Investigation of Aerodynamics Characteristics of a Personal Transportation

Vehicle Concept - Using Computational Fluid Dynamics

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1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 Introduction

The wind-induced traffic accidents of road vehicles are a common occurrence, frequently
reported around the world. A post disaster investigation indicates that the flow pressure and
the aerodynamic loads acting on vehicles are the main cause of wind-induced traffic
accidents. In addition, the aerodynamics characteristic of road vehicles involves not only the
aerodynamic shape but also the natural wind and different infrastructure scenarios such as
flat grounds, embankments, bridges, and wind barriers, which presents the features of
complexity and uncertainty. More importantly, when a vehicle is travelling along a road or
across a bridge at a high speed under crosswind, the vehicle in the adjacent lane overtakes,
and the aerodynamic parameters of side force, lift force, and rolling moment for the two
vehicles will change significantly under the overtaking process, which is extremely easy to
arouse course derivations and even rollover accidents. In order to accurately evaluate the
accident risk and the driving safety of road vehicle, the sudden change characteristics of the
road vehicles under specific situation become necessary and essential.

The moving model experiment is an ideal method to explore the overtaking man oeuvres
under crosswind as it could reflect the realistic motion of the vehicle, but there are many
difficulties in the practice. On one hand, due to the limited dimensions of wind tunnels, the
moving distance is limited and the valid measuring time is very short. On the other hand,
some uncertainty factors such as the smoothness of the guide way (or the ruggedness of the
connection components) may disturb the evaluation of the aerodynamic force of the moving
vehicle. More recent studies demonstrated that, in terms of the overall mean aerodynamic
force, the still experiments were sufficient. Additionally, the technical standards about
crosswind effects on rolling stock (CEN standard EN 14067-6: 2010) recommended the still
model test rather than the moving model test because of its greater robustness and reliability.

The aim of the present work is to investigate the aerodynamic characteristics of road vehicles
during the overtaking process under the influence of crosswinds. A scale cable-stayed bridge
with a flat box girder has been introduced into the experiments as the infrastructures for the
driving environments. The scale of the model (both for the vehicle and bridge) selects 1: 40
for the present wind tunnel experiments. It investigates the variation characteristics of the
aerodynamic force considering various configurations of the articulated lorry and the
commercial van during the overtaking process

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2. LITERATURE SURVEY

2.1 Introduction

In early years there were no such considerations when drawing designs of the car. It was in
1970s the increase in fuel consumption and the fuel prices put stress on the engineering to
actually think about the body design. The aerodynamics researchers initially focused on the
reduction of the drag force; on the other hand there was the lift problem which causes the
low vehicle stability. So there was great need of considering all the forces while designing
the vehicle body. In the regards Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) played its vital role in
determining the vehicle body shaping.
To understand and for the clear explanation of the theory and the subject area of the topic the
literature review has been split into different sections. The topics these sections cover
include the basis aerodynamics of the car body, drag, lift and other different parameters for
example height and the pitch which causes on the moving vehicle body. Then, the main area
will be covered which is CFD simulation. The main model for the research is the Ahmed
model to have the better understanding of the aerodynamics forces at the back light angle of
the car.

Vehicle axis frame xyz. Again this is the right angled frame but this time it is assumed to be
fixed with the vehicle and also it moves along with it. The z force called the lift force which
is acting on upwards and x is the horizontal force which is moving opposite to the vehicle
body called drag. At the last force on the side horizontally called the side force which causes
the momentum force.

Author SAUD HASSAN, says, “Road vehicle aerodynamics has been treated by
Barnard (1996), who gives a very readable account, and also by Hucho (1998a), who gives a
particularly comprehensive treatment. The main developments with vehicle aerodynamics
probably occurred during the early 198Os, and the use of low-drag vehicles has now become
common. The development of low-drag vehicle shapes is now more rapid because of greater
past experience and better computational techniques.” (R Stone 2004). The primary aim is to
research and investigate an aerodynamic study of a vehicle body design focusing rear back
light angle. Computational Fluid Dynamic simulation studies investigated the effect of
geometric form design, with a focus on rear vehicle backlight angle, to determine upon drag
and lift values. A real-life automobile is very complex shape to model or to study

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experimentally. However, the simplified vehicle shape employed by Ahmed et al. (1984).
“The Ahmed body is a “bluff body” simplified car used in automotive industry to investigate
the influence of the flow structure on the drag.” (Emmanuel Guilmineau, 2007). In this
project flow around the Ahmed body is investigated. For this flow over the bluff body were
considered which with different slant angles. A case study is presented in this report to
determine optimum design of the back light angle of a vehicle body (rear), which the author
concludes around 30 degrees. Observation findings on air flow around the body are
highlighted here with particular emphasis on the results from CFD simulation. This was
determined utilizing the Ahmed model with different backlight angles such as 0o, 5o, 12.5o,
20o, 30o, and 40o were utilized in the case study presented. The behavior of these backlight
angles was studied, and compared to the results with the different literature research papers.
Finally the modification and the future advancement have been proposed on the basis of the
outcome results.”

The author SIMONE SIBBEN says, “The objective of this chapter is to briefly explain
some of the basic principles of fluid mechanics applied to road vehicle aerodynamics. It
introduces the main concepts of drag, lift, boundary layer, wake separation, and so on. It also
describes the importance and relevance of aerodynamics in the development process of new
car models. Aerodynamics has a significant influence on other road vehicle properties such as
performance, handling, contamination, and comfort. These aspects are highlighted in the
chapter. An overview of a typical aerodynamic development process for high volume
production cars is given. It explains the need for attribute balancing, engineering
compromises, and other considerations such as costs and manufacturing. Interaction effects
of different areas of the body are described in a general way in this chapter. Finally, we
discuss some future styling trends and the need of reducing cooling air, increasing under
body paneling, and methods for flow control.”

