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The disposal of waste rubber and scrap tyres is a significant issue globally; disposal into stockpiles and landfill poses a serious threat to the environment, in addition to creating ecological problems. Fuel production from tyre waste could form part of the solution to this global issue. Therefore, this paper studies the potential of fuels derived from waste tyres as alternatives to diesel. Production methods and the influence of reactor operating parameters (such as reactor temperature and catalyst type) on oil yield are outlined. These have a major effect on the performance and emission characteristics of diesel engines when using tyre derived fuels. In general, tyre derived fuels increase the brake specific fuel consumption and decrease the brake thermal efficiency. The majority of studies indicate that NOx emissions increase with waste tyre derived fuels; however, a few studies have reported the opposite trend. A similar increasing trend has been observed for CO and CO2 emissions. Although most studies reported an increase in HC emission owing to lower cetane number and higher density, some studies have reported reduced HC emissions. It has been found that the higher aromatic content in such fuels can lead to increased particulate matter emissions.

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a b s t r a c tAn efficient analytical method for vibration analysis of a Euler-Bernoulli beam with Spring Loading at the Tip has been developed as a baseline for treating flexible beam attached to central-body space structure, followed by the development of MATLABÓ finite element method computational routine. Extension of this work is carried out for the generic problem of Active Vibration Suppression of a cantilevered Euler-Bernoulli beam with piezoelectric sensor and actuator attached as appropriate along the beam. Such generic example can be further extended for tackling light-weight structures in space applications, such as antennas, robot's arms and solar panels. For comparative study, three generic configurations of the combined beam and piezoelectric elements are solved. The equation of motion of the beam is expressed using Hamilton's principle, and the baseline problem is solved using Galerkin based finite element method. The robustness of the approach is assessed.

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NOx emissions from diesel engines are a concern from both environmental and health perspectives.Recently this attention has targeted cold-start emissions highlighting that emission after-treatment systems are not effective in this period. Using a 6-cylinder, turbocharged, common-rail diesel engine, the current research investigates NOx emissions during cold-start using different engine performance parameters. In addition, it studies the influence of waste lubricating oil on NOx emissions introducing it as a fuel additive (1 and 5% by volume). To interpret the NOx formation, this study evaluates different parameters: exhaust gas temperature, engine oil temperature, engine coolant temperature, start of injection/combustion, in-cylinder pressure, heat release rate, maximum in-cylinder pressure and maximum rate of pressure rise. This study clarified how cold-start NOx increases as the engine is warming up while in general cold-start NOx is higher than hot-start. Results showed that in comparison with warmed up condition, during cold-start NOx, maximum in-cylinder pressure and maximum rate of pressure rise were higher; while start of injection, start of combustion and ignition delay were lower.During cold-start increased engine temperature was associated with decreasing maximum rate of pressure rise and peak apparent heat release rate. During cold-start NOx increased with temperature and it dropped sharply due to the delayed start of injection. This study also showed that using waste lubricating oil decreased NOx and maximum rate of pressure rise; and increased maximum in-cylinder pressure. NOx had a direct correlation with the maximum rate of pressure rise; and an inverse correlation with the maximum in-cylinder pressure.

Presented in this paper is an in-depth analysis of the impact of engine start during various stages of engine warm up (cold, intermediate, and hot start stages) on the performance and emissions of a heavy-duty diesel engine. The experiments were performed at constant engine speeds of 1500 and 2000 rpm on a custom designed drive cycle. The intermediate start stage was found to be longer than the cold start stage. The oil warm up lagged the coolant warm up by approximately 10 °C. During the cold start stage, as the coolant temperature increased from ~25 to 60 °C, the brake specific fuel consumption (BSFC) decreased by approximately 2% to 10%. In the intermediate start stage, as the coolant temperature reached 70 °C and the injection retarded, the indicated mean effective pressure (IMEP) and the brake mean effective pressure (BMEP) decreased by approximately 2% to 3%, while the friction mean effective pressure (FMEP) decreased by approximately 60%. In this stage, the NOx emissions decreased by approximately 25% to 45%, while the HC emissions increased by approximately 12% to 18%. The normalised FMEP showed that higher energy losses at lower loads were most likely contributing to the heating of the lubricating oil.