(Lecture Notes in Applied and Computational Mechanics 19) Paul B. MacCready (Auth.), Rose McCallen PH.D., Fred Browand PH.D., Dr. James Ross Ph.D. (Eds.) - The Aerodynamics of Heavy Vehicles - Trucks

Lecture Notes in Applied
and Computational Mechanics

Volume 19
Series Editors
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Friedrich Pfeiffer
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Peter Wriggers
The Aerodynamics
of Heavy Vehicles:
Trucks, Buses, and Trains
Rose McCallen
Fred Browand
James Ross (Editors)
~Springer
RosE McCALLEN, PH.D.
Center for Advanced Fluid Dynamics Applications
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
P.O. Box 808, L-098
94551 Livermore, CA, U.S.A
FRED BROWAND, PH.D.

Univerity of Southern California
Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
90089-1453 Los Angeles, CA, U.S.A
DR. }AMES Ross, PH.D.

NASA-Ames
Research Center MS 260-1
Experimental Aerophysics Branch
94035 Moffett Field, CA, U.S.A
With 378 Figures
Library of Congress Control Number: 2004105980
ISSN 1613-7736
ISBN 978-3-642-53586-4 ISBN 978-3-540-44419-0 (eBook)

DOI 10.1007/978-3-540-44419-0
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Introduction
It is our pleasure to present these proceedings from the United Engineering

Foundation Conference on The Aerodynamics of Heavy Vehicles: Trucks,
Buses and Trains held December 2-6, 2002, in Monterey, California. This
Department of Energy, United Engineering Foundation, and industry
sponsored conference brought together 90 leading engineering researchers
from around the world to discuss the aerodynamic drag of heavy vehicles.
Participants from national labs, academia, and industry, including truck
manufacturers, discussed how computer simulation and experimental
techniques could be used to design more fuel efficient trucks, buses, and trains.
Conference topics included comparison of computational fluid dynamics
calculations using both steady and unsteady Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes,
large-eddy simulation, and hybrid turbulence models and experimental data
obtained from the Department of Energy sponsored and other wind tunnel
experiments. Advanced experimental techniques including three-dimensional
particle image velocimetry were presented, along with their use in evaluating
drag reduction devices.
We would like to thank the UEF conference organizers for their dedication
and quick response to sudden deadlines. In addition, we would like to thank
all session chairs, the scientific advisory committee, authors, and reviewers for
their many hours of dedicated effort that contributed to a successful
conference and resulted in this document of the conference proceedings. We
also gratefully acknowledge the support received from the United Engineering
Foundation, the US Department of Energy, Lawrence Livermore National
Laboratory, Volvo Trucks America, International Truck and Engine
Corporation, and Freightliner LLC. Finally, we would like to thank Helen
Magann for her efforts in collecting the papers and reviews and formatting and
organizing them in this publication.
Conference Co-Chairs:
Rose McCallen
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Livermore, CA
Fred Browand
Aerospace & Mechanical Engineering Department
University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA
Jim Ross
NASA Ames Research Center
Moffett Field, CA
Contents
Keynote Papers
Paul B. MacCready
Aerodynamics and Other Efficiencies in Transporting Goods______________________ 3
Kevin R. Cooper
Commercial Vehicle Aerodynamic Drag Reduction: Historical
Perspective as a Guide______________________________________________________________________________ 9
Philippe R. Spalart, Kyle D. Squires
The Status of Detached-Eddy Simulation for BluffBodies ________________________ 29
LES and Hybrid RANS-LES Approaches

Sinisa Krajnovic, Lars Davidson
Exploring the Flow Around a Simplified Bus with Large Eddy
Simulation and Topological Tools __________________________________________________________ 49
G. Iaccarino, P. Durbin, S. Talley
Unsteady Flow Around Cylinders with Cavities _______________________________________ 65
Ken Wurtzler
Complex CFD for Everyday Use- Practical Applications
for Vehicle Analysis _______________________________________________________________________________ 75
C Hinterberger, M Garcia-Villalba, W. Rodi
Large Eddy Simulation of Flow Around the Ahmed Body_________________________ 77
Stephen Maddox, Kyle D. Squires, Ken E. Wurtzler, james R. Forsythe
Detached-Eddy Simulation of the Ground Transportation System ____________ 89
CFD: Software Methods and Applications

B. Basara, P. Tibaut
Time Dependent vs. Steady State Calculations of External
Aerodynamics ______________________________________________________________________________________ 107
Sung-Eun Kim
Aerodynamics of Ground Vehicles - Toward Reliable
and Affordable CFD ____________________________________________________________________________ 119
Alec Wong
Improved Tractor-Trailer Integration and Aerodynamics
Through the Use ofCFD______________________________________________________________________ 121
HudongChen
Large Eddy Simulation of Turbulence Via Lattice Boltzmann Based
Approach: Fundamental Physics and Practical Applications_____________________ 123
X Contents
David Gosman
Aspects of CFD Application to Vehicle Aerodynamic Design __ _ 125
Experimental Methods
Luis Bernal, Abdullah M Al-Garni
PIV Study of the Near Wake of a Pickup Truck_______ ____ _____ _129
Mory Gharib, Francisco, Pereira, Emilio Castano Graff
Applications ofDDPIV to Studies Associated with Road Vehicles 131
M M Koochesfahani, A. C. Goh, H. J Schock
Molecular Tagging Velocimetry (MTV) and Its Automotive
Applications__ _ _________ _________ _________ _________________ 143
R. Bommels, M Machacek, A. Landolt, T. Roesgen
Quantitative Flow Visualization for Large Scale Wind Tunnels ______________ 157
Aerodynamics Experiments & CFD

DaleSatran
An Experimental Study of the Generic Conventional Model
(GCM) in the NASA Ames 7-by-10-Foot Wind Tunnel _ 171
james T. Heineck, Stephen M. Walker, Dale Satran
The Measurement of Wake and Gap Flows of the Generic
Conventional Truck Model (GCM) Using Three-Component PIV 173
M. Hammache, F. Browand
On the Aerodynamics ofTractor-Trailers __________ _________________ _185
Christopher Roy, Jeffrey Payne, Mary McWherter-Fayne, Kambiz Safari
RANS Simulations of a Simplified Tractor/Trailer Geometry _207
jason M. Ortega, Tim Dunn, Rose McCallen, Kambiz Safari
Computational Simulation of a Heavy Vehicle Trailer Wake _________________ 219
Passive/ Active Flow Modification for Drag Reduction

D. R. Areas, L. G. Redekopp
Drag Reduction of Two-Dimensional Bodies by Addition
of Boat Tails ----------------------- ----------------------------- ------------------ __ 237
]D. Coon, KD. Visser
Drag Reduction of a Tractor-Trailer Using Planar
Boat Tail Plates _ ____________ ___ _ 249
G. !accarino, B. de Maio, R. Verzicco, B. Khalighi
RANS Simulations of Passive and Active Drag Reduction
Devices for a Road Vehicle 267
Contents XI
Robert J Englar
Pneumatic Heavy Vehicle Aerodynamic Drag Reduction, Safety
Enhancement, and Performance lmprovement_______________________________________ 277
Tsun- Ya Hsu, Mustapha Hammache, Fred Browand
Base Flaps and Oscillatory Perturbations to Decrease Base Drag______________ 303
CFD Calculations by Various Methods

Dr. ]iirgen Urban
Use of Computational Aerodynamics for Commercial
Vehicle Development at DaimlerChrysler______________________________________________ 319
Samira Barakat, Dieter Schwamborn
Numerical Simulation of the Flow About a Train Model ________________________ 329
P.R. Menter, M Kuntz
Adaptation of Eddy-Viscosity Turbulence Models to Unsteady
Separated Flow Behind Vehicles----------------------------------------------------------- 339
Goeric Daeninck, Gregoire Winckelmans, Philippe Chatelain,
Michael Rubel, Anthony Leonard
Simulation ofVehicle Aerodynamics Using a Vortex Element
Method ______________________________________________________________________________________________ 353
Heavy Vehicle Thermal Management

Thomas Gielda
Energetic and CFD Modeling Considerations of Thermal
Management_______________________________________________________________________________________ 369
Ronald Dupree
Measurement ofUnderhood Temperatures with Various
Ventilations ________________________________________________________________________________________ 371
Tanju Sofo, Fon-Chieh Chang, Ron Dupree, Srinivas Malipeddi,
Sudhindra Uppuluri, Steven Shapiro
Measurement and Analysis ofUnderhood Ventilation Air Flow
and Temperatures for an Off-Road Machine _________________________________________ 373
Robert F. Kunz, Nameer Salman
Flow Field and Thermal Management Analysis of an Armored
Vehicle Engine Compartment ______________________________________________________________ 385
Aerodynamics of High Speed Trains

Remi Gregoire
Experiments and CFD in Train Aerodynamics: A Young and
Turbulent Association Full of Potential _________________________________________________ 413
T johnson, S Dalley, J Temple
Recent Studies of Train Slipstreams ______________________________________________________ 415
XII Contents
V. Bourquin, C. Begiun, P.A. Monkewitz
Aerodynamic Effects in Railway Tunnels as Speed is Increased__________ __ 431
Masahiro Suzuki
Flow-Induced Vibration of High-Speed Trains in Tunnels_ _____ 443
]ean-Luc Peters
How to Reduce the Cross Wind Sensitivity ofT rains _________ _ 453
Christian Fauchier, Huu- Thi Do, Remi Gregoire
CFD Study of Side Wind Effects on a High Speed Train ____________________ 469
CFD Calculations by Various Methods (continued)

W David Pointer, Tanju Sofo, David Weber
Commercial CFD Code Validation for Heavy-Vehicle External
Aerodynamics Simulation ___ ___ __________ ______________________________ 473
!!han Bayraktar, Oktay Baysal
Computational Parametric Study on External Aerodynamics of
Heavy Trucks _____ _ _______________________ ----------------------------------- _ 485
Kyoji Kamemoto, Akira Ojima
Applicability of the Vortex Methods for Aerodynamics of Heavy
Vehicles ___ ______ _ ______ _ ________ _ 503
Aerodynamic Experiments
jorge Martinez, Sunil fain
Development of a Wind Tunnel Model Mounting Configuration
for Heavy Duty Trucks _____ _ _________________________________________ 517
Corey Diebler, Mark Smith
A Ground-Based Research Vehicle for Base Drag Studies at
Subsonic Speeds __ _ ___________ _ 519
G. Dumas, J Lemay
Splash and Spray Measurement and Control: Recent Progress
in Quebec______ _ __ ____________ _ _____________________________________________________ 533
R. J Gaeta, R. J Englar, G. Blaylock
Wind-Tunnel Evaluation of an Aerodynamic Heat Exchanger_______ 549
Steven Shladover
Automated Driving ofT rucks and Buses: Opportunities for
Increasing Productivity and Safety While Reducing Fuel Use
and Emissions ___________ _ __ _______ _____________ _ __ 563
Author Index ___________ 565

Keynote Papers
Aerodynamics and Other Efficiencies in
Transporting Goods
Paul B. MacCready, Key Note Speaker
AeroVironment Inc., Monrovia, CA
Abstract
Recognizing both the pollution effects of fuel use and the likely increases of
fuel cost in coming decades puts high priority on alternative energy for trucks,
buses and trains. There are still gains available in decreasing aerodynamic drag
and rolling friction, using efficient engines, and minimizing fuel waste, but it
is appropriate to explore decisions that would be suitable if fossil fuel were
deemed unattractive. One then would consider utilizing natural energy (sun-
light, wind, wave), getting energy from braking, employing hydrogen, putting
different priorities on trucks vs. buses vs. trains, exploring integration with
water deliveries and automatic local air transport, etc. Such an investigation
might illuminate early alternatives that would at least permit partial improve-
ments.
Introduction
This presentation is aimed at raising our insights about how we might fare in
providing the future now handled by standard buses, trucks, and trains. The
time scale is 15, 25, and even 50 years.
Humankind operated with limited potentials into the 19'h century. Global
population and living expectancy grew only slowly, and materials for support-
ing life with food, housing, and clothing came, as they always had, primarily
from the earth's surface. As consumption of coal grew rapidly throughout the
19'h century, and fossil fuel was added throughout the 20'h century, the global
population grew. In 1925, the year I was born, the population was 1.7 billion.
Now it's 6.3 billion, 3.7 times a large, and is likely to be over 8 billion in 25
years.
Coal and oil consumption have been an integral part of all our lives - so
much so that it is hard to think of a world without them. Yet both cause pol-
lution, especially C0 2 , with likely significant effect on the earth's future at-
mosphere. Also, the fossil fuel is nearing its limit. The U.S. sources peaked
about 30 years ago, and globally the peak is expected in just another 10 years
or so. Fossil fuel is particularly valuable for its many non-engine uses, and for
4 P.B. MacCready
the propulsion system of airplanes for which no other technology appears vi-
able. It will probably not be viable for the cars, buses, and trucks 25 years
from now, both because of its pollution and its general cost for availability.
This puts priority on thinking about how we can do the job of heavy hauling
with much more efficiency than at present, and we're looking toward other en-
ergy sources in the long run.
The Present Challenge

Rachel Carson, through her 1962 book "Silent Spring", got people thinking
about the big view of humans vs. the global environment and natural wildlife.
About the same time Charles A. Lindbergh, who had been the figurehead for
the growth of aviation after his 1927 solo flight across the Atlantic, in his later
years, perhaps between 1955-60, asked himself when gazing from a hill in
Kenya: "If we could have birds but not airplanes, or airplanes but not birds,
which would I choose?" He realized his choice would have been "birds" - and
he devoted the remaining portion of his life to fostering environmental aware-
ness.
In 1982, preparing a presentation to the Lindbergh Foundation, I realized
many of my emotions were in agreement with Charles Lindbergh's and Rachel
Carson's. I tried viewing the earth as would a galactic explorer making its
rounds every 10,000 years, finding this latest trip showed a far different global
situation than had existed 10,000, or 100,000 years ago.
I.......,._Tec-g,E ...... aHM-
12
11
---
10
.....
.......
..._,~
·--
•
,.
Ye•ZIIt
8
•
2
18!0 1875 11100 192S 1850 1!175 2000 202S 2050

Years
Fig. 1. This diagram gives one an example of how rapidly changes are now occurring. Moore's
empirical "law" is a symptom of the rate of increase of our computer use and capability. The
horiwntalline shows the steady size of the earth and the constant potential of the human brain
at birth. It's obviously a new world now.
Aerodynamics and Other Efficiencies in Transporting Goods 5
llatu.. v.. Hu...,.

(Weight of all air and land vertebrates.)
2500
......._....... , '
VOilA CIIOICE #
............ * ' -••7
·- '
~
2000
(f> 1500
z
-
0
1-
0
1000
tb
c
~
:i 500
1850 1900 1950
Fig. 2. This plot of the mass of all air and land vertebrates shows that the portion devoted to
humans + livestock + pets is now about 98%, and wild nature is about 2%. As humans were
just beginning agriculture some 10,000 years ago, the 98% portion was less than 0.1%. We
humans have won, and do not even think about the course of events that has created the present
picture. Our growing global population is not sustainable with the consumption to which we in
the United States have become accustomed.
This sort of thinking, stemming to a considerable extent from thoughts in 1977-78

subsequent to the Gossamer Condor human power airplane project, has had an im-
portant impact on my more recent work. We still deal with fossil fuel, and heavy en-
ergy demands, but efficiencies improve and sometimes better alternatives arrive.
6 P.B. MacCready
Some of Our Present Activities
a) Helios. In 2001 this slow, solar- b) Black Widow. This 2_ oz. air-
powered plane flew at 96,863', two plane, 6" x 6", has flown with irs
miles higher than any plane had ever video camera for half an hour. A 6"
flown continuously. It is being crafted x 12" version has flown 1_ hours, as
to station keep at 65,000' continuously the energy and power from small
for months. batteries have increased rapidly.
,., •• ; ·.• . ·."* ~;.,

•
• ... t f' • •
' '' ~... ,.."". ....

c) Pointer. Widely used by the U.S. d) Raven. A small version of the
military. 9 lbs., 9' span, hand Pointer, now permits a smaller
launched, with IR and visual package to perform virtually the
video camera, flies 3 or 4 hours same task.
with modest batteries. Safely
lands in full stall.
Fig. 3. Aviation Developments With Strong Emphasis on Energy Efficiency

Aerodynamics and Other Efficiencies in Transporting Goods 7
Surface Vehicles
Gasoline Prices to Drive Car 25 Miles
(In 1989 dollars. Increase numbers by
3/2 factor to relate to 2002-3 dollars)
1929 $4.00
1940 3.00
1960 2.00
1989 1.00
2002 1.00
Fig. 4. The combined effec;t of incre~ed fuel economy and the decreasing price of gas as
viewed relative to present day costs.
The efficiency of present day cars has remained about constant recently because of the
lack of pressure from federal guidelines. Trucks, however, have improved, from 4 to 6,
and even to 8 mpg, and further improvements can be anticipated. Some buses have
improved, but many (and many trucks) rely on old diesel engines producing unaccept-
able levels of particles and pollution. The C0 2 from trucks and buses will increasingly
become more unacceptable to the public and regulators, but little will be done until
the approaching peak in global fossil fuel becomes more obvious.
Battery power, being operationally demonstrated in modern cell phones and micro-
computers, seems capable of taking over 90% of car driving in a few years - if car
companies acquire an interest in the new technology. Small and short haul trucks
could also benefit, but large, long haul trucks may be in the airliners end of the court
for which no viable substitutes have emerged.
Trains are already rather efficient aerodynamically, and increasingly are operated
electrically.
Trucks, buses, and trains are steadily improving in all aspects. For 10 years, im-
provements will be small. For 25 years, improvements must be large, especially in the
source of the power.
8 P.B. MacCready
We Have the Responsibility
Fig. 5. I concocted this painting a decade ago to illustrate, on a non-linear time scale, the evo-
lution of our present airlines-cars-TV-power habits, etc. The future, of natural and robotic
cockroaches, was included as a joke- because I really don't know what is coming next. I was
surprised when we got a contract a week later to make a tiny flapping flier that could be consid-
ered related to the cockroach. Our one-half ounce flapper recently flew for half an hour- a
tribute to the rapid improvement of batteries that should impact the car and small truck field.
The real challenge for humanity can be summarized as follows:
Over billions ofyears, on a unique sphere, chance has painted a thin cov-
ering oflife - complex, improbable, wonderfUl and fragile.
Suddenly we humans (a recently arrived species no longer subject to the

checks and balances inherent in nature), have grown in population, tech-
nology, and intelligence to a position of terrible power: we now wield the
paintbrush.
We humans can wield the paintbrush in a fashion that will work for a long term fu-
ture. The challenge is to keep realizing that our use of fossil fuel can never be a per-
manent solution- both because supplies are limited, and it increases the atmosphere's
pollution. We have used it for so long that it is second nature to us. We do not un-
derstand limits and negative associations.
Inevitably the price of fossil fuel will increase as supplies decrease. Electricity is
more likely to retain its present price, and much more of it can be made available as we
develop its continued generation from solar, wind, and water resources. Ethanol made
from special crops can also provide power without increasing C0 2 • Nuclear power can
generate electricity without generating C0 2 and may deserve a resurgence in the U.S.
Many trains are now electric. Electric local buses are receiving support. Holland has a
goal of getting half its electrical energy from wind. Iceland is headed toward a reliance
on hydrogen for which it has a uniquely large supply. Taking a long range view, there
will be non-polluting transportation energies beyond our present methods, and civili-
zation will have to use them for power while simultaneously improving efficiencies and
decreasing human involvement in transporting goods. Some such approaches are in-
evitable, but will require major research and considerable changing - excitement, fail-
ures, and successes. We are just at the very earliest stage of the transportation of goods
without negative phases.
Commercial Vehicle Aerodynamic Drag Reduction:
Historical Perspective as a Guide
Kevin R. Cooper
National Research Council of Canada

Ottawa, Canada
Introduction
The aerodynamics development of commercial vehicles has evolved over many
years. Sixty-five years ago, the Labatt Brewing Company developed a
streamlined truck for advertising purposes and to provide larger capacity and
higher cruising speeds, Figure 1. The success of this effort is demonstrated by
the fact that while trucks of the day travelled at 35 mi/h, the Labatt truck
could cruise at 50 mi/h with a fifty percent larger load. The focus today is no
longer on speed, but on energy conservation. It is beneficial for a country to
minimise its energy utilisation and equally beneficial for its trucking industry
to make money while doing so.
Fig. 1: 1947 Labatt Streamliner
The opportunity offered by aerodynamic drag reduction was successfully

exploited by North American industry twenty-five years ago and is being
revisited in a second effort by industry and government. The previous
SAE/DOT Voluntary Truck and Bus Fuel Economy Program had an
10 K.R. Cooper
important impact on the implementation of fuel-saving aerodynamics. The

current DOE program might do the same.
The SAE/DOT program had the benefit of being first and thus being
able to utilise the large gains obtained from reshaping the front ends of the
trucks, which were relatively easy to deal with and gave the largest drag
reductions. Much of the work focussed on the tractor, since only one truck
needed to be modified, no matter how many trailers were in the fleet. At the
same time, trailer mounted devices or trailer modifications also found wide
acceptance, and rounded-edged truck bodies have become the standard.
Many other areas were investigated, including: tractor-trailer gap seals,
trailer skirts, trailer boat-tailing and tractor-trailer integration. These have not
been successful in the marketplace, due to operational difficulties, due to their
small return on investment, or due to the complexity of fleet-wide integration.
It has been known for many decades that more integrated tractor-trailer
combinations were beneficial aerodynamically, but the complexities of doing
so have precluded development in this area, except for demonstration vehicles.
Steady increases in fuel prices over the years now make some of the
unused technology economically viable. A major new initiative to improve
truck fuel economy seems appropriate. The important question is how to do
so? We have the option of seeking to further hone the aerodynamics of the
truck. Much of this work has been done and so we face the law of
diminishing returns - a greater and greater effort to provide a smaller and
smaller gain.
A more effective scenario would be to apply what is already known in the
short term and to work toward more integrated configurations in the longer
term. The latter task is a major challenge, even though it can be shown to
offer considerable benefit, because of the importance of not compromising the
investment in current fleet hardware and warehousing. The issue is not how
to lower the drag coefficient by a further 0.002, but rather to work with fleets,
manufacturers, researchers and legislators to apply what we already know.
Without appropriate legislation, the acceptance of the operators and
collaboration between the OEMs, no real improvements will be made. We
need to find solutions by implementing our existing and substantial body of
knowledge. We do not need to study the problem much more.
A new effort, sponsored by the DOE, is being mounted now to further
improve truck aerodynamics, primarily based on CPO calculation and some
experiment. This paper provides a review of previous aerodynamic research
and technology-transfer initiatives as a way of placing the new program in
perspective. It seeks to ensure that the existing, rich aerodynamic history is
not ignored and that lessons learned previously in technology transfer are not
lost.
Commercial Vehicle Aerodynamic Drag Reduction 11
Prior Art
In the 1950's, a serious effort to improve truck fuel consumption was
undertaken at the University of Maryland [1,2,3] through an examination of
the aerodynamics of tractors and trailers, funded by Trailmobile. This work
provided an early, detailed look at truck aerodynamics and may have triggered
the development of the air deflector in the 1960's by Seldon Saunders and
Chet Wiley of Airshield - the first successful add-on aerodynamic device.
These studies also presaged the advent of trailer streamlining, by looking at
edge rounding, rounded trailer front faces , skirts and boat-tailing. At about
the same time that Airshield was developing the cab-mounted deflector, Joe
Fitzgerald, working at Thermoking, had realised that their refrigeration units
reduced truck fuel consumption. He decided to take this concept a step
further and developed the Nose Cone trailer streamlining fairing. Thus, the
modern truck aerodynamic age was born.
The first years were difficult. Fuel was cheap and truckers did not want
those gadgets on their rigs. However, the 1970's energy crunch arrived and
the new devices were rapidly accepted. They saved fuel and made profit for
the trucker. They also reduced direct operating cost and strengthened the
competitive position of the trucking industry with the railroads.
r;mdarJ rraighr truck Equipped wirh o c Co ne

Fig. 2: Smoke Flow Over Standard and Modified Trucks
12 K.R. Cooper
In the late 1970s, the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) took
on the task of comparing the commercial devices of the day [4], with the
intention of convincing truckers of the benefit they provided and helping
them choose the best type of device for their operation. Smoke pictures like
those in Figure 2 made a lot of believers, as did a growing body of road
measurements of fuel savings. When truckers saw the two pairs of
photographs, they had no difficulty in making a choice.
The growing activity attracted the attention of the SAE and the US
DOT, leading to the SAE/DOT Voluntary Bus and Truck Fuel Economy
study of the late 1970s and early 1980s [5]. By this time, OEM's and after-
market suppliers in North America and Europe were actively improving fuel
consumption through aerodynamic means, resulting in the reduced-drag fleet
of today.
The SAE/DOT study was a major government/industry cooperative
venture. Its goal was to demonstrate that truck fuel consumption could be
significantly reduced. The study was centred on a set of four pairs of trucks,
two tractor-trailer combinations and two straight trucks. Each pair consisted
of a standard truck for the time and an identical partner fitted with an
aerodynamic package, advanced tyres, a fuel-saver motor, improved lubricants
etc. These trucks were track and road tested, and run in fleet service. The
trucks are shown in Figure 3.
Fig. 3: SAE/DOT Demonstration Trucks

The study was multi-faceted, developing test technology for the

laboratory and for the fleet. It was also applied and practical, in that it had a
large component of on-road testing and user involvement. A series of SAE
Recommended Practices were developed that are still in use today, including
those for wind tunnel testing [6], coast-down testing [7} and on-road fuel
measurement [8, 9]. They were verified by wind tunnel and road trials. This
program involved fleets, trucking associations, equipment manufacturers, the
SAE, legislators, government laboratories and university researchers. It was a
hands-on project that had great impact on the acceptance of the new
technologies. The trucking industry believed the findings because they were
part of the process.
Early Aerodynamic Development

Considerable wind tunnel aerodynamic development of commercial vehicles
has occurred over the past 50 years. The University of Maryland study is of
particular historical importance because it was an early piece of work and it
was well done. In fact, it provides most of the answers required to develop the
year 2010 aerodynamic truck. Other authors have also published widely and
again, have shown the way. Notable is the work of Buckley et al [8], Mason &
Beebe [9, 10] and that of various European authors, including Hans Gotz of
Daimler-Benz [11] and Alfons Gilhaus of Ford Cologne [12]. Their survey
papers provide a wealth of material on the aerodynamics of heavy commercial
vehicles. The combination of the three groups of authors provides a broad
overview of significant past developments.
The NRC was active in this program also, taking on the task of
comparing commercially available, drag reducing devices to advise truckers of
the best choices for their equipment and operations. The NRC was deeply
involved in the SAE/DOT Voluntary program. It built 1: 10-scale models of
the four vehicle pairs that were road tested in this program. These models cost
$160,000.00 (1980 dollars) to design and build, and were used to support the
road tests and to demonstrate the effectiveness of the SAE Recommended
Practice for the Wind Tunnel Testing of Trucks and Buses, }1252 [13]. In all,
the models were tested in up to 11 wind tunnels world wide [9, 10].The
Aerodynamics Laboratory of the NRC actively worked with several OEM's
and many aerodynamic-device manufacturers to calibrate and improve their
products [14, 15, 16] and did research on basic concepts, including edge
rounding and base-drag reduction [17], and trailer skirts [18].
The body of work from these sources easily permits very low drag vehicles
to be designed now.
....... them.
We know most ofthe answers; we need to avvlv
~
14 K.R. Cooper
The University of Maryland Study

As a demonstration of this point, I have summarised the most pertinent data
from the second of the University of Maryland Trailmobile studies [2]. The
configuration chosen was the COE tractor with the Model A van trailer. The
model was built at 1:6 scale and was tested at 150 mi/h, giving a Reynolds
number that was 42% of full scale at 60 mi/h road speed. The various
configurations are shown in the photographs of Figure 4.
The build-up of the low-drag model is given in Table 1. The first two
data columns present the measured drag data at the yaw angles indicated. The
barred drag-coefficients in the next two columns are wind-averaged values [13]
at a road speed of 65 mi/h, as indicated. The drag coefficient curves are
plotted in Figure 4. While the initial configuration was not up to today's
styling and performance standards, the aerodynamic characteristics of the
modified configurations certainly are. The results show the capability of an
integrated tractor/skirted-trailer combination. The antique tractor, with a
fairing merging the tractor and skirted trailer, could compete with the best of
today' s combinations.
Case 2 is taken as the baseline since it is closer to today's trailer
geometries. Each increment in wind-averaged drag coefficient, ~Co (65), is
the difference between the line item and the preceding configuration. Thus, it
is the result of the underlined, italic description that defines the change from
the preceding case. While the drag levels of the COE tractor are higher than
would be measured today, due to the cab design, the differences due to the
modifications are close to those measured more recently. For example: the
skirts give a drag increment close to that measured at the NRC [18], the roof
fairing gave a result between that for the original curved-plate deflector and the
current cab fairing, closing the gap has a similar gain to that found today and
the drag reduction due to the boat tail on the fully skirted and streamlined
configuration represents close to the total base drag. Rounded trailer rear side
posts were also tried and showed a small gain that was consistent with the
small radius employed. Some of these configurations are unusable on the
road, but they do define the range possible.
Interestingly, although this data set has been available for decades, not all
of the practical techniques it exposes are utilized today. In particular, skirts
and gap closure are not in widespread use and boat tailing is seen only on
some buses and as an add-on device on some trailers. This data set would
permit the design of a low-drag truck without further research.
More interesting information can be gleaned from the drag curves.
Closing the gap is beneficial, especially at large yaw angles. The addition of a
well-streamlined tractor with no gap shows little gain over the faired COE
tractor at small yaw angles, but has much better performance at yaw angle
magnitudes greater than 5 degree. This trend continues as the truck becomes
more closed and integrated, until it is seen to have decreasing drag with yaw
angle with the most streamlined configurations - the truck is beginning to sail.
With the exception of the full-height skirts and streamlined tail, all the
modifications could be implemented. Even the seemingly impractical changes
can be utilized in a less extreme fashion. Partial-height skirts and simple boat
tailing can recover a significant fraction of the potential shown above.
Case 4 - COE tractor, kirt (withou t bumper) Case 5 - COE tra tor with roof fairing
Case 6 - CO +314 kirt , gap F..iring

(without bumber)
Case I 0 - Fuii)'·Streamlined and ski rred

tracto;-trailcr, boat rail
Fig. 4: Trailmobile models

16 K.R. Cooper
Table 1: Summary of the Trailmobile Study
-- -
Ca Co(0°) C 0 (1 C 0 (65mi L\C 0 (65mi
Configuration oo)
se #
COE tractor, van trailer, square 1.017 1.503 1.169 -

1
front posts
COE tractor, 12" radius fr.ont side 0.900 1.167 1.056 0.113
2
posts
3 COE tractor, deluxe front on trailer 0.828 1.118 0.994 0.062
COE, deluxe front, height trailer 0.803 1.052 0.944 0.050

4
skirts
5 COE, _ skirts, rooffairing 0.641 1.007 0.842 0.102
COE, _ skirts, faired gap fr.om 0.558 0.825 0.689 0.153

6
tractor to trailer
Streamlined tractor closing gaQ, _ 0.555 0.653 0.624 0.065

7
skirts
Streamlined tractor, _ skirts, boat 0.460 0.520 0.503 0.121

8
tail
Fully_-skirted streamlined tractor 0.317 0.329 0.351 0.152

9
and trailer
Fully-skirted streamlined tractor 0.184 0.160 0.189 0.169

10
and trailer, boat tail
# Drag coefficients based on reference area equal to trailer roof height times tratler width.
1.75 ...----~--.,..---.,.---.,.---...,.----,
X faired COE tractor-trailer
·20 -15 ·10 0 5 10

Yaw Angle, deg.
Fig. 5: University of Maryland Aerodynamic Development
The DOE Study

The current DOE program [19] has as a general goal the reduction of
commercial vehicle fuel consumption. While the major effort is focussed on
diesel motor development, a parallel effort has been aimed at aerodynamic
drag reduction as part of achieving the near-term goal of a 10-mpg Class 8
truck. The stated near-term, aerodynamic target is a 15% reduction in
aerodynamic drag, here assumed to refer to the wind-averaged drag coefficient
at 65-mi/h road speed, Cn(65). The reduction would be ACn(65) = 0.09,
referenced to a baseline of Cn (65) ... 0.60 . Longer term, more advanced
geometries would be developed to lower drag further.
The DOE program has followed a different route than its DOT
predecessor. It has a major focus on CFD and CFD development, with
relatively small experimental effort. I have some questions concerning the
route that has been chosen for this program and would like to raise them.
The DOE multi-year program [20] to achieve these goals plans to:
'Jmprove and apply modern computational fluid dynamics codes to tractor-
trailer systems and identify new configurations to reduce this element of
aerodynamic drag. Follow analysis with design and experimental verification."
A research program was proposed [21] to satisfy this aerodynamic
objective through the use of advanced CFD methods that were to be
developed as part of the program, with limited experimental benchmarking,
using simple geometries.
18 K.R. Cooper
The chosen technical approach appears to be founded on the following

commentary, quoted directly from [21].
"At present the aerodynamic design of heavy trucks is based largely upon wind
tunnel estimation of forces and moments, and upon qualitative streamline
visualization of flow fields. No better methods have been available
traditionally, and the designerlaerodynamicists are to be commended for
achieving significant design improvements over the past several decades on the
basis oflimited quantitative information.
The trucking industry has not yet tapped into advanced design approaches using
state-ofthe-art computational simulations to predict optimum aerodynamic
vehicles. Computational analysis tools can reduce the number ofprototype tests,
cut manufacturing costs, and reduce overall time to market. "
These two paragraphs are worth careful analysis. A direct reading of the
first paragraph would intimate that experimental aerodynamicists were lucky
to have had any useful results. The opposite, of course, is true.
The wind tunnel permits the measurement, not the estimation, of
aerodynamic forces and the aerodynamicist has had exceptional success at
optimizing the commercial vehicle. Thousands of hours of development have
lead to effective add-on aerodynamic devices and the aerodynamic tractors that
we have today. A major part of the success has come because the physics of
the fluid flow in the wind tunnel is correct. Detailed flow measurement has
not been widely used in the wind tunnel because it does not provide an answer
to the question: "What is the drag?".
Certainly, wake flow measurements can be and have been used to
measure vehicle drag, but a force balance is much faster and more accurate.
The wind tunnel has shown a remarkable correlation with the road and is a
fast, cost-effective and reliable tool. I am not sure how CFD cuts
manufacturing costs, although if used wisely with experiment it will accelerate
the development cycle.
The second paragraph suggests that CFD can do the optimization better.
It may one day, but cannot now. Firstly, the flow physics are approximated,
resulting in uncertainty in the result. Secondly, the large number of cases that
have to be computed would take much longer than a typical experimental
optimization.
As an example, consider the optimization of a cab-mounted deflector that
was performed in the NRC 2m x 3m wind tunnel. The task was to develop a
map of optimum deflector angle as functions of tractor-trailer gap and height
difference. The test program made 180 measurements over an array of six
gaps and six height differences between the cab roof and the trailer roof. The
deflector angle was adjusted to five values at each combination of separation
and height differential while seeking the best angle. Figure 6 shows the
resulting design table, giving the pin setting that provides the optimum
deflector angle for a selected of tractor-trailer separation and height
differential. The test period was 30 hours, the time required for a few
computations. The end result was effective, with most users finding about a
30-50 percent improvement in fuel savings compared to the original factory
chart, which was based on guesswork.
The reality is that CFD may not be the best tool for the job, at least in
the near term. Current numerical simulation physics is challenged by highly
unsteady bluff-body flows. The presence of the natural wind ensures that the
yaw angle is almost always not zero, so that a plane-of-symmetry simulation is
not representative. Because the yaw performance of a truck is important in its
average energy utilisation, it is necessary to compute a sufficient number of
yawed cases to define this behaviour. CFD can provide a great detail of
information about a flow, aiding in understanding, but its use is time
consuming and expensive when a large database is required, particularly if the
computations are unsteady.
70~----~--~-----r----~----T-----~--~
:c
ICJ) 65+---
·a;
% •
... c 60+-~-=~--=-~~~~=-~=----+-----+----~
g::;
.....
IX.!
Ql c
55~~-r~~-~~~~1F-~~==~~~
= l! 50+--=~+-~7'~--~--~~~---+-----+----~
~'
~Q
45~~~--~~~--~~~~~t===~
ts 40~--~~--~=-~-+----~----+-~--~--~
....~ 35~~~~--~~~=t==~~
20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
Tractor-trailer Separation, in.
Fig. 6: Wind-tunnel-derived Optimization Chart for a Cab-mounted Air Deflector
As has been suggested by the Trailmobile study, many of the needed

answers are available already. They should be applied. Unfortunately, the
modifications mostly fall on the trailer, or the tractor-trailer interface, which
are hard areas to treat for operational and economic reasons. On the
operational side, any new configurations must interface with the current fleet
and warehousing. They must be mechanically reliable, weather resistant and
not add significantly to yard work or they will not be accepted. Also,
recognising that the savings from base-drag reduction, skirts or gap seals are
small, they are a hard sell, especially when there are at least two trailers for
20 K.R. Cooper
every tractor. The marginal economic advantage is then divided by a factor of

two or more.
The challenge is not to squeeze a fraction more out of a bottle shrunk by
the law of diminishing returns, not to invent a slightly better gadget, but to
transfer current knowledge to industry in a profitable manner. The issue is to
design light, reliable components and encourage industry to use them.
Government can certainly have a role here through encouraging product
development, through education and by providing tax incentives.
It is possible to study problems without solving them. The current
approach seems to do too much studying and too little solving. What has
been achieved to date? It is my opinion that enough is known now to provide
a useful gain in aerodynamic efficiency immediately and that the basis for the
advanced truck exists. Let's get on with it.
A Case Study- the Future Truck

Three weeks before this conference, I decided that a demonstration project
would serve to emphasise my arguments. As I have stated, a two-pronged
attack - near term and long term - seems like a good idea. I chose to tackle
what might be done in the near term to improve fuel consumption, by
performing a quick test in the NRC 2m x 3m wind tunnel. The project
started with an existing White Road Boss II tractor and 40-foot Dorsey trailer
- a 1: 10-scale model of the combination shown in the upper-left photograph
of Figure 3. The plan was to bring this old truck to a higher state of
aerodynamic development using technology that could be applied now. The
results are proffered as a challenge for the DOE CFD program to equal.
The truck was fitted with a contemporary aerodynamics package
consisting of a cab-roof fairing and side extenders. To this baseline were
added:
1. tractor skirts and front trailer skirts back to the trailer wheels
2. beveled base panels (simple boat tail)
3. additional rear skirts behind the trailer wheels
4. a gap seal between tractor and trailer
5. a filler block to completely close and fair the gap
Figure 7 shows the configurations reported and Figure 8 presents a
selection from the drag measurements made. Table 2 summarises the drag
behaviour. It is apparent that the skirts and the rear-end treatment satisfy the
15 percent drag target, and that the gap seal improves the drag further. Both
the skirts and the bevelled rear panels have been tested at full scale in the NRC
9m x 9m wind tunnel, Figure 9. The results obtained were virtually identical
to the model results.
Fully modified truck with full gap fairing, skirts and bevelled rear panels
A view of the 15° bevelled extension panels
The gap seal
Fig. 7: Model Configurations Tested

