Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.

Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.

The Foot-LITE project will deliver innovative driver/vehicle interface systems and services to encourage sustained changes to driving styles and behaviours which are safer, reduce congestion, enhance sustainability, help reduce traffic pollution emissions, and reduce other social and environmental impacts. Fundamental research will be used to support the strong industry base in the project through prototype systems development and design, impact assessments and the further development of research tools and processes, including the SRIF/TRW funded instrumented vehicle to deliver a credible evidence-based validation of the system through to real-world operational experiences with user feedback and evaluation. The Foot-LITE system is seen as a tool to encourage and challenge drivers to achieve very real benefits that are already available in the current vehicle fleet but whose benefits cannot be readily maximised without an advisory interface to the driver. The approach has the ultimate choice and control still resting with the individual. This is seen to be crucial to the public and commercial acceptability of Foot-LITE. The aim of the Foot-LITE project is to create a revolutionary driver information system designed to educate and encourage safer and greener driving and longer term behavioural changes. The project consists of four Foot-LITE Work Areas. Effective Project Management is crucial to the delivery and testing of technologies and the assessment of their impacts. This Work Area will be the responsibility of the Lead Partner MIRA who encompasses both commercial as well as research expertise. The second Work Area is Market Reviews and Delivery which is focussed on the development of the concept and identification of product opportunities and system enhancements. The third work area, Technical Implementation, will create innovative applications which influence driver behaviour; this will be led by TRW. The fourth Work Area, which is led by TRG (the Academic Lead Partner), uses a variety of approaches, including simulation and large scale fleet trials, to produce an Impact Assessment of the systems and services and to identify those characteristics which will support applications in a future policy and market environment and deliver a tool that has the potential in instigating a step change in driver behaviour to tackle the twin problems of safety and the environment. The project will undertake all the necessary research and development to produce a prototype system which will be evaluated by fleets of drivers in normal driving conditions. The necessary data collection/data base systems for the vehicle fleet will also be developed so that robust evidence of the effectiveness (or otherwise) of the system will be collected, analysed and published to better the overall knowledge in this area. Additional surveys of other user groups to determine long term effects will be undertaken to better determine market opportunities and implementation strategies to deliver future intelligent vehicles and associated infrastructure. The system to be developed in the project comprises an aftermarket, standalone vehicle interface (although installation during vehicle build will not be excluded) giving moment-to-moment feedback during a drive (similar to SatNav), plus a back office support tool for off-line analysis of journeys and retrospective feedback.