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3. DESIGN AND WORKING OF CFD
3.1 What is CFD
When an engineer is tasked with designing a new product, e.g. a winning race car for the next
season, aerodynamics play an important role in the engineering process. However,
aerodynamic processes are not easily quantifiable during the concept phase. Usually the only
way for the engineer to optimize his designs is to conduct physical tests on product
prototypes. With the rise of computers and ever-growing computational power (thanks to
Moore’s law!), the field of Computational Fluid Dynamics became a commonly applied
tool for generating solutions for fluid flows with or without solid interaction. In a CFD
analysis, the examination of fluid flow in accordance with its physical properties such as
velocity, pressure, temperature, density and viscosity is conducted. To virtually generate an
accurate solution for a physical phenomenon associated with fluid flow, those properties have
to be considered simultaneously.

3.2 CFD Simulation

The term CFD stands for computational fluid dynamics. The equation of continuity and the
momentum can be solved with the help of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) technology.
In 70’s there was 1st time that the 2D simulation were used to solve the basic equations
which is only apply to airplanes. (Nasira, et al., 2012) The aerodynamics force which is
acting on the vehicle is determined by calculating the pressure and flow velocities around the
surface of the body, which can only be done by solving the equation of, motion of fluids for
example the Navier-stroke equations and the Bernoulli equation.
Fluids like (Gas and liquid) their flows are calculated by partial differential equations,
represents the law of conservation for the mass, momentum and the energy.
‘(CFD) computational fluid dynamics is the art of replacing such PDE system by the set of
algebraic equations which can be solved using digital computers.’

 Qualitative and quantities fluid flow provided by the (CFD) computational fluid
dynamics can predict from the flowing means:
 CFD software’s like Solid works, NX idea, solver, post processing utilities.
 Numerical methods
 Mathematical modelling

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 The following figure shows the variation of (CFD) computational fluid dynamics
over the years and complexity of the geometry of the model.

Figure 9 - Equations against the complex geometry

3.3 CAD
model for analysis

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 4. RESULT

4.1 Velocity Distribution

4.2 Velocity Streamlines

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4.3 Velocity at front

4.4 Velocity at front to side

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4.5 Velocity from top

4.6 Pressure Distribution Top

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4.7 Pressure at front and back

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 5. CONCLUSION

The aerodynamic drag of a personal transportation vehicle will depend on both the
overall shape of the vehicle (e.g., whether it is a notchback or a hatchback), and body
details such as the gutters at the edge of the windshield or the wheel trim. In hatchback
cars, the angle of inclination of the rear window determines whether separation occurs at
the top or bottom of the rear window.” (R Stone, 2004). “When considering vehicle drag
results, care should be taken in making comparisons among different tests. The drag
coefficient will depend on how the area is defined, the nature of any turbulence, the
Reynolds number, the velocity distribution of the incident flow, the accuracy of anybody
details (especially on a reduced-scale model), the internal flows, and the presence of the
ground. Remember also that vehicles usually are subject to a cross wind and that drag
coefficients rise markedly for non-zero yaw angles. From the results of the simulation
which was conducted on conceptual a personal transportation vehicle . This is concluded
that the rear angle for the car is very important and all the aerodynamics forces such as
lift and the drag or coefficient of drag and the coefficient of lift all depends on these
changes in shape. The findings could suggest ways in which air flow controls the water
and dirt deposition patterns on the glass surfaces to aid in vehicle design process.

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 REFERENCES
1. Ahmed, S.R., Ramm, G., Faltin, G., 1984. Some salient features of the time-averaged
ground vehicle wake, SAE Technical Paper 840300
2. AudiAG. (1999, December 14). New Audi Wind Tunnel Centre in Ingolstadt. Retrieved
February 05, 2014, from Audi World:
http://www.audiworld.com/news/99/wind/content.shtml
3. Barnard, R. H. (1996). Road vehicle aerodynamic design: An introduction. In R. H. Barnard,
Road vehicle aerodynamic design: An introduction (pp. 264-265). St Albans: MechAero.
4. Brennan, J. (2011, 06 10). Hooniverse Fastback Friday. Retrieved 03 17, 2014, from
Hooniverse: http://hooniverse.com/2011/06/10/hooniverse-fastback-friday-what-is-
yourdefinition-of-a-fastback/
5. Centurion Magazine online. (2011, September 12). Classic Cars. Retrieved April 03, 2014,
from Centurion Magazine online. cfdanalysisservices. (2014).
6. SIGNIFICANCE OF CFD ANALYSIS IN MODERN INDUSTRY. Retrieved 03 26, 2014,
from CFD Analysis Services: http://cfdanalysisservices.net/cfd-analysis-services-
significance-of-cfd-analysis-in-modernindustry/
7. Emmanuel Guilmineau, 2007, Computational study of flow around a simplified car body,
Available online 6 August 2007, date accessed November 2013
8. E.L, H., A.P, C., H, C. S., & T, V. D. (2013). Navier-Stokes Equations. In H. E.L, C. A.P,
C. S. H, & V. D. T, Aerodyanamics for Engineering students (pp. 113-115). Kidlington :
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