22 K.R. Cooper
1.20
1.10 -+-bas eli~

"""' /
1.00 -..... . --t---+--+- /
c.,
"(j
0.90 i L---- "' "" "-- .~ /
/~ ,---,-
/,:;andard aero package
iE
0.80
f' "~ ·- / / / j
Q)
0
(.)
Ol
I j
~
0
0.70
\ '\. f /
0.60
0.50
0.40
-25 -20 -15 -10 -5 0 5 10 15 20 25
Yaw Angle , de g.
Fig. 8: Low-drag Development of the NRC Tractor-trailer
Fig. 9: Full-scale Test of Trailer Skirts Fig. 10: Protorype Gap Seal
The gap seal is a device that was patented by Airshield and was field-
tested successfully. However, it never made the transition to market. I do not
know why, although mechanical reliability may have been a major issue. A
prototype Airshield gap seal is shown in Figure 10. It is worth revisiting.
The tractor used in this study does not have the improved shapes of
contemporary equipment. It is expected that the drag would be reduced
further, by approximately 0.05 s dC 0 (65) s 0.08 with a current tractor and
aero package. The end result would be a drag level of C 0 (65) s 0.50 with the
skirts, rear-end treatment and gap seal.
The base drag reduction by the beveled plates is not the only possibility.
The use of inset boat-tail plates serves a similar function through the use of a
trapped vortex. This is not a new concept, but was first suggested, to my
knowledge, by J. J. Cornish III, chief engineer, Lockheed-Georgia Company,
in 1968 [22].
This test was completed in 8 hours of tunnel operation and required 6
person days to make the new model parts. The project would have taken
much longer if the models had to be built, but they were available, as are many
other models at 1:8 scale, 1: 10 scale and larger scales at various laboratories
and companies. These models provide an inexpensive resource for future
work.
Table 2: Summary of the Low-Drag Development of the NRC Tractor-trailer
-
- ACn(65)
Case Configuration Cn(O")' Cn(lO") Cn(65*) ACn(65) re Aero
package
White RB II, 9-ft.-

1 wide van trailer, 0.765 0.979 0.871 - -
10" front posts
Aero [l.ackage
(roof fairing + cab
2 0.569 0.833 0.724 0.147 -
side extenders +
cab skirts)
Aero package,
3 0.550 0.710 0.644 0.080 0.080
front trailer skirts
Added rear
4 bevelled extension 0.511 0.660 0.600 0.044 0.124
panels
5 Added gap seal 0.509 0.615 0.571 0.029 0.153
Added rear trailer

6 0.482 0.583 0.540 0.031 0.184
skirts + bevel
Added ga[l. filler

7 0.440 0.513 0.485 0.055 0.239
block
# Reference area of97.5 ft 2 at full scale * at 65 mi!h
A fully integrated tractor-trailer combination poses a greater design

challenge than do these add-on components. However, it has been done
successfully with a bus. The example shown in Figure 11 is the Prevost H5-60
articulated highway bus. It is 8.5 feet wide, 13.5 feet high and 60 feet long-
the dimensions of a tractor-trailer combination. It has a sealed articulation
24 K.R. Cooper
and quite low drag. Wind tunnel measurements from a 1:10-scale model of
are presented in Figure 12 and Table 3, courtesy of Prevost Car Inc. Data for
two other configurations of the articulated bus are shown also, as is the data
from Case 6 ofTable 2 for comparison. In one bus configuration, the mirrors
have been removed and in another, a more streamlined, but practical, nose and
bevelled rear have been fitted. The single bus is the front unit from the
articulated bus.
Of note is the fact that the articulated bus is 50 percent longer than the
identically shaped single bus but has only 9 percent higher drag. This point
will be revisited in the next section. The advanced articulated bus has very low
drag that is nearly constant with yaw angle and may be near a practical limit
for passive aerodynamics for a geometry having a blunt base. It is apparent
that the articulated bus is superior to the developed tractor-trailer. However,
the difference would diminish with a more rounded cab, and would diminish
further with full cab-trailer integration and skirting. At the limit, the two
vehicles should be identical.
0.8
production Prevost H5-6C
0.7 artoculated bus
i:., While RB II
·u 0.6
:e.,
0 0.5
(.)
en 0.4
"'
Q
0.3
artoculaled bu• slre~mhned front + boat laol
I
0.2
-20 -15 -10 -5 0 5 10 15 20
Yaw Angle , deg.
Fig. I I : Low-d rag An iculared Bus
rhe Prcvo; t H '5 -60 Fig. 12: Drag haracreris ric; of rht: Prevost H S-60
Compared ro :t Tracto r-T railer
Table 3: Bus Drag measurements
--
Case Configuration Co(0°) Cn(65mi/ h)
Aero RB II, all skirts + rear bevelled panels + gap

I 0.482 0.540
seal
2 Single Prevost Bus 0.351 0.384
3 Articulated Prevost H5-60 bus 0.378 0.418
4 Articulated Prevost H5-60 bus, no mirrors 0.3 15 0.344
5 Advanced articulated bus 0.293 0.311

Another Concept
As a final thought, the concept of vehicle platoons [23] applies very well to
trucks. The simplest way to decrease the aerodynamic drag of a tractor-trailer
is to add one or two more trailers. This follows the result for the single and
articulated buses just discussed. Truck trains made up of two or three trailers
have been run on selected freeways in some states and provinces. However,
the practice is not widespread. The question is, "Should it be?". There are
many safery and infrastructure issues to deal with but the returns could be
large, both from energy and road capaciry points of view.
When a second trailer is added to increase capaciry by a factor of two, the
weight does not double and aerodynamic drag increases by about 40 percent.
Thus the aerodynamic drag per ton-mile is decreased by 30 percent. It is
unlikely that any other aerodynamic technique with a single trailer will be as
effective.
As an example to illustrate this point, consider the data from a tractor
model that was tested in the NRC 2m x 3m wind tunnel with three trailer
combinations - a single 27-foot trailer, a single 45-foot trailer and a pair of
tandem 27 -foot trailers. A photograph of the tandem 27 -foot trailer
configuration is seen in Figure 13 and the measured drag results are presented
in Figure 14 and in Table 3. The baseline tractor was equipped with a full
Airshield roof fairing and cab extenders.
1.1
1.0
E.,
·c:;
0.9
.,
if 0.8
0
."'
u
0
0.7
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.0 2.5 5.0 7.5 10.0 12.5
Yaw Angle, deg.
Fig. 13: Tandem 27-foot Trailers Fig. 14: Drag Behavior of a Tractor Pulling Single
or Double Trailers
26 K.R. Cooper
Table 3: Aerodynamic Performance of Truck Trains
- C 0 ( 65) /unit
Case Configuration Cn(0°) C 0 (8°) C 0 (65)
cargo
Conventional tractor, 0.591
1 0.515 0.659 0.591
single 27-ft. trailer

2 0.576 0.752 0.660
single 45-ft. trailer

3 0.685 0.939 0.805
two 27-ft. trailers
The drag-coefficient/unit-cargo for the larger capacity trailer

combinations were found by dividing their measured wind-averaged drag
coefficients by the ratios of the modified trailer lengths to the 27-foot length.
A second 45-foot trailer would provide an even greater reduction than
obtained from the two 27-foot trailers.
Closing remarks
This paper turned out differently than the one that was first planned, which
was a discussion of past technology. As the paper progressed, it became more
and more apparent that most of the required aerodynamic knowledge was in
hand. It also seemed that most of this work was being ignored and that the
effort to advance CFD was retarding the application of known aerodynamic
technology to trucking.
The goal of reducing the aerodynamic drag of commercial vehicles is a
worthy one. It is economically and socially valuable. The development of
advanced CFD is also technically useful and will be of benefit in vehicular
development. However, delaying the introduction of new hardware and
concepts into the fleet while waiting for the evolution of these new CFD tools
is counterproductive, especially since the major issues are not aerodynamic,
but are those of operational effectiveness and mechanical design.
Many of the major tractor and trailer manufacturers have built
demonstration vehicles that incorporate advanced aerodynamic technology
including aerodynamic cabs, completely integrated tractors and trailers, skirts
and rear-end treatment. They all had low fuel consumption. And none of
them are on the market. Why? It must be because they were not
economically viable and because they offered too many impediments to
efficient operation. These are the issues of importance. Economics will take
care of itself through a steady rise in fuel prices. It would be aided by the
design of effective, operationally effective and inexpensive components,
perhaps encouraged by tax incentive. The operational issues can best be
resolved by industry-wide collaboration.
A two-pronged approach to the problem of introducing improved
aerodynamics might be beneficial. CFD can be developed for long-term
application while a parallel development of existing technology for near-term
implementation, based on present knowledge and some experiment, is
pursued.
In the latter case, the effort required is that of mechanical design done in
close cooperation with industry. The target would be to select the most likely
candidate technologies for development and, using clever design and modern
materials, produce reliable, cost-effective hardware that will benefit truckers
now, and that will be acceptable to the end users. The designs would have to
capture the necessary aerodynamic benefits without causing operational
difficulties. The answers are out there; neither CFD nor the wind tunnel will
tell us how to apply them.
References
1. DOT/SAE Truck and Bus Fuel Economy Measurement Study Report
P59A. Report No. DOT/TSC- 1007, October, 1976.
2. A. Wiley Sherwood - Wind Tunnel test of Trailmobile Trailers.
University of Maryland Wind Tunnel Report No. 85. College Park, MD,
April1974.
3. A. Wiley Sherwood- Wind Tunnel test ofTrailmobile Trailers, 2nd Series.
April1974.
4. A. Wiley Sherwood - Wind Tunnel test of Trailmobile Trailers, 3rd Series.
April1974.
5. K. R. Cooper - A Wind Tunnel Investigation into the Fuel Savings
Available from the Aerodynamic Drag Reduction of Trucks. Article from
DME/NAE Quarterly Bulletin No. 1976(3), NRC, Ottawa, Canada,
1976.
6. SAE Wind Tunnel Test Procedure for Trucks and Buses. Recommended
Practice, SAE J1252, August 1979.
7. Road Load Measurement and Dynamometer Simulation Using
Coastdown Techniques. SAE Recommended Practice J1263, approved
June 1979.
8. Joint Rccc/SAE Fuel Consumption Test Procedure (Short Term-in-service
Vehicle) - Type I- SAE J1264. SAE Recommended Practice, approved
April1979.
9. Joint Rccc/SAE Fuel Consumption Test Procedure - Type II - SAE
J1321. SAE Recommended Practice, approved April1979.
28 K.R. Cooper
10. F. T. Buckley, Jr, C. H. Marks, W. H. Walston - A Study of

Aerodynamic Methods for Improving Truck Fuel Economy. University
of Maryland, College Park, MD, December, 1978.
11. W. T. Mason, P. S. Beebe- The Drag Related Flow field Characteristics
ofT rucks and Buses. Aerodynamic Drag Mechanisms of Bluff Bodies and
Road Vehicles. Symposium Held at the General Motors Research
Laboratories. Plenum Press, 1978.
12. H. Gotz- Present and Future Trends in Automotive Aerodynamics. VKI
Fluid Dynamics Vehicle Aerodynamics Short Course 1984-01. Rhode-
St.-Genese, Belgium, 1984.
13. A. Gilhaus -Aerodynamics of Heavy Commercial Vehicles. VKI Fluid
Dynamics Vehicle Aerodynamics Short Course 1984-01. Rhode-St.-
Genese, Belgium, 1984.
14. K. R. Cooper, W. T. Mason Jr., W. H. Bettes - Correlation Experience
with the SAE Wind Tunnel Test Procedure for Trucks and Buses. SAE
820375, lnt'l Congress & Exposition, Detroit, Michigan, Feb. 22-26,
1982.
15. K. R. Cooper- Wind Tunnel Measurements on the Nose Cone- Tests 1
and 2. LTR-LA-249, NRC, Ottawa, Canada, October 1981.
16. Cooper, K.R. - Wind Tunnel Investigation of the Royal-Air Trailer
Fairing. LTR-LA-256, November 1981.
17. K. R. Cooper - The Wind Tunnel Testing of Heavy Trucks to Reduce
Fuel Consumption. SAE 821285, Indianapolis, November 1982.
18. K. R. Cooper - The Effect of Front-Edge Rounding and Rear-Edge
Shaping on the Aerodynamic Drag of Bluff Vehicles in Ground
Proximity. SAE 850288, Detroit, USA, February 1985.
19. K. R. Cooper- Truck Fuel Savings Through the Use of Trailer Skirts and
Trailer Rear-Corner Rounding. LTR-LA-224, May 1978.
20. Multiyear Program Plan for 1998-2002. Office of Heavy Vehicle
Technologies and Heavy Vehicle Industry Partners. DOE/OR0-2071,
August 1998.
21. A Multi-Year Program Plan for the Aerodynamic Design of Heavy
Vehicles. http:/ I en-env.llnl.gov/aerodrag/
22. J. J. Cornish III - Trapped Vortex Flow Control for Automobiles.
Proceedings of the Second AIAA Symposium on the Aerodynamics of
Sports & Competition Automobiles. Los Angeles, CA, May 1974.
23. M. Hammache, F. Browand- Aerodynamic Forces on Truck Models,
Including Two Trucks in Tandem. SAE 2002-01-0530, SAE 2002
World Congress, Detroit, MI, March 2002.
The Status of Detached-Eddy Simulation for
Bluff Bodies
Philippe R. Spalart 1 and Kyle D. Squires 2

1 Boeing Commercial Airplanes, PO Box 3707, Seattle, WA 98052, USA
philippe.r.spalart@boeing.com
2 MAE Department, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA
squires@asu.edu
Proposed in 1997, DES was applied to an airfoil beyond stall in 1999, and
then to a range of bluff bodies. Its accuracy has often been far superior to
that of steady or unsteady Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes methods, and it
avoids the Reynolds-number limitations that plague Large-Eddy Simulation.
Cases fall into three classes: simple shapes such as cylinders and spheres;
transportation components such as landing gear, simplified; and full airplane
geometries. All are manageable on present computers, some even on personal
computers. Simple shapes now and then yield surprises, but DES appears
sound and reacts well to the type of boundary-layer separation (i.e., laminar
or turbulent), and to grid refinement. However, it is possible to confuse the
method by using a grid density that is both too fine for RANS and too coarse
for LES. Component studies display progress, without reaching an industrial
level of accuracy in predicting all forces. The few full-airplane predictions
have been successful, thanks to high CPU power, and partly thanks to fixed
separation lines.
Progress and a proper dissemination in industry and by CFD vendors
now depends on prudent improvements in numerics and in physical models,
preferably without losing any of the simplicity of DES, and on communication
with non-experts. The experimental database remains weak in some areas.
Numerical issues include grid generation, code performance in unsteady flows,
and numerical dissipation. Codes used for complex configurations stabilize the
calculations via upwinding and/or limiters, and assessing their effects on DES
predictions remains important. Slight improvements to the treatment of the
"RANS region" of DES (essentially comprising the boundary layers up to
separation) are also desired. Good gridding and time-stepping practices are
both costly and crucial; deficiencies have often been traced to the grid. Few
users have experience with LES, let alone with issues specific to DES, which
are clarified here. The prediction of bluff-body flows at application Reynolds
numbers will place heavy demands on the user, as numerous aspects of the
30 P.R. Spalart and K.D. Squires
simulation must all be carefully controlled. Error-proof methods should not

be promised, and the natural robustness of DES should not be abused.
1 Critical History of DES
DES was inspired by estimates initiated in 1997 [1] and completed in 2000
[2], which indicate that Large-Eddy Simulation (LES) is not about to become
practical for industrial flows, such as aircraft or road vehicles. This applies
for about forty years, and is true even if it is assumed that "wall modeling"
has become successful, in other words, that limits on the grid spacing in wall
units such as Llx+ have been removed within LES. Relevant to these esti-
mates is the assumption that much of the boundary layer is turbulent; an
assumption which is most reasonable in practice. The estimates have yet to
be challenged by LES proponents, and too much work remains mired at un-
challenging Reynolds numbers, from which clear conclusions cannot be made.
Empirical evidence that strongly supports the estimates is offered by the LES-
FOIL workshops [3], for which the Reynolds number was sufficiently large to
expose LES methodologies: current super-computers, even for a single sim-
ulation with a "designer grid" optimized by experts given detailed advance
knowledge of the flow, can handle only an airfoil slice of the order of 1% of
the chord, at a moderate Reynolds number and with a laminar stagnation
region [4]. In other words, the real-life problem of a wing is roughly 1,000
times larger, even before the extra difficulties of sweep (giving a thin and
turbulent attachment-line boundary layer) and of a full-size Reynolds number
are included.
When considering near-future industrial CFD methods capable in high-
Reynolds-number bluff-body flows, experience and projections lead to a strong
consensus that Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) technology is indis-
pensable in the large areas of thin attached boundary layers, and to a weaker
consensus that pure RANS methods cannot provide sufficient accuracy in re-
gions of massive separation. These regions are dominated by large, inviscid,
geometry-specific eddies, which are excellent candidates for LES. As a result,
hybrid methods are receiving wide attention.
These considerations leave some leeway in designing a hybrid RANS-LES
method. The first choice is between a method that is explicitly zonal, as op-
posed to a method that solves a single set of equations. DES reflects a strong
preference for non-zonal systems and simple formulations. It involves a single
grid and a single field for velocity, pressure, and even eddy viscosity, whether
using the Spalart-Allmaras (S-A) model or the SST model as the RANS base
[5]. The choice of model is of course an element of leeway, and a welcome op-
portunity to test the sensitivity of solutions. Simplicity is favorable in terms
of repeatability between codes and users, and experience-building. The for-
mulation using a single model only leads to a discontinuity in the gradient
of the length scale that enters the destruction term of the turbulence model
DES for Bluff Bodies 31
(this discontinuity would be easily removed by rounding the min function that
determines the lengthscale). In contrast, explicitly-zonal methods often suf-
fer from steep variations near the zonal interface, and much work is expended
controlling these. The change in the lengthscale leads to a model that becomes
region-dependent in nature - in most cases a RANS model in the boundary
layers and a Sub-Grid-Scale (SGS) model within massive separation. Objec-
tions have been made to the use of the grid spacing Ll in the formulation,
but this appears absolutely natural. The foundation of LES is the existence
of a filter width that controls the end of the energy cascade, and is available
for reduction in order to increase the range of scales and therefore improve
the physics of the simulation [2]. As separate issue, present in any LES, is
whether the filter width and the grid spacing should be tied; a recent trend is
to untie them, and seek a grid-converged solution for a fixed filter width. In
all DES studies, they have remained tied; this appears to provide a balance
between numerical and SGS-modeling errors, although this balance has not
been established (which would be difficult to do beyond question, because
in LES the error measures are quite arbitrary). Thus the nature of the SGS
model inside DES is classical, and in particular its scaling is identical to that
of the Smagorinsky model. It was adjusted to extend the inertial range in a
classical Kolmogorov setting as far as possible [18]; this adjustment requires
care when generalizing it to unstructured grids. There is no obvious accuracy
advantage in solving a transport equation for the SGS eddy viscosity, instead
of using a local algebraic formula; it is done for commonality with the RANS
region.
In addition to the formulation, there is also flexibility in the design of a
DES simulation, primarily within the prediction of the boundary layer up-
stream of separation. In "natural" DES it is handled by the RANS model
but there is a trend, at least in fundamental studies, to predict parts of the
attached boundary layers with LES. The study of Nikitin et al. in a chan-
nel was conducted to explore such applications [6] and was quite successful.
Commentators have focused on the imperfection in the skin friction, instead
of the great simplicity of the approach and excellent Reynolds-number scaling
both in terms of computing cost and accuracy. Applied to an airfoil in this
limit, DES then resembles the LESFOIL exercise [3]. Keeping in mind that
the unmanageable cost of LES arises due to the resolution requirements in the
thin regions of the boundary layer, switching from RANS to LES is feasible
only after the boundary layer thickens sufficiently. In this regime, LES treat-
ment within the boundary layer is attractive since it is possible to exploit the
accuracy of the technique and the grid-refinement possibilities inherent to the
method - a proposition that is expensive, but represents an important and
valuable research activity. A key concept underlying such an approach, and
for that matter all applications of DES, is to clearly "steer" the simulation
either to RANS or to LES behavior by means of the grid density. Unfortu-
nately this can become delicate, and normally the detailed characteristics of
a flow are not known in advance as, for example, is the case for LESFOIL.
Note that "natural" DES of the LESFOIL case, with its shallow separation,
is essentially a RANS, and therefore has similar accuracy. In fact, RANS pre-
dictions are more accurate than LES has been to date, presumably because
no LES has had both sufficient grid density and adequate spanwise extent.
This judgment assumes the particular experiments on that airfoil are more
accurate than CFD, which will not be true indefinitely.
The objection to incorporating the grid spacing into the turbulence model
in DES has one root in the inaccuracies encountered by careful users, as they
gradually refine the grid starting from a natural DES [7, 8, 9]. This threat was
illustrated in the initial DES paper [1]. Once the grid spacing in both direc-
tions parallel to the wall becomes smaller than about half of the boundary-
layer thickness, the DES limiter reduces the eddy viscosity, thus "corrupting"
it compared with its RANS level, but without allowing LES behavior. The
resulting solution creates insufficient total Reynolds stresses (modeled + re-
solved stress [6]). There is no solution ready for release at present, and this
adds to the burden on the DES user of checking that the RANS/LES interface
is not deep inside the boundary layer. It also conflicts with the tendency to
refine the grid at shock-boundary-layer interactions, either manually or auto-
matically. However, the only true need is to refine in the direction normal to
the shock, and therefore in a typical situation the shock-parallel spacing will
keep .Lllarge enough to avoid unintentional eddy-viscosity limiting. Some ad-
justments may be introduced, but removing the grid spacing altogether from
the DES formulation is out of the question.
Nearly all other hybrid methods currently under consideration sensitize
the model to the grid in order to achieve LES behavior [10, 11, 12, 13]. As
the exception, the SAS hybrid is free of grid spacing and has demonstrated,
visually, LES-like behavior past a circular cylinder and a wall-mounted cube
[14]. This gives much food for thought. On the other hand, it is still extremely
new with only one conference paper, has not yet demonstrated LES behavior
during grid refinement, and has simply failed to function as LES in a channel
flow. New findings may appear rapidly.
Another issue addressed in [1] is the "grey area" in which a shear layer,
after separation, needs to generate "LES content" (random eddies) which
it did not possess as a boundary layer upstream. The process of generating
LES content is most easily achieved by a thin shear layer that is rapidly
departing from the wall, typically thanks to a thin edge or sharp corner;
greater uncertainty was anticipated over smooth-wall separations. Similarly,
LES is widely expected to be more successful for bodies with sharp edges than
smooth ones (even with laminar boundary layers; for turbulent separation LES
poses a bigger challenge, and SGS models are sometimes naively used as RANS
models in the entire thickness of the boundary layers). These considerations
motivated the circular-cylinder study, which was quite re-assuring, see §2. A
more extreme case is a shallow separation, either unclosed or a bubble. There,
depending on the grid, the DES may not create any LES content. This is
not incompatible with the original motivation for the method to achieve LES
behavior only in massive separation, but shallow separation and especially

reattachment also activate finite errors in any RANS model. In some cases
it is desirable to explore the performance of LES in such flows, as already
mentioned.
An separate source of ambiguity exists in vortex-dominated flows, because
the effect of the DES limiter and that of rotation/curvature (RC) corrections
to RANS models on the eddy viscosity are similar. Consider a typical RANS
model such as k-E or S-A. In a vortex, it produces much too high an eddy
viscosity, rapidly smearing the vortex. This is well mitigated by RC corrections
[15], which drastically reduce the eddy viscosity. Unfortunately, this is also
what occurs in DES, relative to RANS, leading to the very real possibility of
improving results by activating DES but for the wrong reason. The grid may
be still much too coarse for robust LES content (especially considering the
stabilizing effect of rotation), but the vortices will become more coherent and
their low-pressure signature on the wall deeper, the effects expected from a
good rotation term (see §2). Naturally, grid refinement by a large ratio would
exhibit the problem, but that is very difficult in 3D. In general, extensive flow
visualization is a much more practical step; the user needs to ask "does the
solution really have LES behavior in the intended LES region?".
A discussion and manual to generating DES grids was funded by NASA,
and can be downloaded [16]. At the time, it did not emphasize the issue of grid
refinement parallel to the wall, outlined above; however many other concepts
and examples can be found, and the report constitutes a fair starting point
for a new DES user.
We now turn to examples drawn from recent studies.
2 Simple Objects
The circular cylinder remains a major challenge to bluff-body CFD methods
of any type, and gives an excellent arena in which to make DES succeed,
or fail. Even shapes reputed to be less challenging such as square cylinders
cannot be considered as "solved" even with over 106 grid points [17]; however
it is plausible that a simple increase in resolution past 107 points will be
quite helpful (the workshop [17] took place in 1995). Ensuring a good balance
between the three directions of the grid and the time step will also help. It
is not clear why the thin-airfoil or thin-plate problem appeared under good
control, at several angles of attack, already with only about 2 x 105 points
[18]. In contrast to these cases, the separation off the smooth surface of the
cylinder, a textbook case well-known to strongly depend on transition, tests
CFD approaches and codes in many areas.
At Reynolds numbers that produce laminar separation (LS), DES is not
very different from LES, except that a simple LES method is not equipped to
disable the SGS model, as must be done in the boundary layers. A DES based
on the S-A model functions quite well in "tripless" mode, and the model
1. 0 ~-.-.-,---.-y-"T"-,--.-,---.-, 1. 0 ,...........,-......,.--.--r-r--.--.--.---.-.....
0.5 0 .5
0 .0 0 .0 .... ·······(····
t..JI'l, - 0.5 t..JI'l, -0.5

-1.0 -1.0
- 1.5 -1.5 . ·!····---;- ...
- 2. 0 ........._._......................._.__......J__._...L......o.......J - 2. 0 ..................._.........&.......O..:...&...........__.__.o.....L_.__j
0 30 60 90 120150180 0 30 60 90 120150 180
() ()
Fig. 1. Pressure distribution on circular cylinder. Left, laminar separation; right,

turbulent separation. Left: o, D., exp.;-- -, - , - - -, DES with improving resolution.
Right: same lines, and - - - RC correction.
is indeed disabled up to separation without the user imposing a t ransition

line [19]. In the regime of turbulent separa tion (TS), the usual cost increase of
LES rapidly outruns the capacity of any computer today, and serious attempts
must use a hybrid method. The study of Travin et al used DES in its standard
form, with the user only specifying whether the boundary layers would be
laminar or turbulent ahead of separation [19]. The study included variations
in the spanwise periodicity length, and grid refinement by a factor of 2 in all
directions. The finest grid had about 106 points, which is moderate by current
standards.
Figure 1 suggests both real progress, and room for improvement. The LS
results indicate grid convergence (which is elusive in methods containing LES)
at least for the pressure distributions: the three curves approach the experi-
mental results, which are themselves in excellent agreement. Admittedly, even
that case showed much scatter for velocity profiles and Reynolds stresses in
the wake. The TS cases have scatt er even in the most basic of result: the
pressure. The DES results, which are quite consistent on different grids and
with(out) RC, fall between two experiments which both appear reliable, but
nevertheless are far apart. Therefore, the cylinder with Reynolds number past
106 remains an excellent candidate for experiments, with special care to im-
prove and document two-dimensionality. It would facilitate CFD validation to
include cases with trips well upstream of the separation line. This is because
skin-friction distributions shown in [19] reveal that making the boundary lay-
ers turbulent ahead of separation is simplistic, relative to the true transition
process on a smooth surface, even at Reynolds number as high as 3.6 x 106 .
Separation and transition are concurrent, which RANS models (at least, S-A)
are unable to render. In its tripless mode, S-A produces laminar separation,
at any Reynolds number. Unfort unately, the next level of fidelity in numer-
ical simulation appears to involve a DNS of the transition, presumably with
realistic imperfections of both the surface and the incoming flow. Whether
differences in these imperfections were sufficient to cause the differences in
experimental pressures is an intriguing conjecture.
Travin et al also found that very long time samples are essential to converge
the statistics, as the vortex shedding has strong modulations in DES, just
as occurs in the experiment [20]. Although this could be a "pathology" of
2D-geometry separated flows, it is a warning for any study of a flow with
large-scale shedding: simulating only a few cycles of such shedding is unsafe.
Constantinescu & Squires presented the equivalent study for a sphere [22].
0.008 o Measurements
(X= 20° DES - Fine Grid
xiL = 0.77 - - - - DES- Medium Grid 0
DES- Coarse Grid
RANS 0
0
0.006
00.004
0.002
0 o~~~3~0~~~6~0~~~9~0~~~1~2~0~~~15~0~~~180
<!>
Fig. 2. Skin-friction distribution around a prolate spheroid.
The prolate spheroid at angle of attack provides an opportunity for as-

sessing turbulence treatments in a flow exhibiting complex three-dimensional
separation. Analogous to the circular cylinder, separation is not fixed by age-
ometric feature and challenges predictive models. Unlike other simple objects
such as cylinders and spheres, however, the flow structure in the leeward/wake
region is strongly influenced by a pair of longitudinal vortices.
A proto-typical example is the 6:1 prolate spheroid for which there are
extensive experimental measurements of surface quantities such as the pres-
sure and skin friction distributions as well as profiles of the mean velocity and
second-order statistics [21]. A prediction of the azimuthal distribution of the
skin friction magnitude is shown in Figure 2. In the figure, ¢ = 0° defines
the windward coordinate of the symmetry plane, and ¢ = 180° coincides with
leeward coordinate of the symmetry plane. The distributions shown are in the
aft region, at x / L = 0. 77 for which measurements show well-developed pri-
mary and secondary separation. The computations are for a freestream at 20
degrees angle of attack and at a Reynolds number of 4.2 x 106 (based on the
freestream speed and spheroid length, L). The flow parameters of the com-
putation match the experimental measurements reported by [21], including
a boundary layer trip at xj L = 0.2 which is activated in the computations
using the trip terms of the S-A model.
DES predictions on three grids are shown together with a S-A RANS re-
sult. Experiments on the spheroid have shown that minima in CJ are well
correlated with the separation locations indicated by wall streamlines, the
measured skin friction then indicating primary separation at ¢ ~ 115° and
secondary separation at ¢ ~ 145°. The S-A RANS result predicts primary
separation at a slightly more leeward location. Figure 2 shows that the mini-
mum in CJ is around 125° and that the magnitude is slightly greater than the
measured minimum. The variation in CJ around 145° in the RANS prediction
is indicative of the influence of a secondary separation, though its influence
is very weak and an outcome of the S-A model devoid of rotation correction,
with its large eddy viscosity in the core of the vortices, overly diffusing these
structures.
For the DES, with grid refinement the skin friction magnitude shows an
increasingly well-defined secondary separation, as evidenced by the C f dis-
tribution around ¢ = 145°. Increases in grid resolution results in lower eddy
viscosity, an effect that is similar to that which could be obtained using a
RANS model with R/C corrections. Nevertheless, the more sharply defined
separated structures, in this case the coherent longitudinal vortices, experience
less diffusion with increases in mesh resolution, in turn resulting in pronounced
signatures in the skin friction and (not shown here) surface pressures.
Figure 2 also shows that the influence of grid resolution on the minima
corresponding to primary separation is not weak. On progressively finer grids
the minimum shifts windward and the magnitude decreases. For the unstruc-
tured grids used for the DES predictions shown in the figure, the RANS-LES
interface is within the boundary layer upstream of separation. As discussed
in §1, this could lower the total Reynolds stress and shift the separation loca-
tion "upstream" (in this case, towards the windward direction). This is under
intense investigation.
3 Components
The distinction between "simple objects" and "vehicle components" can be

blurry. Forsythe, Hoffmann and Dieteker simulated a circular base flow at
Mach 2.46 [23] with the Cobalt code, second-order upwind on unstructured
grids. The DES results were far superior to RANS results, even qualitatively,
and quite close to the experiment. Simulations were run with various values
of the CvEs adjustable constant. Even simulations without any turbulence

model worked quite well, suggesting that the numerical stabilization of the
simulation comes close to playing the role of an SGS model away from walls
(so that low values of CvEs have little effect); however, its boundary-layer
velocity profiles were incorrect, confirming that such methods are inadequate
when the boundary layers need to be reproduced accurately.
Deck, Garnier and Guillen simulated more complex geometries, namely
an under-expanded rocket nozzle and an after-body with conical base and
emerging nozzle with jet [24]. The nozzle flow DES exceeds Mach 5 at the Mach
disk, sustains three-dimensional flow structures, and is in excellent agreement
with experiment both on the separation location and the post-shock pressures.
The afterbody study is directed at buffeting. Reconciling shock-capturing and
LES content with a numerical scheme is a challenge. The FLU3M code of
ONERA uses structured grids and a second-order upwind scheme. In this
flow as in the nozzles, RANS based on the S-A model reaches steady state.
Here, RANS and DES give rather different mean flows, particularly in terms of
reattachment location, and the experimental result appears to be in-between
the two. The three-dimensional unsteady activity is obvious. The unsteady
forces are shown, but not compared with experimental measurements, which
may well be proprietary. This study comes very close to flow phenomena of
extreme industrial importance, considering recent failures of space launchers.
500.000
Fig. 3 . Vorticity contours in six axial planes along the leeward side of the GTS (10°
yaw). Surface colored by pressure.
The Ground Transportation System tested by NASA is classified as a

component, because its geometry is very simplified. In return, very detailed
measurements are available, at several conditions, and allow a thorough ex-
amination of CFD results [25]. Vorticity contours at six axial stations along
the leeward side of the GTS are shown in Figure 3 from DES predictions of
the flow at 10° yaw. The findings are that DES is justified over RANS already
for mean quantities, since the drag error is 12% instead of 49% without side-
wind, and of course even more if unsteady information is needed. DES can
be clearly faulted only for the size of the separation region near the front end
with side-wind, which is much too large, although other aspects of that solu-
tion are good, including the skin friction under the roof vortex, for instance.
The drag error jumps from 12% to 39%, which is far from industrial accuracy;
in other words, CFD is not a practical tool yet. This problem may eventually
be traced to a difference in the laminar /turbulent state of the boundary layer,
and suggest that the corner radius chosen is unfortunate since it challenges
the RANS region and transition prediction so much (another putative symp-
tom is the hysteresis versus Reynolds number in the test). In that case, actual
geometries which are less rounded could be easier from a flow-physics point
of view, although much harder to grid. Another conclusion is that grid gen-
eration on such a geometry is onerous even with an unstructured-grid code,
and can always be re-visited to improve accuracy and reduce waste. This is
intensified by the desire to compare at least two grids and make the refine-
ment strong enough to be meaningful, as well as systematic enough to feel
that the error is reduced everywhere in the domain. The case with boat-tail
plates, designed to reduce drag, has not been calculated yet, and the Reynolds
number was kept out of the hysteresis range. Thus, much more work could be
done.
The DES study of Active Flow Control (AFC) on the airfoil of the V-22 tilt-
rotor aircraft was partly successful [26]. The flow is driven by the downwash
of the rotors in hover, leading to an airfoil flow at roughly -90° angle of
attack, with a highly-deflected flap. The AFC relies on alternating suction and
blowing through a narrow slot at the flap shoulder, designed to enhance mixing
and make the flow more nearly follow the flap. With the AFC off, accurate
predictions could be expected, similar to those on the NACA 0012 airfoil [18].
Initial results with the RANS model active in the boundary layers, leading
to turbulent separation, were disappointing in terms of drag and pressure
pattern at the leading edge. The leading edge is much more rounded than
on the 12%-thick airfoil, allowing the separation line more freedom. Indeed,
simulations with the model inactive in the boundary layers, and therefore
laminar separation, were within experimental error. This flow is sensitive to
transition and an internal controversy with the authors of the experiment,
who had tripped their boundary layers, was unfortunately never resolved [27].
However, arguments were made to the effect that the trips failed because
of Reynolds number and acceleration [26]. This case illustrated the strong
residual influence of the model, and the value of being able to routinely control
transition in CFD as provided by the S-A model.
Active Flow Control was a new arena, and proved highly challenging. The
slot was so narrow that it covered only two to three grid points, even with
very strong clustering. Thus, the slot treatment was crude. With a grid of
the order of 600,000 points, the crucial region containing the manipulated
separated shear layer was treated in URANS mode inside the DES; for an
LES treatment, orders of magnitude more grid points would be needed. Thus
the shear-layer treatment fell back on the RANS model; no data were available
to validate the model in such a flow, and the accessible grid refinement would
have been inconclusive. The model may not matter to leading order, since the
roll-up of the shear layer is nearly inviscid, but this is not proven. For the rest
of the wake, the level of confidence was fairly good, based on the agreement
with AFC off.
The pressure distribution responded to AFC, but only qualitatively. The
drag reduction was not very consistent with experiment, and in some ranges,
increasing the level of forcing caused an increase in the predicted drag. The
time samples were adequate, but not all were long enough to rule out hysteresis
or very slow modulations. Repeating the study with larger computer resources
would close some of these issues. However, the very nature of AFC creates
CFD problems containing a huge range of scales (here, from the slot width
at 0.2% of chord to the wake length at 100 chords), which are barely possible
in three dimensions even with thorough grid design. Turbulence is the realm
of wide ranges of scales, but the premise of LES is that the small eddies only
absorb information from the large eddies; here, phenomena in the tiny slot
control the entire flow. As a result, CFD will lag experiments for years in the
field of AFC for lack of CPU power, provided the experiments are done with
care and attention to scale effects.
Other component flows are the simplified landing-gear truck of Hedges et
al. [28] and the jet-fighter forebody of Squires et al. [29].
4 Full Configurations
The series of DES over the F-15 and F-16 fighter aircraft has been the most
noticed work on quite complete configurations [31] (although the engine mod-
eling remains very simple). In particular, agreement with experiment within
5% for lift and drag at 65° angle of attack is an excellent result, even once
it is recognized that the extreme angle of attack and thin wing edges mean
that the DES depended almost only on its LES mode, except for the nose
of the airplane. The forebody "component" study [29] gives confidence and
was very favorable to DES over RANS, but accommodating a grid and a time
step capable of LES behavior on the nose while including the entire aircraft
remains very challenging.
40 P.R. Spalart and K.D . Squires
Today's super-computers are capable of DES on a smooth full configu-

ration; the equivalent simulation on an airliner may suffer as much from the
uncertainty over the shape of the wing, which is much more flexible, as it does
from CFD weaknesses. All simulations would also be more difficult closer to
the stall angle of various components, especially with more rounded leading
edges, because separation prediction would have more leverage. Therefore , a
long validation process needs to take place. However, there is no reason CFD
should shy away from problems such as airplane spin, which is already being
addressed [32] or the possibility of "tumbling" for a blended-wing-body air-
plane. In terms of fluid mechanics, it is not clear that they are more difficult
than the circular cylinder.
Fig. 4. Truck simulation of Wurtzler. Vorticity surface and wall pressure.
The tractor-trailer truck simulated by Wurtzler with the Cobalt unstructured-

grid code is rather complete, but does not correspond to a geometry that was
tested [33]. In Fig. 4, note the presence of wheels and mirrors , the gap be-
tween the cab and trailer, and the side-wind. The grid had about six million
points. Wheel rotation and radiator flow will be added sooner or later, as will
even smaller features such as shafts and brakes, as well as surface roughness
on the trailer sides and tires. The vorticity reveals convincing LES content in
this solution, and a simulation of the buffeting effect on a car appears within
reach, as do noise calculations for low frequencies, or calculations of soiling.
Fine effects such as drag reduction by detail shape modifications have not
been demonstrated yet.
5 Algorithm Issues
The application of eddy-resolving techniques to the prediction of turbulent

flows places high demands on the numerical approaches used in DES (as well
as LES). At full-scale Reynolds numbers and when applied to complex con-
figurations, the discretized system of equations is extremely stiff and requires
the application of implicit schemes for efficient integration of the governing
equations. Since many production codes in use today have been developed for
very efficient integration to steady-state, the extension to time-accurate com-
putation is obviously an important step for these codes in order to perform
DES.
In addition, in the absence of kinetic-energy conservation by the numer-
ics, discretizations of the Navier-Stokes equations require some form of arti-
ficial dissipation to maintain stability. Two common approaches are the use
of upwind-biased differences and the use of limiting. Strelets, for example,
employs fifth-order accurate upwinding on convection in their numerical ap-
proach to solution of the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations [5]. An in-
teresting aspect of that method being the application of upwind-biased dif-
ferences only within the RANS region and use of centered difference approxi-
mations in the LES region. A reasonably wide range of DES predictions have
also been obtained using Cobalt, a cell-centered finite volume approach ap-
plicable to arbitrary cell topologies (e.g, hexahedrons, prisms, tetrahedrons)
[30]. There, the stability to the underlying numerical approach is established
using TVD flux limiters.
Regardless the details of the approach, any scheme that requires the in-
troduction of artificial dissipation in order to maintain stability should be
carefully assessed when used in DES. Dissipation from the numerical dis-
cretizations are often comparable to that provided by the turbulence model.
Even centered schemes, that do not introduce artificial dissipation, often suffer
from strong dispersive error, an effect that can require great care in control-
ling aspects such as the grid stretching. The primary approach to assessing
these effects remains variation in the grid density (and time step). Unsteady
content with sufficient statistical sampling increases the computational cost
of DES. Obtaining predictions on more than a single grid further raises the
cost, though such exercises have been invaluable in understanding the method
and contributing to its experience base [19]. As the range of flows amenable
to accurate prediction using DES continues to expand, parallel computation
will represent an even more important tool.
6 Design of a DES
The basis of DES is that the relationship between the grid spacing and the
natural length scales of the turbulence in a given region makes the selection
between RANS and LES behavior [19]. Here, we are assuming that the time
step is short enough to allow LES behavior; since the time step is global to
the simulation, its value can present a difficult compromise. As a result of this
option, and considering the permanent need for economy of grid points, DES
grid design is not simple. The "young person's guide" (YPG) [16] introduces
terminology and guidelines, many of which also apply to RANS calculations,
even if they have not been named. Focusing on external flows, the YPG dis-
tinguishes the Euler Region, into which no turbulence will intrude, the LES
Region, and the RANS region. The latter two also contain viscous layers at
the walls. The wall regions resemble those in RANS: shallow cells with the
usual rules for first wall-normal spacing or "y+" and stretching ratio. In con-
trast, the LES and Euler regions have isotropic cells, and the LES region little
stretching. There is also necessarily a "Departure Region" in which eddies that
will never return into the LES region and impinge on the body safely become
dissipated.
Grid refinement tends to concern the LES region and the wall-parallel
spacings of the wall region, which tend to follow the LES-region spacing. For
the wall-normal distribution, there is little point in starting with y+ = 10
or a stretching ratio of 2 (as compared with the guidelines y+ ;::::; 1 - 2 and
ratio;::::; 1.2 -1.3), say, unless this is explicitly a disposable simulation used to
prime an automatic grid adaptation (it would make much more sense to do
a precursor simulation at a reduced Reynolds number than with an excessive
y+). The Euler region does not contain a large share of the points, giving
little incentive to save points and have to re-visit it. The LES region leaves
the most leeway, as it is very difficult to predict how many points are needed
to be accurate in a new case. Grid convergence is very elusive, and the order
of convergence is not simple at all. Only the circular cylinder has strongly
suggested grid convergence [19]. In addition, reaching a good accuracy level
can well happen at different levels of resolution in different parts of the flow.
The smaller features of the geometry require finer resolution, which is not a
natural tendency when generating the LES-region grid; in addition, again, the
time step is uniform. There are clear conflicts.
The recommendation is to count many weeks of work for any new case,
several cases to form a new DES user, and to pool experience both by detailed
and critical publications and within the networks of the CFD vendors.
7 Closing comments
For treating bluff bodies at useful Reynolds numbers, the consensus behind
hybrid RANS-LES methods has grown very strong, and DES is at present the
most recognized of such methods. It has been stable and has active commu-
nities outside the original core, particularly in Germany and France, so that
meaningful critiques have been made (as have a few mistakes, such as grid
refinement that is not consistent in the three directions). The users have been
generally quite satisfied, while recognizing the heavy challenge of designing a
DES. However, the challenge is no surprise to those familiar with LES, with
the possible exception of the issues of corrupting the eddy viscosity in a RANS
boundary layer or accidentally approximating the turbulence depletion by ro-
tation. Abuses have been committed, typically leading to essentially RANS
behavior because of a very insufficient number of grid points; no LES can
develop with 10 points in any of the directions. On a related matter, some
users expect DES to require less resolution than LES everywhere, but this
is true only in the boundary layers. For a region of massive separation, the
size of the numerical task is dictated by a "number of large eddies" which is
no different between an LES and a DES. The recent dissemination in vendor
CFD codes is welcome, but will lead to much more use by non-experts. To
help them, it is desirable for many detailed publications to appear, and again
for the approach to remain stable, simple, and clearly defined; they are urged
to visualize their solutions extensively, and to produce at least two grids.
The warnings made in this paper over the design and interpretation of a
DES, from the simplest to the most complex geometries, make it clear that it
is not a "push-button" technique; DES requires a commitment to numerical
quality, and a working knowledge of turbulence. However, the wait for a push-
button technique will be very lengthy. Many of the warnings simply reflect
the physics of this new class of flows, which is still widely considered to be out
of reach of CFD. It is out of reach of casual CFD use. Competing methods
do not appear simpler to implement or understand, and since all problems
are three-dimensional, "over-kill" grid resolution is not about to become an
option. Fortunately, we are seeing the beginning of grid adaptation, based
on precursor solutions, which makes grid refinement more rapid and more
systematic.
8 Acknowledgments
Prof. Strelets made comments on the manuscript.
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LES and Hybrid RANS-LES Approaches
Exploring the Flow Around a Simplified Bus
with Large Eddy Simulation and Topological
Tools
Sinisa Krajnovic 1 and Lars Davidson2

