Scope

The Specialty Section Engine and Automotive Engineering aims to publish papers which describe advances in transportation and power generation technologies that improve energy utilization and reduce pollutant emissions from internal combustion engines. This is a critical goal, since engines and transportation systems form the backbone of the world’s economy. Transportation in developed countries accounts for almost a quarter of all energy use. This has significant emissions implications, as fossil fuels, which provide almost nine tenths of the world’s power production, are the primary transportation energy source, accounting for an equivalent percentage of all anthropogenic Green House Gas emissions. Engines power all manner of utility devices (pumps, mowers, chain-saws, portable generators, etc.), freight transportation (truck, rail and maritime heavy-duty engines), earth-moving equipment, agricultural tractors and harvesters, aircrafts, ocean liners and ships, personal watercraft and motorcycles, plus the almost 1 billion passenger cars.

Our section welcomes papers concerned with improving the understanding and the control of factors that characterize and impact (compression and spark ignition) engine efficiency and emissions, e.g.: fuel injection and sprays, novel combustion systems (GDI, HCCI, PCCI, RCCI), detailed molecular chemistry of fuels, engine transient operation, turbocharging, diagnostics, control systems, energy recovery such as organic Rankine cycles, and exergy analyses. Exhaust after-treatment technologies ─ as well as internal measures such as exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) ─ are of particular interest, including research on three-way catalysts, selective catalytic reduction (SCR), lean NOx traps, diesel oxidation catalysts, and diesel (DPF) and gasoline (GPF) particulate filters.

Alternative fuels research is another very important component of the Section, including use of renewable biofuels (e.g. vegetable oils, biodiesel, bio-ethanol, bio-butanol, diethyl-ether), natural gas, hydrogen and other carbon-free fuels.

Frontiers in Mechanical Engineering - Engine and Automotive Engineering also welcomes original research on vehicle-level experiments and simulations, e.g. studies on vehicle aerodynamics, transmission and driveline losses, investigation of friction reduction technologies and lubrication, as well as analyses of the whole vehicle during a driving cycle or real-driving emission (RDE) tests. Manuscripts on fuel cell applications and battery energy capacity, together with approaches that integrate these technologies in vehicle applications, e.g. hybrid-electric (HEV) and purely electric vehicles (EEV), are strongly encouraged, being a very promising solution in meeting the constantly decreasing CO2 targets from vehicles.

The ultimate goal of the section is to accelerate research progress at this critical time when society faces multiple challenges: from the need to reduce fossil fuel consumption (and consequent GHG emissions) to improve overall vehicle fuel efficiency and drivability, and to meet ever-more stringent pollutant emissions with the aim to mitigate environmental issues related to engines and automotive engineering.

Submission

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