MERCED -- Efficiency is the name of the game when it comes to making non-gasoline vehicles more attractive, both to manufacturers and to consumers. But testing engine efficiency can be an expensive proposition, requiring hand-built prototypes, pricey equipment and space to house operations. Reducing these expenses is a key way to help make alternative fuels practical for the mass market.

Professor Gerardo Diaz and Joel Martinez-Frias, Ph. D., of the University of California, Merced, School of Engineering are collaborating with a group of scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) directed by Salvador Aceves, Ph.D., on the development of advanced computational tools for analysis of alternative fuel engines. Their project aims to lower the barriers to new engine technologies that can help reduce dependence on foreign oil, carbon emissions, and toxic emissions.

The work is sponsored by the Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.

“UC Merced is committed to research on efficient energy systems,” Diaz said. “We hope our research takes society in the same direction our campus is going – reducing our carbon footprint and improving efficiency.”

“We believe we’ve found an excellent opportunity to address a very important problem,” he added.

The research team aims to develop analysis tools that could be transferred to the automotive industry. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has already begun working with corporations including Cummins and Ford Motor Company. The computational models created by the team can apply to heavy- or light-duty vehicle engines.

Work like this can get complicated – fuels like gasoline and diesel are chemically complex, and models have to take into account how each component of the fuel behaves as it ignites in an engine, Aceves said.

The team creates what they call surrogate models – combinations of molecules that behave similarly to those found in the fuels – to work around some of those challenges. Then, to make sure their models are accurate, Diaz and his colleagues compare their results with real-world test results. The modeling effort simplifies the experimental work by directing the research into promising ways to maximize efficiency while meeting increasingly tighter oncoming emissions standards.

Each scientist on the team brings a particular expertise toward the research goals. Diaz developed expertise in analyzing energy systems through a Ph.D. from the University of Notre Dame and several years of industry experience at Modine Manufacturing and Honeywell before joining the faculty at UC Merced in 2005. Aceves leads the Engineering Directorate’s Energy Conversion and Storage Group at LLNL and is sponsoring the project and developing the chemical models used in the analysis. Martinez-Frias, a staff researcher at UC Merced, contributes his knowledge in generating the computer models for the project.

The team also collaborates with researchers at UC Berkeley, Sandia National Laboratory and Oak Ridge National Laboratory.