Automotive Science and Engineering
Volume:12 Issue: 1, Winter 2022

In this paper, mechanical properties of welded single lap joints of pure aluminum sheets produced by severe plastic deformation (SPD) are considered. SPD in form of a large pre-strain was imposed to aluminum sheets through the constrained groove pressing (CGP) process. Furthermore, CGPed specimens are joined using the resistance spot welding (RSW) method. Welding time and force are maintained evenly. Welding current is raised until ideal failure mode is observed. Finally, mechanical properties of fusion zone, heat affected zone (HAZ) and base metal of welded SPDed specimens are derived. The results show that by increasing the pre-strain in specimens, an improvement in yield strength, ultimate tensile strength, load carrying capacity, maximum displacement before failure and nugget diameter is observed. Furthermore, sensitivity of these parameters to CGP pass number is considered. Finally, it has been shown that fusion zone and HAZ hardness values can increase by increasing the CGP pass number.

Recently, number of Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEV) is on the rise due to concerns over environmental issues. By combining fuel and electricity as two sources of power, this type of vehicle is capable of bettering fuel economy and lowering emission. In this work, fuel and electrical energy consumption of a parallel hybrid electric vehicle are investigated through TEH-CAR urban drive cycle. For this purpose, a forward looking model is developed in AVL CRUISE M. To ensure adequacy of the model and take engine gas path components’ dynamic interaction into account, a crank based model with individual cylinders is utilized. Furthermore, a throttle filter is presented to slow down engine’s response and also, allow the electric motor to have the larger share of delivering power in transients. Finally, genetic algorithm is used to find optimal values for throttle filter parameter and electric motor load ratio, in order to have minimal overall fuel and electrical energy consumption. The optimization results show 1.2% of fuel and 20.2% of total energy consumption reduction in comparison with conventional torque assist.

Environmental pollution and reduction of fossil fuel resources can be considered as the most important challenges for human society in the recent years. The results of previous studies show that the main consumer of fossil fuels and, consequently, most of the air pollutants, is related to the transportation industry and especially cars. The increasing growth of vehicles, the increase in traffic and the decrease in the average speed of inner-city vehicles have led to a sharp increase in fuel consumption. To address this problem, automakers have proposed the development and commercialization of hybrid vehicles as an alternative to internal combustion vehicles. In this paper, the design of an energy management system in a fuel-cell hybrid vehicle based on the look-ahead fuzzy control is considered. The preparation of fuzzy rules and the design of membership functions is based on the fuel efficiency curve of the fuel-cell. In look-ahead fuzzy control, the ahead conditions of the vehicle are the basis for decision in terms of slope and speed limit due to path curves as well as battery charge level. The fuzzy controller will determine the on or off status of the fuel-cell, as well as the power required. The motion of the fuel-cell hybrid vehicle on a real road is simulated and the performance of the proposed look-ahead controller is compared with the base controller (thermostatic method). The simulation results show that using the proposed approach can reduce the fuel consumption of the fuel-cell hybrid vehicle as well as travel time.

The objective of the present paper is to assess the capability of several classical damage models in prediction of service lifetime of engine components subjected to Thermo-mechanical Fatigue (TMF) loading. The focus of the present study is based on efficient and robust predictive tools which are suitable in industrial development process, thus the classical fatigue damage models are selected to perform such a tsk. In the classical framework, three strain-based models including Manson-Coffin, Smith-Watson-Topper and Ostergren models and one plastic strain energy-based model are examined. Besides, some correction factors are added to the Manson-Coffin, Ostergren and plastic strain energy models regarding the mean stress and temperature effects. The statistical analysis of the models is carried out utilizing the Low-cycle fatigue and Thermo-mechanical Fatigue tests on standard specimens of A356 aluminum alloy. The analysis indicated that modified Ostergren model is the most reliable model in fatigue lifetime description of the A356 alloy among the others. The studied engine component is a passenger-car diesel engine cylinder head made of A356 aluminum alloy. The temperature, stress and strain distribution fields of the component are considered as the given boundary conditions from our previous work as they are not in the scope of the present investigation. The selected damage models based on the best accuracy identified during statistical analysis are introduced into the ABAQUS software. The modified Ostergren model presented the most accurate and realistic results based on empirical observations of fatigue crack area in diesel engine cylinder heads studied in the literature.

In this paper, the optimization of the suspension system’s parameters is performed using a combined Taguchi and TOPSIS method, in order to improve the car handling and ride comfort. The car handling and ride comfort are two contradictory dynamic indices; therefore, to improve both car handling and ride comfort, there is a need for compromising between these two indices. For this purpose, the criteria affecting these two are first identified. The lateral acceleration and the body roll angle were used to evaluate the handling, and the RMS of vertical acceleration of the vehicle body was used to evaluate the ride comfort. The design factors including stiffness of springs and damping coefficient of dampers in the front and rear suspension system were also taken into account. On this basis, the results obtained from the vehicle’s motion in the DLC test were evaluated in the CarSim software. Then, the ideal tests were identified using the combined entropy and TOPSIS technique; this method has been proposed for managing the handling and ride comfort criteria. Finally, the optimal level of the suspension system’s factors was extracted using Taguchi method. It is evident from the results that, for different speeds, the body roll angle was improved up to 6.5%, and the RMS of the vertical acceleration of the vehicle body was optimized up to 4% to 7%.

Today, a large part of a vehicle's performance depends on its suspension. These expectations are addressed in this paper, including ride comfort, road-holding, and lateral stability. Due to the high statistics of lateral overturning, preventing lateral overturning and providing lateral stability of the vehicle is one of the most important goals of this paper. In this paper, a new type of suspension based on the Series Active Variable-Geometry is used by designing a simple Sliding Mode Controller (SMC) to improve vehicle dynamics. On the contrary previous studies in this field, asymmetric distribution of control command has been used to increase the usefulness of suspension in standard road roughness and during longitudinal and transverse maneuvers. In this paper, by simulating crosswind and double lane change maneuvers, several ideas have been used to command the suspension links, and a 25% to 30% improvement in vehicle dynamic performance parameters has been achieved.