experimental approach. Secondly, strategics were developed to assist the aftertreatment low temperature activity through the understanding of exhaust species interactions (inhibition and promotion) within the catalyst. This was achieved by varying the exhaust composition at the catalyst inlet, using alternative fuels and combustion modes. Finally, a catalyst component combining a filtration/oxidation function (partial-flow filter) was found to promote particulate removal while reducing the needs for diesel particulate filter active regeneration.

This thesis reports a novel flexible wire bond structured capacitive sensor design that can measure the strain in the tyres stably and reliably without any influence or disturbance to the tyre material during the measurement. An industry achievable fabrication method based on the design has been also investigated and it is also believed that there is a possibility of introducing the sensor into mass production. Bond wire technology, laser machining technology and photolithography technology are adopted to fabricate the strain sensor, in which the wire bonding technology is the most significant process for this design. An array of 25 micrometer bond wires that are normally employed for electrical connections in integrated circuits is built to create an interdigitated structure and generating approximately 10pF capacitance. The array that in an approximately 8*8 mm area consists of 50 wire loops and creates 49 capacitor pairs. The aluminium wires are bonded to a flexible PCB which is specially finished to allow direct bonding to copper surface. The wire array is finally packaged and embedded in a flexible and compliant material, polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), which acts as the structural material that is strained. The implementations of the bond wire, the flexible PCB and PDMS embedding minimize the stiffness of the strain sensor while the PDMS can also prevent the sensor from any potential damage. When a tensile strain occurs, the wires are stretched further apart reducing the capacitance. On the contrary, the wires move closer and increase the capacitance if the strain sensor is compressed. Different from the traditional interdigital capacitor, the capacitance of the device is almost in a linear relationship with respect to the strain, which can measure the strain up to at least ±60000 micro-strain (±6%) with the resolution of 111 micro-strain (0.01%).

Metal organic framework (MOF) material is a new class of adsorbent material. This PhD research project set out to investigate the feasibility of an MOF based adsorption air conditioning system for automotive application. To achieve this, utilising a working pair with high refrigerant adsorption capacity and adsorber bed design with good heat and mass transfer performance was investigated. CPO-27Ni is the promising adsorbent. A finite element model was developed to evaluate the adsorption performance of adsorption bed. The rectangular finned tube adsorption bed was found to outperform the other designs. A lab-scale test facility, based on a single bed refrigeration cycle containing one adsorber bed and one heat exchanger, used as both the evaporator and condenser, was constructed. The effects of various operating conditions on the system’s performance were experimentally investigated using this test facility. A lumped-parameter mathematical simulation technique was developed to simulate the working process of the automotive adsorption air conditioning system based on a two-bed system capable of continuous cooling. The performance of the adsorption cooling system was investigated using this mathematical model. The results show that this adsorption air conditioning system can produce the required cooling capacity of 2.39kW, with specific cooling power (SCP) of 440W/kg and coefficient of performance (COP) of 0.456, when a desorption temperature of 130°C is obtained by hot oil heated by the engine’s exhaust gas.

In this thesis a new algorithm for mixed integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) is developed and applied to several real world applications with special focus on space applications. The algorithm is based on two main components, which are an extension of the Ant Colony Optimization metaheuristic and the Oracle Penalty Method for constraint handling. A sophisticated implementation (named MIDACO) of the algorithm is used to numerically demonstrate the usefulness and performance capabilities of the here developed novel approach on MINLP. An extensive amount of numerical results on both, comprehensive sets of benchmark problems (with up to 100 test instances) and several real world applications, are presented and compared to results obtained by concurrent methods. It can be shown, that the here developed approach is not only fully competitive with established MINLP algorithms, but is even able to outperform those regarding global optimization capabilities and cpu runtime performance. Furthermore, the algorithm is able to solve challenging space applications, that are considered here as mixed integer problems for the very first time.

Experiments have been carried out to develop process-routes for bonding Ti6Al4V couples and Ti45Al2Mn2Nb1B couples using a combination of solid state diffusion bonding, powder sintering and brazing. The aim was to firstly produce air-sealed semi-bonds at moderate diffusion bonding conditions (i.e. low bonding temperature or low pressure) that did not downgrade the properties of the bonded components, and then complete the bonding by Hot-Isostatic-Pressing (HIPping) without the use of encapsulation. In the first method, Ti6Al4V powder was used as interlayer when two Ti6Al4V blocks were diffusion bonded; and two TiAl powders, Ti48Al2Mn2Nb and Ti45Al2Mn2Nb1B, were used as bonding interlayer respectively when the Ti45Al2Mn2Nb1B couples were diffusion bonded. It was found that air-sealed bonds could be achieved only with the Ti45Al2Mn2Nb1B couples after the first-step bonding. HIPping and post-bond heat treatments were carried out to fulfill the bonding. Microstructural assessment and measurements of tensile strength and fatigue properties of the bonded samples were carried out and it was found that the bonded samples had properties comparable to those of the parent material. In the second method, the brazing alloy TiCuNi-60 was used to seal the periphery of specially designed Ti6Al4V samples. Brazing was carried out in vacuum and the brazing time was optimised so that an air tight seal was produced, but the microstructural changes associated with liquid phase diffusion between the braze alloy and the Ti6Al4V were minimised. After brazing, the vacuum-sealed bonds were HIPped to produce fully bonded samples. The tensile properties of the bonds were shown to be comparable with those of the bulk material. A slight decrease in fatigue properties was found in the bonded samples, which was associated with inclusions on the interface caused by contamination before bonding. Analysis of the factors controlling the bonding of nominally flat surfaces and of surfaces with powder interlayer has been carried out in order to explain the observations and the conditions required for successful low temperature, low pressure bonding defined.