1 Department of Thermo and Fluid Dynamics, Chalmers University of Technology,
SE-41296 Goteborg, Sweden, sinisa<Dtfd. chalmers. se
2 Department of Thermo and Fluid Dynamics, Chalmers University of Technology,
SE-41296 Goteborg, Sweden, lada<Dtfd. chalmers. se
Abstract
The results of the large eddy simulation of the flow around a simplified bus
presented in [11, 12] are used to describe this flow in detail. Using time-
averaged trace lines on the surface of the body, the patterns of the shear-
stress lines are revealed and used to identify bifurcation lines and critical
points (zero-shear-stress points) in the flow. This information is then used to
establish a complete picture of the flow on the surface of the body that can
be used for understanding soiling and accumulation of water on the surface
or in determinations of aeroacoustic noise sources. Kinematical investigations
of the flow in two symmetry planes were done to reveal the critical points
in the flow. With this it was proven that the flow resulting from numerical
simulation is kinematically possible.
1 Introduction
Our success in predicting the behavior of the vehicle in the air stream is
strongly dependent on our knowledge of the flow influencing the vehicle. The
complexity of the structures in this three-dimensional flow makes experimen-
tal studies very difficult. Furthermore, experimental studies often provide only
information on some limited partition of the flow (point, line or a plain). Com-
putational fluid dynamics (CFD) gives a description of the flow in the entire
computational domain (numerical wind tunnel). Unfortunately, the Reynolds-
Averaged Navier-Stokes equation (RANS) commonly used in prediction of this
flow suppresses too much information. This method has also difficulty in pre-
dictions of the momentum transport after separation, which makes it difficult
to rely on the prediction of separated flows.
50 S. Krajnovic and L. Davidson
Use of transient simulations such as unsteady RANS simulations (URANS)

and large eddy simulations (LES) have proved to be successful in predicting
flows with separations. URANS gives a flow field that represents the large-scale
dynamics but that is smoother than the true field. This is a direct consequence
of the strong influence of RANS modeling in URANS. Large eddy simulation
gives rich information on the flow, but the LES of the flow around the full
scale vehicle at the road condition is beyond the reach of today's computers
[11], although computer power is increasing with giant steps. As an example
we can compare the simulation presented in this paper, which required five
months of computation on a million dollar parallel computer. The authors are
now making the same size simulation in two weeks on a thirty thousand dollar
Linux cluster. This computational effort can be compared with several days
to one week of RANS simulation that is typical in the automotive industry.
Although there have been great achievements in computational power, LES
is best used in flows around vehicle models at lower Reynolds numbers, see
[11]. Hybrid RANS/LES simulations [6, 5, 15] are probably more amenable
for simulation of the flow at road conditions, and these are currently under
development.
Extracting knowledge of the flow around vehicles from the flow at lower
Reynolds number is not new and has been used for a long time in experimental
studies [3, 1, 2, 8]. However, the new ingredient in our approach is a use of
LES that results in more detailed picture of the flow than the experimental
one. The current paper studied the topology both on the surface and in the
symmetry plane of the body. These investigations can be compared with oil
flow visualizations and PIV studies used in experimental studies. The purpose
of the surface study is to highlight the complex interaction of the body with
the surrounding flow. This analysis is intended to provide information that will
aid in our understanding of soiling and accumulation of water on the surface.
It can also be used in determinations of aeroacoustic noise sources and the
influence of the coherent structures in the flow on the stability properties of
the vehicle.
2 Large eddy simulation

LES was made of the flow around a bus-shaped body and compared with
experiments in [7, 8]. This flow is similar to the flow around a real vehicle, and
some knowledge of this kind of flow is available from previous experimental
and numerical studies [3, 1, 2, 8, 9]. As the flow is characterized by a fairly
high Reynolds number (0.21 x 106 , based on the model height H and the
incoming velocity), the resulting flow features and the character of the flow-
induced forces on the body should be similar to that in the flow around a
full-scale vehicle.
The shape of the body is based on the Ahmed's body [1] and it is shown
placed above the wind tunnel wall in Fig. 1. A computational domain with an
Exploring the Flow Around a Bus with LES and Topological Tools 51
0.0 H
Fig. 1. Geometry of the bus-shaped body placed above the wind tunnel wall. Time-
averaged trace lines are plotted on the surface of the body showing the roof and the
lateral vortices that extend XR1 and Xs, respectively, in the stream-wise direction.
upstream length of 8H, a downstream length of 21H and a span-wise width of

5.92H was used for the simulations. A moving ground belt in the experiment
[7, 8] was simulated by applying the inlet velocity, U00 , on the floor. The
near-wall spatial resolution expressed in wall units was (Lls+)t = 5 - 164
in the stream-wise direction, (Lln+)t = 0.5- 0.8 in the wall-normal direction
and (Lll+)t = 14-142 in the span-wise direction. No-slip boundary conditions
were applied on the solid walls. The Smagorinsky model [14] for the SGS stress
tensor with Smagorinsky constant Cs = 0.1 was chosen for its simplicity and
low computational cost.
3 Description of the flow topology

Time-averaged trace lines and streamlines are used to reveal critical points (i.e.
points at which all the spatial derivative of the velocity are zero) and bifurca-
tion lines in the flow. Critical points can be classified into three main groups:
nodes, foci and saddles, of which nodes and foci can be stable and unstable.
"Bifurcation lines are lines drawn in the flow toward which the trajectories
are asymptotic"[13]. They are denoted negative bifurcation line (NBL) and
positive bifurcation line (PBL), depending respectively on whether the tra-

jectories approach or diverge the bifurcation line exponentially. These lines are
associated with flow attachment (PBL) or separation (NBL). For a complete
description of critical points and bifurcation lines, we refer to [13].
Separation
lin
b)
Fig. 2. Time-average d trace lines on the surface of the body showing the roof vortex,
R, and the lateral vortex, L. View of the front face of the body.
Time-averaged trace lines, correspondin g to oil flow visualization in ex-

periments, are used to highlight the shear stresses lines on the body. At the
front part of the body shown in Fig. 2, two kinds of critical points are visible.
These are one unstable node Z (see also Fig. 3(a)) at the upper lateral edge
of the bus and saddle points Sd (see also Fig. 3(b)) and 5 8 (see also Fig. 3(c))
downstream of separation regions R and £, respectively. Between these critical
points several PELs were observed (see Fig. 3) , indicating the reattachmen t
of the flow which separated at the leading edge upstream. Following these
lines, beginning in the unstable node on the upper lateral corner, Z , the flow
direction is toward the saddles. The flow on the surface upstream of the P BLs
is opposite of the free-stream direction. This is the result of the interaction of
the unstable node with the saddle points. As the unstable node works as the
repeller of the flow in all four directions, the saddle point attracts the flow
from the unstable node, only to repel it in the perpendicular direction, i.e.
upstream and downstream. It is possible that the trace lines leaving node Z
in the upstream direction toward the separation line end in a stable node in
region Q in Fig. 3(a).
Similar to node Z, the unstable node G (see Fig. 4) is found close to the
lower lateral corner of the body. The surface flow in this region is complex due
to the presence of the stable focus Fe. The flow coming underneath the bus
is deflected by this focus, and the fluid particle closest to it travels in spiral
paths ending in the focus. At the same time the node is deflecting the flow.
The partition of the flow that is deflected downstream forms together with
the stream-wise flow on the underneath surface, the negative bifurcation line
(NBL) shown in Fig. 5(a). This NBL indicates separation of the flow and
results in lateral vortices (see [11, 12]). No bifurcation lines were observed on
the upper lateral edge (see Fig. 5(b)).
Flow on the rear face of the bus is very complex. The shear stresses here
are very low, making it difficult to represent the surface topology using trace
lines. Thus the surface topology on the rear of the bus is not presented in this
paper.
Besides the study of the surface topology, kinematical studies of the flow
in two symmetry planes were conducted. This was done to identify the crit-
ical points in the flow and to determine whether the flow resulting from the
simulation was kinematically possible.
The most common critical points on the border between the surface of
the body and the surrounding flow are half-saddles (see Figs. 6 - 9). The
half-saddle indicating the reattachment is always the mirror image of the
half-saddle indicating the corresponding separation (see e.g. Fig. 8( c), where
the reattachment point 8 13 is the mirror image of the separation point 8 12 ).
In the X- y plane close to the front part of the body, three half-saddles, 81' 82
and 8 3 , were detected (see Fig. 6). In this figure, half-saddle 8 1 represents the
stagnation point and 82 and 8 3 indicate points of separation and reattach-
ment, respectively, of the recirculation region on the roof of the bus (region R
in Fig. 2). One stable focus, N 1 , was also identified in the recirculation region
(see Fig. 6).
As the flow separates at the rear of the bus, the region of recirculating flow,
shown in Fig. 7, is formed. Two thin vortices B, shown in Fig. 7, are formed on
the rear surface in the x-y plane. Figures 7(b) and (c) show that the direction
of rotation of the upper-edge and lower-edge vortices is counter-clockwise and
clockwise, respectively. Separations of the flow responsible for these structures
are indicated with half-saddles 8 6 and 87 and reattachments with half-saddles
8 5 and 8s for lower-edge and upper-edge vortices, respectively (see Figs. 7(b)
and 7(c)). It is interesting to note that both vortices Bare fed with the flow
pushed away by half-saddle 8 10 in the free stagnation point. One part of this
flow coming from 8 10 passes vortices Band interacts with the separated flow
in the x direction at y = ±H/2 and forms half-saddles 84 and 89 close to
the lower and upper edges of the bus, respectively. The main part of the
a)
b)
c)
Fig. 3. Time-averaged trace lines on the surface of the body showing the unstable
node, z (a), and the saddle points, sd (b) and s. (c), downstream of the separation
region, Rand L, respectively. PEL are positive bifurcation lines, i.e. attachment
lines. The velocity vectors are plotted at the surface parallel to the body surface at
the wall-normal distance of 1.6 x 10- 4 H .
Fig. 4. a) Time-averaged trace lines on the surface of the body. View from below. b)
Zoom of Fig. (a). The velocity vectors are plotted at the surface parallel to the body
surface at wall-normal distance of 1.6 x 10- 4 H. Fe is a focus and G is an unsteady
node [13] .
recirculating region behind the bus consists of the counter-rotating vortices

whose cores are represented in Fig. 7(a) with two stable foci, F1 and F2.
Between these two vortices and the shear layer closing the recirculating region,
an additional saddle, D, was found.
Similar to the description of the flow in the x - y plane presented above,
the flow in the x - z plane can be described using Figs. 8 and 9. It was found
in this plane that the incoming flow to the front part of the bus is divided into
two equal parts which are then pushed away in the direction perpendicular to
that of the incoming flow. A half-saddle 8 11 depicted in Figs. 8(a) and 8(b)
indicates the presence of the stagnation point. As the flow separates after the
rounded edges at the half-saddles 812 and 814, two regions of recirculating flow
are formed with their cores indicated with stable foci Na and N1, respectively.
Being detached a certain distance, this flow attaches again in half-saddles 8 13
and 8 15 (see Figs. 8(a) and 8(c)). The existence of these two recirculating
regions in the x- y plane compared to only one in the x- z plane is the result
of the symmetry in geometry (and thereby in flow) with respect to plane
y = 0. In the x - z plane, at the rear edge of the bus, the boundary layer
also goes over into a shear layer surrounding two large vortices, of which one
is shown in Fig. 9(a). These large counter-rotating vortices (see Fig. 11) have
their center in stable foci N 10 and N 11 . Following the shear layer from the
separation edge downstream, the fluid reaches saddle 8 23 • Similar to saddle D
in the x- y plane, saddle 8 23 is found to be connection between two vortices in
the recirculating region and the surrounding flow in this plane. At saddle 8 23 ,
the shear layer is broken and the flow is deflected upstream and downstream.
The result of the rotation of the vortices (with their foci N 10 and N 11 ) is the
impingement of the flow in the stagnation point depicted with half-saddle 8 21
in Fig. 11. From this point, the flow attached onto the rear of the bus is pushed
away toward the lateral sides of the bus. Close to the lateral edges, this flow
separates at half-saddles 8 18 and 8 19 and two thin vortices, B, are formed
(see Fig. 9(b)). The center of these vortices is depicted in Figs. 9(b) and 11
with stable foci N 8 and N 9 . These vortices extend to the point where the
reattachments are depicted with half-saddles 8 16 and 8 20 . Again the attached
flow meets the shear layer at z = ±H/2, which deflects it in the stream-wise
direction similar to what was found in the x- y plane. This results in two
half-saddles, 811 and 822, shown in Figs. 9(b) and 11.
Figures 10 and 11 sketch the time-averaged flow pattern and the critical
points from Figs. 6 and 7 and Figs. 8 and 9 in the two planes of the bus (z = 0
andy= 0).
According to Hunt et al. [10], there can only be a certain number of sad-
dle points for a given number of nodes. They derived a relation for a two-
dimensional section of the flow
(1)
a)
b)
Fig. 5. Time-averaged trace lines on the surface of the body. a) View of the lower
lateral edge. b) View of the upper lateral edge. NBL is the negative bifurcation line,
i.e. the separation line. The velocity vectors are plotted at the surface parallel to
the body surface at the wall-normal distance of 1.6 x 10- 4 H.
Fig. 6. Time-averaged streamlines projected onto symmetry plane z = 0 showing

half-saddles 81, 82 and 83 and focus N1.
a)
Fig. 7. a) Time-averaged streamlines projected onto symmetry plane z = 0 of the

bus. 810 is the stagnation point on the rear face of the bus, Bs is the free stagnation
point , D is the saddle point and Fl and F2 are foci of the upper and lower vortices,
respectively. b) upper-edge thin vortex B. c) lower-edge thin vortex B .
where :L;N is the number of nodes and foci, :L;N, is the number of half-nodes
(nodes on the boundaries), :L; 8 is the number of saddles and :L; 8, is the
number of half-saddles. n is the connectedness of the surface. For a singly
connected region with no body, n = 1; with one body (as in our case) n = 2
etc.
Let us now investigate whether the critical points in Figs. 10 and 11 satisfy
the topological constraint in Eq. 1. In Fig. 10 :L;N = 5, :L;N' = 0, :L; 8 = 1
and :L; 8, = 10 so that (:L;N + 1/2:L;N') - (:L; 8 + 1/2:L; 8 ,) = 5- (1 + 5) =
-1 and in Fig. 11 :L;N = 6, :L;N' = 0, :L; 8 = 1 and :L; 8, = 12 so that
(:L;N + 1/2:L;N') - (:L; 8 + 1/2:L; 8 ,) = 6- (1 + 6) = -1. This agrees with
Eq. 1, since n = 2. Thus these figures represent a flow that is kinematically
possible.
c)
Fig. 8. a) Time-averaged streamlines projected onto plane y = 0 showing half-
saddles Sn-Sts and foci N6 and N1. b) Zoom of the stagnation point (half-saddle
Su). c) Zoom of the lateral side vortex.
This study was based on the topological and kinematical results of our LES
in [11, 12]. For additional details on the flow features and the mechanisms of
their origin, we refer to [11, 12].
Fig. 9. a) Time-averaged streamlines projected onto plane y = 0. N10 is foci and

8 23 is saddle point. b) Zoom of the lateral-edge thin vortex, B, for z > 0. 815-81s
are half-saddles and N 8 is focus.
u. 3 4
l
D
2
5
Fig. 10. Schematic representation of time-averaged streamlines and singular points

on the symmetry plane, z = 0, of the bus. 81-810 are half-saddles, N1-N5 are foci
and D is the saddle point.
4 Numerical accuracy
To establish the results' grid independence, two additional computations on

different (coarser) grids were made. The near-wall resolution of these grids
was (.:1s+)t = 15 - 580, (.:1n+)t = 0.8 - 1.2 and (.:1Z+)t = 14 - 217 and
(.:1s+)t = 15 - 580, (.:1n+)t = 11.8 - 18.8 and (.:1Z+)t = 14 - 217 for the
medium and the coarse grids, respectively. Results for the global topological
quantities, the forces and the velocities between the three simulations and the
experiments (if available) were compared.
There is a 24% difference in re-attachment lengths XRl and Xs between
the fine and medium-grid simulations (Table 1). The corresponding differ-
ence in the re-attachment length, Xn measured at y = 0 was 20%, but the
difference in the position of the free stagnation point, Xfree, was only 9%.
The value of Xr from the coarse-grid simulation differed by only 1% from the
6
u
...
9 ll
7
Fig. 11. Schematic representation of time-averaged streamlines and singular points

on the plane y = 0. Su-S22 are half-saddles, N5-Nu are foci and S23 is the saddle
point.
medium-grid value (Table 1). There is a 6% difference in the time-averaged

drag coefficient (Cv)t between the fine and the medium-grid simulations and
a 54% difference between the medium and the coarse-grid simulations (see Ta-
ble 2). The great difference in (Cv)t between the medium and the coarse-grid
simulations is caused by the failure of the coarse-grid simulation to predict
separation regions R and L in Fig. 2, thus producing too low a sudace pres-
sure at the front edges of the body. The time-averaged lift coefficient (CL)t
remained unchanged between the coarse and medium-grid simulations and
decreased by some 6% from the medium to the fine-grid simulations. The
time-averaged pressure coefficient at the rear face of the body (Cp)t changed
by 3-4% with different spatial resolutions (Table 2) . Unfortunately, the drag
and the lift coefficients were not measured in the experiments.
The velocity profiles changed most in the wake region (Fig. 12), but the
trend is consistent with grid refinement. Although the shapes of the computed
velocity profiles in the separation bubble (x/H = 0.32 and xjH = 0.98) are
similar to those of the experiments, there are some differences in the core of
the bubble (Fig. 12). The agreement of the experimental data inside the sepa-
ration bubble with LES results becomes worse with grid refinement (Fig. 12).
To explain this behavior we computed the r.m.s. velocity intensity in the
separation bubble and found that these were locally higher than 55% of the
time-averaged velocity. Duell and George [7, 8] used hot-wire anemometry for
velocity measurements. They found [8] that these intensities varied between
32% and 70%. According to Chandrsuda and Brashaw [4], the hot-wire mea-
surements are reliable only if the r .m.s. velocity intensity is less than about
30%. Chandrsuda and Brashaw [4] also found that, when the turbulence in-
tensity exceeds 50%, hot-wire results become highly unreliable. From this we
conclude that the experimental data are not accurate in this region. Position
xj H = 1.63 is downstream of the separation bubble, but the local turbulence
62 S. Krajnovic a nd L. Davidson
intensity is still in excess by some 30% of the time-averaged velocity. Figure 12

shows that, at xf H = 1.63, agreement between computed and measured pro-
files becomes better with better spatial resolution.
Table 1. Lengths for re-attachment on the roof (XRt), lateral walls (Xs) and behind
the bus (Xr). Xfr ee and Ytree are coordinates of the free stagnation point at the
closure of the separation bubble.
Contribution XR1/H Xs/H Xr/H Xfr ee /H Ytr ee /H

Duell and George [8) - 1.1
coarse 0 0 1.44 1.6 -0.17
medium 0.41 0.41 1.42 1.42 -0.23
fine 0.33 0.33 1.18 1.3 -0.2
Table 2. Time-averaged pressure drag, lift and rear pressure coefficients and domi-
nating frequency (Stp) of the Cp signal (note that Cp means the integrated Cp over
the rear surface).
Case (Cv)t (CL)t (Cp)t Stp

coarse 0.206 -0.066 -0.216 0.073
medium 0.318 -0.066 -0.224 0.055
fine 0.33 -0.071 -0.229 0.059
]!_
H
OS
§' ·:
.•.
'0
~
jC.
..·.
...
....
·•
· '
'
0.5
.,
. . ....... ,. -
•••
\.>,
.. !
....
-~
'
0
0
0.5
X
Ji = 1.63
/ ..
4.~·
....
.
..--·
...
... ..r=~. 0
0
~:
.
0
.
I
0. ;
• ... ... 0 0
-0.5
-0.5 -0.5 .·. :
•'
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.6 l

0 02 0.4 0.6 0.6 l 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 l
v.11 1u V . 11 /U v."/
Fig. 12. Time-averaged velocity profiles at three downstream locations at z = 0.
Fine grid (solid curve) ; medium grid (dashed curve); coarse grid (dashed-dotted
curve); experiment (symbols) .
5 Conclusions
The dense data obtained in LES is suited for delicate topological studies of the
flow. The critical points and the bifurcation lines on the surface of the vehicle
can be displayed and provide the information on the motion of the near-surface
fluid particles. This paper demonstrates such use of LES data to create a
topological picture of the external vehicle flow (i.e. flow around a simplified
bus). The singular points were not only identified but also classified according
to their stability (stable and unstable) and their influence on the surrounding
fluid (nodes, foci and saddles). A similar distinction was made between the
negative and positive bifurcation lines in this flow. In addition to these studies,
a relation between the number of nodes and the number of saddles was used
to determine whether the simulation produced a kinematically possible flow.
This analysis may be useful when poor resolution prevents determination of
the character of a solitary singular point. Classifying the remaining points
in topological terms as nodes and saddles and using a relation between their
number, the nature of the last point can be determined.
References
[1] S. R. Ahmed, G. Ramm, and G. Faltin. Some salient features of the time
averaged ground vehicle wake. SAE Paper 840300, 1984.
[2] J. Barlow, R. Guterres, R. Ranzenbach, and J. Williams. Wake structures
of rectangular bodies with radiused edges near a plane surface. SAE
Paper 1999-01-0648, 1999.
[3] P. W. Bearman, J. P. Davis, and J. K. Harvey. Measurement of the
structure of road vehicle wakes. International Journal of Vehicle De-
sign, Technological Advances in Vehicle Design Series, SP3, Impact of
Aerodynamics on Vehicle Design, pages 493-499, 1983.
[4] C. Chandrsuda and P. Bradshaw. Turbulence structures of reattaching
mixing layer. Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 110:171-194, 1981.
[5] S. Dahlstrom and L. Davidson. Hybrid RANS-LES with additional con-
ditions at the matching region. In 4th Int. Symp. on Turbulence Heat
and Mass Transfer, Antalya, Turkey, 2003.
[6] L. Davidson and S.-H. Peng. A hybrid LES-RANS model based on a one-
equation SGS model and a two-equation k - w model. In E. Lindborg,
A. Johansson, J. Eaton, J. Humphrey, N. Kasagi, M. Leschziner, and
M. Sommerfeld, editors, The Second International Symp. on Turbulence
and Shear Flow Phenomena, volume 2, pages 175-180, Stockholm, 2001.
[7] E. G. Duell. Experimental investigation of unsteady near wakes of ground
vehicle bodies. PhD thesis, Cornell University, 1994.
[8] E. G. Duell and A. R. George. Experimental study of a ground vehicle
body unsteady near wake. SAE Paper 1999-01-0812, 1999.
[9] T. Han. Computational analysis of three-dimensional turbulent flow

around a bluff body in ground proximity. AIAA Journal, 27(9):1213~
1219, 1989.
[10] J. C. R. Hunt, C. J. Abell, J. A. Peterka, and H. Woo. Kinematical
studies of the flows around free or surface-mounted obstacles; applying
topology to flow visualization. Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 86:179~200,
1978.
[11] S. Krajnovic. Large Eddy Simulations for Computing the Flow Around
Vehicles. PhD thesis, Dept. of Thermo and Fluid Dynamics, Chalmers
University of Technology, Gothenburg, 2002.
[12] S. Krajnovic and L. Davidson. Numerical Study of the Flow Around the
Bus-Shaped Body. ASME: Journal of Fluids Engineering, 125:500~509,
2003.
[13] A. E. Perry and M. S. Chong. A description of eddying motions and flow
patterns using critical-point concepts. Ann. Rev. Fluid Mech., 19:125~
155, 1987.
[14] J. Smagorinsky. General circulation experiments with the primitive equa-
tions. Monthly Weather Review, 91(3):99~165, 1963.
[15] P.R. Spalart, W. H. Jou, M. Strelets, and S. R. Allmaras. Detached-eddy
simulation of an airfoil at high angle of attack. In Advances in DNS/LES,
Proceedings of the First AFOSR International Conference on DNS/LES,
1997.
Unsteady Flow Around Cylinders with Cavities
G. Iaccarinol, P. Durbin 2 , S. Talley 1

1 Center for Turbulence Research, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305-3030
2 Dept. Mechanical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305-3030
Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes simulations of the flow around circular

cylinder with V-shaped longitudinal cavities are carried out to study the ef-
fect of the cavity geometry on the flow characteristics. In particular the effect
of the cavity depth on the unsteady aerodynamic forces is analyzed. It is
found that the cavities reduce the overall drag and the amplitude of the lift
fluctuations.
1 Introduction
This study is motivated by the saguaro cactus and other tall arborescent (tree-
like) succulents that withstand high wind velocities in their natural habitat.
These stationary desert plants experience Reynolds number ( Re) flows up to
106 and share a common cylindrical shape modified with complex surface ge-
ometry. Because the shape of an object influences the surrounding airflow,
natural selection may favor body morphologies that reduce forces exerted by
wind gusts in their habitat. We hypothesize that the tall cacti morphology of
longitudinal cavities and spines may function to reduce wind forces such as
drag and fluctuating lift. In this paper we address this hypothesis by numerical
simulations. A concurrent experimental investigation is described in Talley et
al., 2001; some measured data are compared with the numerical predictions
herein.
There has been much speculation on the function of cavities and spines
on cacti, and their significance is still open to speculation (Geller and Nobel,
1984). Natural selection acts on the random mutations of existing structures
(traits), resulting in improved structures, novel structures, and/or multiple-
functionality of existing structures. Therefore, one function of a trait does
not necessarily preclude other functions, and many traits may contribute to
a common function. Given that the shape of an object affects the flow, it is
surprising that no studies have examined how cavities and spines on desert
succulents influences airflow.
66 G. Iaccarino, P. Durbin, and S. Talley
Because there are many species of tall arborescent succulents that vary in
body size, depth and number of cavities, and spine arrangement, we will focus
on one of the most studied of the tall arborescent succulents, the saguaro cac-
tus, Carnegiea gigantea (Fig. 1). Saguaros are long-lived and slow to mature.
They take 30 to 50 years to reach reproductive maturity and live up to 150
years of age. Adult saguaros have one main cylindrical stem ranging from 0.3
to 0.8 m in diameter (Benson, 1981) and over 8 to 15 m in height (Hodge,
1991). Ten to 30 v-shaped cavities span the length of the stem (Hodge, 1991).
The number of cavities depends on the diameter of the stem, and new cavities
can be added or deleted (Fig. 1a) to maintain a cavity depth ratio (L/ D -
depth of the cavity divided by the diameter of the cylinder) of approximately
0.07 ± 0.0015 (Geller and Nobel, 1984). Apices of the cavity junctures are
adorned with whorls of 15 to 30 spines 2.5 to 7.6 em long (Benson, 1981).
In order for wind to be a selective agent on saguaros, high wind velocities
must occur in saguaro habitats and they must affect their reproductive suc-
cess. Within the distribution of saguaros, high wind velocities were recorded
15 m above the ground for a nine-year period (Nobel, 1994). The maximum
wind velocity recorded was 38 m/s,(Re = 106 ), and velocities exceeding 22
m/s (Re = 7 x 105 ) occurred almost every month. Saguaro habitats contain
less vegetation cover than other ecosystems and, consequently, have few if
any other tall plants to shelter them from the wind (Fig. 1b). There is sub-
stantial circumstantial evidence that wind gusts exert enough force to topple
saguaros, and thus, cause their premature mortality (Fig. 1c; Benson, 1981;
Alcock, 1985; Pierson and Turner, 1998). Information on the wind velocities
required to topple large desert succulents is lacking. Consistent with the natu-
ral selection scenario, some saguaros are toppled by gusts, while many others
remain standing. Considering most tall cacti live for 150 years and take over
30 to 50 years to reach reproduce maturity, strong gusts need only to occur
every 30 to 50 years to be important in the natural selection of tall succulent
morphology.
2 Numerical Method
Numerical simulations of the flow around a cactus section are carried out by
solving the Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes equations in two dimensions.
Two codes are used: INS2D (Rogers and Kwak, 1990) and Fluent (Fluent,
1999). INS2D is an upwind based, third-order accurate code for structured
(multiblock) grids; the artificial compressibility approach is used for pressure-
velocity coupling and the time integration is second-order accurate. Fluent is
an unstructured-mesh solver based on second-order accurate spatial and time
discretization; the SIMPLE technique is used for pressure-velocity coupling.
Turbulence modeling is based on the v 2 - f model (Durbin, 1995; Iaccarino,
2001).
Unsteady Flow Around Cylinders with Cavities 67
3 Computational Grids
Cylinders with v-shaped cavities (with cavity ranging from L/ D = 0.0 to
L/ D = 0.105) are considered. Several meshes have been generated to assess
the sensitivity of the solution. In Fig. 2, examples of the grids are reported.
Simulations using the structured grids (Fig. 2a and 2b) have been performed
using both Fluent and INS2D. The structured grid is generated as an 0-
type mesh wrapped around the cylinder. The cavities are slightly smoothed
to improve the orthogonality of the grid lines at the cylinder surface. The
height of the first cell is adjusted according to Re; the distance from the far
field boundary is 25D as used in Rogers and Kwak, 1990. The unstructured
meshes are generated using a quadrilateral paving technique (Blacker et al.,
1991); this approach allows flexibility in clustering the grid cells in the wake
region and close to the surface.
In Table I, results are reported for the computations performed on differ-
ent grids at a very low Reynolds number. The flow is unsteady and exhibits a
periodic vortex shedding from the cylinder; only the averaged drag coefficient
is reported. Grid convergence is achieved for the smooth cylinder L / D = 0
using both the structured and the unstructured grids, and the correspond-
ing values are extremely close. The results for the flow around the cylinders
with cavities show that grid convergence is achieved only using the unstruc-
tured grids. An increase in cavity depth requires a finer resolution to capture
accurately the in-cavity flow; in addition, the quality of the structured grid
degrades as the cavity depth increases. It is worth noting that the results ob-
tained using the finest structured grid (761 x 201) are in good agreement with
the converged results for the unstructured mesh. In the following sections only
results computed using the unstructured grids are reported.
Grid Elements L/ D L/ D L/ D L/ D Elements L/ D L/ D L/ D L/ D

0 0.035 0.070 0.105 0 0.035 0.070 0.105
161 X 61 9,600 1.312 1.131 1.172 1.257 6,300 1.267 1.171 1.212 1.255
241 X 101 24,000 1.329 1.269 1.294 1.341 20,000 1.331 1.300 1.301 1.330
481 X 101 40,000 1.339 1.301 1.304 1.326 42,000 1.337 1.307 1.310 1.319
761 X 201 152,000 1.339 1.311 1.313 1.318 76,000 1.338 1.309 1.310 1.317
structured grids unstructured grids
Table I. Computed time-averaged Cd for different computational grids
Re = 100 - Laminar Simulations
4 Laminar Simulations
Flow simulations at low Reynolds number (Re = 100 and Re = 200) are
carried out to evaluate the effect of cavity depth (and the accuracy of the
predictions) without uncertainties related to the turbulence modeling. Two-
dimensional simulations have been performed with unstructured grids using
6,000 to 42,000 elements (only the fine mesh results are presented but the
results appear to be already insensitive ot the mesh for a grid size of 25,000
elements). The calculations are carried out using a timestep L1tUI D = 0.01
(corresponding to approximately 35 time steps per vortex shedding period)
and for a total time of TU I D = 150. Simulations have been carried out
using a smaller time step (L1tUI D = 0.0065 and the lift and drag coefficient
changed by less than 1.5%). The time history of drag and lift coefficients at
Re = 100 are reported in Fig. 3a and 3b respectively. The statistics (time
averaged values and the Strouhal number, etc.) are computed over a period
Tav = 50D IU and are reported in Table II.
LID Cd Ct St LID Cd Ct St
0 1.339 ± 0.010 ± 0.330 0.160 0 1.365 ± 0.037 ± 0.664 0.175
0.035 1.304 ± 0.011 ± 0.325 0.161 0.035 1.361 ± 0.045 ± 0.713 0.172
0.070 1.309 ± 0.010 ± 0.334 0.162 0.0701.364 ± 0.057 ± 0.742 0.172
0.105 1.318 ± 0.012 ± 0.336 0.161 0.105 1.381 ± 0.049 ± 0.740 0.170
Re = 100 Re = 200
Table II. Statistics for low Reynolds number flow around cacti.
St is the Strouhal number based on the frequency of the lift oscillations, f c 1 DIU
The results indicate a small drag reduction (~ 10%) associated with the
presence of the cavities. The cavity depth Ll D = 0.05 is somewhat optimal.
The change in the unsteady lift is also small, showing that the effect of the
cavity is limited.
The results presented for the smooth cylinder at Re = 200 are in good
agreement with the numerical simulations and the experimental data reported
in Rogers & K wak ( 1990). It is worth noting that Re = 190 represent the onset
of three-dimensional flow in the wake of the cylinder.
5 Turbulent Simulations
Calculations at Re = 20,000 andRe= 100,000 (subcritical regime) are per-
formed using the v 2 - f turbulence model. The time step, the simulated time
and the averaging time are the same as before; the time history of lift and
drag are reported in Fig. 4.
As compared to the results presented at low Re, the drag reduction is now
larger (~ 25%). The strength of the unsteady motion is also greatly reduced
as reported in Table III.
L/D Cd Ct St L/D Cd Ct St
0 1.683 ± 0.164 ± 1.923 0.217 0 1.644 ± 0.113 ± 1.791 0.228
0.035 1.452 ± 0.076 ± 1.562 0.221 0.035 1.464 ± 0.120 ± 1.462 0.224
0.070 1.419 ± 0.083 ± 1.245 0.224 0.070 1.401 ± 0.131 ± 1.128 0.221
0.105 1.359 ± 0.052 ± 0.987 0.223 0.105 1.325 ± 0.079 ± 0.864 0.221
Re = 20,000 Re = 100,000
Table III. Statistics for high Reynolds number flow around cacti
From the results presented in Table III, it appears that the cavity depth
has a relatively strong effect on the drag and a substantial dampening effect
on the unsteady motion.
The time averaged turbulent kinetic energy for the four geometries con-
sidered is reported in Fig. 5; the intensity very close to the cylinder decreases
with the cavity depth, but higher values are observed in the near wake.
The comparison of the computed Cd with the experimental values for the
smooth cylinder (Achenbach, 1971) shows an overprediction of about 20%.
The flow over the smooth cylinder in the subcritical regime is characterized by
a laminar boundary layer separation; turbulence is generated in the separated
shear layer and is sustained in the near wake. The smooth cylinder calculations
(L/ D = 0) are carried out with the v2 - f turbulence model switched off for
() ~ 90° in an effort to force a laminar separation in the simulations. It is
well known that RANS turbulence models typically anticipate transition and,
even with first part of the boundary layer forced to be laminar, in the present
calculations the shear layer separates with very high level of turbulent kinetic
energy. In addition, in the subcritical regime three-dimensional effects in the
wake are substantial and not account for in the present calculations.
The simulations with cavities are carried out with the turbulence model
switched on from the stagnation point (B = 0°) because it is expected that
transition occurs immediately after the first cavity. In addition, it is expected
that three-dimensional effects are less substantial in these cases (as observed
in the experiments).
A comparison of experimental and computed velocity profiles in the wake
is reported in Fig. 6. The results for the smooth cylinder confirm that the
calculation overestimate the drag (corresponding to the larger velocity defect
in the wake); on the other hand, the data for the cylinder with cavities show
a remarkable agreement.
6 Conclusions
A numerical study of the flow around cactus-like cylinders is presented; var-

ious cavity depth are considered to investigate their effect on the flow char-
acteristics with particular emphasis on the aerodynamic forces. Preliminary
Simulation are carried out at very low Reynolds numbers, namely 100 and
200. The effect of the cavity is limited and only a slight drag reduction is
obtained. At higher Reynolds numbers (20, 000 and 100, 000) the effect of the
cavities is more substantial with a considerable reduction of the drag and,
perhaps more importantly, a strong damping of the oscillating lift.
(a) (c)
Fig. 1. (a) Addition of cavities (ribs) on an adult saguaro trunk (b) Saguaro forest,
and (c) Root syst em of a saguaro toppled by t he wind.
Fig. 2 . Example of the computational Grids: (a-b) structured grids 241 x 100 ele-
ments; (c-d) unstructured grids~ 20,000 elements (a-c) L/ D = 0 (b-d) L/ D = 0.07
1.4 r r - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - ,
1.3 ,/;l!A'-F ·,dhVAWNW

