ME´RIME´E: A Simulation Software to Study Diesel Engines Used for Military Propulsion Available to Purchase

The design and development of internal combustion engines, and by extension of complete powertrains for ground vehicles, constitute a particularly complex, costly and time consuming task. As a result, numerical simulation is now commonly used by engine manufacturers and vehicle designers in addition to test bench experiments. Engine simulation codes can be divided into three main categories, with very different objectives and levels of complexity: CFD codes, thermodynamic codes and real time codes. This paper presents the MERIMEE simulation code, which belongs to the second category (MERIMEE is the French acronym for Computer Research and Study Model for Engines and their Equipment). Jointly developed by Ecole Centrale de Nantes (for the models) and the CS-SI Company (for the software development) it is used by ETAS (French Army) for the development and study of complete powertrains designed for military ground propulsion. The main models used to simulate the engine behavior are first briefly described. Then, the software architecture, the interface as well as the programming and numerical aspects are described. Finally, some significant results are shown and compared with experimental data. They deal with steady state and transient engine behavior in addition to the evaluation of pollutant emissions.