Premixed compression-ignition (PCI) combustion techniques using low-cetane fuels, including Dieseline (mixture of diesel-gasoline) and naphtha, were investigated in a light-duty multi-cylinder CI-engine focusing mainly on reducing emissions while maintaining or improving the brake-thermal-efficiency. Different fuel-injection and intake/exhaust handling strategies were investigated in a wide engine operating load range from 1.4 to 17.3 bar BMEP. Moreover, an out-cylinder emission reduction technique through using a diesel-oxidation-catalyst (DOC) was investigated. Hot (uncooled) exhaust-gas-recirculation (EGR) combined with low fuel-injection-pressure (as low as 150 bar) significantly enhanced combustion-performance (COV < 5%) and reduced carbon-monoxide and hydrocarbon emissions at lower loads, when using low-cetane fuelled PCI techniques. At 1.4 to 6 bar BMEP, particulate emissions were reduced by >99% with respect to the diesel-CI baseline, in terms of number and mass, while maintaining brake-specific-NOx below 0.4 g/kWh. At loads more than 6 bar BMEP, double-injection strategy advanced combustion-phasing, where the first injection-event was shown to be significantly influential. Due to narrower boiling-range of naphtha compared to Dieseline, naphtha PCI resulted in high-COV at low loads, while it resulted in rapid-combustion at medium/high loads. Utilisation of the hot-EGR is a “win-win” strategy to enhance the combustion-process of the PCI-engine and reduction of the volatile/semi-volatile compounds using the DOC.

This study investigated the feasibility of manufacturing bimetallic fuel pump bearings by Hot Isostatic Pressing (HIPping). The aim of the project was to reduce processing costs whilst maintaining or improving product quality. The process involved compacting, sintering and diffusion bonding Al 7wt%Si powder to 30 % leaded bronze. The pre-processing HIP conditions including surface preparation of the leaded bronze liner, powder size, degassing temperature and degassing dwell time, had a significant effect on the bond strength. By optimising the HIP conditions, it was then possible to achieve a highly compacted Al-Si casing that had bonded to the leaded bronze by forming a thin, uniform and continuous diffusion bond interface. The interface consisted of three intermetallic layers; Al2Cu, AlCu and Al2Cu3. Due to the brittle nature of the intermetallic layers, an increase in width resulted in a reduction in strength. An optimum bond width has been established and resulted in bond strengths up to four times greater than the current production bearings manufactured by flame spraying. The project developed a manufacturing process for powder HIP bearings that offered a potential cost saving of 18%.

Thermal barrier coatings (TBCs) are used to protect high-pressure stage 1 turbine components in aero engines. At present the full potential high-temperature capabilities of TBCs cannot be utilised due to the difficulties in estimating the remaining useful life of in-service TBCs. State of the art non-destructive techniques, such as photo-luminescent piezospectroscopy (PLPS) have aided in furthering the understanding of damage evolution mechanism techniques, but are limited in applicability at temperature. In this work, a new force-balance model is presented for calculating the growth stress in a thermally grown oxide (TGO) layer at oxidation temperatures. Furthermore, a new experimental technique is explored for observation of the full-field strain distribution using synchrotron X-ray microtomography (SX μCT) coupled with digital volume correlation (DVC). The forcebalance method relates the creep in bondcoats of precision-machined cylindrical micro-specimens to the stress acted on the bondcoat by the TGO. These precisionmachined specimens were volumetrically imaged at the I12 JEEP beamline of Diamond Light Source (DLS) to reveal the three-dimensional evolution of TBC microstructure with time at temperature. The time-dependent volumetric image data acquired at DLS were processed using commercial digital volume correlation code to compute full-field displacement and strain distribution.

In this research, possible improvements in engine specifications using the simulations developed on the AVL BOOST™ and Ricardo WAVE™ platforms were investigated. These modelling simulations help the author to predict the effect of any improvements in engine specifications without practical experimental challenges and difficulties. Firstly, HCCI and SI engines were modelled with the intention of maximizing the engine’s efficiency and minimizing the emissions. Changes of valve timing and throttle angle influence emissions’ reduction and the efficiency of the engine. In SI engines, the emissions of NOx can be reduced by using EGR, while only having a little effect on performance. The emissions from the HCCI, due to their intrinsically low emission output, were not improved. The effect of increasing the bore to stroke ratio in an opposed piston engine whilst maintaining a constant swept volume, port geometry and combustion timing, shows an increase of heat losses due to the lower ratio of exposed surface area to volume; an increase in thermal and mechanical efficiency; and most importantly, an improvement in fuel consumption. Also, in this research study, different strategies for opposed piston engines were investigated to increase the engine’s efficiency. The effect of a variable compression ratio on an opposed piston engine’s performance indicates different behaviour at various engine speeds and under different running conditions.