;1.}
~
r..7
1.2
0 50 100 150 0 50 100 150

tU/D t /D
(a) (b)
Fig. 3. Time history of drag (a) and lift (b) coefficients. Re = 100. Solid line:
L/ D = 0; Dotted line: L/ D = 0.07
72 G. Iaccarino, P. Durbin, and 8. Talley
2
2
1.5
·I
·•.. /'
'······ -2
0 25 50 75 0 25 50 75
I ' /D tU/ D
(a) (b)
Fig. 4. Time history of drag (a) and lift (b) coefficients. Re = 20,000 . Solid line:
L/ D = 0; Dotted line: L/ D = 0.07
References
1. ACHENBACH , E. 1971. Influence of surface roughness on the cross-flow around
a circular cylinder. J. of Fluid Mech. 46, 321-335.
2. ALCOCK, J. 1985. Sonaran Desert Spring. The University of Chicago, Chicago.
3. BENSON, L. 1981. The Cacti of Arizona. The University of Arizona Press, Tuc-
son.
4. BLACKER T.D. , M .B. STEPHENSON & S . CANANN 1991 Analysis automation
with paving: A new quadrilateral meshing technique Advances in Engineering
Software, 56, 332- 337.
5. DURBIN , P.A. 1995 Separated flow computations with the k-E-v 2 model , AIAA
J., 33 659-664.
6. GELLER, G . N ., AND NOBEL, P. S. 1984. Cactus ribs: influence on PAR inter-
ception and C02 uptake. Photosynthetica 18 , 482-494.
7. HODGE, C. 1991. All About Saguaros. Hugh Harelson-Publisheer, Phoenix.
8. IACCARINO , G . 2001 Predictions of a turbulent separated flow using commercial
CFD codes, J. Fluids Engineering, 123, 1-10.
9. FLUENT INC. 1999 Fluent V5.3 User Manual.
10. NOBEL, P. S. 1994. Remarkable Agaves and Cacti. Oxford University Press,
New York.
11. PIERSON , E . A. , AND TURNER, R . M. 1998. An 85-year study of saguaro
( Carnegiea gigantea) demography. Ecology. 79, 2676-2693.
12. ROGERS , S. E . AND KWAK, D. 1990 An Upwind Differencing Scheme for the
Time Accurate Incompressible Navier-Stokes Equations AIAA J., 28 , 253- 262.
(a) (b )
(c) (d)
Fig. 5. Time averaged turbulent kinetic energy: (a) L/D = 0; (b) L/D = 0.035; (c)
L/D = 0.070; (d) L/D = 0.105
1
~075
075
05~ .• ~~~0~~~~~
. ~~~ ·2 0
)nJ liD
(a) (b)
Fig. 6. Velocity profiles in the wake of cylinders. Solid line: simulations (Re =
100,000); Circle: experiments (Re = 125,000). (a) smooth cylinder (b) cylinder with
LID 0.07.
13. TALLEY, S., IACCARINO, G .. MuNGAL, G. AND MANSUR, N. N. 2001. An

Experimental and Computational Investigation of Flow Past Cacti, Annual
Research Briefs, Center for Turbulence Research, 51~64
Complex CFD for Everyday Use-Practical Applications for
Vehicle Analysis
Ken Wurtzler
Cobalt Solutions, LLC, USA
Complex CFD for everyday analysis encompasses quick, efficient grid

generation and robust, accurate flow solution. These two disciplines - while
distinct and possessing disparate constraints - contribute to produce a solution
that is limited by the proper application of the selected tools. With simple
forethought, the best assets of each discipline can be combined to further
enhance the impact of the other. The fusion of unstructured grids and
Detached-Eddy Simulation (DES) enhances the optimal benefits of each to
provide an accurate, efficient, and robust computational model. The ability of
unstructured grid technology to model complex geometries quickly and
efficiently is further highlighted by the prism boundary layer and nearly
isotropic cells that it creates outside the boundary layer. The tightly clustered
boundary layer lends itself to traditional RANS techniques while the isotropic
cells clustered in regions of separated flow improve and elevate DES to its
optimum performance. Grid adaption has shown promise in a similar manner.
By reducing the cell count in benign regions and increasing cells in turbulent
regions, convergence is accelerated and accuracy is improved. Time-accurate
DES flow solutions obtained with Cobalt will be presented and compared with
experimental data. Vehicle analyses - both aircraft and automotive - will be
examined and compared to traditional numerical methods for turbulence.
Large eddy simulation of flow around the
Ahmed body
C. Hinterberger, M. Garda-Villalba, and W. Rodi
Institute for Hydromechanics, University of Karlsruhe, Kaiserstrasse 12,

76128 Karlsruhe, Germany
1 Introduction
The automotive industry has a high demand for reliable simulation meth-
ods capable of tackling the complex turbulent air flow around vehicles. The
Ahmed reference model is a generic car-type bluff body with a slant back. It
is frequently used as a benchmark test case for this kind of flow. In spite of
the relatively simple geometry of the Ahmed body, the flow around it retains
some main features of the flow around real cars.
The Ahmed body, Fig. 1, was first defined and its characteristics described
in the experimental work of Ahmed et al [1]. Therein, it is shown that most
of the drag of the body is due to pressure drag, which is generated at the rear
end. The structure of the wake is very complex, with a separation zone and
counter-rotating vortices coming off the slant side edges, whose strength is
mainly determined by the base slant angle. The maximum drag was found for
a critical slant angle of 30 ° . Above this angle a sudden drop in drag occurs
which corresponds to a change in the wake structure. Below this angle, strong
counter-rotating vortices are present and the flow separates in the middle
region of the top edge and reattaches at the sloping surface. For angles above
the critical angle, the counter-rotating vortices are weaker, the separation
occurs along the entire top and the side edges and there is no reattachment.
More recently, Lienhart et al [2] performed more detailed experiments on
the same body, albeit at a somewhat lower velocity. They measured the mean
and fluctuating velocities by LDA and obtained surface oil-flow pictures for
two rear vehicle body slant angles (<p = 25 ° and <p = 35 ° ) , i.e. just below and
above the critical angle. Their results show the differences in flow behaviour
for the two angles considered.
In recent years, there have been several computational studies of this flow.
Han [3] and Gillieron and Chometon [4] using the RANS approach obtained
qualitatively good results in terms of flow structures but they do not show
velocity profile comparisons. In two recent workshops [5, 6] the flow around
the Ahmed body was a test case and the results presented there have shown
78 C. Hinterberger, M. Garcia-Villalba, and W. Rodi
that it is difficult with classical RANS methods to obtain accurate predictions

of mean velocitiy and turbulence intensitiy profiles for this flow. With other
approaches the results have been similar, for example, Kapadia et al (7] using
DES (Detached Eddy Simulation). Finally, there is a Large Eddy Simulation
reported in the literature, (8], however the flow conditions were different (no
ground was present) so that these results are not directly comparable with
the experiments.
In this paper we present two Large Eddy Simulations of the first config-
uration (25 °) of the experiment of Lienhart et al (2], while the work for the
second configuration (35 ° ) is in progress.
The outline of the paper is as follows. In section 2 the simulation details
will be presented, the computational setup will be discussed and the grids
will be described. In section 3.1, some quantitave results will be presented, in
terms of mean velocity and turbulent intensity profiles. Flow visualisation and
turbulent coherent structures will be discussed in section 3.2. Finally, some
conclusions will be made in section 4.
1044mm 389
:
CX)
CX)
N
~z 50
y
163.5
0
L
30
Fig. 1. Ahmed model. Dimensions are in mm
2 The simulated configuration
The present configuration has been specifically chosen to match the experi-
ment of Lienhart et al (2]. The Ahmed body, whose shape and dimensions are
shown in Fig. 1, was mounted in a 3/4 open test section (floor, but no side
walls or ceiling). The bulk velocity was 40 mfs. This results in a Reynolds
number Re = 2.8 x 106 (based on the length of the body L = 1.044 m),
which is of the same order of magnitude but somewhat lower as the one in
the original experiment of Ahmed et al (1] (Re = 4.3 x 106 ).
Large eddy simulation of flow around the Ahmed body 79
2.1 Numerical method
The simulations were performed with the Finite Volume Code LESOCC 2
(Large Eddy Simulation On Curvilinear Coordinates) which is an enhanced
fully-parallelized version of the code LESOCC [9], developed at the Institute
for Hydromechanics. It solves the incompressible 3D time-dependent filtered
Navier-Stokes equations on body-fitted curvilinear block-structured grids us-
ing second order central differences for the discretisation of the convective and
viscous fluxes. Time advancement is accomplished by an explicit, low-storage
Runge-Kutta method. Conservation of mass is achieved by the SIMPLE algo-
rithm, with the pressure-correction equation being solved by the SIP proce-
dure. The momentum-interpolation method of Rhie and Chow [10] is employed
to prevent pressure-velocity decoupling and associated oscillations.
2.2 Computational setup
The flow around the Ahmed body was a test case in two recent workshops
[5, 6], the computational domain was defined in them. The domain extends to
five body lengths behind the body to ensure that the outflow condition does
not affect the near-body wake. The inflow plane is placed at a distance of 1.3
body lengths upstream of the body. This distance corresponds roughly to 5
body heights where blocking effects dissapear. At the inflow section a uniform
axial velocity profile is imposed. The width of 1.87 m (5 body widths) and
the height of 1.4 m (5 body heights) are taken analogous to the experiments.
At both side boundaries and at the top boundary, free-slip conditions are
applied. At the outflow of the domain, a convective boundary condition for the
velocities is used. Finally, wall functions are used because of the high Reynolds
number which does not allow a fine resolution of the near wall flow down
to the viscous sub-layer. The wall function is similar to the Werner-Wengle
[11] approach but assuming an instantaneous logarithmic profile instead of a
power law profile. It is applied at the walls of the vehicle and at the bottom
of the channel. In order to account for the unresolved subgrid-scale motions,
the Smagorinsky subgrid-scale model is employed with a model constant of
Cs = 0.13.
2.3 Grids
In this paper we present simulations of the flow around the 25 ° slant-back

Ahmed body performed with two grids. They have been generated with the
commercial software ICEM-CFD. Grid 1 consist of 93 blocks and 8.8 106
cells. Grid 2 consist of 214 blocks and 18.5 106 cells. Both grids have an 0-
grid structure around the body, which is necessary due to the round body
front. This allows for grid refinement in the wall-normal direction near the
body boundaries. The outer block structure of Grid 1 is orthogonal, Fig 2{a).
In order to get a concentration of grid points close to the body in spanwise
80 C. Hinterberger, M. Garda-Villalba, and W. Rodi
and streamwise direction, an outer 0-grid structure was chosen in Grid2, Fig
2(b}. In addition, Grid 2 includes more refinement in the region of the slant
back, especially close to the top and side edges, Fig 2(c-h). For both grids,
the near-wall cell centre has a wall distance on average of about 40 wall units
( .::ly p +), but it varies from approximately 10 in the separated regions along
the slant back to 150 close to the top rear edge. The spanwise and streamwise
extent of the grid cells is up to a factor of 10 larger for Grid 2, except in the
refinement regions close to the edges. For Grid 1 this factor is even larger. This
means that the boundary layer at the body surface is highly underresolved.
(g) (h)
Fig. 2. Typical grids used for the LES. {a,c,e,g) Grid 1. {b,d,f,h} Grid 2. (a,b}
Sketches of the block structure. (c-h) Slices in different planes showing the grid
point distribution in the body region. {c,d) Cut in xz-plane . (e,J) Cut in xy-plane.
{g,h} Cut in yz-plane.
3 Results
3.1 Time averaged profiles
For the front part, mean streamwise velocity profiles in the symmetry plane
are compared with the experiment in Fig. 3. It can be seen that the flow
upstream of the body and in the free stream above it is properly represented
in the simulation. This is because in this region the level of turbulence is so
low that the flow is nearly potential flow.
600 - l
I
l
I
I I
I I
I I
500 r- I I
I I
I I
I I
I I
400 r- I
I
I
I
\ I I
v
I I
E'
E 300 t--
"N
200 -
I-; ~~~I
':j
I
100 -
i~
I I
1 I j I
] I I I I I)
0
-1400 -1200 -1000 -800 -600 -400
x[mm)
Fig. 3. Mean streamwise velocity profiles in the symmetry plane
In Figures 4 and 5, the mean streamwise velocity profiles and root mean
square velocity fluctuations are compared with the experimental results in
the rear body part and the near wake (in the symmetry plane) . The general
agreement with the experiment is reasonably good taking into account that
neither grid is fine enough to resolve adequately the boundary layer develop-
ing on the body up to the slant back. However there are some discrepancies
between the computations and the experiment mainly concerning the velocity
profiles on the slant back. In the experiment, the flow separates right at the
corner of the sloping surface and it reattaches in the middle of the surface.
In the simulation, the flow first stays attached before it separates somewhat
downstream of the corner and no reattachment occurs on the slant back. This
is most likely due to the poor resolution of both grids near the wall leading
to an incorrect prediction of the approaching boundary layer.
The main differences between the results of the two simulations are found
at the beginning of the sloping surface. There, Grid 2 is much finer than Grid
1, and it can be seen that the turbulence intensities are very close to the
o EXP
LES coarse grid
- LES fine grid
300
250
'E
* 200
150
100
50
0
-250 250
Fig. 4. Mean streamwise velocity proilles in the rear body and near wake (symmetry
plane)
experimental ones for Grid 2 while they are too low for Grid 1, Fig. 5. In
addition, the prediction of the separation point is closer to the experiment
in the simulation performed with the finer grid, in which the flow separates
earlier, Fig. 4.
The complex unsteady flow on the slant back leads to high fluctuation
intensities which are very difficult to predict. In fact, no RANS method has
succeeded in predicting the high values observed in the experiments [5, 6]
while the present LES calculations (Fig. 5) have.
Figure 6 shows the mean velocity vectors in the symmetry plane, Fig.
6{a-b}, and in three transverse yz-planes, Fig. 6{c-h). The streamwise loca-
tion of these transverse planes is indicated in Fig. 6{a) by dashed lines. The
colour of the vectors corresponds to turbulent kinetic energy. From the com-
parison of the experiment, Figs. 6{a,c,e,g) on the left, with the simulation,
Figs. 6{b,d,j,h) on the right, it is clear that the main flow structures are well
captured in the simulation. The size and the extent of the recirculation zone
behind the body are well predicted, Fig. 6{b). The development of the counter-
rotating vortices, which can be seen from the secondary flow vectors in the
450
0 EXP
400 LES coarse grid
LES fine grid
300
'E
E
'N
-250 -200 -150 -100 -50 0 50 100 150 250

x[mm]
Fig. 5. Root mean square streamwise velocity fluctuations in the rear body and
near wake (symmetry plane)
y-z planes, is also in close agreement with the experiment. In Fig. 6{d), it can
be seen that these vortices develope half-way down the slant back, they grow
while they approach the end of the body, Fig. 6{/), and they are strong and
fully developed in the near wake, Fig. 6(h). The level of turbulence obtained
in the simulation is also in good agreement with the experiment, as can be
seen from the coloured regions in Figure 6.
3.2 Flow visualisation and flow structures
The calculation results show complex time-dependent flow features in the wake
region. In Fig. 7, two typical instantaneous velocity fields in the symmetry
plane are shown. As discussed in section 3.1, the prediction of the flow on the
sloping surface is very difficult. Thus, in Fig. 7 on the left, an instantaneous
field is captured in which the flow tends to reattach on the slant back However,
in Fig. 7 on the right, the flow in that zone is completely separated. Note that
in the experiment the flow reattaches (at least in the mean). The unsteadiness
of the near body-wake is clearly well captured. The flow between the body and
= -------------------
~-
- - - -- -- "' h= O(mm] j ------------------~-
--------~--------- = O~m
11
350 300-~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~------
....
;::
;::
;::
;::
@ ;::::::
~ 300 ,_ ---------------
----~-- - -------~----~
- --~--------------- x-z
---------------- ,
1 ....
---------------
_ _ _ _ ..._..., .... _ _ _ _ _ _
~ ~ ::::
::::
:::: 250
' i :::~ ~~~~~::::::::::~:::~
:: ~~~~~~2:~:::::::
....~. ...........
......... .... , , ...................
~ § ... ,,,,.... ,
~ ~
......................... .....
... ..' ,, ,.,' ,.........................
.......................... .....
;:::nnH
~
200 .....
~ ~
::::
~
.....
.................... ....
"
~
! r
:~~: ~~~~.::::::::::
~ 150
~ ~ 100
50
0
(a) -; -
-200 - 100 200
xrnincr' 300
500
IEXPI . """'""""'""'"""""""""': _l x= -88 [mmJ]

~-1
450 ILES I
•oo -z 400 -z
350
300
'"'
200
...
300
200
150 150
0 50 100 ISO 200 0 ~1001502'00
100 k [m'ts' ] 100 k [m2/s2 )

so (r·}
"''1.oo {rl)
()-400 ·JOO ·200 ·100 o~- 100 200 300 •oo -300 -200 ·100 200 300 400
l x= O[mm[j fX= O[mm) ,

400 [li] -z
350
300
300
'"'
200
150
...'"'
150
100 100
50 {t) 50 (/)
o_..., -300 300 •oo o,.oo -300 -200 -100 0'11""" 100 200 300 •OO
IEXPI' .................
................ ... .
......... ,,, , .....
~mm) l
-z
·--
500
450
........
........ , ........ .
................
,
. . :[~ 200 [mmil
........................
························· -z
400
350
........ , •• 11111101 •
.................. ,111111111''''
•••
••
•
···························
........... ,.,,,,, ,, ,,,,,,, ........... .
• ' ' ' ' ' ' 0 0 0 0 0 ' 0 I I I I I I I I I I I I I 0 0 ' ~ ~'' •
.·:<~ll~~mmtp:: ·:::WH§H~~L-
.-
• ' • • ' .. " '" " ' " \ \ I I I I ~ I I I ' • • • • • • •
::w_)~:7illl1 /1 111111jtii~ ..
300
'"' 250
..·:;:::;;s~~~
::::::---~ff l'J~r:~:-··
j'j···:::::::
::;:; l\
200 200 0
150 I '_,
150
100 . '• • '': f I I:I•• :- - ' '
..
100
(h) )iH;;: ' . u !:\\! .:.
"'
0-400
(g)
o,.oo
-300 ·200 200 300 •oo -:100 .,.. 100 0 f,ll'"'lj 100 200 300 400
Fig. 6. Mean velocity vectors coloured by turbulent kinetic energy. (a,b) symmetry
plane y = 0 mm. (c,d) Close to the middle of the slant back x = - 88 mm. (e,f) End
of the body x = 0 mm. (g,h} Near-body wake x = 200 mm. (a,c, e, g) Experiment.
(b,d,f,h) Simulation performed with Grid 2.
the ground plate has a rather strong influence on the shape of the recirculation
zone.
Fig. 7. Instantaneous streamwise velocity fields in the symmetry plane
In order to illustrate the presence of large-scale vortices in the recirculation

zone, Fig. 8 shows the isosurfaces of pressure fluctuations p' for three sequen-
tial instants in time. The main part gives a perspective view while the three
pictures on the left give the side view, top view and view from the back re-
spectively. It can be seen that large spanwise vortex tubes are generated near
the leading edge of the slanted face, which grow and roll down the surface.
Furthermore, vortex tubes that wrap the counter-rotating vortices coming off
the slant side edges can be detected. The sequential pictures show that these
vortex tubes form helical structures as they move downstream.
3.3 Work in progress

Preliminary simulations have been performed for the second case (<p = 35 ° ) of
the experiment of Lienhart et al [2). The first results are not very satisfactory.
In that case, the flow separates along the top and side edges and the counter-
rotating vortices are weaker. In the preliminary simulations, this behaviour
is not well captured. Furthermore, the drag coefficient for this case is not
well-predicted. The experiment of Ahmed et al [1) has shown that above a
slant back angle of 30 ° , there is a drop in the drag coefficient. While in
the simulation for the 25 ° case the prediction of the drag was good, in the
preliminary simulations for the 35 ° case, the drop in the drag does not take
place, and the drag coefficient is highly over-predicted. This may be due to the
poor resolution of the near wall regions but further investigation is required.
4 Conclusions
A Large Eddy Simulation of the flow around the Ahmed body with a slant-
back angle of 25 ° was performed. The flow around the Ahmed body is a very
86 C. Hinterberger, M. Garcfa-Villalba, and W . Rodi
LES Ahmed body 25•

p" isosurfaee
colo..red by
vonieily
100
LES Ahmed body 25"

p" iSOOlltfaee
colo..red by
vorticity
1:~
LES Ahmed body 25•

p" isoswfoce
colo..red by
vortieily
K10
Fig. 8. Isosurface of pressure fluctuations

challenging problem because of the complex geometry and the high Reynolds
number. The results obtained by the simulation are promising; the comparison
with the experiments shows that the flow structures are well captured. The
agreement of the time-averaged quantities is good although some discrepancies
are present, especially in the lower part of the slant back. The results also show
that this is a good test case for further development. The calculations for the
configuration with a slant angle of 35 ° are in progress. Improvements of the
method (subgrid-scale model, discretisation, wall modelling, etc) are required
to obtain good results for the 35 ° case.
Acknowledgments
This work was funded through the EU TMR-project "LES of Complex Flows".
The calculations were carried out on the IBM RS/6000 SP-SMP high perfor-
mance computer of the University of Karlsruhe, and the assistance of Mr.
Gernert is gratefully acknowledged. The authors are also grateful to Dr. J.
Frohlich for many helpful discussions.
References
1. S.R. Ahmed, G. Ramm, and G. Faltin. Some salient features of the time averaged
ground vehicle wake. SAE paper no. 840300, 1984.
2. H. Lienhart, C. Stoots, and S. Becker. Flow and turbulence structures in the
wake of a simplified car model (Ahmed model). In DGLR Fach Symp. der AG
STAB, 2000.
3. T. Han. Computational analysis of three-dimensional turbulent flow around a
bluff body in ground proximity. AIAA Journal, 27:1213-1219, 1989.
4. P. Gillieron and F. Chometon. Modelling of stationary three-dimensional sepa-
rated air flows around an Ahmed reference model. In ESAIM proc., volume 7,
pages 173-182, 1999.
5. S. Jakirlic, R. Jester-Ziirker, and C. Tropea, editors. Proceedings of 9th ER-
COFTAC IAHR COST Workshop on refined turbulence modelling, 2001.
6. R. Manceau and J.P. Bonnet, editors. Proceedings of 10th ERCOFTAC IAHR
QNET-CFD Workshop on refined turbulence modelling, 2002.
7. S. Kapadia, S. Roy, and K. Wurtzler. Detached eddy simulation over a reference
Ahmed car model. AIAA paper no. 2003-0857, 2003.
8. R.J.A. Howard and M. Pourquie. Large eddy simulation of an Ahmed reference
model. Journal of Turbulence, 3, 2002.
9. M. Breuer and W. Rodi. Large eddy simulation of complex turbulent flows of
practical interest. In E.H. Hirschel, editor, Flow simulation with high perfor-
mance computers II, volume 52 of Notes on Numerical Fluid Mechanics, pages
258-274. Vieweg, Braunschweig, 1996.
10. C.M. Rhie and W.L. Chow. Numerical study of the turbulent flow past an airfoil
with trailing edge separation. AIAA Journal, 21(11):1061-1068, 1983.
11. H. Werner and H. Wengle. Large-eddy simulation of turbulent flow over and
around a cube in a plate channel. In 8th Symp. on Turb. Shear Flows, 1993.
Detached-Eddy Simulation of the Ground
Transportation System
Stephen Maddox\ Kyle D. Squires 2 , Ken E. Wurtzler 3 and James R.

Forsythe3
1 United States Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, CO 80840,
C03Stephen.Maddox@usafa.edu,
2 MAE Department, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287,
squires@asu.edu
3 Cobalt Solutions, Springfield, OH 45504, wurtzler@cobal tcfd. com,
forsythe@cobaltcfd.com
Predictions of the flow around the Ground Transportation System (GTS)

are obtained from Detached-Eddy Simulation (DES) and from the Reynolds-
averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations. Two methods are compared with
experiment, but only one grid is used, as the work is in progress. Grid varia-
tions will be needed. The computations are performed at a Reynolds number
based on body width and inlet freestream velocity of 2 x 10 6 , at 0° and 10°
yaw. Solutions are obtained using unstructured grids comprised of approx-
imately 6 x 106 elements (prisms and tetrahedra) and the commercial flow
solver Cobalt. No attempt is made to model laminar-to-turbulent transition.
Instead, the predictions are of the fully turbulent solution obtained via pre-
scription of a small level of eddy viscosity at the inlet to the computational
domain. The RANS predictions are of the steady-state solution using the
Spalart-Allmaras model. For oo yaw the predicted drag coefficient Cd from
the RANS of 0.370 is substantially larger than the measured value of 0.249.
DES yields a more complex and three-dimensional structure in the separated
regions. One of the improvements over RANS is a more accurate prediction of
the back pressures, resulting in the DES prediction of Cd = 0.279. At 10° yaw,
DES predictions of the body-axis drag are again closer to measurements than
obtained using RANS, but substantially larger than the measured value. One
source of the discrepancy is a more significant separated region near the front
leeward corner than observed in experiments, resulting in tangible differences
in the pressure distribution along the lee side.
90 S. Maddox et al.
1 Introduction and Overview
Computational Fluid Dynamics ( CFD) is a useful tool for analysis and is in-
creasingly relied upon in the design process for applications within the trans-
portation industry. Emphasis on fuel efficiency, for example, will require in-
novative approaches to vehicle design and testing. For heavy trucks at typical
highway speeds the power to overcome aerodynamic drag accounts for more
than half of the total fuel consumption [1]. CFD offers a powerful approach
that should be able to efficiently screen configurations, prior to more costly
and time-consuming wind-tunnel and field tests.
Prediction of the flow fields around complex configurations and for regimes
of technological interest continues to strongly challenge CFD. Many of the
regimes in vehicle aerodynamics occur at high Reynolds numbers and for
which much of the flow around the configuration of interest is turbulent. Tur-
bulence treatments at application Reynolds numbers are one of the primary
obstacles in the advancement of CFD as a more routinely applied tool in
engineering analysis and design.
Especially problematic in predicting the flow around vehicles at high
Reynolds numbers are regions of massive separation. For many engineering
systems, high-Reynolds number predictions are obtained from solutions of the
Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations. While the most popular
RANS models appear to yield predictions of useful accuracy in attached flows
as well as some with shallow separations, RANS predictions of massively sep-
arated flows have typically been uneven. In vehicle wakes, for example, it is
not anticipated that RANS will provide accurate predictions of back pressures
and, therefore, of the drag. In addition, in many studies that focus on tech-
niques for reducing drag, alterations to the vehicle geometry result in strong
modifications of the flow in the wake, precisely the region for which RANS
modeling is the least reliable. Other approaches that offer higher-fidelity (and
presumably greater accuracy) than RANS and are numerically feasible today
are desired for applications.
The issues outlined above provided part of the motivation for detailed
experimental studies of the Ground Transportation System (GTS) for which
a series of experimental measurements were reported by Storms et al. [3].
The GTS is a simplified tractor-trailer configuration, the geometry is rounded
without a tractor-trailer gap and without wheels. Measurements were acquired
in the NASA-Ames 7 x 10ft wind tunnel for a range of Reynolds numbers, yaw
angles ranging from -14 to 14 degrees in 2.5 degree increments, and a Reynolds
number range from 3 x 10 5 to 2 x 10 6 . Storms et al. [3] acquired pressure
measurements at several locations on the GTS, in addition to measurements of
the drag, spectra of the pressure fluctuations, and Particle-Image-Velocimetry
measurements in the wake. One of the key contributions of the study was
investigation of the influence of boattail plates mounted on the base of the
GTS and used to investigate drag reduction.
DES of the Ground Transportation System 91
The objective of the current effort is prediction of the flow field for a sub-
set of the conditions considered by Storms et al. [3]. The approach adopted
in the present investigation is prediction of the flow around the GTS using
Detached-Eddy Simulation (DES). DES is a hybrid method which has RANS
behavior near the wall and becomes a Large Eddy Simulation in the regions
away from solid surfaces provided the grid density is sufficient [2]. The for-
mulation of the model used in this work is based on a modification to the
Spalart-Allmaras one-equation model [4], referred to as S-A throughout and
described in greater detail in the next section. DES is a non-zonal technique
that is computationally feasible for high Reynolds number prediction, but
also resolves time-dependent, three-dimensional turbulent motions as in LES.
Previous applications of the method have been favorable, yielding adequate
predictions across a range of flows and also showing the computational cost
has a weak dependence on Reynolds number, similar to RANS methods yet
at the same time providing more realistic descriptions of unsteady effects (see
also [5]). This paper presents simulations for two yaw angles, 0° and 10°, using
DES. The predictions are assessed against experimental measurements [3] as
well against solutions of the steady-state flow obtained using the un-modified
Spalart-Allmaras [4] one-equation model.
2 Approach
2.1 Detached Eddy Simulation
The DES formulation is based on a modification to the Spalart-Allmaras

RANS model [4] such that the model reduces to its RANS formulation near
solid surfaces and to a subgrid model away from the wall [2]. The Spalart-
Allmaras RANS model solves an equation for the variable v which is depen-
dent on the turbulent viscosity. The model is derived based on empiricism
and arguments of Galilean invariance, dimensional analysis and dependence
on molecular viscosity. The model includes a wall destruction term that re-
duces the turbulent viscosity in the laminar sub-layer and trip terms to pro-
vide smooth transition to turbulence. The transport equation for the working
variable v used to form the eddy viscosity takes the form,
Dv
Dt = CblS
~ v-
~ [cwdw - cb1
--;;}2 ft2
] [z;]d 2
+ ~ [\7. ((v + v)Vv) + Cb2 (Vi/) 2 ] ) (1)
where v is the working variable. The eddy viscosity Vt is obtained from,

v
Vt = V fvl x=-v (2)
92 S. Maddox et al.
where v is the molecular viscosity. The production term is expressed as,
fv2 = (1 + ..£) -
Cv2
3
(3)
where S is the magnitude of the vorticity. The function f w is given by,
- [ 1 + c~3
fw- g 6 + cw3
6
] 1/6
g = r + Cw2 ( r 6 - r) ,
g
The wall boundary condition is v = 0. The constants are Cbl = 0.1355, CJ =

2/3, Cb2 = 0.622, /'i, = 0.41, Cwl = Cbi/ti, 2 + (1 + Cb2)/CJ, Cw2 = 0.3, Cw3 = 2,
Cvl = 7.1, Cv2 = 5, ct1 = 1, Ct2 = 2, Ct3 = 1.1, and Ct4 = 2.
In DES, the aim is to apply the S-A model in attached regions, taking
advantage of its adequate performance in the thin shear layers comprising its
calibration range. In detached regions, the closure is modified such that the
model yields a subgrid viscosity and the computation, provided the grid den-
sity is sufficient, becomes a Large Eddy Simulation, exploiting the capability
of LES for resolution of geometry-dependent and three-dimensional eddies.
The DES formulation is o~tained b,y_ replacing in the S-A model the distance
to the nearest wall, d, by d, where d is defined as,
d =min(d, CDEs.6.). (5)
In (5), ..:1 is the largest distance between the cell center under consideration
and the cell center of the neighbors (i.e., those cells sharing a face with the cell
in question). In "natural" applications of DES, the wall-parallel grid spacings
(e.g., streamwise and spanwise) are on the order of the boundary layer thick-
~ess and the S-A RANS model is retained throughout the boundary layer, i.e.,
d = d. Consequently, prediction of boundary layer separation is determined
in the "RANS mode" of DES. Away from solid boundaries, the closure is a
one-equation model for the sub-grid scale eddy viscosity. When theyroduction
and destruction terms of the model are balanced, the length scaled= CDEs.6.
in the LES region yields a Smagorinsky-like eddy viscosity v ex S ..:1 2 . The ad-
ditional model constant CDES = 0.65 was set in homogeneous turbulence
[6].
2.2 Flow solver and grid
The compressible Navier-Stokes equations are solved on unstructured grids

using Cobalt [7]. The numerical method is a cell-centered finite volume ap-
proach applicable to arbitrary cell topologies (e.g, hexahedrons, prisms, tetra-
hedrons). The spatial operator uses the exact Riemann Solver of Gottlieb
and Groth [8], least squares gradient calculations using QR factorization to
provide second order accuracy in space, and TVD flux limiters to limit ex-
tremes at cell faces. A point implicit method using analytic first-order inviscid
and viscous Jacobians is used for advancement of the discretized system. For
time-accurate computations, a Newton sub-iteration scheme is employed, the
method is second order accurate in time. The domain decomposition library
ParMETIS [9] is used for parallel implementation and provides optimal load
balancing with a minimal surface interface between zones. Communication
between processors is achieved using Message Passing Interface.
In the following, lengths are non-dimensionalized by the GTS width w, x
identifies the longitudinal axis of the GTS , y is the coordinate normal to the
lower tunnel wall, and z identifies the spanwise dimension. In terms of the GTS
width w, the total length is 7.647w and height is 1.392w. The computational
domain included the sidewalls and upper tunnel walls (including their one
degree divergence). The no-slip condition was applied on the tunnel walls and
the boundary layers were resolved. The upstream section of the computational
domain was extended approximately 15w in front of the GTS in order that
the boundary layer on the lower wall develop the same thickness as measured
at the inlet to the test section in Storms et al. [3]. The exit boundary of the
computational domain was located approximately 13.5w from the rear surface
of the GTS.
Fig. 1. Side, top, and front views of the GTS. Top view shown in lower-left frame
shows the grid in a plane for the computations of the flow at 10° yaw with a clustering
of cells into the leeward region. Front view shows grid clustering around both sides
of the GTS for the computations at 0° yaw.
The unstructured grids were generated using Gridgen [10], with prisms in
the boundary layer and tetrahedra elsewhere. The wall-normal distribution
of cells was clustered near solid surfaces such that average distance to the
first cell center from the wall was less than one viscous unit. The grids were
comprised of approximately 6 x 106 cells. Shown in Figure 1 are front, side,
94 S. Maddox et a!.
and top views of the GTS along with crinkle cuts of the grid. Each of the views
shows a clustering of grid cells in the vicinity of the GTS, with the side view
in Figure 1 showing a biasing of points into the wake region behind the GTS.
This clustering is achieved by using Gridgen's multiblock capability. The top
view in the figure shows a cut of the grid used for the computations of the
flow at 10° yaw. A wedge-shaped distribution of finer resolution is shaded into
the leeward region in order to provide improved resolution of the separated
structures along the leeward side. The front view in the figure is from the grid
used in the computations at 0° yaw, a symmetric grid clustering is evident in
the frame.
3 Results
Summarized in this section are DES and RANS predictions of the flow around
the GTS for yaw angles of 0° and 10°. The DES predictions are of the un-
steady flow , the dimensionless timestep (non-dimensionalized using the GTS
width w and upstream speed Uin) was 0.02. RANS predictions presented in
this manuscript are of the steady-state solution, obtained on the same grids as
the DES results , the calculations having been driven to convergence in compu-
tations performed using very large timesteps (corresponding to a global CFL
number of 106 ).
3.1 Flow structure
Fig. 2. Contours of the instantaneous vorticity in the GTS wake from the DES (left
frame) and of the steady-state vorticity from the RANS (right frame).
Shown in Figure 2 are contours of the instantaneous vorticity in the wake

of the GTS predicted in the DES (left frame of Figure 2) and steady-state
distribution from the RANS (right frame of Figure 2). The centerplane is
shown from computations of the flow at 0° yaw. As shown in the figure,
the wake resolved in the steady-state RANS is formed between two shear
layers from the top and bottom of the GTS with a smooth diffusion of the
vorticity from the shear layers. In the DES, a range of eddies is resolved in
Fig. 3. Contours of the instantaneous vorticity in a plane midway between the lower
tunnel wall and lower surface of the GTS. DES prediction of the flow at 0° yaw.
the wake down to roughly the grid scale. Figure 3 shows vorticity contours of
the instantaneous solution predicted in the DES at 0° yaw in a plane parallel
and midway between the lower tunnel wall and lower surface of the GTS. The
posts on which the GTS was mounted were included in the computations and
as shown by the figure, the grid used for the time-dependent DES prediction
was sufficiently fine to resolve vortex shedding in the wake of the posts.
Fig. 4. Instantaneous vorticity isosurface colored by pressure from the DES, 10°
yaw.
96 S. Maddox et al.
A vorticity isosurface (colored by pressure) is shown in Figure 4 from the

