A modal approach to vehicular emissions and fuel consumption model development

Area of Science:

• Environmental Science
• Transportation Engineering
• Automotive Engineering

Background:

• Motor vehicle emissions and fuel consumption significantly impact urban air quality and energy resources.
• Accurate modeling of these factors is crucial for developing effective environmental and transportation policies.
• Existing models often lack the granularity to capture real-world driving variations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a modal approach for analyzing motor vehicle emissions and fuel consumption.
• To establish a model estimating emissions and fuel use based on instantaneous speed and driving mode.
• To assess the feasibility of using on-road measurements for modal emission and fuel consumption modeling.

Main Methods:

• Collected on-road data from instrumented test vehicles in urban Hong Kong.
• Defined four standard driving modes: idling, accelerating, cruising, and decelerating.
• Developed a model using piecewise interpolation for non-idling modes and negative exponential functions for idling.

Main Results:

• The developed model demonstrated good agreement with test vehicle data.
• Piecewise interpolation functions effectively represented non-idling driving modes.
• Negative exponential functions accurately estimated idling emission and fuel consumption rates.

Conclusions:

• On-road measurements are a feasible method for developing accurate modal emission and fuel consumption models.
• The modal approach provides a more detailed understanding of vehicle performance and environmental impact.
• The findings support the refinement of emission inventories and fuel efficiency standards.