Professor Xu has research experience in flow/turbulence, diesel/gasoline spray, mixture preparation, ignition, premixed/diffusion combustion, new combustion mode, emission formation/control, biodiesels, engine modelling, and operation control. He also has experience in turbomachinery/turbocharging, engine design and various advanced engine technologies.
Previous major projects as PI (2002-2013): £6 million
- Controlled Homogeneous Autoignition Reformed Gas Engine (CHARGE), DTI, 2002 - 2004
- Controlled Homogeneous Autoignition Supercharged Engine (CHASE), DTI, 2004 - 2007
- Combustion, performance & emissions of biodiesels (COPE), JLR, 2007 - 2008
- Flex-diesel Engines with Sustainable Bio-fuels for Clean and Efficient On- and Off-Road Vehicle Engines (SERVE), TSB, 2007- 2010
- Impact of DMF on Engine Performance and Emissions as a New Generation of Sustainable Biofuel, EPSRC, 2008 - 2011
- HCCI engine technology research, JLR, 2007 - 2012
- Thermal Management, JLR, 2007- 2012
- Continuous Oxidation using NO2 Combustion for Exhaust Particulate Treatment (CONCEPT), JLR, Nov 2007-2009
- Combustion and emissions of ethanol in a direct injection engine, Shell, 2008 - 2009
- Combustion mechanism of furan fuels, Royal Society, 2011 - 2013
- Biodiesel engine cold start, 2012 - 2014Effect of fuel properties on GDI engines, 2012 - 2015
- Effect of fuel properties on GDI engines, 2012 - 2015
- Next generation of GDI engines with boosting, 2012-2015
- New control methodology for the next generation of engine management systems, 2013 -2016
- X-in-the-loop diesel engine control, 2013 – 2016
Ongoing major projects: external funding £1 million
Study of diesel particulate matter emissions, 2013 – 2018
Hybrid vehicle development, 2015-2017
Current main research areas include:
- Modeling engine air flow and combustion
- Fuel sprays and injection process
- Optical studies of mixture preparation and combustion
- Fuel properties and GDI technology
- Biodiesels and flex fuels
- New combustion mode (HCCI/PCCI)
- Model based intelligent engine control
- Transient engine performance of diesel and biodiesel blends at cold start
- Particulate matter reduction
One of the special areas of research is advanced optical/laser diagnostics of flow and combustion, using laser Doppler anemometry (LDA), phase Doppler particle analyzer (PDPA), planar laser-induced fluorescence (PLIF), laser-induced incandescence (LII), particle image velocimetry (PIV) and ultra-high speed imaging techniques.