DES prediction of the flow at 10° yaw. The figure shows the development of
the roof vortex that develops from the front, windward region of the GTS.
As shown in Figure 14 below, the skin friction along the upper surface of
the GTS is strongly influenced by the roof vortex. Along the leeward region,
Figure 4 shows two dominant structures that emanate from the roof and lower
surface of the GTS. The structure nearest the lower wall interacts strongly
with the ground. Secondary structures, the horseshoe-shaped vortices that are
apparent approximately halfway down the GTS length, that develops around
the main structure are also resolved. Figure 4 also shows the strong three-
dimensionality in the wake behind the rear surface of the GTS.
---
Fig. 5. Streamlines (left frame) and velocity vectors (right frame) from the DES
prediction of the flow at 10° yaw. GTS surface colored by pressure in the left frame,
velocity vectors colored by the eddy viscosity ratio in the right frame.
Also apparent in Figure 4 is a separated region near the front leeward side
of the GTS. Two views through the separated region are shown in Figure 5.
The top view is a plane at y = 0.696w (midway from the lower surface to
the roof of the GTS) and shows a separation bubble with reattachment at ap-
proximately xjw ~ 0.2, substantially further along the GTS than indicated by
pressure measurements in Storms et al. [3]. The front view in the right frame
of Figure 5 shows the counter-rotating structures that "close" the separation
bubble.
3.2 Flow Statistics
Shown in Figure 6 are the time histories of DES predictions of the body-
axis drag coefficient Cd and side force coefficient C 8 • Only a portion of the
force histories from a statistically-stationary portion of the simulation are
shown (statistics were acquired for more than 80w/Uin)· The figure shows
1.5
--- c.(10°y&W)
--- c.(10°yaW)
--- c.(0°yaw)
-----· c. (0° yaw)
r-------~--~---------
10 20 30
Fig. 6. Temporal evolution of the body-axis drag coefficient, Cd, and side-force
c.,
coefficient, from the DES predictions of the flow at 0° and 10° yaw.
that for both yaw angles the variations in the body-axis drag are smaller than
occurring in the side force. For 0° yaw the side-force coefficient shows a lower-
frequency meandering that occurs at a Strouhal number around 0.2. For 10
degrees yaw, a less apparent low-frequency component in Cs is observed.
Summarized in Table 1 are the time-averaged body-axis and side force
coefficients from the DES and RANS. Also tabulated are the experimental
measurements from Storms et al. [3]. At 0° yaw, the RANS prediction of the
drag coefficient is substantially larger than the measured value of 0.249 from
Storms et al. [3]. The DES prediction is only 12% over the measured value; the
realistic treatment of the separated region in the GTS wake appears to be re-
sponsible for the improved predictions of the drag force (see also Figure 7). For
10° yaw both the DES and RANS predictions of the body-axis drag coefficient
are above the measured value, slightly better agreement between simulations
and measurements is observed in the side-force coefficient.
Table 1. Mean body-axis force coefficients.
yaw DES RANS measured

cd, f3 = 0°: o.279 o.37o o.249
cd, f3 = 10°: o.4o6 0.462 o.292
c., (3 = 10°: 1.379 1.306 1.253
Pressure coefficients were calculated following a similar approach as in the

experiments, using as a reference the wall pressure along the sidewall at the
same location as in the experiments of Storms et al. [3]. Shown in Figure 7
98 S. Maddox et al.
1.5
--DES
~~ ~~ RANS
0.5 0 measurements
1.5 0.5 -0.5 ·1 ·1.5
Fig. 7. Centerplane pressure coefficients, (3 = 0°
1.5
'
!o
I --DES
~- - RANS
0.5 0 measurements
·o
\
1.5 0.5 0 -0.5 -1 -1.5

c.
Fig. 8. Centerplane pressure coefficients, (3 = 10°
and Figure 8 are the symmetry plane pressure coefficients for the GTS at 0°
and 10° yaw, respectively. The pressure coefficients are plotted as a function
of the vertical coordinate in order to provide an indication of the drag. In
general, both figures show that the stagnation pressure on front of the GTS is
captured with the acceleration around the front face also accurately recovered.
The pressure distributions predicted by the DES and RANSon the front face
are essentially identical, differences between the two techniques are apparent
along the rear surface. The DES prediction of the pressure coefficient exhibits
relatively little sensitivity to the vertical coordinate and is nearly uniform,
characteristic of the uniform pressure over surfaces in the separated regions of
massively separated flows. The RANS prediction, on the other hand exhibits
more substantial variation with a relatively strong suction near the upper and
lower surfaces. This in turn leads to an over-prediction of the drag .
.0.1
.0.2
u..
--DES
.0.3 ----RANS
0 measurements
.0.4
·0.50 4 6
x/w
Fig. 9. Pressure coefficient along the GTS centerline, (3 = 0°.
0
0
0 p
.0.1 0 -/7
'I
r
.0.2
.0.3 --DES
- - - - RANS
0 measurements
·0.4
-o.so!--'----'-.........~l:---'---'---'-......._41:---'---'---'-......._s~---'---'-~
x/w
Fig. 10. Pressure coefficient along the GTS centerline, (3 = 10°.
Pressures along the top of the GTS for 0 and 10 degrees yaw are shown in
Figure 9 and Figure 10, respectively. The pressures are plotted along the GTS
centerline (zjw = 0) on the top of the model (yjw = 1.392). The effect of the
model surface curvature above the cab results in a suction peak of about Cp ~
-0.4 in the figure. The pressure is then relatively constant and subsequently
decreases in response to the flow acceleration due to the streamline curvature
100 S. Maddox et al.
into the wake. The pressure coefficient for the GTS at 10° yaw is lower because
of the higher speed flow over the top of the GTS, associated with the side-
force and circulation generated by the geometry at sideslip. In general, both
the DES and RANS predict reasonably accurately the acceleration of the flow
over the front surface of the GTS. For 0° yaw the DES prediction of the slight
decrease in Cp near the rear surface in Figure 9 is more accurate in the DES
than the RANS. At 10° yaw, Figure 10 shows that both the DES and RANS
predictions of the pressure coefficient exhibit a much earlier and more gradual
reduction, over the second half of the model, compared to the experimental
measurements of Storms et al. [3]. Based on Figure 4, this probably results
from a discrepancy in the exact size and location of the roof vortex.
1
0.5
\r:;~
u~
~
I
I --DES
/ - - - - RANS
·0.5
11 D measurements
·1w_~~~~~~~~4~~~~~~~
x/w
Fig. 11. Pressure distribution along the side of the GTS, (3 = 0°.
Pressures along the side of the GTS are shown for both yaw angles in
Figure 11 and Figure 12. The distributions were measured at yjw = 0.696
(midway between the lower GTS surface and roof) and in the experimental
configuration on the left side of the configuration, corresponding to the wind-
ward side for the computations at positive 10° yaw. The pressure distribution
for 0° yaw in Figure 11 shows that at xjw = 0 a pressure near stagnation is
recovered, as expected. The pressure decreases very significantly due to the
acceleration around the front corner and is then relatively constant and near
freestream level to the end of the trailer. The acceleration due to the converg-
ing streamlines into the wake is captured in both the DES and RANS and in
good agreement with the measurements. Though not obvious from Figure 11,
the DES prediction is in slightly better agreement with measurements near
the end of the trailer.
For 10° yaw the pressure distributions along the side of the GTS are shown
for both the leeward and windward side along with the measurements of Cp
-- DES (Leeward Side)

0 DES (Windward Side)
---- RANS (Leeward Side)
0.5 -- RANS (Windward Side)
lJ measurements
-0.5
-1w_~~~~~~~~4~~~~~~~
x/w
Fig. 12. Pressure distribution along the side of the GTS, (3 = 10°.
which were acquired only along the leeward side of the GTS. Figure 12 shows
on the windward side of the GTS analogous features to those observed in Fig-
ure 11, i.e., a sharp reduction in the pressure as the flow turns the front corner
of the model with a roughly constant distribution to the end of the trailer and
then slight reduction due to the flow acceleration into the wake. As evident in
the figure, the RANS and DES descriptions of the pressure distribution along
the windward side are very similar. The leeward side pressure distribution
shows the largest differences near the front corner. A much stronger suction
is predicted by both simulation techniques, an effect that arises due to the
substantially larger region of flow separation predicted than measured (c.f.,
Figure 5. The discrepancy in the pressure distribution in this region in turn
leads to larger discrepancies in the predicted forces at 10° yaw compared to
the results at 0° yaw.
A plot of the skin-friction magnitude along the centerline of the top of the
GTS is shown in Figure 13 and Figure 14 for the GTS at 0 and 10 degrees
yaw, respectively. Also included in each figure is the theoretical curve for skin
friction on a turbulent flat plate, which may be expected to apply starting
near xjw = 2, in view of the pressure distribution (note also that the vir-
tual origin of the flat plate was simply set to xjw = 0). In the experiments
reported by Storms et al. [3] the boundary layers were not tripped, and in-
deed the measurements in Figure 13 show that the boundary layer is initially
laminar before the skin friction rapidly increases to values characteristic of
turbulent boundary layers following transition. In the simulations (both DES
and RANS) the eddy viscosity at the inlet to the computational domain is
non-zero (prescribed as three times the molecular value), an effect that primes
the turbulence model as the fluid enters the boundary layers. Consequently,
c 1 is larger than the experimental measurements near the front of the GTS.
Figure 13 shows that the experimental measurements are slightly above the
'\1 measurements
() RANS
D DES
- - - - correlation
)(
c.)
0 o~~~~~~~~~4~~~~~6~~~~
x/w
Fig. 13. Skin friction magnitude in the centerplane, (3 = 0°.
"V measurements
D DES
<> RANS
- - - - conelatlon
>< 4 \ 0
c.)
... ___
' , Oo Oo Ao <)[J
... ... v ;:: "V
---- ----- -----·<>
0 o~~~~~~~~~4~~~~~~~~
x/w
Fig. 14. Skin friction magnitude in the centerplane, (3 = 10°.
fiat-plate correlation, the simulations slightly below; these differences are con-
sistent with the different transition histories.
The effect of yaw is apparent in the skin friction along the GTS centerline
shown in Figure 14. For reference, the same curve for a fiat-plate turbulent
boundary layer as shown in Figure 13 is also shown in Figure 14. In the vicinity
xjw = 0, the DES and RANS predictions are similar to the distributions for
0° yaw and also in good agreement with measurements (the experimental skin
friction is here at a turbulent level, presumably as a result of transition due to
three-dimensionality in the boundary layer). At approximately the mid-region
of the GTS (slightly upstream of xjw ~ 4), the influence of the roof vortex is
apparent via the increase in CJ as shown in the figure. DES and RANS predic-
tions are again similar and also in good agreement with measurements. Near
x/w = 7.2 the experimental measurements show a relatively sharp increase in
Cf that is not reflected in the calculations.
4 Summary
The work reported in this manuscript represents the findings from an initial set
of investigations aimed at gaining insight into the application of DES to vehicle
aerodynamics. The principal comparisons were to experimental measurements
of Storms et al. [3] as well as assessment of DES predictions against RANS
results obtained for the steady-state flow. Overall, the result are encouraging
in that for mean quantities DES is superior to RANS, e.g., predictions of the
drag were in substantially better agreement with measured values at 0° yaw.
At 10° yaw the differences in measured and predicted forces were more
substantial. The computations were of the fully-turbulent flow, i.e., without
the use of the trip terms in the S-A model to dictate the location of laminar-
to-turbulent transition. Some of the discrepancy in the force predictions at 10°
yaw may be connected to the laminar or turbulent state of the boundary lay-
ers. Relevant in this regard is the front corner region in which the separation
is more substantial in the simulations than indicated by measurements. The
corner radius of the GTS challenges the RANS region and transition predic-
tion - the complexity is also manifest in the hysteresis of the drag coefficient
with Reynolds number observed in the experiments. Tests with less-rounded
geometries would enable some resolution of these issues, more clear-cut from
the standpoint of flow physics but possibly more challenging of computational
aspects.
In addition to these aspects, there remain issues for which further inves-
tigations are also motivated. The role of the grid was not assessed. However,
grid generation was guided by experience in previous DES applications to
configurations of similar complexity, and a grid count near 6 million is very
defendable for a shape that is only of moderate complexity. A follow-on study
may revolve around a grid with 3 million points and another with 8.5, for
instance, providing a factor of J2 in each direction. Coupled with an inves-
tigation of the grid would be related efforts to explore the timestep. Within
the context of the present approach using the S-A model, prescribing the lo-
cation of transition is possible and would enable interesting investigations of,
for example, tripping the top surface boundary layers (which are attached)
while employing the tripless approach of Travin et al. [11] for the sides of the
GTS (which have separation). As also summarized above, aspects related to
geometrical features such as the influence of the corner radius of the model
should be investigated. Finally, the ability of boattail plates to reduce drag is
well documented by Storms et al. [3] and any future numerical efforts should
develop a simulation plan for investigation of such effects.
5 Acknowledgments
The authors are grateful for the helpful suggestions provided throughout the
project by Dr. Philippe Spalart. Dr. Bruce Storms kindly provided the ex-
perimental measurements in electronic format. Discussions of the GTS grids
with Dr. Chris Roy are also gratefully acknowledged.
References
1. McCallen R, Couch R, Hsu J, Leonard A, Brady M, Browand F, Hammache M,
Salari K, Rutledge W, Ross J, Storms B, Reineck JT, Driver D, Bell J, Zilliac G
(1999) Progress in Reducing Aerodynamic Drag for Higher Efficiency of Heavy
Duty Trucks (Class 7-8), 1999-01-2238, Gov/lndustry Meeting, Washington,
DC.
2. Spalart PR, Jou WH, Strelets M, Allmaras SR (1997) Comments on the fea-
sibility of LES for wings, and on a hybrid RANS/LES approach. 1st AFOSR
Int. Conf. on DNS/LES, Aug. 4-8, 1997, Ruston, LA. In Advances in DNS/LES,
C. Liu and Z. Liu Eds., Greyden Press, Columbus, OH, USA.
3. Storms BL, Ross JC, Reineck, JT, Walker SM, Driver DM, Zilliac GG (2001)
An experimental study of the Ground Transportation System (GTS) model in
the NASA Ames 7- by 10-ft wind tunnel. NASA/TM-2001-209621.
4. Spalart PR, Allmaras SR (1994) A One-Equation Turbulence Model for Aero-
dynamic Flows. La Recherche Aerospatiale, 1, pp. 5-21.
5. Strelets M (2001) Detached Eddy Simulation of Massively Separated Flows
AIAA 01-0879.
6. Shur ML, Spalart PR, Strelets MK, Travin AK (1999) Detached-Eddy Simula-
tion of an Airfoil at High Angle of Attack. Fourth International Symposium on
Engineering Turbulence Modelling and Measurements, Corsica, France.
7. Strang WZ, Tomaro RF, Grismer MJ (1999) The Defining Methods of Cobalt 6 o:
a Parallel, Implicit, Unstructured Euler/Navier-Stokes Flow Solver. AIAA 99-
0786.
8. Gottlieb JJ, Groth CPT (1988) Assessment of Riemann Solvers for Unsteady
One-Dimensional lnviscid Flows of Perfect Gases Journal of Computational
Physics, 78, pp. 437-458.
9. Karypis G, Schloegel K, Kumar V (1997) Par METIS: Parallel Graph Partition-
ing and Sparse Matrix Ordering Library Version 1.0. University of Minnesota,
Department of Computer Science, Minneapolis, MN 55455.
10. Steinbrenner J Wyman N, Chawner J (2000) Development and Implementation
of Gridgen's Hyperbolic PDE and Extrusion Methods. AIAA 00-0679.
11. Travin A, Shur M, Strelets M, Spalart PR (2000) Detached-Eddy Simulations
past a Circular Cylinder. Flow, Turb. Comb. 63, pp. 293-313.
CFD: Software Methods and Applications
Time Dependent vs. Steady State Calculations of
External Aerodynamics
B. Basara and P. Tibaut
AVL List GmbH, Hans List Platz I, 8020 Graz, Austria
Abstract
The paper assesses the use of the most popular standard k-E model and the most
accurate Reynolds-stress model for various simple and complex flows including
vehicles, and their impact on steady and transient RANS calculations. At the same
time, the error of the steady state approach for the flows where transient effects are
important, is analyzed. The Hybrid Turbulence Model is examined as an alternative
solution, e.g. the recent proposal of combining the Boussinesq's concept with the
second moment closure. Finally, new possibilities in the further use of steady and
averaged transient results will be addressed e.g. acoustic calculations. The paper
compiles previous and present work performed at AVL List GmbH using the in-
house commercial CFD software AVL Swift.
Introduction
Most of reported calculations of external aerodynamics have been done with Rey-
nolds-Averaged-Navier-Stokes (RANS) methods. The basis behind these methods
is decomposition of the instantaneous flow variable into a mean and a fluctuating
(random) part and then ensemble averaging of the Navier-Stokes equations. The re-
sulting new (unknown) terms, namely Reynolds stresses, require turbulence mod-
eling. This is very discouraging for some CFD users as turbulence models, despite
the recent progress, are considered to be the largest source of error in present cal-
culations. While it is not possible to eliminate this error, it can be decreased consid-
erably by the knowledgeable use of turbulence models.
A frequent 'simplification' in the use of RANS is to make steady state calcula-
tions. However, to insist on the steady state solution because it is inexpensive, is a
very risky practice which could lead to serious errors in particular cases. The first
alternative is to use the Transient Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (TRANS) ap-
proach. This is particularly important in flows which are dominated by low-
frequency periodic features such as encountered in a vortex shedding.
108 B. Basara and P. Tibaut
An extreme example of introducing error via steady state approach can be

shown by using a vortex-shedding flow around a simple obstacle- square cylinder.
The case calculated is the one studied experimentally by Lyn 1992 at Re=21400.
The standard k-£ model predicts a weak vortex shedding largely underestimating
the measured values as shown in Table I. The same table shows calculated steady
and transient drag and lift coefficients as predicted by the RSM. The steady state
calculations are enforced by introducing the symmetry plane through the mid plane
of the obstacle.
Table 1. Predictions and measurements of integral parameters.
Cd Cl' Str
Transient RSM 2.28 1.39 0.141
Transient k-£ 1.80 - 0.119
Steady RSM 1.89 - -
Measurements 2.16-2.28 1.1-1.4 0.130-0.139
Fig. I shows time histories of lift coefficient as calculated by Reynolds-stress

model (RSM). The results are in agreement with previous reported calculations
(e.g. Franke and Rodi 1991, Basara 2004).
5 r---------------------------.
4
3
0 03 0.04
t(s)
Fig. 1. Time evolution of lift coefficient as predicted by RSM (Basara 2004 ).
The phase averaged data was calculated as suggested by Rodi and Ferziger 1995
for the Workshop on LES of Flows Past Bluff Bodies. The time period between
two successive maximums is divided into 20 equal intervals and the predicted
streamlines are compared with the measurements for the same phases. Neverthe-
less, Fig. 2. shows a good agreement between predictions and measurements for
the phase 01, for more details see original reference Basara 2004.
The next step was to use the RSM for the steady state calculations enforced by
employment of the symmetry plane. Predicted streamlines are shown in Fig. 3. The
separation process around the cylinder is described as one very large vortex starting
at the first front corner and finishing ten lengths behind the obstacle. The pre-
dicted drag coefficient is 15% lower than obtained by measurements showing that
this procedure is inappropriate, although the full Reynolds-stress model was used,
see Table 1.
Time Dependent vs. Steady State Calculations of External Aerodynamics 109
••
Fig. 2. Phase averaged streamlines (Phase 01): measurements (left) and predictions (right)
with the RSM (Basara 2004)
Fig. 3. Streamlines predicted by the RSM and for the steady state flow.
However, it should be noted that there is not much benefit in using transient
RANS if the turbulence model chosen for the calculations poorly reproduces tran-
sient effects e.g. the standard k-E model.
The next adequate test for the turbulence models prior to their use for the vehi-
cle aerodynamics is the vortex shedding around a cylinder placed at various dis-
tances from an adjacent wall. When the gap between the obstacle and the wall was
reduced to 0.5 of the obstacle width, the vortex shedding was predicted with the
Reynolds-stress model as reported by the measurements, quite contrary to the
standard k-E model which predicted steady flow, see Bosch and Rodi 1995, Basara
et al. 1996 etc.
These simple benchmarks were used to assess the basic differences of steady
and transient calculations using the standard k-E model and the RSM . The other
models e.g. non-linear k-E models or algebraic stress models were not tested as-
suming that the RSM represents the best turbulence modeling approach. In the last
few years, attention has been turned more to the numerical aspects of the RSM's
employment in order to make this model numerically robust for real-life vehicle
simulations. Consequently, the new hybrid modeling approach was developed pro-
viding additional options for more accurate prediction of turbulence, but at the
same time having a numerically robust model.
The basis of the modeling approach, the solution method and the results are
given in the following sections.
Mathematical Modeling and Solution Procedure

Grid generation is a process that is very dependent not only on the grid generator
but also on the CFD user. Requests for a fast and simple grid generator and for a
quality grid are almost always in contradiction. Fast grid generators regularly create
unstructured grids consisting of arbitrary shaped computational cells. Cutting the
grid generation time very often causes longer computing time and less accurate and
more grid-dependent results. In general, such grids require that the solver is capa-
ble of handling any cell type. This technology is used in AVL under the name of
Arbitrary Cell Technology (ACT). A typical grid created by the automatic grid
generator AVL FAME is shown in Fig. 4.
Fig. 4. Ford Ka. Numerical grid: upper part (left) and underbody (right).
The ACT in AVL Swift v3.1 (Swift Manual 2002) is based on a fully conserva-
tive finite volume approach. The cell-face based connectivity and interpolation
practices for gradients and cell-face values are introduced to accommodate an arbi-
trary number of cell faces. All dependent variables, such as momentum, pressure,
density, turbulence kinetic energy, dissipation rate, and passive scalar are evaluated
at the cell center. A second-order midpoint rule is used for integral approximation
and a second order linear approximation for any value at the cell-face. A diffusion
term is incorporated into the surface integral source after employing the special in-
terpolation practice. The convection is solved by a variety of differencing schemes
(upwind, central differencing, MINMOD, and SMART). The rate of change is dis-
cretized by using implicit schemes, namely Euler implicit scheme and three time
level implicit scheme of second order accuracy. The overall solution procedure is
iterative and is based on the Semi-Implicit Method for Pressure-Linked Equations
algorithm (SIMPLE). For the solution of a linear system of equations, a conjugate
gradient type of solver and algebraic multigrid are used. Special attention is given
to the implementation procedure of the RSM on arbitrary unstructured grids, see
Basara 2004.
The flow field is modeled by the ensemblemean Navier Stokes equations cou-
pled either with the eddy-viscosity k-£ model equations or with the differential
Reynolds stress model equations. In the k-£ model of turbulence, the Reynolds
stresses are obtained from the Boussinesq's eddy viscosity formulation:
(I)
s
where k is the turbulent kinetic energy, 0 is the mean rate ofstrain tensor and
l't is the turbulent viscosity, which is evaluated from the expression:
l't
j3/2) ; "o =
= pC,. La "o ; La = (£ tU2 (2)
where Lg and v0 are characteristic length and veloc:ity seales of turbulence, re-
speetively. In fUll Reynolds stress models, the differential transport equations for
the Reynolds stresses u1uJ are solved. When closing these equations, the diffusion
is modelled by a simple gradient transport hypothesis. For the pressure-strain
term, the SSG model of Speziale, Sarkar and Gatski 1991 is used. This model does
not require the use of wall-damping terms.
As Eq. (2) suggests, the k - e models use the turbulence kinetic energy and
it•s dissipation rate to define characteristic turbulence scales. The C/J coefficient
is derived from the measured ratio u1uJ I k for the wall boundary layers and then
used in Eq. (2) as a constant value. The commonly used value is 0.09. An ap-
proach advanced by Basara and Jakirlic 2003 suggests a derivation of CP by
equalizing the production of turbulence kinetic energy predicted by the Reynolds
stress model and with the production obtained by the k-£ model, thus
(3)
Therefore. the hybrid model (HTM) solves the momentum equations in co-qjunc-
tion with Eq. (2) and (3). In addition, a set of full Reynolds stress equations is
solved to provide the Reynolds stresses u1uJ and turbulent kinetic energy
k = 0.5 u1u1 • The dissipation rate equation is also solved in a term commonly
used in the framework of the Reynolds stress model.
ln conjunction with selected "'high Reynolds nwnber'' turbulence closures, the
wall functions are used to model the near-wall effec:ts.
Results and Discussion

In the last decade, a number of A VL articles related to the use of the full Reynolds
stress model for the vehicle aerodynamics were published, e.g. Basara and Alajbe-
govic 1998, Basara et al. 2000, Basara, Przulj and Tibaut 2002.
Precise conclusions can be drawn from previous published calculation results.
The first apparent detail was the correct prediction of the flow separation from the
rear window by the Reynolds stress model. The calculated velocity profiles in the
separation region compared well with the measurements. Trailing vortices appeared
at the C-pillars pulling the attached flow coming from the roof down to the base,
were always better predicted by the RSM. With the k-e model, a starting poposition
of these side vortices at the C-pillars is lower than the measured one. In the case of
RSM model, a description of the flow pattern over the slant is very close to the
measured one. In addition, smaller vortices which might appear on the side edge
due to interactions between two streams could be captured as well, see Basara et al.
2002 (see Fig. 5). As the separation point is crucial for accurate predictions of the
pressure distribution on a car body, the average drag and lift coefficients predicted
by the RSM model were closer to the measured values than those obtained by the
k-e model. The correctness of the flow pattern predicted by the RSM model is
definitely confirmed by distribution of the pressure coefficient on the upper side of
the car (see Fig. 5). The k-e model predictions of pressure distribution miss meas-
urements considerably. The flow pattern was also calculated correctly for Morel
body by Basara and Alajbegovic 1998. Very good agreement was obtained, espe-
cially in the case of transient (unsteady) simulations. Steady state calculations even
with the RSM model were not able to predict sudden pressure drop caused by
changing the back slant angle. On the other hand, the transient calculations showed
presence of vortex shedding and averaged drag and lift coefficients were close to
measurements.
••
. .
.! ,--, .
0.6 0.!! , ,. . . . .
-o•
·~
-I
-1.5'-------------__j
Fig. 5. Velocity vectors at the trailing edges and the distribution of the pressure
coefficient as predicted by RSM (Basara et al. 2002)
Clearly after all these calculations of the flow around simple obstacles and ide-
alized vehicles, the procedure for the reliable calculations could be established. It
consists of the following steps:
-to provide steady state results with the k-e model.
-to continue with the steady state calculations by using the RSM model ap-
proximately making the same number of iterations as performed with the k-
€ model.
-to continue with the transient calculations by using the RSM.
Therefore, after calculating SAE notchback reference body (Basara et al. 2002),
Ahmed Body (Basara and Jakirlic 2003) or Morel Body (Basara and Alajbegovic
1998) etc., the same procedure was applied for more complex models. The next ex-
ample was the first including the wheels. Prior to this simulation, separate calcula-
tions of the flow around a rotating wheel were performed (Basara, Beader and
Przulj 2000), see Fig. 6. Again good performances of the RSM were reported re-
garding the pressure distribution as well as the prediction of the separation point,
for more details see the original reference.
1.6 - - Standard t-11

- - - RNC t -~
12 - sse RS><
0 'Exp.. (11): wh~e l C2
0.8
c. 0.4
-o.o
I -0.4
I
-0.8
- 1.2
0 60 120 180 240 300 360
8
Fig. 6. Numerical grid (left) and predicted and measured mean pressure coefficient around
the wheel in the mid plane (right). Basara et al. 2000.
Calculating a complete vehicle with the wheels (Renault model), once more, a
difference between models performances becomes apparent. Clearly the flow pre-
dicted by the k-£ model shows less tendency to separate either on wheels or on the
slanted back comparing to the RSM results as shown in Fig. 7 and 8.
Fig. 7. Renault model. Velocity vectors around the wheel as calculated by the k-£
(left) and the RSM (right).
Transient results were obtained by the RSM (see Fig. 8 right) and the averaged
drag and lift coefficients are in good agreement with the measurements. The RSM
calculates the time-mean drag coefficient of 0.2 (-0.2% error). That compares well
with the measurements and quite contrary to the k-£ result of 0.223 (+9.8% error).
R ....
024 ~
~~.
....,. "" r'-\.,

022
i 02 ·v
_.) ~
.,.
I[
0 ... 1000 1500

Urnesa.pi-J
2000 2500 3000
Fig. 8. Renault model. Velocity vectors on the slanted rear as predicted by the RSM and the
k-E model (left) and the calculated drag coefficient by the RSM (right).
The next step was to calculate a vehicle with the detailed underbody (Ford Ka),
see Fig. 4. Numerically, this was a challenging task for the calculations with the
full Reynolds-stress model. However, it was possible to perform such numerical
study as shown in Fig. 9. It should be noted that the computing time is 4-5 times
larger than when using the k-E model. Predicted pressure distribution in the wake
behind the vehicle is compared with the measurements in Fig. 10. The best fitting
shape is achieved with the RSM. The pressure coefficient distribution along the
upper central plane of the body predicted by the k-E and RSM model is shown in
Fig. II. The averaged drag and lift coefficients are given in Table 2. In general, the
results obtained by the RSM are very satisfactory.
Fig. 9. Ford Ka. Surface streamlines (left) and the velocity magnitude projected on
the surface (right).
Table 2. Ford Ka. Predictions and measurements of drag Cd and lift Cl coefficients.
Ford Ka Cd Cl
Data 0.321 0.076
k-E 0.355 0.226
RSM 0.319 0.043
n
- . . , [ .,.,.._~-- ..... ""'
l ,.
' ~ ~ ~~~·
. '
I i ' 1
..... '
', ~ ...._...
0 .0 0.) J.()
Fig. 10. Ford Ka. Predicted pressure coefficient in the wake behind the vehicle.
- measured p ca l ul t~~e d Cp (k e)
.-l< ul .. ed Cp (RS t.l)
~ .~~-+~~~--~----------~
~
' '
Fig. 11. Ford Ka. Distribution ofthe pressure coefficient on the upper side.
Volvo VRAK shown in Fig. 12, was calculated by using the k-E model and AVL
HTM model. The obtained results highlight the importance of using a more accu-
rate model to calculate the turbulence. The HTM approach was previously tested
on many simple examples including all cases shown in the introduction (Basara and
Jakirlic 2003). It provides regularly more robust and faster solution than the RSM
and more accurate results than the k-e model. In this case, transient solution was
obtained by the HTM, see Fig. 12 right (see also Basara eta!. 2001). The averaged
drag and lift coefficients are given in Table 3. The results obtained by the HTM
agree much better with the measurements than those obtained by the k-E model.
The HTM requires half less computing time than the RSM. Note that the HTM
model can be also applied as an 'initialization' model used between the k-E and
RSM models in order to stabilize and shorten RSM calculations.
Table 3. Volvo VRAK. Predictions and measurements of drag Cd and lift Cl coefficients.
Cd Cl
Data 0.359 0.336
k-E 0.368 0.466
HTM 0.351 0.365
'"
Fig. 12. Volvo VRAK. Velocity magnitude projected on the surface (left) and the averaged
transient drag coefficient (right).
One can argue that different turbulence models may give a similar drag or lift
coefficient for the certain shapes of the car and hence, those models which need
less computing time would be preferable for such calculations. But, this may hap-
pen only in isolated cases. For example, the flow pattern can be very similar due to
the fact that the separation points are fixed by the shape of the vehicle. However,
even in such cases, the intensity and the distribution of the calculated turbulence
kinetic energy will be different and therefore, the input to some other calculations
modules could be wrong e.g. acoustic predictions, soiling etc. Fig. 13 shows sim-
plified bus and the calculated turbulence kinetic energy. Based on these results, cal-
culations of flow-induced noise are performed jointly by AVL-TNO showing an
importance of proper predictions of the turbulence kinetic energy. The method de-
veloped by TNO (e.g. Snelen et al. 2002, BJorn et al. 2001) consists of the un-
steady acoustic source generation based on the RANS data and the calculation of
the propagation of the pressure fluctuations using the linearized Euler equations.
The results are available on request.
Fig. 13. Simplified bus. Predicted turbulence kinetic energy by the k-E model (left) and the
RSM (right).
Conclusion
Calculations performed for the simple and complex real-life benchmarks show that
there is consistency in the results obtained when using different turbulence models.
Compared to the standard k-E model, the present Reynolds-stress transport equation
model continuously produces results which are in better agreement with the meas-
urements. The hybrid turbulence model is a good compromise in modeling re-
garding the accuracy and the computing time. It is necessary to perform transient
RANS calculations in order to get accurate results for the external aerodynamics.
References
A VL AST (2002) Swift Manual 3.1 . A VL List GmbH. Graz.
LynDA (1992) Ensemble-Averaged Measurements in the Turbulent Near Wake of a Square
Cylinder: A Guide to the Data, Report CE-HSE-92-6, Sc, Purdue University.
FrankeR, Rodi W (1991) 8th Syrup. On Turbulent Shear Flows. Munich .
Rodi W, Ferziger JH (1995) Proc. Of Workshop on Large Eddy Simulation of Flows past
Bluff Bodies, Germany.
Basara B (2004) Employment of the second-moment closure on arbitrary unstructured grids.
Int. J. for Numerical Methods in Fluids 44: 377-407.
Bosch, G. Rodi W (I 995). IO'h Syrup. On Turbulent Shear Flows, Pennsylvania.
Basara B., Bachler G, Schiffermuller H. (1996) Calculation of vortex shedding from bluff
bodies with the Reynolds-stress model. In: Kutler P, Flores J and Chattot J (eds) 15th
International Conference on Numerical Methods in Fluid Dynamics, Lecture Notes in
Physics. Springer.
Speziale CG, Sarkar S, Gatski TB (1991) Modelling the pressure-strain correlation of turbu-
lence: an invariant dynamical system approach. J Fluid Mech 227: 245-272.
Basara B, Jakirlic S (2003) A New Turbulence Modelling Strategy For Industrial CFD. Int.
J. for Numerical Methods in Fluids 42: 89-116.
Basara B, Decan B, Przulj V (2000) Numerical Simulation of the Air Flow around a Rotat-
ing Wheel. The 3'd Mira International Vehicle Aerodynamics Conference, UK.
Basara B, Alajbegovic A.(l998) Steady state calculations of turbulent flow around Morel
Body, The 7th Int. Symp. on Flow Modelling and Turbulence Measurements. Taiwan.
Basara B, Przulj V and Tibaut P (2002) On the calculation of external aerodynamics: Indus-
trial Benchmarks. SAE Transactions - Journal of Passenger Cars and Mechanical Sys-
tems V110-6.
Basara B, Jakirlic S, Przulj V (2001) Vortex-shedding flows computed using a new, hybrid
turbulence model. In: Ninokata H, Wada A. and Tanaka N. (eds), Advances in Fluid
Modeling & Turbulence Measurements, World Scientific.
Snellen M, Lier L, Rops C, Janssens M, Heck J, Strumolo GS (2002) Flow-induced noise
around the A-pillar of an idealized car greenhous. AIAA paper 2002-2548.
BJorn CPA, Verhaer BT, Heijden JC, Soemarwoto BI (2001) A linearized Euler method
based prediction of turbulence induced noise using time-averaged flow properties.
AIAA paper 2001-1100.
Aerodynamics of Ground Vehicles - Toward
Reliable and Affordable CFD
Sung-Eun Kim
Fluent Inc., USA
The study of the aerodynamics of ground-vehicles has greatly benefitted from

computational fluid dynamics (CFD). However, in practice, there are some hurdles
that remain to be overcome before CFD can be fully established as a design tool.
The paper will review some of the recent developments in the CFD modeling of the
subject flow under several important themes outlined below.
Meshing. As with other applications involving complex geometry, meshing for
ground-vehicles is still an important issue deserving some attention, inasmuch as it
significantly impacts usability, solution accuracy and efficiency. We believe that, in
industrial CFD applications, solution-adaptive mesh refinement with appropriate
error estimators is a necessity, since it is only the practical way to capture, with a
reasonable cost, the salient features of the flows at hand, most of which are not
known a priori.
Turbulence modeling. Turbulence modeling remains a pacing item in the
accurate prediction of the aerodynamics of ground vehicles. We will review some
of the developments in unsteady RANS and Detached Eddy Simulation (DES) and
present some results obtained for a selected number of bluff body flows.
Noise. Another motivation to study unsteady aspects of vehicle aerodynamics
is that, from transient CFD solutions, one can easily draw much insight into
aerodynamic noise with a minimal additional effort. The full paper presents one
such LAA-based approach fully integrated into the CFD solver (Kim, 2002).
High performance computing. The impact of parallel computing for the
aerodynamics of ground vehicles will be discussed in the full paper.
All the computations to be presented in the full paper are carried out using
FLUENT, a general-purpose CFD package, which is based on a finite-volume
discretization based RANS solver (Mathur and Murthy, 1997; Kim et al., 1998).
Improved Tractor-Trailer Integration and
Aerodynamics Through the Use of CFD
Alec Wong
Kenworth Truck Company, USA
The presentation includes the use of the computational Fluid Dynamics

(CFD) at Kenworth Truck Company in the last few years, how do we identifY
projects to build confidence in CFD simulation, follows by the discussion on
the aerodynamic validation process such as wind tunnel testing, proving
ground on-track testing and over-the-road real world testing. A brief look at
the history of the concept and development process and how we integrate
CFD in the current development design process, identifY areas of CFD
development to improve the simulation and testing results correlation in the
future.
Large Eddy Simulation ofTurbulence Via Lattice
Boltzmann Based Approach: Fundamental Physics
and Practical Applications
Hudong Chen
Exa Corporation, USA
Direct numerical simulations (DNS) via Navier-Stokes equation is adequate

for Newtonian fluid flows at macroscopic scales including high Reynolds
number turbulence. On the other hand, we argue that the large eddy
simulations (LES) of turbulent flows is better achieved physically via
Boltzmann equation based kinetic formulations and the lattice Boltzmann
method (LB). Among other features compared to the Navier-Stokes based
approach, the major differences in the alternative approach include 1)
Realization of higher order turbulent eddy effects; and 2) Realization of
physical boundary conditions. As a numerical method, LB has shown to be
advantageous in doing LES involving complex geometries and flow fields, and
it allows for accurate and efficient simulations of time dependent turbulent
flows with potentially relatively simpler turbulence models. In this
presentation, the fundamental concept of the kinetic based approach for LES
will be introduced. Various numerical results on basic turbulent benchmark
flows as well as on practical engineering flow problems will also be shown.
Aspects of CFD Application to Vehicle Aerodynamic
Design
David Gosman
Computational Dynamics Ltd. & Imperial College, UK
The effectiveness of CFD for vehicle aerodynamic design depends on a

number of factors, notably: accuracy, cost, turnaround time and ease of use.
Commercial CFD software developers have traditionally rightly placed strong
emphasis on the first three, with considerable success, as will be illustrated by
examples in this presentation. These achievements have led to increased use of
CFD in the aerodynamic design process, but the levels of skill and experience
required are arguably now becoming the limiting factor on its exploitation. A
way around this problem, using the Expert Systems approach, is presented.
Experimental Methods
PN Study of the Near Wake of a Pickup Truck
Luis Bernal, Abdullah M Al-Garni
University of Michigan, USA
The turbulent flow structure in the near wake of a pickup truck model has
been investigated experimentally using Proper Orthogonal Decomposition
(POD) analysis of Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) data. The experiments
were conducted in the 2'x2' wind tunnel at the University of Michigan at
Reynolds numbers based on model width of 3x105. A model of a pickup truck
with extended cab, 432 mm long by 156 mm wide by 149 mm tall, was used.
PIV measurements of the velocity field in several planes of the wake including
the symmetry plane were obtained using a large sample size, sufficient to
determine the mean flow and the Reynolds stresses in the wake. The mean
flow structure in the symmetry plane consists of separated shear layers
originating at the edge of the cab and from the underbody flow. For this
particular geometry, there is a recirculating flow region behind the cab ending
upstream of the tailgate; but there is no mean recirculating flow region behind
the tailgate. The mean flow pattern in a horizontal plane behind the tailgate
suggests that this is due to trailing streamwise vorticity. POD analysis of the
data provides useful information on the unsteady large scale structures in the
wake. It is shown that only a few orthogonal modes (~20) contain a large
fraction of the fluctuation energy (~60%), as expected. But, more important,
the analysis isolates features of the unsteady large scale turbulent structures
into different uncorrelated modes. It is shown that the development of vortex
shedding in the underbody flow shear layer is described by a few modes, while
oscillations of the recirculating region are captured by other modes. This
feature of the analysis makes it very useful to the study of the structure and
dynamics of complex bluff body wakes.
Applications of DDPIV to Studies Associated with
Road Vehicles
Mory Gharib, Francisco Pereira, and Emilio Castano Graff
Graduate Aeronautical Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasa-

dena, CA, USA
Introduction
The quantification of experimental flows is a problem that poses several chal-

lenges, the most obvious of which is how to extract motion from an "invisible"
phenomenon. In general, flows can be analyzed through a sequence of still im-
ages (Singh 1991). For example, the motion of patterns generated by dye,
clouds or particles can be used to obtain such a time sequence of still images.
The main problem with using a continuous-intensity pattern, generated by
scalar fields (e.g., dye patterns), is that it must be somehow discretized and
contain variations of intensity at all scales before mean and turbulent velocity
information can be obtained (Pearlstein and Carpenter 1995). In this respect,
the discrete nature of images generated by seeding particles has made particle
tracking the method of choice for whole field velocimetry. Displacement and,
thus, velocity information can be extracted through statistical methods and
other methods such as particle tracking. The spatial resolution of this method
depends on the number density of the particles.
Particle image velocimetry (PIV) is such a particle-based two-dimensional
technique using auto-correlation of sample "windows" to extract displacement
data from images (Adrian 1991). The window refers to a non-overlapping,
rectangular subset of the image. The result of the computation is that each of
these windows is assigned a velocity vector corresponding to the average veloc-
ity of the particles within the window. This statistical method has a spatial
resolution defined by the window size (and therefore number of windows per
image). The minimum size of the window is normally constrained by the con-
ditions of the flow and the seeding density.
The method of auto-correlation eliminates the need to identify individual
particle pairs in each image, thus removing some uncertainty and making the
method generally more flexible than traditional particle trackers.
Advances in computing power and digital imaging over the last decade have
resulted directly in the development of the digital version of PIV known as
132 M. Gharib, F. Pereira, and E.C. Graff
Digital Particle Image Velocimetry, or DP IV (Willert and Gharib 1991,

Westerweel 1993).
Some extensions of traditional OPIV can be utilized to obtain three compo-
nents of the velocity field, but only a few planes at a time. Holographic PIV
techniques are suitable for obtaining the three-dimensional (30) distribution of
the velocity vector field (Barnhart et a!. 1994), but their photographic nature
limit their ability to address the temporal dynamics of turbulent flows. Recent
advances in 30 video-based particle tracking techniques have removed some of
these shortcomings (Kasagi and Sata 1992), but most of these systems require
arduous alignment of multiple cameras and other optics, and also require cali-
bration and extensive processing.
An emerging technology that has a good potential for resolving difficulties
associated with the aforementioned flow mapping techniques is the method of
defocused imaging: Defocusing Digital Particle Image Velocimetry (OOPIV)
(Willert and Gharib 1992). It is the natural extension of planar PIV techniques
to the third spatial dimension. OOPIV can perform the same flow quantiza-
tion that OPIV can - but in a volume rather than a plane, and thus can extract
more information than stereo techniques. The illumination of a volume also
increases the ease with which such a system can be set up for a particular ex-
periment. For PIV measurements the system does not require calibration and
camera alignment has to be performed only once, also reducing downtime.
The Defocusing Concept
Aperture 1 Lens
- B
a
z
B" - B' L A
Image Image plane Reference

(CCD sensor) plane
B
/') b
z
B'~
lb
B" L -
B' , '
Aperture I Lens
Image Image plane Reference
(CCD sensor) plane
Fig. 1. The defocusing concept: a) standard, one aperture system, b) defocusing, multiple aper-
ture system.
The foundations of the defocusing concept were established in an early paper

by Willert and Gharib (1992). We report here the most important aspects in a
revised form. For clarity, we will use the term particle when referring both to a
solid (or liquid) particle and to a bubble.
A typical 2D imaging system, consisting of a converging lens and of an ap-
erture, is represented in Fig. 1 to help describe the Defocusing Digital Particle
Image Velocimetry (DDPIV) technique. Fig. 1a exhibits a point A, located on
the object plane (or reference plane), and a point B placed in between this
plane and the lens system. Point A appears focused in A', on the image plane
(or sensor plane), while B is projected as a blurred image B'. The DDPIV
technique uses a mask with two or more apertures shifted away from the opti-
cal axis to obtain multiple images from each scattering source, as shown in Fig.
1b. The image shift b on the image plane, caused by these off-axis apertures, is
related to the depth location of the source points, whereas the scattered light
intensity combined with the blurredness is used to recover the size informa-
tion.
Geometric Analysis
L
P'(x' ,y")
.l_ .___ __,J
"(Y".f")
Reference Sensor
plene plare
Fig. 2. A simplified version of the defocusing method
A simplified geometric model of a two-aperture defocusing optical arrange-

ment is represented in Fig. 2. The interrogation domain is defined as a cube of
side a, thus a square in the plane. The back face of this cube is on the reference
plane, which is placed at a distance L from the lens plane. Let d be the distance
between apertures, f the focal length of the converging lens and I the distance
from the lens to the image plane. The image plane is materialized by a photo
sensor (e.g. CCD) of height h. The physical space is attached to a coordinate
system originating in the lens plane, with the Z-axis on the optical axis of the
system. Coordinates in the physical space are designated (X Y,Z). The image
coordinate system is simply the Z-translation of the physical system onto the
sensor plane, i.e. at Z = -l. The coordinates of a pixel on the imaging sensor are
given by the pair (x,y). Point P(X Y,Z) represents a light scattering source (a
particle). For Z"'L, Pis projected onto points P'(x;y') and P"(x';y''), separated
by the distance b.
The coordinates (x;y') and (x';y'') of the images P' and P" of P(X Y,Z) in the
:l :;~d~L~LL
image plane are given by the following relations:
2LY] (1)
y" =~~ [-d(L- Z)- 2LY]

Where M is the optical magnification provided by the lens equation.
The image separation vector b represents the distance between the images P'
and P". The norm is therefore given by
b =Md(L- Z)
z (2)
1 1 1 1
=-(-- -) with K= MdL
K Z L
Equation 2 demonstrates the extreme simplicity of the defocusing concept,

which of course is greatly valuable in terms of computational implementation
and processing speed. In purely geometric terms, the image separation b is in-
dependent of the in-plane coordinates X and Y. Likewise, the pinhole diameter
has no bearing on b and is only responsible for the amount of blurredness of
any given particle image. For our prototype instrument, we use three pinholes,
arranged into a triangular pattern. This configuration, shown in Fig. 3, exhib-
its an inverted triangle when P moves across the reference plane and requires
straightforward and fast image processing routines.
Fig. 3. A three-aperture defocusing arrangement.

