International Automotive Fuel Economy Research Conference First Proceedings

For decades, scientists and engineers have been working to increase the efficiency of internal combustion engines. For spark-ignition engines, two technical questions in particular are always in focus: 1. How can the air/fuel mixture be optimally ignited under all possible conditions? 2. How can undesirable but recurrent early and self-ignitions in the air/fuel mixture be avoided? Against the background of the considerable efficiency increases currently being sought in the context of developments and the introduction of new fuels, such as hydrogen, methanol, ammonia and other hydrogen derivatives as well as biofuels, these questions are more in the focus than ever. In order to provide a perfect exchange platform for the community of combustion process and system developers from research and development, IAV has organized this combined conference, chaired by Marc Sens. The proceedings presented here represent the collection of all the topics presented at the event and are thus intended to serve as an inspiration and pool of ideas for all interested parties.

This book contains 71 papers presented at the symposium on “Recent Advances in Experimental Mechanics” which was organized in honor of Professor Isaac M. Daniel. The symposium took place at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University on th June 23-28, 2002, in conjunction with the 14 US National Congress of Applied Mechanics. The book is a tribute to Isaac Daniel, a pioneer of experimental mechanics and composite materials, in recognition of his continuous, original, diversified and outstanding contributions for half a century. The book consists of invited papers written by leading experts in the field. It contains original contributions concerning the latest developments in experimental mechanics. It covers a wide range of subjects, including optical methods of stress analysis (photoelasticity, moiré, etc.), composite materials, sandwich construction, fracture mechanics, fatigue and damage, nondestructive evaluation, dynamic problems, fiber optic sensors, speckle metrology, digital image processing, nanotechnology, neutron diffraction and synchrotron radiation methods. The papers are arranged in the following nine sections: Mechanical characterization of material behavior, composite materials, fracture and fatigue, optical methods, n- destructive evaluation, neutron diffraction and synchrotron radiation methods, hybrid methods, composite structures, and structural testing and analysis.