Despite the widespread perception about battery-electric and fuel-cell vehicles as future transportation, there are many reasons to believe that “all electric vehicles” scenario is not only unrealistic but also undesirable. The presentation will attempt to present an objective assessment of the future transportation portfolio and the role of advanced internal combustion engines running on conventional and alternative fuels. In particular, objective well-to-wheel life cycle assessment for various competing vehicle technologies will be presented, through which it will become clear that advanced high efficiency internal combustion engines running on carbon-neutral liquid fuels are the most feasible future direction for transportation at scale. Overviews will be given on relevant ongoing research activities and their opportunities and challenges will be addressed.
14/09/2020
BIO
Hong G. Im received his B.S. and M.S. in from Seoul National University, and Ph.D. from Princeton University. After postdoctoral researcher appointments at the Center for Turbulence Research, Stanford University, and at the Combustion Research Facility, Sandia National Laboratories, he held assistant/associate/full professor positions at the University of Michigan. He joined KAUST in 2013 as a Professor of Mechanical Engineering. He is a recipient of the NSF CAREER Award and SAE Ralph R. Teetor Educational Award, and has been inducted as a Fellow of the Combustion Institute and American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) and an Associate Fellow of American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA). He has also served as an Associate Editor for the Proceedings of the Combustion Institute, and currently on the Editorial Board for Energy and AI. Professor Im’s research and teaching interests are primarily fundamental and practical aspects of combustion and power generation devices using high-fidelity computational modeling. Current research activities include direct numerical simulation of turbulent combustion at extreme conditions, large eddy simulations of turbulent flames at high pressure, modeling of low grade and alternative fuels, spray and combustion modeling in advanced internal combustion engines, advanced models for soot formation, and electrical field effects on flames.