The sensitivity of the system, i.e. its ability to detect small changes of the
particle location, can be evaluated through the separation gradient
ab 1
(3)
aZ ==- Kz2
The coordinates of P in the world coordinate system are derived from the
image coordinates of the projections P' and P" (see Eq. 1)
-Y"=--
X'Oz with
x' + x''
xo = ----=--
AfL 2
y =- 'JioZ with 1Jo=
11 + y''
AfL 2 (4)
1
z
~+Kb
Assuming that the apertures are equidistant from the origin of the coordi-
nate system, the image point defined by (x0,yo) is the image of the particle if
there were a single aperture at the origin.
A camera system has been designed and fabricated based upon the above
concept. The specific characteristics of this instrument can be found in the pa-
per by Pereira et al. 2000.
The velocity vector field is obtained by local spatial cross-correlation be-
tween small volume elements (voxels, equivalent to windows in DPIV) con-
taining particles observed at two time steps, as shown and discussed by Pereira
et al. 2000.
Applications
The nature of the DDPIV system makes it very versatile. Its ability to resolve
complex flows and perform particle sizing in 3 dimensions makes it a useful
tool in many aspects of the design of road vehicles.
Exterior flow measurements require, in most cases, that the flow be seeded
with particles. For use in heavy fluids, such as water, there is a large selection of
appropriate solid particles. For lighter fluids, such as air, one is not limited to
solid particles. The whole system can be used in a laboratory environment (e.g.
wind tunnels, water tunnels, tow tanks) and, with relative ease, can be taken to
the field (full-scale on-road tests). A system can be designed to measure a range
of different probe volumes that requires no tedious alignment. Moreover, it is
compact and can be transported in one unit which allows for fast set-up times.
Spray-type flow measurements can be performed, in some cases, more easily
than exterior flows, since the spray itself will form the particles - there is no
need to seed the spray to perform measurements. This provides great advan-
tages, since in most cases the part or component's performance can be visual-
ized and quantized with the actual fluid that would flow through it. For in-
stance, experiments can be performed on injector-cylinder combinations, per-
forming velocimetry and particle sizing on the actual fuel that would be used
in a final production model.
Fig. 4. A truck model in the water tunnel with the probe volume illuminated.
Other spray applications include water spray and splash from the vehicle in
wet-road conditions. Detailed information on how a vehicle spray patterns
from driving through large water puddles or evenly wet roads is fundamental
in the development of road-friendly vehicles and tire designs that do not im-
pose an unsafe, low-visibility environment on other vehicles and pedestrians.
Internal flow measurements are almost no different from those for exterior
flows, except for the main requirement that the probe volume must be opti-
cally accessible for both illumination and imaging. The DDPIV system has
great potential in vehicular components for cooling, intake, exhaust, and other
components where flow characteristics contribute in large part to the perform-
ance and efficiency of the vehicle.
To demonstrate the DDPIV system's ability to evaluate complex flows (with
both PIV and particle sizing functionality), we consider two cases of a model
propeller immersed in a water tank, one propeller having 2 blades, the other
having 3 blades.
The two-blade model propeller is immersed into a water tank. The rotation
speed is 12 rps, corresponding to a tangential velocity of 2.52 m.s·1 at the tip of
the blades. A bubble generator is placed below the propeller, producing a dense
stream of rising sub-millimeter air bubbles. The velocity field is obtained

through phase averaging.
24&&53
21 .3303
17.7752
J\:l:lOJ
Fig. 5. Pathlines of"mass-less" bubbles around the propeller.
A 3-D velocity field is obtained after averaging and outlier correction. Outlier
correction is a smoothing algorithm directly evolved from DPIV, whereby con-
straints can be set so that the magnitude of a particular vector is not drastically
different from that of its nearby neighbors.
By computationally injecting "mass-less" particles into the mean velocity
data set in a radial arrangement and one diameter upstream the propeller,
pathlines can be generated, providing a unique insight into this complex flow
as shown in Fig. 5. Gray level relates to the local measured velocity amplitude.
Velocity reaches a maximum of 2.49 m.s- 1 in the outer region of the propeller,
matching closely the blade tip tangential velocity.
100 3000
..
75 Propeller at :c2500
Y=30mm
50 ~2000
E' E Y=30mm
.§.25 ~ 1500
:g
Q)
0 1000 Pop,!Pop,. 65%
:::l
vf,NH=96%
-25 co 500
-50 0 •• _........,!!'£
'"~;;~·--
150 200 250 300 350 0 250 500 750 1000
Mean Bubble Radius [J.tm] Bubble Radius [l!m]
Fig. 6. Bubble size vs. longitudinal distance (left) and bubble population vs. size (right).
The (real) bubble mean radius along the Y vertical axis of the flow (rotation
axis of the propeller) is reported in Fig. 6 (left). The mean radius increases al-
most linearly to almost 325 flm at Y=30 mm, where the propeller is located.
After the bubbles pass the immediate vicinity of the propeller, the radius is
found to follow the opposite trend, decreasing to about 200 flm. The growth
of bubbles is due to a very small extent to the decrease of the static pressure
with increasing Y. In fact, bubbles experience first the low pressure in the suc-
tion side of the propeller before reaching the high-pressure region where they
collapse.
Included in Fig. 6 (right) are the histograms calculated taking the same vol-
ume below and above Y=30 mm. The histogram peak follows the trend out-
lined before due to the pressure variations. The ratio of the upstream to the
downstream populations is 65%. However, the ratio of the respective void
fractions is close to 100%. These observations indicate that coalescence of
bubbles is the main mechanism acting here, although breakup may occur in
the immediate vicinity of the propeller.
A three-blade boat propeller is the second case. A similar configuration is used
here. The propeller is rotated at 12 rps. The velocity field represented in Fig. 7
is obtained by phase-averaging a sequence of 50 instantaneous velocity fields.
Spurious vectors can be seen on borders of the interrogation domain. A slice in
the velocity field, as shown in Fig. 8, clearly displays the high speed jet core
along the downstream section of the propeller axis. However, the isovelocity
contours displayed in Fig. 9 show a viscous wake that appears as a velocity de-
fect due to the merging of the two boundary layers from the blades. A slight
contraction of the slipstream could also be detected. The wake is found to
rapidly fade into the bulk flow.
Fig. 8. Velocicy cross-sec£ion in £he downstream region

Fig. 9. Isovelocity contours corresponding to Fig. 8.
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank the Office of Naval Research (contract

NOOO 14001011 0) for their continuing support in the development of this
technology.
The Defocusing Digital Particle Image Velocimetry (DDPIV) technology is
protected under a U.S. patent through the California Institute of Technology.
References
Adrian, R. ]., 1991, Particle-Imaging Techniques for Experimental Fluid Me-

chanics, Annual Review ofFluid Mechanics, Vol. 23, pp. 261-304.
Barnhart, D.H., Adrian, R.J. and Papen. G.C., 1994, Phase-conjugate Holo-
graphic System for High Resolution PIV, Applied Optics, Vol. 3, No.30,
pp.7159-7170.
Kasagi, N., and Sara. Y., 1992, Recent Development in Three-Dimensional
Particle Tracking Velocimetry, Proceedings of Flow Visualization
Conforence VI, Yokohama, Japan.
Pearlstein, A.J., and Carpenter, B., On the Determination of Solenoidal or
Compressible Velocity Fields From Measurements of Passive and Reactive
Scalars, Physics ofFluids, Vol. 7, No 4, pp. 754-763, 1995.
Pereira, F., Gharib, M., Modarress, M., and Dabiri, D, 2000, Defocusing
DPIV: A 3-component 3-D DPIV Measurement Technique, Application
to Bubbly Flows, Experiments in Fluids, Vol. 29.
Singh, A., Optic flow computation, IEEE, Computer Society Press, 1991.
Westerweel, J., 1993, Digital Image Velocimetry: Theory and Application, Delft
UP, Delft, Netherlands.
Willert C. E. and Gharib, M., 1992, Three-dimensional particle imaging with
a single camera, Experiments in Fluids, Vol. 12, pp. 353-358.
Willert, C., and Gharib. M., Digital Particle Image Velocimetry, Experiments
in Fluids, Vol. 10, pp. 181-183, 1991.
Molecular Tagging Velocimetry (MTV) and Its
Automotive Applications
M.M. Koochesfahani, A.C. Goh, and H.J. Schock
Automotive Research Experiment Station (ARES)

Department of Mechanical Engineering
Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824
Abstract.
This work provides an overview of the technique of Molecular Tagging Ve-
locimetry (MTV) and some of its automotive applications. The various ele-
ments of MTV implementation are briefly described in terms of the available
molecular tracers, methods of tagging, detection, and processing schemes.
The automotive applications of this velocimetry technique are demonstrated in
mapping the velocity field of the intake flow into a "steady flow rig" model of
an internal combustion engine and flow mapping of cycle-to-cycle variation in
late compression of a motored IC engine.
1. Introduction
Molecular Tagging Velocimetry (MTV) is a whole field optical technique
which relies on molecules that can be turned into long lifetime tracers upon
excitation by photons of an appropriate wavelength. Typically a pulsed laser is
used to "tag" the regions of interest, and those tagged regions are interrogated
at two successive times within the lifetime of the tracer. The measured Lagran-
gian displacement vector provides the estimate of the velocity vector. This
technique can be thought of as essentially a molecular counterpart of Particle
Image Velocimetry (PIV), and it offers advantages compared to particle-based
techniques where the use of seed particles is not desirable, difficult, or may lead
to complications. Figure 1 illustrates one implementation of the technique
where a planar grid of intersecting laser beams, formed from a pulsed excimer
laser at 308 nm, is used to turn on the luminescence of water-soluble su-
pramolecules that are premixed in a water flow of a vortex ring approaching a
solid wall at normal incidence (Gendrich et al. 1997). The displacement of
the tagged regions is determined using a direct spatial correlation method.
The conventional planar imaging shown in Figure 1 provides information on
144 M.M. Koochesfahani, A.C. Goh, and H .J. Schock
two components of the velocity vector, the projection onto the viewed plane.
Stereo imaging can produce the complete three components of the velocity
vector (Bohl et a!. 200 I).
L L
i
I I
(a) (b) (c)
Fig. l. Typical MTV image pairs and the resultant velocity field (Gendrich et al. 1997). The
flow shown is from a vortex ring impacting on a flat wall at normal incidence. The axis of
symmetry is indicated by the dashed lines. (a) The grid imaged I r..ts after the laser pulse. (b)
The same grid imaged 8 ms later. (c) The velocity field derived from (a) and (b).
The MTV technique has advanced significantly over the past decade in
terms of the availability of new molecular tracers, methods of tagging, detec-
tion/imaging, and data processing. This paper provides only a brief descrip-
tion of such details. More complete reviews, along with more extensive list of
related references and applications, can be found in Koochesfahani et al.
(1996) and Koochesfahani (1999, 2000).
2. Molecular Tracers, Tagging Methods, Detection, and

Processing
A molecular complex is suitable for molecular tagging applications if its life-
time as a tracer is long enough relative to the flow convection time scale to al-
low sufficient displacement of the tagged regions. The photophysics of the
tracer, in turn, dictates the type and number of photon sources needed for tag-
ging and interrogation.
The molecular tracers used to date in liquid-phase applications have most
often been based on photochromic molecules in organic solvents (Popovich &
Hummel 1967; Falco & Chu 1987), water-soluble caged fluorescent com-
pounds (Lempert et al. 1995), and specially engineered water-soluble phospho-
rescent supramolecules (Gendrich et al. 1997). Since none of these tracers is
naturally present in the flowing media where they are typically used, these
molecules are first premixed in the flowing liquid. For gas-phase applications,
techniques have been developed based on the use of excited-state oxygen
(Miles et al. 1987, 1989), ozone 0 3 (Pitz et al. 1996; Ribarov et al. 1999), OH
(Wehrmeyer et al. 1999), nitric oxide NO (Sijtsema et al. 2001; van der Laan
Molecular Tagging Velocimetry (MTV) and Its Automotive Applications 145
et al. 2003), phorodissociation of tert-butylnitrite (Kruger & Griinefeld 1999),

and phosphorescent molecules such as biacetyl (Stier & Koochesfahani 1999)
and acetone (Lempert et al. 2001). The first four of these tracers are generated
from species naturally present in air, i.e. oxygen and water vapor in humid air
or that generated as a result of combustion. As a result, their use is often re-
ferred to as "unseeded" applications. By contrast, the last three tracers have to
first be seeded into the flowing gas stream. All the gas-phase flow examples
given in Section 3 of this paper take advantage of biacetyl' s phosphorescence.
Tagging along single or multiple lines is perhaps the simplest method of
tagging and has been utilized in a large fraction of studies to date. An example
of line tagging is shown in Figure 2, illustrating the trailing edge region of a
NACA-0012 airfoil oscillating sinusoidally at a high reduced frequency of k =
8.8 and amplitude of 2 degrees (Koochesfahani & Bohl 2002). It is dear that
line tagging allows the measurement of only one component of velocity, that
normal to the tagged line. In addition, the estimate of this velocity component
has an inherent error associated with it, which is connected with the ambiguity
in the unique determination of the displacements of various portions of a
(continuous) tagged line. In order to unambiguously measure two components
of the velocity in a plane, the luminescence intensity field from a tagged region
must have spatial gradients in two, preferably orthogonal, directions. For sin-
gle-point velocimetry, this is easily achieved using a pair of crossing laser
beams; a grid of intersecting laser lines allows multi-point velocity measure-
ments as shown in Figure 1.
3 mm=0.025 C
Fig. 2. Multi-line tagging in the trailing edge region of an oscillating NACA-0012 airfoil. The
tagging pattern right after the laser pulse is a series of parallel lines with a spacing of 3 mm or
about 0.025 chord length.
The MTV image pairs are acquired by a pair of CCD detectors that view
the same region of interest in the flow through a beam splitter. Using a refer-
146 M.M. Koochesfahani, A.C. Goh, and H.J. Schock
ence target, the two cameras are aligned to within one pixel, and the remaining
residual displacement field between the two detectors is quantified to sub-pixel
accuracy and accounted for in subsequent data processing {for details see Gen-
drich et al. 1997). Immediately after the pulsed laser fires, the first detector re-
cords an initial image of the tagged regions. After a prescribed time delay, the
second detector records a second image of the tagged regions displaced by the
flow. As described in Gendrich et al. {1997), and Koochesfahani (1999), such
a two-image system offers advantages over the typical single-image system in
that no assumption needs to be made a priori about the intensity field in a
tagged region. For example, one can properly take into account the variations
in the initial tagging pattern {e.g. due to laser beam pointing instability, vibra-
tion of the optics, non-uniform tracer concentration, etc.), which could other-
wise be misinterpreted as flow velocity fluctuations. In situations where the
initial tagging pattern remains spatially invariant throughout the experiment, a
single detector is sufficient; the initial {or reference) tagging pattern is recorded
once, usually at the beginning of the experiment, and then the "delayed" im-
ages are acquired. In our work in liquid-phase flows, we use both non-
intensified frame transfer cameras and gated image-intensified detectors, de-
pending on the imaging requirements {e.g. field of view, time between image
pairs). In gas-phase applications, we use gated image-intensified detectors. See
Koochesfahani {1999) for several examples of applications in liquid and gas
phase flows. These detectors are nominally 512 x 512 pixel arrays operating at
30 or 60 frame/s. The images are typically digitized to 8 bits by two image ac-
quisition/ processing systems and transferred onto high capacity disk arrays in
real time.
A common method for finding the displacement of tagged lines or grids has
been to locate the center of each line through various techniques. Most of the
recent techniques use the best fit to an assumed laser line shape, for example, a
gaussian intensity distribution. A recent study {Hill & Klewicki 1996) gives
the accuracy in determining the displacement vector to be ±0.35 pixel rms.
The performance of this method will suffer when the intensity distribution of
the tagged regions cannot be assumed in advance, for example, due to non-
uniform tracer distribution, difficulties associated with laser beam transmission
through a flowing medium, bleaching effects, etc.
Our approach for finding the displacement of tagged regions is based on a
direct digital spatial correlation technique, and offers certain advantages over
the traditional line-center methods. In particular, it is a more general scheme
that is independent of the specific intensity distribution within a tagged region
and can accommodate arbitraty tagging patterns including those due to non-
uniform scalar mixing fields. The details of this approach and its performance
are described in Gendrich & Koochesfahani (1996). A small window, referred
to as the source window, is selected from a tagged region in the earlier image,
and it is spatially correlated with a larger roam window in the second image. A
well-defined correlation peak occurs at the location corresponding to the dis-
placement of the tagged region by the flow; the displacement peak is located to
sub-pixel accuracy using a multi-dimensional polynomial fit. Based on both
experiments and an extensive statistical study, it has been found that the dis-
placement of the tagged regions can be typically determined with a 95% con-
fidence limit of ±0.1 sub-pixel accuracy {i.e. 95o/o of the displacement meas-
urements are accurate to better than 0.1 pixel). This corresponds to an rms ac-
curacy of ±0.05 pixel, assuming a Gaussian distribution for error. For high
values of image SIN, the 95o/o confidence level can be as low as 0.015 pixel
(0.0075 pixel rms). An example of the application of this procedure is pro-
vided in Figure 1; the velocity vectors shown in this figure are "raw" and have
not been filtered or smoothed.
3. Examples of MTV Measurements

This section describes two recent automotive applications of MTV. Earlier
applications of this technique in an IC engine geometry include the first multi-
point velocity data in a two-stroke engine (Hilbert & Falco 1991) and meas-
urement of planar flow of consecutive cycles in a motored IC engine (Hascher
et al. 1998). Many more examples of other flows can be found in Koochesfa-
hani et al. (1996) and Koochesfahani (1999, 2000). These examples include,
among others, boundary layer resolved measurements of unsteady separation
on pitching airfoils (Gendrich 1998), vortex flows and mixing enhancement
(Cohn 1999), three-dimensional vortex core structure (Bohl 2002), and buoy-
ancy-driven convective flow in directional solidification (Wirtz et al. 1998;
Lum et al. 2001). In addition to purely velocimetry applications, recent stud-
ies are extending MTV to multi-variable mapping such as simultaneous veloc-
ity-concentration (Koochesfahani et al. 2000) and velocity-temperature
(Thomson & Maynes 2001; Hu & Koochesfahani 2003).
In the examples that follow, the phosphorescent tracer biacetyl is used for
MTV (Stier & Koochesfahani 1999). In this case, only one photon source is
needed, the tagging process occurs during the brief laser pulse and the long
lifetime tracer is the excited state molecule itself. However, because biaceyl's
phosphorescence is effectively quenched by oxygen, its use is limited to oxy-
gen-free environments (typically N 2 is used). In our work, a Lambda Physik
XeCl excimer laser (A. = 308 nm, 20ns pulse) is used as the excitation source.
Detection is achieved by Xybion (ISG-350-GW3) gated image-intensified
cameras, operating at 30 frame/ s.
3.1. Measurements in a "Steady Flow Rig" Model of an IC

Engine
The steady flow rig configuration is commonly used in the IC engine research
community to study the fundamentals of the intake flow. The particular ge-
ometry used consists of a quartz cylinder of radius R., = 41 mm, placed axi-
symmetrically around a nozzle with a valve body placed axisymmetrically in-
side the jet nozzle. In this case the flow exiting through the valve opening,
which simulates the intake flow into an IC engine geometry, is in the form of
an annular jet. In this study, the valve opening (valve lift) is set at L = 9 mm
and the maximum intake speed is about 10 m/s. The instantaneous accelera-
148 M.M. Koochesfahani, A.C. Goh, and H.]. Schock
tions in the shear layer at the interface between the intake jet and adjacent
fluid can be as high as 5000 g, making it difficult to rely on the results of parti-
cle-based techniques. The details of this work can be found in Stier &
Koochesfahani (1999).
Figure 3 shows a 3 em x 3 em field of view in the nirrogen/biacetyl flow
being investigated and the regions tagged by a grid pattern. Part of the valve
body and the left wall of the cylinder are visible in the picture. The maximum
flow speed in the annular jet entering the cylinder is about 10 m/s. Also
shown is an example of the later image of the tagged regions after a 50 ~s de-
lay. For this time delay, the maximum displacement of tagged regions is about
8 pixels (- 500 ~m). Image pairs such as those in Figure 3 are used to deter-
mine the instantaneous radial and axial velocity components in this flow field.
An example of the instantaneous velocity field and the structure of the intake
flow in this geometry are shown in Figure 4 along with the average velocity
field based on 320 realizations. The instantaneous flow map shows a highly
unsteady intake annular jet, which as has an undulating appearance with oppo-
site sign large scale vortical structures on its two sides. The mean flow map in-
dicates a large scale region of recirculation in the upper left corner of the en-
gine cylinder, a feature typical of an IC engine flow field. These data have also
been used to derive other properties of the flow such as the instantaneous and
average vorticity fields and velocity fluctuations (Stier & Koochesfahani 1999).
Tagged regions right Tagged regions 50 1-!S later;

after the laser pulse 3 em x 3 em field of view
Fig. 3 . Example of the tagging pattern for the gas flow into the steady flow rig (Stier &
Koochesfahani 1999).
va lve
:;;::::::::::: : ~;;;
, , I "' ....... - ... ' \ .. ~ •• I , I
cylinder ~~~~:::~::: ;: ;;;
I I I , ~ •• I I I ' ' I/
wall ~ I , I ••• • I j I I II
l rt •.• , , , , 11 /
I' • . • • • • •
/, •..•.• •
' '"· --,,~/
f l t ... .,.,l'//
/, ..... .. .
/ ;· · · ······
r' ' . .. ,.,// /"' .. - . , .•... ,
:~: ::;:,~/
. -- ..., . , / / / / / / "
·- ,~////// ,,_
/~~ :: :: :: ~:: ::
. - .. ' . '
.......... .
.... .
0 ' / / / / / 1 ' ;"' • , , o • •
I I I I 0 0 I
1 / / / / / / / .1'"'" • • • • • ' o o I o t
I I I I/
\I I I I
I'"'' ' •-' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' •'
I , , .. - • . • • • • • • ' •
I I I I , " • - ..•••••••
The instantaneous velocity field derived Time-averaged velocity field based on

from the image pair in Figure 3 using a 320 instantaneous realizations.
spatial correlation procedure.
Fig. 4. Intake flow into a steady flow rig model of IC engine measured with MTV using nitro-
gen seeded with biaceryl (Stier & Koochesfahani 1999).
3.2. Velocity Field during Late Compression in a Motored IC

Engine
One of the main obstacles in optimizing combustion in gasoline-fueled inter-
nal combustion engines is the large cycle-to-cycle variation in in-cylinder flow
and mixing characteristics. Cycle-to-cycle variability puts constraints on the
lean limits of combustion. In this study velocity field data were obtained using
MTV during late compression of an internal combustion engine, the most
critical time of the four-stroke cycle. Such data are highly sought since the state
of the flow just before the firing of the spark plug directly influences the sub-
sequent combustion and emission production.
The measurements are conducted in an optically accessible motored re-
search engine, see Figure 5. The engine specifications are given in Table 1.
The cylinder is made from quartz and the flat-head piston face is modified for
optical access through a quartz window. A typical MTV grid generated
within the engine cylinder is also shown in Figure 5. Measurements are made
at late compression at a crank angle of 270 CAD, as the piston approaches the
Top Dead Center (TDC) of the engine, with the engine running at 600 RPM.
For the conditions described here, and the engine compression ratio of nearly
10, the gas temperature can reach a value as high as 600K. The measurements
consist of 500 independent realizations of the velocity map at the same crack
angle (270 CAD) at the mid-tumble-plane. The position of the imaged plane
over which the velocity maps are obtained is given in Figure 6. Further details
of this work can be found in Goh (2001).
Table I. Engine specification
Model and Make Ford 4-Valve 4.6L

Bore and Stroke 90.2 mm I 90.0 mm
Connecting Rod Length 150.7 mm
Valve Activation DOHC
Intake Valve Diameter 37.0 mm
Exhaust Valve Diameter 30.0mm
Maximum Valve Lift 10.02 mm at 120 CAD
Zero CAD Intake TDC Intake TDC
Intake Valve Opening 6 CAD Before TDC
Intake Valve Closure 250 CAD After BDC
Exhaust Valv\e Opening 126 CAD After TDC
Exhaust Valve Closure 16 CAD After TDC
Compression Ratio 9.85: 1
Piston Top Flat
Optically accessible Ford 4-valve, 4.6L engine Sample MTV grid
Fig. 5. The optically accessible research engine and a typical MTV grid tagging the fluid within
the engine cylinder.
Molecular Tagging Velocimetry (MTV) and Irs Automotive Applications 151
Spark Plug
Imaged plane at late
~
compression , 270 CAD
-1
e
~
-2
>.
-3
piston
-4
-5
-6
0 2 4 5
X (em)
Two samples of the instantaneous velocity field, for two different engine cy-
cles, are shown in Figure 7. It is clear the flow pattern is significantly different
between these two realizations, an indication of the large cycle-to-cycle vari-
ability of the flow. The maps of the ensemble-averaged velocity field and the
rms fluctuation of the horizontal velocity component are computed from 500
such realizations, see Figure 8. As expected for a flow with large cycle-to-cycle
variation, the mean velocity field has little resemblance to the instantaneous
field; the local fluctuation level can be higher than the mean by several hun-
dred percent. The data shown in Figures 7 and 8 are the first cycle-resolved
velocity measurements that use molecular tracers rather than particles to de-
termine flow velocities in a piston-engine assembly. Such measurements en-
abled by the MTV imaging technique are being used to advance the under-
standing and quantification of cycle-to-cycle variability in an internal
combustion engine, and finding methods for reducing it (Goh 2001).
! 52 M.M. Koochesfahani, A.C. Goh, and H.J. Schock
. : • " ., "
-
I I
-1
·1 5
/ I I
I
I
I
I
I
I
.
/.
'
·1
' ' / // / .
. .. ..
I / ·1.5
,• _... _.
.'
/ I /
-2 / '
i i
·2 I / / ' I
I I
I
. • . ..
/
·2 5
•I /
• ••.
j -2.5
,.. ·3 ' ' .

I
,.. -3 .,
I I /
.
~
' '
-35
I
' ' -3.5 I ," _.
. _. ..
._ '
"
' '
6
Fig. 7 . Two instantaneo us realizations at 2:

of the fl ow fiel d.
-
5 mls
u' l
170
160
150
140
130
120
110
100
90
80
70
60
50
Fig. 8. Maps of the ensemble-averaged velocity fi eld and the rms flu ctuation of the horizo ntal
compo nent of velocity u' (in cm/s). Colo rs denote rms fl uctuation level.
Molecular Tagging Velocimetry (MTV) and Its Automotive Applications 15 3
4. Conclusions
A brief overview of the Molecular Tagging Velocimetry (MTV) technique is
given, along with two of its automotive applications. These applications in-
clude mapping the velocity field of the intake flow into a "steady flow rig"
model of an internal combustion engine and flow mapping of cycle-to-cycle
variation in late compression of a motored IC engine. The MTV approach
has continuously evolved and is now being utilized as a tool in both funda-
mental flow studies and applied engineering measurements.
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the MRSEC Program of the National Science
Foundation, Award Numbers DMR-9400417 and DMR-9809688, Depart-
ment of Energy Grant No. DE-FC02-99EE50574, and Ford Motor Com-
pany.
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(2003) Molecular tagging velocimetry in the wake of an object in super-
sonic flow, Exp. Fluids, vol. 34, 531-533.
Wehrmeyer, J. A., Ribarov, L. A., Oguss, D. A., and Pitz, R. W. (1999)
Flame flow tagging velocimetry with 193 nm H 20 photodissociation, Ap-
plied Optics, vol. 38, 6912-6917.
Wirtz, K., Koochesfahani, M. M., McGrath, J. ]., and Benard, A. (1998)
Molecular tagging velocimetry applied to buoyancy-driven convective
phenomena during solidification, ASME Paper HTD-vol. 361-4, 103.
Quantitative Flow Visualization for Large Scale
Wind Tunnels
R. Bommels, M. Machacek, A. Landolt, and T. Rosgen
Institute of Fluid Dynamics, ETH Zurich, Switzerland
Introduction
Despite the increased use of numerical simulations in the development and
performance optimization of aerodynamic vehicles wind tunnel tests still are of
fundamental importance in the related engineering design process. In order to
keep the cost down and to increase the data return from the expensive meas-
urement campaigns, there is an interest in improving and expanding the diag-
nostic tools available.
Recent developments in modern measurement technology, especially in the
areas of digital imaging and photonics, have led to the introduction of a num-
ber of computer-based, quantitative flow visualization tools. While these tech-
niques have rapidly gained acceptance in laboratory research, their introduc-
tion into the domain of commercial testing has been slower. This may be not
only due to the cost involved but also for a number of technical reasons.
The reliability, precision and flexibility of the new methods still have to be
improved to convert them into turn-key tools. Furthermore, there are some
problems associated with the scale-up from bench-top hardware to systems op-
erating in considerably larger and less controlled environments.
The paper will address some of those scaling issues. The specific require-
ments for large scale testing will be analyzed and a number of recent flow visu-
alization and measurement techniques are described which should be well
suited for such applications.
Generic Issues in Large Scale Flow Visualization

Image based flow measurements and visualization techniques provide anum-
ber of desirable features such as non-intrusiveness, remote access, and the si-
multaneous processing of multiple measurement stations. This last feature en-
ables also the computation of spatial gradients in unsteady flows, which is
useful in the detection and analysis of spatial flow structures. These properties
have led to the widespread introduction of such techniques in the laboratory,
158 R. Bommels et al.
where for example particle image velocimetry {PIV) has developed almost into
standard method within the last ten years {Kompenhans 2000).
In large scale facilities such as wind tunnels, there are a number of generic
problems which have delayed a similar progress. Although these problems are
at times simple and of a purely technical nature, they still can affect the func-
tionality and performance limits of various imaging techniques at a very fun-
damentallevel.
Most camera-based measurement methods require some form of active scene
illumination. Dependent on the capabilities of the cameras (high speed or slow
scan, direct integration or intensified, large or small dynamic range etc.) this
lighting may have to be pulsed or continuous, wide band (white) or spectrally
narrow-band and often of a considerable intensity. Incandescent lamps, lasers,
high-powered flash lamps or other, more specialized sources can usually be
found to meet these requirements. However, when arbitrary aerodynamic
models are to be inserted into the field of view, spurious surface reflections
may arise which cannot easily be controlled or eliminated. Since it is often the
flow close to the model surface which is of particular interest, the cameras' pix-
els can become saturated and the information is lost where it counts most.
Finding a locally optimized arrangement of illumination and observation an-
gles may temporarily solve the problem but it will arise immediately again if
the configuration is changed.
Another fairly common requirement in air flow diagnostics is the generation
of flow seeding. Usually micron-sized particles or droplets have to be chosen so
that the tracers can follow the flow with a sufficient fidelity. Since the back-
scatter signatures tend to be small, fairly high tracer densities have to be gener-
ated which may affect the overall visibility of the model and the optical access
in general, defeating in part the original purpose. More importantly, in many
imaging techniques the individual tracers have to be spatially resolved by the
recording device in order to extract the desired information. This puts con-
straints on the cameras' resolution and optical magnification which may in
turn severely limit the size of the field of view. In addition, there are issues re-
garding the chosen tracers' lifetime {too short, too long) and the environ-
mental and health impact of the sometimes corrosive or poisonous substances
involved.
For imaging techniques that require either long time integration periods or
comparisons with reference images, another problem may arise from a possible
lack of configurational stability. Model movements on the supports, facility vi-
bration and other uncontrolled effects may affect the precision with which the
position of the measurement points on the model surface can be determined.
In techniques such as pressure sensitive paint monitoring, where a pixel-by-
pixel referencing is necessary, even very small displacements can create signifi-
cant changes in the ratio images.
Finally, there are simple operational and financial constraints that have to be
accommodated. While the actual data taking with an imaging setup may be
done in a few seconds, the calibration and adaptation of that setup can be an
hour-long activity. This may lead to the situation where a specific measure-
ment technique is ruled out purely because of its operational complexity.
Quantitative Flow Visualization for Large Scale Wind Tunnels 159
Taking into account these technical constraints, there remain a few basic
choices which have to be made in the design and selection of a large scale,
quantitative flow visualization system.
In the laboratory, a certain preference has developed for imaging configura-
tions which exploit the Eulerian view of the flow such as in PIV. This may be
due to technical reasons (e.g. the need for strong illumination, available only in
light sheets) but is also related to the interest in spatial flow structures and gra-
dient properties. As a consequence, the flows under investigation are often
"tailored" to accommodate an essentially planar image acquisition philosophy.
Furthermore, the amount of raw data produced and the associated transfer and
storage requirements for a full 3-dimensional measurement grid would become
prohibitively large.
In flows around complex model surfaces, three-dimensionality is almost al-
ways present and a volumetric view of the measurement domain is necessary.
In order to keep the data complexity at a reasonable level, it may be more ad-
vantageous to rely on Lagrangian techniques, which track localized flow features
in time rather than providing spatially resolved snapshots.
A similar duality is present when one looks at the data processing philoso-
phies. The established approach is based on a time-global approach where all
data acquired during a measurement run are stored and utilized in a post-
processing step to extract the desired information. The need for fast, near real-
time data visualization and efficient data storage, however, does favor incre-
mental strategies where the incoming data are processed "on the fly" with only
a limited knowledge of the temporal flow evolution. Especially for Lagrangian
techniques (e.g. particle tracking methods), the choice of such an incremental
approach does have a significant impact on the overall processing scheme.
Finally, a balance has to be found between the requirements for fast data
analysis I presentation and the achievable measurement accuracy. For visuali-
zation-oriented schemes the temporal coherence of the data may be more im-
portant than the ultimate precision of each individual data point reading, cre-
ating a requirement for efficient error rejection, but not necessarily for error
correction. In other situations, the priorities are reversed in that accuracy is
more important than speed and an increased temporal effort (including aver-
aging multiple measurements or recursive processing) is considered acceptable.
Looking at these considerations, one may state that large scale diagnostic
applications create their own set of requirements which may be different from
those applicable to laboratory-style research. The measurement techniques
which are to be applied have to be adapted especially regarding their opera-
tional characteristics. At times, even the development of new methods de-
signed specifically for large scale environments may become necessary.
Candidate Technologies and Techniques

At the Institute of Fluid Dynamics of ETH, a medium sized wind tunnel (2m
x 3m test section, see Fig. 1) is being operated for educational and research
purposes, which was built in the 1930's by J. Ackeret.
Fig. 1: Medium scale wind tunnel at IFD I ETHZ
This facility is also used as a test bed for a number of advanced quantitative
imaging techniques which are being developed with true large scale applica-
tions in mind.
Pressure sensitive paints are being studied in cooperation with RUAG Aero-
space (CH) . Being a technique of obvious potential for wind tunnel applica-
tions, the research concentrates specifically on ways to eliminate the inherent
temperature sensitivity of the fluorescent paints used and the wind-on I wind-
off calibration procedure (see also Engler 2000).
A pulsed infrared thermography system has been installed to provide a tool
for the rapid visualization of laminar-turbulent transition and separation lines
on model surfaces. It utilizes a high power stroboscope (7500 W, approx. 7 J I
flash) in conjunction with a midwave (3-5mm) infrared camera (20 mK
NETD) to detect the subtle changes in surface heat transfer associated with
those flow phenomena. The technical challenge lies in the development of im-
aging strategies which are independent of the model's surface structure and
composition which can strongly affect the infrared signature (Le Sant 2002).
In the area of flow velocimetry, a Doppler global velocimeter is being devel-
oped based on a custom narrow band pulsed laser with two independent os-
cillators. This permits the simultaneous use as a PIV system for comparison
and the measurement of 3-dimensional velocity vectors with a single camera I
single view point arrangement.
At the same time a particle tracking velocimeter is being used to provide a
Lagrangian view of the flows under investigation. A pair of high speed cameras
tracks the motion of helium-filled soap bubbles which are used as low-inertia
tracers. The resulting three-dimensional path lines can be used to determine

velocities and topological information.
Finally, activities are under way to develop a simple real-time visualization
tool to enhance the information obtained from operating standard smoke
probes. Here the emphasis is strictly on the fast processing of the visual infor-
mation, not on the extraction of detailed quantitative information.
In the following, three of the above mentioned examples will be described
in more detail as they highlight the points made about large scale diagnostics.
Doppler Global Velocimetry