The automotive industry in the UK remains one of the key strategic sectors in the overall national R&D footprint, employing some 160,000 people (38000 in motor sport) [1]. The UK is home to a number of global OEMs representing the largest inward investment in the country's R&D through the establishment of significant technical centres. Influenced by the stringent emission mandates (Euro 4: Directive 98/70/EC and amendment: 70/220/EEC) and noise pollution targets (EU:DIRECTIVE 70/157/EEC and amendment: 2007/34/EC, USA: FHWA-HEP-06-020) improvements in engine efficiency have assumed a high priority with automotive manufacturers. An effective way is to reduce frictional (parasitic) and mechanical (errant dynamic) losses, accounting for 15 / 25 % of lost energy. Errant dynamic losses refer to inertial imbalance and structural deformation, also contributing to noise and vibration pollution. The largest mechanical losses are due to translational imbalance of pistons and rotational imbalance of the crank system, with increasing engine roughness due to demands for high output power-to-weight ratio. Engine roughness refers to structural vibration of lightly damped engine systems. Worst conditions for frictional losses arise under stop-start conditions or other transient events, where interactions between system dynamics and tribological behaviour of engine sub-systems play significant roles (Andersson [2]). Nearly half of the friction losses in internal combustion engines originate in the piston-ring-cylinder contacts, about 50% (Blau et al [3]), two thirds of which is attributable to the compression ring. Hitherto, interactions between frictional and mechanical losses have not received the fundamental analysis that they deserve. With increasing demand for high performance engines, the piston is subjected to even higher loads and, thus, increased losses. At the same time, engine development is driven by high fuel efficiency and output power-to-weight ratio, as well as reduced NOx and particulate emissions. These requirements frequently lead to conflicting demands put on combustion, system dynamics and tribological performance. It is significant to note that a mere 4% reduction in parasitic losses can lead to 1% improvement in fuel efficiency. Rapidly diminishing fossil fuel deposits in the UK's territorial waters and the difficulty of extraction, together with the adverse environmental impact of significant vehicular emissions, make improved fuel efficiency by reduction of parasitic losses a national imperative and a paramount objective. Whilst large national projects have been undertaken for development of efficient combustion strategies, a large consortium project has not hitherto been undertaken for tribology and dynamics of the piston-connecting rod-crankshaft sub-system which contributes significantly to engine losses. This project will bring together experts in the fields of dynamics, surface engineering, contact mechanics, lubricant rheology and tribology to collectively provide unique and novel solutions for this challenging multi-disciplinary problem of utmost importance to the UK automotive industry. An approach incorporating these inter-related disciplines within a unified analysis framework is referred to as multi-physics. This points to a single integrated project across all the interacting disciplines to deal with physics on a wide range of scales from large displacement dynamics to small thermo-elastic distortion of components and further down to micro-scale tribological contacts (such as EHD films, and asperity interactions) and onto the diminishing conjunctions of surface textured patterns with nano-scale interactions such as the molecular behaviour of lubricants due to their physical chemistry and free surface energy effects.

The Foot-LITE project will deliver innovative driver/vehicle interface systems and services to encourage sustained changes to driving styles and behaviours which are safer, reduce congestion, enhance sustainability, help reduce traffic pollution emissions, and reduce other social and environmental impacts. Fundamental research will be used to support the strong industry base in the project through prototype systems development and design, impact assessments and the further development of research tools and processes, including the SRIF/TRW funded instrumented vehicle to deliver a credible evidence-based validation of the system through to real-world operational experiences with user feedback and evaluation. The Foot-LITE system is seen as a tool to encourage and challenge drivers to achieve very real benefits that are already available in the current vehicle fleet but whose benefits cannot be readily maximised without an advisory interface to the driver. The approach has the ultimate choice and control still resting with the individual. This is seen to be crucial to the public and commercial acceptability of Foot-LITE. The aim of the Foot-LITE project is to create a revolutionary driver information system designed to educate and encourage safer and greener driving and longer term behavioural changes. The project consists of four Foot-LITE Work Areas. Effective Project Management is crucial to the delivery and testing of technologies and the assessment of their impacts. This Work Area will be the responsibility of the Lead Partner MIRA who encompasses both commercial as well as research expertise. The second Work Area is Market Reviews and Delivery which is focussed on the development of the concept and identification of product opportunities and system enhancements. The third work area, Technical Implementation, will create innovative applications which influence driver behaviour; this will be led by TRW. The fourth Work Area, which is led by TRG (the Academic Lead Partner), uses a variety of approaches, including simulation and large scale fleet trials, to produce an Impact Assessment of the systems and services and to identify those characteristics which will support applications in a future policy and market environment and deliver a tool that has the potential in instigating a step change in driver behaviour to tackle the twin problems of safety and the environment. The project will undertake all the necessary research and development to produce a prototype system which will be evaluated by fleets of drivers in normal driving conditions. The necessary data collection/data base systems for the vehicle fleet will also be developed so that robust evidence of the effectiveness (or otherwise) of the system will be collected, analysed and published to better the overall knowledge in this area. Additional surveys of other user groups to determine long term effects will be undertaken to better determine market opportunities and implementation strategies to deliver future intelligent vehicles and associated infrastructure. The system to be developed in the project comprises an aftermarket, standalone vehicle interface (although installation during vehicle build will not be excluded) giving moment-to-moment feedback during a drive (similar to SatNav), plus a back office support tool for off-line analysis of journeys and retrospective feedback.