Large Size- and Time-Scale Investigation of Surfactant Aggregation and Structure Formation

Project Description

Aerodynamics plays a significant contributor to the fuel economy of automobiles. At highway speeds more than 50% of the energy consumption is used to overcome aerodynamic drag of the vehicle. Optimizing the aerodynamic performance of automobiles therefore has huge implications to total cost of ownership of the vehicle by virtue of reduced fuel consumption. This in turn leads to reduced emissions and conservation of greenhouse gases (GHG). While automotive aerodynamics has been a focus area at most original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) for a long time, there is renewed focus in this area with the upcoming, stringent CAFÉ regulations that are requiring an average fuel economy (FE) of 54.5 miles per gallon (mpg) for all passenger cars sold in the United States. Just to put things in perspective, the average fuel economy of passenger cars in 2013 was 36 mpg and light duty trucks was 25.3 mpg. The 2025 CAFÉ regulations represent a significant shift and will need systematic and sharp focus in developing the next generation of passenger cars and trucks. Specifically, aerodynamic performance will be a key contributor to achieving the targets in addition to lightweight materials, improved power-train efficiency etc. The execution of this project will further enhance Fiat Chrysler Automotive (FCA) Group’s leadership in designing highly aerodynamic and fuel efficient vehicles in the future. The output from the project has the potential to help speed up product development that will help reduce time to market and in achieving future CAFÉ regulations.From an industrial perspective, the goal is to enable virtual product design. Procter & Gamble is a global consumer goods company that develops and sells a wide array of surfactant-based products such as shampoos (e.g. Pantene, Head & Shoulders) and laundry detergents (e.g. Tide, Ariel). These must meet many design criteria including items listed above such as rheological profile and shelf stability to delight consumers and grow brands in a competitive global market. Experimentally finding a desired product composition to meet these criteria can be expensive and time consuming. While P&G heavily invests in physical experimentation, virtual product design can complement and accelerate this experimental work, reducing time to market and development costs. On a more fundamental level, mechanistic understanding of what drives bulk product characteristics allows for more targeted design strategies, and deep mechanistic understanding can lead to non-obvious insights into formula design to help break stubborn trade-offs that often exist between product costs and benefits.