Doppler global velocimetry is a planar imaging technique designed to measure
three-dimensional velociry components. Instead of analyzing the displacement
of individual tracers (as in particle tracking velocimetry - PTV) or of small
tracer clusters (as in particle image velocimetry - PIV) one looks at the optical
Doppler shift of the moving tracers (Mosedale 2000, Samimy 2000). The
great advantage in doing this is that the individual particles do not have to be
resolved anymore by the recording camera. Any feature that moves with the
flow and crosses the illuminating light sheet will create the desired signature.
The camera magnification can be set so as to image the whole test section and
one of the major drawbacks of PTV I PIV - the limited recording area - is
avoided.
Fig. 2: Components of a DGV setup- seeded long pulse laser (left),

dual camera I iodine filter cell (right)
The price one has to pay for this improvement is twofold. First, the lasers
required to generate the light sheet have to be very stable and must emit a very
narrow-band radiation with an optical line width of, say, below 20 MHz. Such
lasers are available as CW systems, but the illumination in large facilities de-
mands higher intensities only available from pulsed systems (e.g. Nd:YAG la-
sers). Here a so-called injection seeder has to be used. A low power, highly sta-
ble ring laser injects seed radiation into the cavity of a Q-switched oscillator
which leads to a longitudinal mode selection and stabilization. Since the opti-
cal bandwidth of the emitted radiation is inversely proportional to the pulse

length I roundtrip time, the laser cavities can become fairly large (several me-
ters, see Fig 2) to support the desired bandwidth reduction.
The frequency shifts caused be the moving tracer clouds are on the order of
the ratio (flow velocity I speed of light), a very small number indeed. The
Doppler frequencies in the MHz regime cannot be detected directly since one
is using an integrating device (CCD camera) - imaging heterodyne detectors
are not (yet) available for those frequencies. A molecular filter cell filled with
iodine is used to convert frequency changes into intensity variations. Tuning
the laser frequency onto the edge of one of the absorption lines of iodine, any
Doppler shift in the imaged scenery can then be observed as a change in
transmission (Fig. 3). A camera pair monitors the filtered and unfiltered im-
ages and the ratio of both images encodes the velocity observed in the Doppler
sensitive direction (Fig. 2). Since each pixel can be processed separately and
independently, a very high spatial resolution can be achieved.
molecular tiltenng m an lo-

dme celt
'. l .. h ... _,
J:ft:,)•/1
l'~l
result : data image
Fig. 3: Operating principle of a molecular filter cell in DGV
The system operated at IFD is more advanced in that it operates two seeded
lasers in parallel to provide a double pulse capability as well. This facilitates the
use of the lasers in a PIV mode for comparison. As a matter of fact, if the scale-
up I resolution issue is not critical, a simultaneous DGV I PIV measurement is
possible. In such an arrangement, the out-of-plane (DGV) and in-plane (PIV)
velocity components in the light sheet can be measured with the same camera
system, creating a true 3-component velocimeter. (Normally, different velocity
components are measured with separate camera systems in an all-DGV con-
figuration) .
Besides the advantages cited so far, DGV as a large scale imaging technique
is also affected by some inherent limitations. First of all, the intensity ratioing
approach for the computation of velocities makes DGV into an essentially
analogue technique. The intensity reading of a single camera pixel is affected
by a number of factors (sensor non-uniformities, background noise, gain non-

linearities, etc.) which have to be carefully compensated. In addition, pulsed
laser illumination leads to the appearance of speckles in the images which have
to be eliminated. Spatial filtering can achieve this, but at the cost of a reduced
spatial resolution.
Figure 4 shows an image sequence acquired with a special test target (rotat-
ing disc). The processed ratio image shows a component of the overall disc
rotation velocity vector. Note also that the surface features can be used in con-
nection with a second image pair to compute the in plane velocity components
with PIV.
Fig. 4: DGV images or a rotating disc target: filtered (left), unfiltered (center), processed (right)
3D Particle Path Line Tracking

The path line tracking system which is described next may serve as an example
for a Lagrangian imaging technique. It is based on the tracking of helium filled
soap bubbles as they flow through the field of view of a stereo camera system
(Fig. 5).
In contrast to most established tracking schemes, the bubbles are not im-
aged based on a short-time flash exposure but rather using continuous lighting.
Their signature on the integrating CCD sensors (120 frames/s) is thus a short,
continuous path line segment. The correspondence problem is solved by
looking at the bubble signatures as they cross the boundaries between con-
secutive image frames. This creates a unique coordinate in space-time which
can easily be linked to the complementary second camera view using the
epipolar matching condition known from photogrammetry theory. Velocity
information is derived from the measurement of the bubbles' displacement
within and across the individual image frames (Machacek 2002).
While the approach is quite robust, the technique is affected by some of the
problems listed above. Reflections from walls or models can become quite
prominent and the best tracking results tend to be generated in the wake re-
gions away from any solid surface. The situation may be improved by increas-
ing the number of independent views of the scene (i.e. cameras) but other al-
ternatives appear to be more promising in the long term. Preliminary studies
have been performed on the utility of fluorescent and I or smoke filled bubbles
which could increase the image contrast in the surface reflection regions.
164 R. Biimmels et a!.
However, issues regarding the environmental safety and pollution have to be

considered and have not yet been resolved.
• I
Frame Grabber I, <!
--- ---
_______Wind Twmel
Virtual \\'ind Tumtcl Ennronmenl
Fig. 5: chemaric of rhe stereo parh line rra ki ng ~yMem
Another aspect of generic importance is the photogrammetric calibration of

the camera systems involved. This can be divided into the tasks of finding the
cameras' inner parameters (e.g. lens distortion, focal lengths) and the outer pa-
rameters such as camera orientation in space and relative positioning (Ruyten
2002). Especially the measurement of the spatial orientation requires a cali-
bration or reference structure of known geometry which has to be inserted into
the field of view. When large volumes have to be imaged these calibration
structures also tend to become very large and difficult to handle I position.
Poinl :tourel' LEI)",
Fig. 6: Outer parameter calibration using a synthesized calibration target:

calibration rod (left) ; cloud of accumulated reference points (right)
In the present arrangement, the outer parameters are determined using a

synthetic target created by moving a calibration rod (length L=0.5m) through
the measurement volume (see Fig. 6). Two point-source LEDs on the rod ere-
ate a "cloud" of reference points with a known relative distance from which
the unknown parameters can be deduced (Borghese 2000).
A typical result of a reconstructed path line field is shown in Fig. 7 . The
vortex flow behind a delta wing is clearly visible in this 30 rendering of the re-
constructed bubble tracks. The color coding of the individual tracks is an indi-
cation of the relative velocity of the helium bubbles forming the path lines.
Fig.~, llo" bc:hind .1 ddt.l wing vi,u.llitnl u'ing .)!) rc:\:Oil\ln!Unlp.uh line:'
Direct Digital Visualization

As a last example, some elements and results of a direct visualization technique
will be described. Here the idea is to reduce the amount of data processing
and, more importantly, data interpretation, to a minimum and to produce
simply an enhanced view of the measurement scene which is interpreted by the
observer rather than the computer.
As a last example, some elements and results of a direct visualization tech-
nique will be described. Here the idea is to reduce the amount of data proc-
essing and, more importantly, data interpretation, to a minimum and to pro-
duce simply an enhanced view of the measurement scene which is interpreted
by the observer rather than the computer.
This type of context-insensitive processing can usually be done in real-time,
that is faster than the normal camera acquisition frame rate (25 frames/s).
Since the data is updated rapidly, no sophisticated noise reduction and I or er-
ror handling is required: the human observer is usually very tolerant towards
transient visualization faults.
The main advantage of such a tool, its true interactiveness, is difficult to de-
pict in static images. To give an indication, Fig. 8 shows a typical scene from a
wind tunnel test where a smoke probe is used to visualize the flow around a
car. The second image shows a streak line picture which is assembled out of
the live camera frames in real time. As the smoke probe is traversed, the com-
puter builds up a cumulative image of all streak lines as they are extracted from
the smoke trails.
166 R. Bi:immels et a!.
The challenges in this type of processing are once again primarily the light-
ing and choice of seeding. In addition, fast processing hardware is required but
the rapid increase in computing power means that dedicated hardware such as
pipelined image processors can successively be replaced by general purpose
CPUs.
Fig. 8: Real-time processing of smoke trails into a cumulative streak line picture
Summary
Quantitative flow visualization based on the processing of remotely acquired
image data can significantly enhance the understanding and analysis of engi-
neering flows. Modern techniques such as Doppler global velocimetry, pres-
sure sensitive (fluorescent) paints or infrared thermography make use of ad-
vanced lasers and image detectors to provide the optical raw data that are
subsequently transformed into the desired flow information (velocity, tem-
perature, pressure, etc.). While the different principles of operation have been
successfully verified, there are still a number of generic technical issues which
have to be resolved before one can expect a routine use in commercial facilities.
Examples were given for a DGV system, a 30 particle tracking velocimeter
and a simple yet powerful real-time visualization tool. All systems are designed
for operation irrespective of the large scales involved (several meters field of
view). The control of the illumination and the seeding density remain as a
problem which is directly related to the geometrical size and complexity of the
measurement environment. The scaling issues will remain one of specific
problems in large scale flow diagnostics which are not found on the laboratory
scale and must thus be addressed separately.
References
Borghese NA; Cerveri P; (2000) Calibrating a video camera pair with a rigid
bar, Pattern Recognition 33: 81-95
Engler RH; Klein C; Trinks 0 (2000) Pressure sensitive paint systems for
pressure distribution measurements in wind tunnels and turbomachines,
Meas. Sci. Techno!. 11: 1077-1085
Kompenhans J; Raffel M et al (2000) Particle Image Velocimetry in Aerody-

namics: Technology and Applications in Wind Tunnels, J. of Visualization
2: 229-244
Le Sam Y; Marchand M; Millan P; Fontaine J (2002) An overview of infrared
thermography techniques used in large wind tunnels, Aerospace Sci.
Technol. 6: 355-366
Machacek M; Rosgen T (2002) Photogrammetric and Image Processing As-
pects in Quantitative Flow Visualization, Ann. N.Y: Acad. Sci. 972: 36-42
Mosedale AD; Elliot GS; Carter CD; Beumer TJ (2000) Planar Doppler Ve-
locimetry in a Large-Scale Facility, AIAAJournal38 (6): 1010-1024
Ruyten W (2002) More Photogrammetry for Wind-Tunnel Testing, AIAA
Journal 40 (7): 1277-1283
Samimy M; Wernet MP (2000) Review of Planar Multi-Component Veloci-
metry in High-Speed Flows, AIAAJournal38 (4): 553-574
Aerodynamics Experiments & CFD
An Experimental Study of the Generic Conventional
Model (GCM) in the NASA Ames 7 -by-1 0-Foot
Wind Tunnel
Dale Satran
NASA Ames Research Center, USA
The 1/8-scale Generic Conventional Model (GCM) was studied

experimentally in the NASA Ames 7- b 10-Ft Wind Tunnel. The model was
designed for validation of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) for a realistic
model of a conventional tractor-trailer vehicle with the engine in front of the
cab. The model was simplified so that mirrors, exhaust stacks, flow through
engine compartment, and other details were not defined on the model. The
gap berween the tractor and trailer could be varied from 40 to 80 inches full
scale. The model was tested with and without wheels. Side and roof extenders
were tested that enclosed the gap from 30 to 60 percent. Two trailer
configurations (conventional and lowboy) were tested. Aerodynamic boattail
plates were also tested on the back of the trailer for both configurations. A
simplified configuration was also tested were the gap berween the tractor and
trailer was filled in. Experimental measurements included the body-axis forces
and moments on the total vehicle, the body-axis drag and yawing moment of
the tractor, surface pressures on the vehicle, unsteady pressures on the rear of
the tractor and the front and rear of the trailer, oil-film interferometry to
measure skin friction, and 3-D particle image velocimetry (PIV) in the gap
and behind the trailer. For the basic model, a strong hysteresis effect was
observed on the aerodynamic forces and moments with the drag changing over
35% in the loop at yaw angles greater than 10°. The wind-averaged drag
coefficients for the model without and with side extenders were 0.594 and
0.437, respectively. Besides reducing the drag, the side extenders also
eliminated the aerodynamic hysteresis. PIV measurements in the gap berween
the tractor and trailer indicate the strength of the vortical flow in the gap was
significantly weaker with the side extenders installed. In the lowboy trailer
configuration with side extenders, the wind-averaged drag coefficient was
0.376. For the conventional and lowboy trailer configurations with side
extenders, the wind-averaged drag coefficients were 0.397 and 0.309,
respectively. The methodology for calculation of the force and pressure
coefficients is included to facilitate comparison berween computation and
experiment.
The Measurement of Wake and Gap Flows of the
Generic Conventional Truck Model (GCM) using
Three-Component PlY
James T. Reineck, Stephen M. Walker, and Dale Satran
Experimental Physics Group, Aeronautical Projects and Programs Office,

NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA, 94035
Abstract
Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) measurements were acquired in the wake of the
trailer and in the gap between the tractor and trailer of the Generic Conventional
Model (GCM) truck for the US Department of Energy. The data will be used both
for validation of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) codes and for understanding
the flow physics. The GCM is a 1!8th-scale, moderate-fidelity model of a full-scale
truck. The test was performed in the Army/NASA 7x10 wind tunnel at NASA
Ames Research Center. Surface pressure and force measurements were made prior
to the PIV measurements. PIV measurements were made at two yaw angles and at
three horizontal planes for three model configurations, each at a free-stream veloc-
ity of 52 m/s (Mach 0.15), which corresponds to a Reynolds number of 1 x 106 ,
based on the width of the tractor. This paper discusses the PIV system, samples of
flow data and some of the observed features that may have contributed to the meas-
ured drag.
Introduction
A multi-agency effort led by the US Department of Energy (DOE) is underway to
help truck and trailer manufacturers increase fuel efficiency of heavy vehicles. An
important part of the program is to reduce aerodynamic drag. This part of the effort
includes the development of computational fluid dynamics codes and the perform-
ance of experiments in both wind tunnels and full-scale road tests. The GCM is a
moderate fidelity 1!8th-scale model of a modem engine-forward tractor and trailer.
The level of fidelity is high enough to represent the flow of the modem full-scale
truck, though not so detailed as to make CFD gridding prohibitive. Figure 1 is a
photograph of the model installed in the test section.
174 J.T. Heineck, S.M. Walker, and D. Satran
Fig. I. Photograph of basic configuration of the Generic Conventional Model.
The PIV measurements were made on the basic model configuration (Fig. I),
then the basic model tractor with side-extensions that spanned 50% of the gap
width (Fig. 2A), and then basic model with trailer boat-tail plates (Fig. 2B). For the
basic configuration, the gap was 5 inches, The trailer back face was flat and no
skirts covered the wheels along the trailer. The balance measurements from the
aerodynamics testing phase of these experiments showed these devices reduced
drag.
A B
Fig.2. Photographs of the glass side extenders (A) and the trailer boat-tail (B).
The PIV test matrix included combinations of the parameters. There were two
flow areas of interest; the wake and the gap. Two model configurations were tested
for each area; the basic and the basic with drag reduction treatment. Then two yaw
angles for each location; 0 degree and I 0 degrees. The data set for each flow area
consisted of three vertical locations of the horizontal data planes: I ,4, 112 and 3/4 of
the trailer height of each area of interest was measured with and without the drag
reduction devices at two yaw angles. Extra data sets were acquired in response to
preliminary analysis of the drag data. A feature in the balance data showed that
drag suddenly decreases when the model was at approximately II degrees. Also, a
The Measurement of Wake and Gap Flows of the Generic Conventional Truck Mode 175
weak vortex generated off the top of the trailer was observed when the model was
yawed at angles greater than 5 deg. An extra data set was acquired with the plane
oriented in a vertical cross-stream manner, 9 inches aft of the trailer. All conditions
were for M=O.I5 (52 rn!s). The Reynolds number for this condition was I x 106 •
The PIV System

The three-component PlY technique requires the use of two digital cameras, each
viewing a laser light sheet from an oblique angle and imaging the same area of in-
terest simultaneously (Arroyo and Greated, 199I, Willert, I997). The cameras re-
cord the motion of particles as they move within the laser light sheet by making
separate exposures at Time 1 and Time 2. The two time-separated images from
each camera are cross-correlated to determine the displacement of the particle im-
ages. These vectors are calculated using these displacements. By viewing the same
area of interest from two viewpoints, the perspective difference seen by each cam-
era permits a mathematical derivation of the cross-plane component of the velocity
vector. Figure 3 is an illustration of the stereoscopic three-component PlY concept.
,' I
I , I
\ , I
View 2
View 1 \ ',
,
,/'
I
/
2
• •
3 \1 ,,,'' 1/ 2
•
3
\ ,' I
, I
I A I
\ , I
\ ,' I
\ , I
I , I 3mm 1 mm
\ , I
\ , I
'' 0 0
•
Particle Pairs 1 2 Time 1
T 11&
Fig.3. Illustration of the camera and laser plane relationship for three-component PIV.
In this illustration, three flow conditions are represented as particle pair exam-
ples. Pair I indicates a positive flow direction with a significant in-plane displace-
ment. The two camera views render that motion quite differently, which demon-
strates the perspective difference that is exploited to calculate the third component.
Pair two represents cross-plane flow. Pair 3 represents reverse (relative to Pair 1)
flow.
The geometry of the model dictated the placement of the cameras. The gap flow
could only be viewed from above and to the side to permit off-normal imaging of
the laser plane. The plane for the wake was oriented horizontally in order to capture
the wake convergence. Thus, the PIV system design parameters followed these
constraints.
The PIV system consisted of two Kodak ES 4.0 cameras (2048x2048 pixels),
two New Wave Gemini PIV laser systems, IDT Provision software for calibration,
acquisition and data reduction, hardware for synchronization signal timing and re-
mote focusing, sheet forming optics and a micro-particle generator. Two lasers
were used so that both cameras received forward-scattered illumination of the seed
particles. The forward scatter position receives more than 20 times the light than
the back scatter position. The cameras were unable to render the particles in back-
scatter position; therefore the second laser was necessary. The light sheet from each
laser was matched for output and formed with identical optics.
Figure 4 is an illustration of the system position relative to the model. This fig-
ure shows how the two laser sheets were aligned to each other: the sheets were
made level, then the support frames were moved vertically to place the planes at the
proper height.
• •
Laser~ and projection optics
Fig. 4. Illustration of PIV system design looking upstream.
Spatial resolution of the region of interest is determined by the magnification of

the region and the pixel resolution of the cameras. This value, given in mm/pixel,
indicates the minimum particle pattern displacement to render a flow feature . The
image area for the gap was approximately 14 in (0.36m) and was limited to the
width of the gap, which was 5 in. (0.13m) in the streamwise direction. Thus, the
spatial resolution was 0.15mm/pixel. In the wake, the image area was considerably
larger: 1100 mm (43 in.) in the span-wise direction x 600 mm (24 in.) in the
stream-wise direction. This makes the spatial resolation for the wake 0.5mm/pixel.
The larger image area permitted us to image the convergence of the wake for both
the 0 degree case and the 10 degree case without having to move the cameras. Fig-
ure 5 is an illustration of the laser planes and regions of interest.
The Measurement of Wake and Gap Flows of the Generic Conventional Truck Model 177
1::0 In
Fig. 5. Laser planes (green) and regions of interest (white boxes).
Referring to Figure 3 once again, the laser sheet thickness is shown as 3 mm.
The highest probability for image-to-image correlation occurs when the the highest
number of particle pairs from image to image remain within the interrogation area.
The particles moving through the laser plane must remain in the laser plane for this
to occur. The optimal cross-plane displacement should be 1/4 - 113 of the sheet
thickness (Willert, 1997). Therefore, the maximum cross-plane displacement of the
particle motion was limited to lmm. The actual thickness of the sheet projected for
this experiment was 3mm as well. The magnitude of the measurable in-plane parti-
cle displacements is limited by the cross-plane component. When examining the
gap data, even the worst case permits sufficient particle displacement to allow for
an accurate measurement. In that example, a 1 mm cross plane displacement is re-
corded as a displacement of 5 pixels. The same case for the wake measurement
would get recorded by slightly less than 2 pixels, due to the lower magnification;
therefore the local measurement uncertainty increases. Purely cross-plane flow oc-
curred in a small region in the wake where the wake converged. The rest of the
flow was primarily in the in-plane direction. The measurement uncertainty was ap-
proximately 2% for the in-plane components and 4% for the cross-plane component
for any instantaneous measurement.

The following plots are averages of 50 instances. Each instance has more than
10,000 individual vectors calculated. Only the l/2 height planes are presented here
to conserve space, with the exception of Fig.l2, which is from the 1/4 height data
set. The plots are oriented in model coordinates whose axes are depicted in Figure
178 J.T. Reineck, S.M. Walker, and D. Satran
6. In each plot, the cross-plane component is in contour, which in model coordi-
nates is V. The flow is from bottom to top in each of the plots. The in-plane veloci-
ties are not apparent in the streamlines, but the streamlines clearly indicate the
change in the flow structure.
Fig.6. Axes of plots.

Wake Flow Data
Comparisons of the flow-field data that result from the basic and boat-tail configu-
rations quickly demonstrate the efficacy of this device. In Figures 7 and 8, the view
of the wake is from above, with the back of the trailer located at x=2460 mm and
centered z=O. The width of the trailer is 325 mm. The wake is shown to have re-
duced cross-flow velocities (V) in both the 0 and 10 degree cases when the boat-tail
is attached. The length of the wake in the 0 degree case is reduced by approxi-
mately 540 mm in the basic case to 440 mm in the boat-tail case, which is a 15%
reduction.
In Fig.8, the plot of the wake at 10 degrees demonstrates the reduction in the
magnitudes of the V component with the use of the boat-tail. A similar reduction in
the wake length is also realized. Another flow feature rendered in these plots is the
weak vortex formed on the top of the trailer. This vortex is oriented horizontally
and is propagated in the free stream. The data plane passes through the structure in
a horizontal cross-cut. The evidence of the vortex is the positive cross-plane flow
next to negative flow.
Average wake of basic truck, 112 height, 0 deg

3200
t
)100
3000
E
1900
Flow.
E
x I 0
2Tn0
~f>n
800 600
z, mm V. m s
10 00
Average wake ortruckwith boattaii, 112 height, 0 dog 800
3100
6 00
3100 •oo
J 00
3000 000
E .00
E 1900
x· '00
11100 • 00
8 00
1700 ·10 00
·800 600 600
Fig. 7. Streamline plots of the mean wake flows at 0 deg of the GCM without and with the
boattail. The color contour renders the vertical component, V.
Average of basic truck wake, 112 he igh~ 10 deg yaw
t
Flow.
600
V. m s
0 00
Average of truck wake with boattall. 112 height. 10 dog
8 00
; 00
• 00
• 00
0 00
·2 00
• 00
• 00
·8 DO
·10 00
600
Fig . 8. Streamline plots of the mean wake flows at 10 deg yaw without and with the
boattail plates. Color contour renders the vertical component, V.
Gap Flow Data
The gap flow data show similar improvements. Fig.9 contrasts the flows without
and with side extenders for the 0 deg case. Fig. I 0 are plots of the I0 deg case. Note
in both cases, the vortex strength and the V component of the flow reduces dra-
matically with the use of side extenders.
Figure II is the plot of the drag vs. yaw angle from the aerodynamics data. PlY
data were collected at II degrees, where this sudden drop in drag occurs. Figure 9
shows the flow patterns of the high drag state at 10 degrees and the low drag state
at 11 deg.
Average of gap ftow. 1/2 height, 0 deg yaw
E
750
700 Flow,
t
E
X-
650
600
·100 ·100 0 100 200
z, mm v . m/s
Average of gap now with 50% side extenders. 112 height. o degyaw 25 00
10 00
15 00
750
1000
5 00
0 00
E 700
· 500
E
X- ·1000
650 ·1500
· 20 00
·25 00
600
·100 ·100 100 100
z . mm
Fig. 9, Streamline plots of 0 deg mean gap flows without and with side extenders. Color
contour plots the vertical component, V.
Awrage gap ftow.1 /2 height. 10 deg. vaw
Tl3ller Front
750
E 700
E
x
Flo". U
650
600
·200 0 100 200
z . mm V, m/s
Average gap flow with 50 % side extenders . 112 height 1Odeg.vaw 25 00
20 00
Tnollor Front 15 00
750
10 00
5 00
E 700 0 00
E ·5 00
x ·10 00
650 ·15 00
·20 00
·25 00
600
·200 ·100 I 00 200
z mm
Fig. 10, Streamline plots of 10 deg mean gap flows without and with side extenders .
Color contour shows vertical component, V in the same scale as Fig. 7.
0.8
0.75
__..,_ _Yaw
0.7
0.65
Cl ------ +Yaw
(.) 0.6
0.55 ____.,__ 2.5" Side
0.5 Exta1ders
0.45
0.4
-16 -12 -8 -4 0 4 8 12 16
Beta
Fig.ll, Drag polar for basic model and basic with 50% side extenders. (Satran, 2003)
11 deg Yaw, low-drag state
WrntM'I
2000
2000
1000
1000
500
000
~co
· 1000
· 1500
·2000
·2500
Flow, U
10 deg Yaw, high-drag state
w ""
2500
2000
1000
1000
500
000
-500
· 1000
- 1500
2000
-2500
Fig. 12. Streamline plots of mean gap flow at 1/4 -height at II deg (low drag) and 10 deg
(high drag) with vertical component V in color contour.
In Fig.l3, the two surface pressure plots from Satran, (2003) were manipulated
to offer a perspective view of the gap's pressure distribution. The streamline plot
from Fig.8 of the gap flow of the basic tractor configuration was scaled and placed
in the appropriate position, at I/2 height. This composite shows the viewer there-
lationship between the recirculation (or vortex) region to the low pressure region on
the back of the tractor.
This same style of composite is presented for the tractor side-extension case.
With both the velocity contours and pressure contours are plotted using the same
scale. It becomes clear that the reduced gap flow has reduced the pressure differen-
tial between the tractor back and the trailer front. The drag polar plot in Figure II
demonstrates the difference in measured drag with and without extension. But the
pressure reduction and flow field change may be a result of some other flow
mechanism and not a cause of the drag hysteresis. Another mechanism may cause
the change in circulation, where the change in the flow through the gap is the result
of a change in the condition along the trailer that induces axial drag. These discus-
sions are left to future articles.
0.0 0.5 1.0

Cp
-25 -10 0 10 25 Trailer Fronl.

Vmean. m/s ( p in con1our ror
bolh race')
-1 .5 -1 .0 -0.5 0.0 0.5 1.0

Cp
-25 -10 0 10 25
Vmean. m/s
Fig. 13. Composite illustrations of the surface pressures in the gap (without and
with side extenders) and a flow field plot at 1/2 height. Surface pressure contours in
Cp and flow field contour of Vmean, in m/s.
Conclusion
Flow measurements were made around a tractor-trailer model called the Generic
Conventional Model (GCM). Three-component PIV measurements of the wake and
gap flows clearly render the changes in flow patterns caused by aerodynamic drag
reduction devices. Furthermore, a vortex structure in the gap was shown to cause a
hysteresis in the drag polar measured by Satran in the first phase in these experi-
ments. The goal of creating a database for the truck engineering and research com-
munity was advanced with the addition of these measurements.
References
Arroyo, M.P, Greated, C.A., "Stereoscopic particle image velocimetry", 1991,

Measurement Science and Technology 2, pp. 1181-1186
Raffel, M, Willert, C.E., Kompenhans, J.; Particle Image Velocimetry. A Practical
Guide, 1998 Springer-Verlag
Willert, C., "Stereoscopic digital particle image velocimetry for application in wind
tunnel flows" 1997, Measurement Science and Technology 8, pp. 1465-1479
On the Aerodynamics ofTractor-Trailers
M. Hammache and F. Browand
Dept. of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, University of Southern

California
Abstract
Wind tunnel experiments on the aerodynamics of tractor-trailer models show

that the drag on the model is sensitive to the width of the tractor-trailer gap
(G) and to the angle of yaw with respect to wind direction. At zero-yaw,
relatively low drag is measured up to a critical gap width G/vA = 0.5, where A
is the cross-sectional area. At the critical width the drag experiences a sharp
and large increase; most of the drag contribution is attributed to the trailer
alone. As the gap is widened further, tractor and trailer become increasingly
decoupled from each other and the drag reaches a near-plateau, rising much
more gradually.
DPIV measurements in horizontal planes in the gap show that the flow is
steady and consists of a relatively stable, symmetric toroidal vortex when the
width is below critical. The symmetry breaks down at the critical gap, as
evidenced by intermittent ejections of flow from the cavity to either side of the
model. These ejections are believed to be at the origin of the sharp increase in
trailer drag. As the gap width is increased further, the nature of the flow
transitions from cavity-like to wake-like.
These observations can be qualitatively extended to moderate yaw angles
(up to ~4 degrees), but the size of the critical gap width diminishes with yaw
angle. At higher angles, the drag rises much faster with gap width.
The second part of this paper discusses the drag savings that can be
realized by arranging two truck-like models in a tandem. Four tandems were
formed by combining two models; each of the models was either "rounded"
(i.e. lower drag) or "blunt" (higher drag). The drag of any tandem is generally
lower than the sum of the drags of the models in isolation. However, the drag
savings also depends on the choice of models (rounded vs. blunt) and on
which model is placed in front. A rounded model followed by a blunt model
achieves the most relative drag savings, while reversing the order produces the
tandem with the least savings.
186 M. Hammache and F. Browand
Introduction
At typical cruising highway speeds, most of the fuel consumed by a large scale
road vehicle is expended to simply overcome aerodynamic drag, even in the
absence of unfavorable wind conditions. The remaining fuel expenditure is
needed to overcome the rolling resistance on tires and internal losses. The fuel
efficiency of tractor-trailers, which account for the greatest portion of heavy
vehicle traffic by a large margin, is influenced by the shape and physical
dimensions of these vehicles. Shape and scale are themselves severely
constrained by economic considerations (the parallelepiped shape of trailers is
meant to optimize volume loading) and by regulatory constraints (truck
dimensions are fixed and drag-reduction devices cannot exceed specified
limits).
A look at the evolution of tractor-trailer design over the last several
decades reveals gradual aerodynamic improvements to the front of vehicles,
namely from the front of the tractor to the front of the trailer, but very little
has been done to improve the back of trailers. Tractors have benefited from
tremendous improvements, such as the adoption of the aero-shield as an
integrated part of the cab. The problem of the gap berween tractor and trailer,
which is an important source of drag, has been partly mitigated by the
introduction of cab extenders that effectively reduce the size of the gap but do
not eliminate it entirely.
In contrast, trailers have seen little modification, aside from the rounding
of their vertical leading edges in the front. The fact that hard-shell trailers are
designed to be loaded from the back makes the implementation of drag
reduction devices in the back particularly challenging. Truck operators are
extremely reluctant to deal with any type of physical device that may interfere
with routine loading and unloading operations.
The main objective of this paper is to investigate the impact of tractor-
trailer gap width on the drag forces experienced by a truck. The study relies on
detailed measurements performed on truck models in a wind tunnel. These
models are not replicas of actual trucks that can be seen on the roads, but
rather truck-like shapes. While these shapes are simplified to the extent that
they do not incorporate any of the secondary features of real vehicles (such as
mirrors, handlebars, cab extenders, etc ... ), they do capture the first order
effects that account for virtually all aerodynamic forces acting on a real truck.
Also, it is worth noting that Reynolds number matching is not achievable in
our flow facility because of limitations on model size and flow speeds.
However, the experiments discussed here are not meant to simulate the flow
around an actual tractor trailer. Instead, the goal is to unveil relevant flow
physics that can be generalized, at least to a first order, to higher Reynolds
numbers. The simplified shapes also have the advantage of lending themselves
to numerical computations. The elimination of detailed features on the models
allows numerical computations to be conducted without the costly burden of
On the Aerodynamics ofTractor-Trailers 187
complicated grids~ As a result, the present data constitutes a suitable

benchmark for various Computational Fluid Dynamics codes.
The truck models were mounted on a turn-table, which allows simulations
of side wind by turning the truck with respect to the incoming free-stream.
The turntable rotation is motorized and allows wind tunnel tests to be
performed at angles of yaw up to 30 degrees. Digital particle image
velocimetry (DPIV) measurements were obtained of the flow field in the gap
between tractor and trailer at different combinations of gap width and angle of
yaw. The tractor and trailer were mounted on separate force balances that
measured three forces (drag, side and lift) and three moments (yawing,
pitching and rolling), although this paper is restricted to a discussion of drag
and side force measurements. The use of two separate balances allowed a better
understanding of the respective contributions of tractor and trailer
aerodynamic loads to the aggregate loads exerted on the truck as a whole.
In the second part of this paper, we examine the aerodynamic drag of two
trucks in a tandem configuration at zero-yaw. Considerable fuel savings for
each vehicle in a platoon of road vehicles (in comparison to the same vehicles
traveling in isolation) have been observed in the past. The present experiments
serve to quantify the drag savings and unveil some surprising and counter-
intuitive characteristics of dual-vehicle platoons. Some of these results are
believed to be applicable to multi-vehicle platoons as well.
The flow facility

Experiments were conducted in the test section of the Dryden wind tunnel at
USC, a re-circulating flow facility with a top speed of 30 m/s. The test section
is octagonal in cross section; the sides of the octagon are 1.37 m apart. For the
purpose of ground vehicle studies, a ground-plane has been placed in the wind
tunnel such that 5 sides of the octagon lie above the plane. The ground-plane
is actually a shallow box that spans the width of the wind tunnel, 1.37 m, and
is approximately 5.8 m in length. The ground-plane box houses a stepper-
motor-controlled traverse that opens and closes the gap by moving the trailer
in the downstream direction. The position of the tractor is fixed. Both tractor
and trailer rest on an interior turntable of diameter 1.22 m to allow the models
to be yawed with respect to the flow direction, as shown in Figure 1. The
ground-plane box is mounted in the tunnel at a very slight angle of attack (one
degree) to compensate for boundary layer growth on the walls of the wind
tunnel. The front edge of the box, which is aligned with the end of the
contraction section and the beginning of the test section, is rounded to avoid
leading-edge separation. The surface of the ground-plane consists of a
sandwich of punched plates-the smallest holes, 1mm in diameter on 4 mm
centers, are in the topmost plate. Slight suction is applied to the plenum
below the porous top surface to maintain a thin boundary layer. The pressure
gradient, dC/dx-measured along the wind tunnel ceiling-is approximately
zero (±0.003/m) when the tunnel is empty.
The measurements are performed at a wind tunnel speed of approximately

26 m/s. The model Reynolds number for the tests, based upon the square
root of the truck cross-sectional area, VA, is about 310,000.
Tntiler
I
\ f
\ I
I I
''
I
\ I
I I
I
\ I
I I
'\ j,' I
\ I /
J /
' /
'
___ ___, _____ __
Figure 1. Detail of turntable and traverse mechanism inside ground plane.
The truck models

All models are made of high-density Spyder-foam and machined on a CNC
machine. The use of this material allows for rapid prototyping, whereby the
shape could be modified quickly and accurately, which reduces turnaround
time. The models are roughly 1115-scale, with no linkage between tractor and
trailer. Figure 2 shows a schematic of the tractor and trailer shapes. The tractor
model is covered with netting material that consists of a thin plastic mesh.
Thanks to the netting, the tractor surface is made rough, which keeps the
boundary layer attached but makes the boundary layer thicker. The vertical
leading edges of the tractor are rounded to a radius of curvature of 4.55 em to
keep the flow from separating prematurely.
®.
RVC>;(,_,
"~"-
rLE'
~~r$~OO)
10 1.60 (4 .0)
~ 1~.31 (8.4375)
A 45.47 (1 .79) ~ ~ _l
1~) 1 307.98(12.125) 1
Units: mm (ln.) I
e.l.,,,~O ~
A 27.05 (1 .065)
I
153.99 (6.0625) 45.47 (1 .~-46 (24.9); - 1

l d 76.96 (3.03) 203.20 (8.0
[] 214~1 (BE~ I I i I
Units: mm (ln.) I
Figure 2. Schematics of tractor and trailer with dimensions.
As Figure 1 illustrates, the position of the tractor is fixed with respect to the
turn-table, while the trailer is mounted on a motorized traverse so that the gap
width between the two bodies can be varied continuously. The vertical leading
edges on the front face of the trailer are also rounded with a radius of
curvature of 4.55 em.
The effect of leading edge rounding on the drag

The drag of a road vehicle (or any body shape in general) is greatly influenced
by the degree of bluntness at the front end, e.g. Cooper (1985). In the present
case, the degree of bluntness is determined by the radius of curvature at the
leading-edges of the tractor and trailer. The optimal radius of curvature was
estimated by conducting experiments on a number of tractors having varying
radii of curvature. The drag was measured for these shapes as a function of
wind tunnel speed. Given wind velocity, U, two Reynolds numbers can be
defined; one based on the square-root of the cross-sectional area (ReA =
Uv'A/ v), and the other based on the radius of curvature of the front leading
edges (ReR = UR/v).
The importance of leading-edge rounding is demonstrated in Figure 3,
which is a plot of drag coefficient of an isolated tractor for two values of the
radius of curvature over a range of velocities. The tractor with a less blunt
front end (larger radius of curvature) experiences considerably less drag. Here,
the data is plotted versus ReA. Plotting the same data against ReR, as shown in
Figure 4, essentially collapses the two curves on each other. Hence, the radius
of curvature appears to be a more appropriate length scale for this flow. Also,
note that the drag bottoms out at approximately ReR = 70,000. This suggests
that the flow is not prone to leading edge separation above this critical
Reynolds number, and that further rounding of the front end would not lower
the drag.
0.60
~
0.55 "---- .________. r = 1.3cm
--.....
T
Cn ~ ~
0.50
"' ..___-, r=5.1cm
~
0.45
50,000 100,000 150,000 200,000 250,000 300,000 350,000 400,000

ReA
Figure 3. Drag coefficient on isolated tractor as a function of Reynolds number based
on square-root of cross-section area for rwo values of front radius of curvature. Red:
r=5.lcm; Blue: r=l.3cm.
0.60
\ \;
~
0.55
Cn
0.50
...
..
~~.
~
0.45
-10,000 10.000 30.000 50,000 70,000 90,000

RCR.
Figure 4. Drag coefficient on isolated tractor as a function of Reynolds number based
on front radius of curvature. Red: r=5.lcm; Blue: r=l.3cm.
Drag coefficient versus gap width

The drag on the tractor and trailer as a function of gap width are plotted in
Figure 5. In the range of G/vA of 0. 1 to 0.5, the trailer experiences less drag
than the tractor, due to the shielding effect. Note that at very small gap width,
below 0.1, the reverse is true. The extreme proximity of the tractor essentially
raises the base pressure on the tractor and reduces its drag. A similar
phenomenon can be expected in car racing; the trailing car can take advantage
of the suction effect obtained in drafting, but if the gap is reduced below a
critical value, the lower drag advantage shifts to the lead car.
As the gap opens up beyond approximately 0.5, the drag on the trailer
experiences a dramatic increase. This increase persists up to G/vA of
approximately 0.7, then stabilizes (or at least slows down its ascent). At the
same time, the tractor also sees a very modest increase then decrease in drag.
As the gap width is increased, the trailer contribution to total drag is by far the
major one.
0 .9
Total Drag
0 .8 . . ,...
/ ...._. _._"'·"'"""--~"_
-
'
0.7 I
,.. 0 .6 Trailer Drag
~
·c I
~- -
e
Q
u
~
0.5
0.4 F---·-·
-- --. -- I-
I
Q
~
...
~
0 .3
J. I -·.
f~_ .. . ---------- . ... .. - .. - .... ----
................ - TractorDrag
0 .2
-
0 .1 f>
0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0 .5 0.6 0.7 0 .8 0 .9 1 1 .1 1 .2 1 .3 1.4
G
Nonnalized Gap Width
JA
Figure 5. Drag coefficient versus gap width.
DPN measurements in the gap of a single tractor-trailer

Whole-field velociry measurements were obtained for various combinations of
gap width and angles of yaw, though the present discussion is limited to zero-
yaw cases. A total of 350 instantaneous realizations were acquired for each
case. A detailed discussion of the DPIV technique can be found in Fincham &
Spedding (1997). Changes of the flow structure in the gap region were
investigated by performing conditional-averaging. At low gap width, typically

below G/vA ~ 0.5, the flow is generally steady and consists of what looks like a
toroidal vortex in the gap. A horizontal slice through the gap at mid-height
shows a symmetric flow field. The average velocity field and associated
streamline patterns are shown in Figure 6. The pair of counter-rotating
vortices seen in this figure is relatively steady in the sense that all instantaneous
realizations are very similar to the average flow field.
As the gap width is increased, the flow in the gap is symmetric part of the
time only. Intermittent symmetry breakdown is observed, whereby the flow
exits the gap region as shown in Figures 7 through 9. Hence a conditional
average of these datasets is labeled "asymmetric flow". Note that the onset of
this asymmetry coincides with the initial rise in drag on the trailer and persists
until the normalized gap width reaches approximately 1.0, where the flow is
once again mostly symmetric. This is shown in Figure 10. Drag measurements
such as those in Figure 5 indicate that the drag has reached a high plateau and
that restoration of a symmetric flow pattern (on average) is not accompanied
by a decrease in drag. At higher gap width, the flow structure is best described
by a "wake mode" than "caviry mode" because the gap is so large that the flow
pattern is no longer influenced by the proximity of the trailer to the tractor.
S ymmelric
flow
Tra1ler
Figure 6. Time-averaged streamline patterns of the flow in the gap at zero yaw, G/VA
= 0.28.
Tratler
Symmetric flow Asymmetric flow

Figure 7. Ensemble-averaged streamline patterns of the flow in the gap at zero yaw,
GNA = 0.55. (a) symmetric flow, (b) asymmetric flow.
Cab
Trader
Synnnctric flow Asynunc:b1c flow

Tratler
Synuncbic flow Asynnnc:b'ic flow

Symmetric
flow
Trailer
GNA = 1.0.
Hence, over a relatively narrow range of gap width, the truck experiences a
dramatic increase in drag. In addition, both drag and side forces are
characterized by a substantial increase in fluctuation levels, such that the entire
truck undergoes intermittent shaking. This is illustrated by Figure 11, which
represents time series of drag force on the trailer at sub-critical and critical gap
width. As the gap increases, note that the drag starts out relatively steady then
exhibits large-scale, low-frequency oscillations when the critical gap width is
achieved. Furthermore, the oscillation amplitude varies with time. Over the
first five seconds of data in the bottom plot of Figure 11, the gap flow is
symmetric and oscillation amplitude is low, while the next five seconds show
higher amplitude as the flow goes asymmetric.
5
Sub-critical gap
4
~
2
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
9r------r------~----~------~-----.
8 Ctitical gap
~~_pJ'v
6~----~------~----~------~----~
30 32 34 36 38 40
Tiint~ (s)
Figure 11. Time series of drag on trailer at sub-critical (top) and critical (bottom) gap
width. Bottom plot is a portion of a longer time series.
Drag and side force measurements

The drag data shown in Figure 5 is limited to zero-yaw cases. Similar
measurements were performed for both drag and side force over a range of gap
width and angles of yaw. The drag data is shown in Figure 12 and that of side
forces in Figure 13. The angle of yaw is varied in the range zero to 16 degrees,
in increments of one and two degrees. At each yawed position, the non-
dimensional gap width G/vA is increased from zero to a maximum value of
1.6 then reduced back to zero. As a result, all the surface maps are roughly
symmetric with respect to a vertical plane as illustrated in Figure 12(a).
However, due to hysteresis effects, small differences in drag and side force
levels are observed in some cases as the gap is opened or closed.
The drag on the tractor increases with the angle of yaw. In addition, it
exhibits a peak as shown by a ridge along a line of approximately constant
G/vA. As was shown in Figure 5 in the zero-yaw case, this maximum is
reached when the gap width is approximately half the square-root of frontal
area. At higher angles of yaw, the location of the peak shifts to smaller gap
widths. Note that at higher yaw angles, the drag drops from its peak, but
eventually resumes its ascent. This is seen along the line G/VA= 1.6. It is likely
that the tractor drag will increase further than shown here if G/vA is increased
further.
The trailer drag data is plotted in Figure 12(b). Again, the presence of a
localized 'ridge' along which the drag reaches a local maximum can be seen, in
particular for yaw angles above approx. 6 degrees. However, beyond this ridge,
the drag on the trailer does not drop from its peak. It either stays at a plateau
level (angles below approx. 6 degrees) or mcreases further (angles above

approx. 6 degrees) .
As Figure 12(c) shows, the drag of the entire truck (which is the sum of
the tractor and trailer drag contributions) is accounted for mostly by the drag
of the trailer to a greater extent as the gap width and/or yaw angle are
increased, which suggests that the drag increases as the two parts are
increasingly decoupled and lose the mutual benefit of close formation .
0
0 15
0.8
0 0
(a)
t 5
0
0
0.8 10
0 .8
SliM 0 0
Ytw ,liiQit
(b)
0
0
0 .8 tO
t 6
0.8
0 0
Yaw Angle
(c)
Figure 12. Surface maps of drag force on tractor (a), trailer (b) and entire truck (c) as a
function of yaw angle and gap width.
Figure 13 is a plot of the side force using the same conventions as in

Figure 12. The same nearly-constant G/vA "ridge" identified earlier is again
seen here. However, the cab experiences a decrease in side force along this
ridge, while the trailer experiences an increase. The side force on the whole
truck (obtained by adding the two side forces on tractor and trailer) almost
eliminates the ridge (with the exception of angles of yaw at the upper end of
the range) . The total side force is independent of gap width and increases with
angle of yaw.
t'
0
0 15
(a)
I ~
c
c
(b)
c
c
c 0
(c)
Figure 13. Surface maps of side force on tractor (a), trailer (b) and entire truck (c) as a
function of yaw angle and gap width.
Two trucks in tandem

As stated above, the drag of a truck is largely influenced by the gap width
between tractor and trailer. A natural extension of the present study is to
examine the drag acting on two trucks in a tandem configuration as a function
of the gap separating them. Since all models have the same cross-sectional area
(A), gap separation is again divided by v'A to make it non-dimensional. All
measurements are restricted to zero angles of yaw.
Since trucks are designed to carry cargo, it is important to preserve the
box-like shape that characterizes the trailer. Hence, it is worthwhile to study
the drag behavior of simplified shapes before conducting experiments on the

actual truck models. The simplest shape that can be studied is a simple
parallelepiped, which would also be the least aerodynamic. This shape is
shown in Figure 14(a) with contributions from fore-body drag, base drag and
skin friction. The simplest modification involves adding a faceplate with
rounded vertical edges, such that the critical edge Reynolds number
mentioned earlier is achieved. This shape is shown in Figure 15(b). Adding the
faceplate dramatically reduces drag without compromising the volume-
maximizing shape of the body.
Clearly, the drag acting on these bodies is mostly pressure drag; skin
friction is minimal. Adding the faceplate reduces the drag by about half, due to
a substantial drop in the fore-body pressure drag. This further illustrates the
importance of front-end rounding discussed earlier.
...
Flow
'pr --
CDrotal
Skm
Cpr· 'p,+ D.r~ 5

.,..._ Cp,::: ·.11
(fop
I
R un led
'pr::: - 3 'p, ·.ll
(b
Drotal :;:::. ;'i l
Figure 14. Two basic shapes: (a) a simple parallelepiped; (b) same parallelepiped but
with rounded vertical front edges.
The two simple body geometries can be arranged in four possible

combinations, depending on which body is put in the lead position, as shown
in Figure 15, and the drag acting on each body is measured separately as a
function of the gap separating the two bodies. An average drag for the pair of
bodies is defined as the sum of the individual drags in the tandem divided by
the sum of the individual drags in isolation.
CDAvg = (CDF + CDR)/(CDF iso +CDR iso)
The drag in isolation is defined as the drag of a body alone in the wind tunnel.
_.
Fl " '
Rounded I Roun ed
Rounded I Blunt
Blunt I Blunt
Blunt I Rounded
Figure 15. Various tandem combinations.
The goal is to determine the lowest amount of drag possible for a

combination of such bodies. It is expected that the proper choice of which
body should lead and of the optimal gap separation between the two bodies
would reduce the overall drag of the tandem combination. In Figures 16(a)
through 16(d), the circles and triangles represent the drag of the front and rear
body respectively (normalized by the corresponding drag in isolation) as a
function of separation, whereas the solid line represents the average drag of the
platoon.
In the absence of the shielding effect, all bodies would have a drag ratio of
1 (by definition). However, the benefit of tandem operation is obvious for all
combinations of the two simple shapes. The behavior of the drag ratios
suggests the existence of two separate length scales: Over a separation S/v'A of
the order of 1, the drag ratios start out much lower than one, then quickly rise
to a local maximum at approximately S/v'A= 1. As the bodies are separated
further, the drag levels actually drop before rising again but at a much steadier
pace. Of course, each drag ratio is expected to reach one asymptotically, which
would appear to take place over a longer length scale of approximately
S/v'A= 10, though our measurement range is not large enough to cover this
range.
The two length scales characterize two types of interaction; a strong one in
the range S/v'A=0-1 and a weak one in the range S!v'A=l-1 0. In the strong
interaction range of separation, the drag on the front body starts out at about
70%-90% of the isolation value depending on whether it is rounded or blunt,
respectively. In contrast, the drag on the rear body starts out at a much lower
level of only 20% of the isolation value (for blunt) and 40% (for rounded).
Both bodies experience lower drag as a result of the tandem configuration,
with the rear body generally experiencing a higher drag reduction compared to
the isolation values. However, the case of two rounded bodies bucks the trend;
the rear body has lower relative drag in the strong interaction region, but the
reverse is true in the weak interaction region.
•• ••·~#&e.
-
Ot
01
lo· ~ or I
~
.
Ot _ / ... 01·
§
'\
OJ
... ..-• # ..........
••
u
o• ..
O>
. .•
q
~
OJ
~~ 02
• ••
01
'
01
,. o
01
••
,.
Figure 16. Drag curves for various combinations of simplified bodies. o front-body
drag; ~rear-body drag;_ average drag. (a) blunt lead and trail; (b) blunt lead-
rounded trail; (c) rounded lead- blunt trail; (d) rounded lead and trail.
The total drag savings for the pair of bodies is given by the plot of average
drag ratio as defined earlier. The average drag ratios for the four configurations
are plotted on Figure 17.
The tandem configuration that experiences the least amount of total drag
is that of a rounded body in the front and a blunt body in the rear.
Conversely, when the relative positions of the two bodies are switched, the
highest possible total drag results. Note that when the two bodies are
identical, the total drag ratio is essential identical in the region of strong
interaction, regardless of whether the bodies are both rounded or both blunt.
As the gap is increased beyond SlYA= 1, the tandem of two blunt bodies
experiences further drag ratio drop and starts to behave like the lowest drag
case (rounded followed by blunt) as SlYA approaches 3.5. On the other hand,
the tandem of two rounded bodies sees an increasing drag ratio with increasing
gap spacing, and gradually converges to the highest drag case (blunt followed
by rounded). As S/VA increases beyond 2.5, the pair of rounded bodies in
tandem appears to benefit less and less from the tandem configuration; the
weakening interaction between bodies IS a manifestation of the law of

diminishing returns.
The reason for the superiority of the rounded-blunt combination to the
blunt-blunt configuration is explained again by separating the drag into
contributions from fore-body and base. Almost all of the differences between
blunt-blunt and rounded-blunt come from savings for the lead body in the
latter case, as Figure 16 will attest. The drag reduction is greater in the latter
case because roughly half the total drag of rounded forward body is base drag
that is greatly diminished by the presence of the trail body at short spacing.
Conversely, most of the drag from blunt forward body comes from the fore-
body, which is too far removed to be influenced much by the trail body.
, 1
02
0 , 0.__ _0_._
5_ -~---, 5
2 25 3 35 ..
Normalized truck separation
Figure 17. Summary of average drag of platoon for all four configurations.
Hence it is clear that drag savings depend upon the drags of individual
trucks in isolation, and upon which truck is leading. For completeness,
measurements are made with more realistic truck models, as shown in Figure
18. The trucks have wheels, and the drag of each truck is artificially increased
by introducing drag-enhancing elements, such as the netting spoken of earlier,
by providing a gap between the tractor and trailer, and by providing additional
drag enhancing "collars". The drag collars consist of a series of short,
protruding cylinders ringing the trailer at a particular station. They are meant
to provide an increase in drag by increasing the boundary layer momentum
thickness. Various combinations that either include or exclude netting collars,
or gap, result in truck models having drag coefficients in isolation in the range
C 0 = 0.5- 0.7.
Figure 18. Truck models in tandem configuration. With netting and "collars", the
C 0 for each truck in isolation= 0.7.
The drag data for the realistic models is plotted in Figure 19. The data
points collapse on a single curve within the range covered by the simplified
shapes. This indicates that the data total drag savings for the models in Figure
18 in tandem is independent of the choice of leading and trailing truck. Note
also that the drag ratio rises gradually with gap spacing and that the local
maxim at S/vA= 1 vanishes. The effect of the critical gap is not so dramatic for
models having a distributed drag including wheels and drag collars.
Also, the entire data set is bounded by the "blunt - rounded" and
"rounded - blunt" cases on the upper and lower end, respectively. These
limiting cases delineate the maximum and minimum drag savings for any
tandem configuration. For comparison purposes, the road test data of Bonnet
& Fritz (2000) (who used real trucks) is included, along with its computed
average. The average drag ratio for the road test appears to agree best with the
"blunt- blunt" and "rounded- blunt" where there is overlap.
c
0
'T
:p 09
co
0U)
08
.!;;;
Ol 07
co
L.
0 06
19 Bonne &Fritz
!
0
t:_ D!i
field test
Ol
co
,_
0
19
Q
~ 03
No greater savings
02
Figure 19. Average drag of platoons. The circles represent data obtained by arranging
the models shown in Figure 18 in various tandem combinations.
Summary Conclusions
The present experiments reveal the impact of on the drag of a single tractor-
trailer truck. A combination of force balance and whole-field velocity
measurements demonstrates a direct link between the level of drag forces and
the nature of the fluid flow patterns within the gap. At moderate widths a
stable toroidal vortex is present in the gap and drag levels are relatively low.
The symmetry of the flow pattern breaks down at a width of approximately
half the square-root of frontal area, which leads to intermittent flow separation
off the front of the trailer and a non-linear increase of drag forces on the trailer
and on the truck as whole. Most of the drag contribution is attributed to the
trailer alone; the tractor is affected much more moderately and only in a
narrow band of gap width near the critical value of G/VA=0.5. A similar
process of drag rise also occurs at moderate angles of yaw. However, the drag
increase is more pronounced and occurs at a lower critical gap width as the
angle of yaw is increased. At more extreme angles of yaw the tractor and trailer
are rather like independent bodies that do not benefit from dose-formation
and their drag behavior is much less a function of spacing.
The benefits of dose-formation also apply to trucks in tandem. The total
drag for all tandems tested is lower than the sum of the drags of the models in
isolation, though the drag savings vary with the degree of bluntness of each
model and on which model is placed in front. The highest relative drag
reduction is achieved by a rounded model followed by a blunt model, while
the reverse order achieves the least drag reduction.
References
K. R. Cooper: The effect of front-edge rounding and rear-edge shaping on the aerodynamic
drag of bluff vehicles in ground proximity. SAE paper No. 850288 (1985)
A.M. Fincham & G.R. Spedding: Low cost, high resolution DPIV for measurement of
turbulent fluid flow. Exps. Fluids 23, (1997)
C. Bonnet & H. Fritz: Fuel consumption reduction experienced by two Promote-Chauffeur

trucks in electronic tow bar operation. SAE Paper No. OOFTT73 (2000).
RANS Simulations of a Simplified Tractor/Trailer
Geometry
Christopher Roy, 1 Jeffrey Payne, 1 Mary McWherter-Payne, 1 and Kambiz

Salari2
1 MS 0825, PO Box 5800, Sandia National Laboratories
2 L-228, PO Box 808, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Abstract
Steady-state Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) simulations are pre-

sented for the three-dimensional flow over a simplified tractor-trailer geometry
at zero degrees yaw angle. The simulations are conducted using the SACCARA
multi-block, structured CFD code. Two turbulence closure models are em-
ployed: the one-equation Spalart-Allmaras model and the two-equation k-w
model of Menter. The discretization error is estimated by employing two grid
levels: a fine mesh of approximately 20 million grid points and a coarse mesh
of approximately 2.5 million grid points. Simulation results are compared to
the experimental data obtained at the NASA-Ames 7xl 0 ft wind tunnel.
Quantities compared include: surface pressures on the tractor/trailer, vehicle
drag, and time-averaged velocities in the base region behind the trailer. The re-
sults indicate that both turbulence models are able to accurately capture the
surface pressure on the vehicle, with the exception of the base region. The
Menter k-w model does a reasonable job of matching the experimental data for
base pressure and velocities in the near wake, and thus gives an accurate pre-
diction of the drag. The Spalart-Allmaras model significantly underpredicted
the base pressure, thereby overpredicting the vehicle drag.
Introduction
In a typical class 8 tractor/trailer, power required to overcome rolling resistance

and accessories increase linearly with vehicle speed, while energy losses due to
aerodynamic drag increase with the cube of the speed. At a typical highway
speed of 70 mph, aerodynamic drag accounts for approximately 65% of the
energy output of the engine (McCallen et al 1999). Due to the large number
of tractor/trailers on the US highways, even modest reductions in aerodynamic
drag can significantly reduce domestic fuel consumption. Lower fuel con-
208 C. Roy et a!.
sumption will result in a reduction in pollution emissions, and, more impor-

tantly, a reduced dependence on foreign oil.
The most common turbulence modeling approach for engineering applica-
tions involves solving the Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equa-
tions. With this approach, the effects of the inherently three-dimensional and
time-varying turbulent eddies on the mean flow are modeled and not simu-
lated. These effects of the turbulence, namely increased transport of momen-
tum and energy, are incorporated via the eddy viscosity and eddy conductivity,
respectively. In general, it is desirable to obtain steady-state solutions to the
RANS equations; the simulation of unsteady RANS flows may only be valid
when there is a clear separation between the unsteady scales and the turbulent
scales.
RANS turbulence models were generally developed to solve simple, zero
pressure gradient attached flows. These models often fail in the presence of
large pressure gradients and/ or separated flow regions. While the flow over the
major part of a tractor/trailer is attached and therefore amenable to RANS
modeling, the flow in the base region involves separation off of the rear end of
the trailer. This recirculation zone is generally unsteady, with large-scale tur-
bulent structures shedding from the edges. Accurate prediction of the flow in
the base region is important since it determines the pressure on the trailer base.
The pressure drag is the primary component of the overall aerodynamic drag
for tractor/trailer configurations, and small errors in the predicted base pres-
sures can significantly affect the drag calculations. The goal of this study is to
assess the ability of steady-state RANS turbulence models to accurately predict
the flowfield and aerodynamic drag for tractor/trailer configurations.
Problem Formulation
The configuration to be examined is the Ground Transportation System
(GTS) studied experimentally at the NASA Ames research center (Storms et al
2001). The GTS geometry is a simplified tractor/trailer configuration which is
mounted on four posts in the wind tunnel. A photograph of the GTS in the
NASA Ames 7xl 0 ft wind tunnel is shown in Figure 1. The GTS model is an
approximately 1/8 scale class 8 tractor/trailer configuration. The Reynolds
number based on the trailer width (W=0.3238 m) is 2 million, approximately
one-half of full scale.
RANS Simulations of a Simplified Tractor/Trailer Geometry 209
Figure 1. GTS model in NASA Ames 7xl 0 ft wind tunnel

The GTS geometry, including the wind tunnel walls, is discretized using
two mesh levels: a coarse mesh using 2.5 million grid points and a fine mesh
using 20 million grid points. The grids are generated such that the wall y• val-
ues on the truck surface, supports, and lower wind tunnel wall are everywhere
less than unity on the fine mesh. The side and top wind tunnel walls employ
slip flow conditions. Structured meshes are employed using point-to-point
match up at the block boundaries. The coarse mesh is domain-decomposed
into 125 zones and is shown in Figure 2. The fine mesh is decomposed into
1149 zones. Both the coarse and fine meshes are run on the massively parallel
ASCI Red machine using one processor for each zone. The axes employed in
the current effort are shown Figure 2, with the x axis starting at the front of
the tractor and running downstream, the y axis in the vertical direction, and
the z axis starting at the GTS symmetry plane and running spanwise towards
the side wall.
Figure 2. Computational mesh on GTS geometry

In order to ensure that the simulated flow matches closely with the flow in
the wind tunnel, a number of freestream conditions are matched. First, the in-
flow plane is set with the appropriate stagnation conditions of the tunnel
shown in Table 1. The back pressure at the simulated outflow plane is then
210 C. Roy eta!.
adjusted until the reference pressure located at (x/W=4.47, y/W=2.59, and

z/W=-4.7) on the tunnel side wall reaches the wall reference pressure given in
the table. The pressure coefficient on the wind tunnel side-wall (coarse grid
simulation) is compared to experimental values in Figure 3. The boundary
layer on the bottom wall was measured in a tunnel-empty configuration. Sam-
ple boundary layer profiles upstream of the GTS model from the simulation
using the Menter k-w model are compared to the tunnel empty-profile from
the experiment in Figure 4. The simulation predicts a profile similar to the ex-
periment, at least until the presence of the GTS model is seen at approximately
0 .7 m upstream. The GTS surface, the posts, and the wind tunnel floor are
modeled with adiabatic, no-slip boundary conditions, while the tunnel top and
side walls employ a slip boundary condition.
Table 1. Freestream conditions used in the simulations
Tunnel Condition Value

Stagnation Pressure 102,653.2 N/m 2
Stagnation Temperature 282.06 K
Wall Reference Pressure 97,582. N/m 2
Reference Mach number 0.27
Back Pressure 100,136.0 N/m 2
Tunnel Floor BL Thickness 0.053 m
Wall Temperature BC adiabatic
0075
0.05
·0.025
Tunnel Side Wall
-0.05
0 Expt. (yfW = 2.6)
0 Expt. (yfW = 1.2)
-0.075 - - - Computed (yfW = 2.6)
- - - - Computed (yfW = 1.2)
2 3 4 5 6 7 8
xJW
Figure 3. Wind tunnel side-wall pressure

Boundary Layer Profile
'-' Experiment(0.14 m)"

--- Computation (2.1 m)"
---- Computation (1 .6 m)"
- - - - Computation (1 .1 m)"
-·-·-·- Computation (0 .7 m)"
"Distance Upstream of GTS
0
0 0.25
Figure 4. Wind runnel floor boundary layer profile
Numerical Formulation
CFD Code
The CFD code is SACCARA, the Sandia Advanced Code for Compressible
Aerothermodynamics Research and Analysis, and was developed from a paral-
lel distributed memory version (Wong et a!. 1995) of the INCA code, origi-
nally written by Amtec Engineering. This code is used to solve the Navier-
Stokes equations for conservation of mass, momentum, energy, and turbulence
transport in three-dimensional form . The governing equations are discretized
using a cell-centered finite-volume approach. A finite-volume form of Yee's
symmetric TVD scheme (Yee 1987) is employed. This flux scheme is second-
order accurate and reduces to a first-order Roe-type flux (Roe 1981) in regions
of large gradients based on a minmod limiter. The viscous terms are discretized
using central differences. The SACCARA code employs a massively parallel
distributed memory architecture based on multi-block structured grids. The
solver is a Lower-Upper Symmetric Gauss-Seidel scheme (Yoon and Jameson
1988) which provides for excellent scalability up to thousands of processors. A
number of code verification studies have been performed which give confi-
dence that the code is free from coding mistakes including comparison to es-
tablished numerical benchmark solutions and code to code comparisons (Roy
et al 2000). The fine grid and coarse grid simulations presented herein were
run in parallel on the ASCI Red parallel processing machine using 1149 and
125 processors, respectively.
212 C. Roy et a!.
Turbulence Models
Two turbulence models are examined in the current work: the one-equation
eddy viscosity transport model of Spalart-Allmaras (Spalart and Allmaras
1994) and the Menter k-w model (Menter 1994). The Spalart-Allmaras model
requires the solution of a single transport equation for the eddy viscosity. The
Spalart-Allmaras model has proven to be a numerically robust approach, and
generally good results have been demonstrated for a wide variety of flows. The
Menter k-w model is a hybrid model which uses a blending function to com-
bine the best aspects of both the k-w and the k-E turbulence models. Near solid
walls, a k-w formulation is used which allows integration to the wall without
any special damping or wall functions. Near the outer edge of the boundary
layer and in shear layers, the model blends into a transformed version of the k-
E formulation, thus providing good predictions for free shear flows. This
model also shows less sensitivity to freestream turbulence quantities than other
k-w formulations. In both cases, the turbulence models were integrated to the
wall in order to avoid model validation issues associated with wall functions.
Numerical Accuracy
Before the simulation results can be compared to experimental data, the nu-
merical accuracy of the solutions must be assessed. For the steady-state Menter
k-w computations examined herein, the solution accuracy will be judged by
examining the iterative convergence of the solutions to steady-state as well as
the discretization error. The numerical accuracy of the Spalart-Allmaras results
is expected to be comparable.
Iterative Convergence
The solutions are marched (iterated) in pseudo-time until a steady-state answer

is obtained. Iterative convergence is assessed by examining the steady-state re-
siduals of the momentum equations. The steady-state residual is defined by
plugging the solution at the current iteration into the discretized form of the
steady-state governing equations (omitting the time derivative). The iterative
error in the solution tends to drop in a similar fashion as the residual. The
coarse grid solutions were converged by approximately seven orders of magni-
tude, while the fine grid solutions were converged by approximately five orders
of magnitude. The limited convergence of the fine grid solutions may intro-
duce some small iterative error in the results, and will be converged further in
the final paper.
Discretization Error
The discretization error is estimated by generating solutions on two mesh lev-

els. Since the coarse mesh is determined by eliminating every other gridline
from the fine mesh, the grid is consistently refined throughout the entire do-
main, and Richardson extrapolation can be used to estimate the exact solution.
This extrapolated solution is then used to judge the error in the fine grid solu-
tions. The coarse and fine grid results for surface pressure on the front of the
tractor are presented in Figure 5 for the Menter k-w model. While the results
do show some sensitivity to grid refinement, the estimated error in the fine
grid solution is approximately ±0.05 ~Cp. Coarse and fine grid results for the
base of the trailer are shown in Figure 6, with the maximum estimated error to
be less than ±0.01 ~Cp (note the expanded scale for ~Cp). The Spalart-
Allmaras model was only run on the fine mesh; however, the spatial discretiza-
tion error is expected to be similar to that of the Menter model.
1 25
Front of Tl'aeto,
z/W . 0
~ 75 Me nti!lr k-4•J Model
- - FlnoGrid
- - - - CoarseGrld
05
025
-2 ·1
Cp
Figure 5. Pressure on front of tractor (coarse and fine meshes)
1 25
Tral1erBntt
z/W . 0
M&nler k~ " Model
1 - - FineGrid
- - - - CoarwGrid
~ 75
OS ,,
025
.()2 .()1
Cp
Figure 6. Pressure on base of trailer (coarse and fine meshes)

214 C. Roy et al.
Surface Comparisons
Surface Pressure
The surface pressure for the two turbulence models using the fine mesh is compared to
experimental data (Storms et al 2001) on the front of the tractor in Figure 7. Both
simulations show good agreement with the experimental data. Simulation results are
presented for the base of the trailer in Figure 8. In this case, the Menter k-w model
does a reasonable job of matching the pressure levels, while the Spalart-Allmaras model
significantly underpredicts the pressure on the base.
Front of Tractor
ziW . 0
c E:lcpe rirne-" t
-- Menter~!! ... ,,
- - - - Spalar1-A.IIml!lt1S
OS
025
-2 ·1
Cp
Figure 7. Surface pressures on front of tractor
-- - -... t D
'25 I
Trailer Ba se
ziW 0 =
0 E:~periment
- - M ento r h.-t·J
- - - - Spalart.Atlmaras
~ 75
OS
025
.OJ ·02 0
Cp
Figure 8. Surface pressure on trailer base
Aerodynamic Drag
Aerodynamic drag predictions using the two turbulence models as well as the
experimentally measured drag are presented in Table 2. These drag results
(both predicted and experimental) are for the GTS model only and do not in-
clude the support posts. The Menter k-w results are approximately 7.5%
higher than the experimental value, while the Spalart-Allmaras results are
nearly 50% high. The overprediction of the drag with the Spalart-Allmaras
model is due to the poor prediction of the base pressure. Also shown in the ta-
ble is the estimated uncertainty in the experimental drag coefficient (Storms et
al 2001), and the estimated numerical error for the fine grid Menter k-w
simulation. This numerical error estimate is determined by performing
Richardson extrapolation using the coarse and fine grid drag coefficients,
0.474 and 0.298, respectively. The resulting extrapolated value for the drag
coefficient using the Menter k-w model is 0.239, which is essentially within
the experimental uncertainty bounds.
Table 2. Drag coefficients
Estimated Uncer-
Drag_ Coeff., C0 tainty/Error
Experiment (Storms et al2001) 0.25 ±0.01
Menterk-w 0.298 ±0.06
Spalart-Allmaras 0.413 --
Field Comparisons
Vertical Streamwise Cut
Velocity data are available from PIV measurements performed at the NASA
Ames 7x10 ft wind tunnel (Storms et al 2001). These PIV data represent a
time-averaged picture of the flow in the wake regions immediately behind the
trailer base. Figure 9 gives streamlines based on the PIV data in a vertical
streamwise cut through the wake (z/W = 0). The flow is from left to right,
with the base of the trailer shown on the left; the PIV window is also shown in
the figure. A large, counter-clockwise-rotating vortex is centered at approxi-
mately x/W = 8, y/W = 0.4. Also, the presence of a clockwise-rotating vortex is
suggested by the vertical nature of the streamlines in the upper right-hand cor-
ner of the PIV window. A similar view of the streamlines from the fine grid
computations using the Menter k-w model is shown in Figure 10. These
Menter k-w computations predict a more symmetric pair of vortices than is
indicated from the experimental data. The location of the experimental PIV
window is shown in the figure for reference. Streamlines for the Spalart-
Allmaras model are presented in Figure 11, showing a much shorter recircula-
tion zone than the Menter model. This shorter recirculation zone produces
larger velocities in the outer flow as the flow accelerates around the wake. The
higher velocities result in lower pressures and hence higher drag (see Table 2).
216 C. Roy et al.
Experiment; NASA Ames

Vertical Streamwise C~1 : zfW • D
82 84 86 88 92
xJW
Figure 9. Experimental streamlines: vertical streamwise cut (z/W = 0)
Computalion: Monter k-.·•

Ve11ic:iil Sltoamwlse Cut: z/W • 0
04
01
62 84 86 sa 92
xJW
Figure 10. Computational streamlines: vertical streamwise cut (z/W = O)

ComputatiOn ; Spalar1-AIIm3ras
Vertica l Streamwise Cut: ztw "" 0
02 ;
82 84 86 88 92
xJW
Figure 11. Computational streamlines: vertical streamwise cut (z/W = O)

Horizontal Streamwise Cut
Experimental PIV results for a horizontal streamwise cut through the wake
(y/W = 0.696) is shown in Figure 12. Two counter-rotating vortices are evi-
dent at x/W = 8.5. The computational streamlines for this case using the
Menter k-w model are given in Figure 13. In this case, the location of the vor-
tices is accurately predicted by the RANS model.
Experiment: NASA Ames
Horizontal Streamwi$e Cut: y!W ~ 0 .696
08
95
Figure 12. Experimental streamlines: horizontal streamwise cut (y/W = 0.696)

Compvt~ Uon : Menter k"'l,
HOttzontal Streamwin Cut y/W ~ 0.696
- -_;- - ~ --
04
85 95
xJW
Figure 13. Computational streamlines: horizontal streamwise cut (y/W = 0.696)
Conclusions
Steady-state RANS simulations were conducted for the flow over the GTS ge-
ometry. The numerical accuracy of the computed flowfields was assessed by
performing the computations on multiple grids. Simulation results using the
Menter k-w turbulence model gave good agreement with the experimental
data for surface pressure, field velocities in the wake, and drag coefficient;
however, this model predicted a more symmetric pair of counter-rotating vor-
218 C. Roy et al.
tices in the vertical streamwise plane than was indicated in the experiment.
These results suggest that the Menter k-w model can accurately predict the
drag for tractor/trailer configurations when performed on highly refined
meshes using integration to the wall, although some time-averaged flow
structures are not captured. Simulation results with the Spalart-Allmaras tur-
bulence model showed good agreement with experimental data for the surface
pressure in the attached flow regions, but significantly underpredicted the
pressure in the base region. As a result, the Spalart-Allmaras model overpre-
dicted the drag coefficient by nearly 50%.
References
McCallen R, Couch R, Hsu J, Browand F, Hammache M, Leonard A, Brady M, Salari K, Rut-
ledge W, Ross J, Storms B, Heineck JT, Driver D, Bell J, Zilliac G (1999) Progress in re-
ducing aerodynamic drag for higher efficiency of heavy duty trucks (class 7-8). SAE Paper
1999-01-2238.
Menter FR (1994) Two-equation eddy-viscosity turbulence models for engineering applications.
AIAAJournal32: 1598-1605
Roe PL (1981) Approximate Riemann solvers, parameter vectors, and difference schemes. Jour-
nal of Computational Physics 43: 357-372
Roy CJ, McWherter-Payne MA, OberkampfWL (2000) Verification and validation for laminar
hypersonic flowfields. AIAA Paper 2000-2550
Spalart PR, Allmaras SR. (1994) A one-equation turbulence model for aerodynamic flows. La
Recherche Aerospatiale 1: 5-21
Storms BL, Ross JC, Heineck JT, Walker SM, Driver DM, Zilliac GG (2001) An experimental
study of the ground transportation system (GTS) model in the NASA Ames 7- by 10-ft
wind tunnel. NASA TM-2001-209621.
Wong CC, Soetrisno M, Blattner FG, Imlay ST, Payne JL (1995) PINCA: a scalable parallel
program for compressible gas dynamics with nonequilibrium chemistry. Sandia National
Laboratories Report SAND 94-2436, Albuquerque, NM
Yee HC (1987) Implicit and symmetric shock capturing schemes. NASA-TM-89464
Yoon S, Jameson A (1988) An LU-SSOR scheme for the Euler and Navier-Stokes equations.
AIAA Paper 87-0600
Computational Simulation of a Heavy Vehicle
Trailer Wake
Jason M. Ortega, Tim Dunn, Rose McCallen, and Kambiz Salari
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory: ortega17~llnl.gov
To better understand the flow mechanisms that contribute to the aerody-

namic drag of heavy vehicles, unsteady large-eddy simulations are performed
to model the wake of a truncated trailer geometry above a no-slip surface. The
truncation of the heavy vehicle trailer is done to reduce the computational
time needed to perform the simulations. Both unsteady and time-averaged
results are presented from these simulations for two grids. A comparison of
velocity fields with those obtained from a wind tunnel study demonstrate that
there is a distinct difference in the separated wake of the experimental and
computational results, perhaps indicating the influence of the geometry sim-
plification, turbulence model, boundary conditions, or other aspects of the
chosen numerical approach.
1 Introduction
Over the past several decades, a significant amount of effort has been put
forth to reduce the aerodynamic drag of heavy vehicles. It has been shown that
the power required to overcome the aerodynamic drag at highway speeds (70
mph) is on the order of 65% of the total fuel consumed by the engine of a heavy
vehicle. Thus, a reduction in the total aerodynamic drag will have a significant
improvement on the fuel economy of a heavy vehicle. The aerodynamic drag
can be divided into two components: viscous drag and pressure drag. For
the flow over a heavy vehicle at highway speeds, the Reynolds number is
large enough such that viscous forces can be safely ignored. Consequently, the
drag experienced by a heavy vehicle is primarily due to pressure drag. The
pressure drag is comprised of the pressure forces that exist on the front and
rear of the vehicle. In recent years, the pressure drag on the front of a heavy
vehicle has been successfully reduced by streamlining the tractor, installing
air shields on the tractor roof, or optimizing the relative height of the tractor
and trailer. However, the pressure drag on the rear of a heavy vehicle, also
known as base-drag, yet remains to be reduced on a widespread basis. This
220 J.M. Ortega et al.
is due, in part, to the function of a heavy vehicle, which is designed to carry

as much cargo as possible. Thus, the shape of the cargo-carrying portion of
the heavy vehicle is boxy in nature with many sharp edges. While this shape
allows for a large cargo volume and easy access into the cargo bay, it poses
a major problem to streamlining the base of the heavy vehicle. Numerous
concepts have been proposed in the effort to reduce the base-drag of heavy
vehicles. Some of these concepts are passive in nature and include such designs
as boattail plates [1], ogives [2, 3], vortex generators [4], and turning vanes
[5]. Other concepts are active in nature and include such designs as blowing
devices [6]. Despite the large number of proposed solutions, none of them have
been implemented on a widespread basis on today's commercial, heavy vehicle
fleets. The reason for this is that although some of these concepts can reduce
the base-drag by up to 10%, their design renders these concepts impractical,
unreliable, or too costly to maintain for use on a long-term basis. It is therefore
evident that the successful reduction of heavy vehicle base-drag will require a
better understanding of not only the physical mechanisms that contribute to
base-drag, but also the needs of heavy vehicle manufacturers and customers.
Only then, will it be possible to design and implement an effective base-drag
reduction concept.
To achieve this goal, the U.S. Department of Energys Heavy Vehicle Aero-
dynamic Drag program was established to develop and to demonstrate the
ability to simulate and analyze aerodynamic flow around heavy vehicles us-
ing existing and advanced computational fluid dynamics ( CFD) tools. This
program is comprised of members from national laboratories and universities.
The results of initial computations have shown that simulating the trailer
wake is a difficult area in heavy vehicle aerodynamic calculations. As the first
step in this effort, a computational study is performed by the LLNL team
on the base of a heavy vehicle geometry. Due to limitations in the number
of elements that could be used for timely completion of the simulations, a
simplified, truncated heavy vehicle geometry and flow domain are utilized.
The purpose of this paper is to present the results of this study and to make
comparisons with experimental data that were obtained from wind tunnel
measurements. The paper is laid out as follows. The vehicle geometry and
computational setup are presented in Section 2. Analyses of the unsteady and
time-averaged three-dimensional flow fields are given in Section 3. A compar-
ison of the results from these simulations and those from experimental data is
made in Section 4. The conclusions and suggestions for future work follow in
Section 5. The results of this study provide useful insight into the role that an
advanced turbulence method like the Large Eddy Simulation (LES) can play
in resolving the flow field in the trailer wake, and help understand its effect
on overall drag. Additionally, this study identifies issues associated with the
implementation of LES to truncated trailer geometries.
Computational Simulation of a Heavy Vehicle Trailer Wake 221
2 Computational Setup
An experimental test [7] investigated the aerodynamics of a 1/8th scale

Ground Transportation System (GTS) (Figure 1) in the NASA Ames 7 ft
x 10 ft wind tunnel. The purpose of this test was to provide experimental
data for the body forces, surface pressures, surface shear stresses, and three-
dimensional velocity fields in the wake of the GTS for use in validating com-
putational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations. In the present computational
study, we perform fluid dynamic simulations on a simplified GTS geometry
and make comparisons with the experimental data.
The GTS geometry and flow domain are simplified in the following manner.
As shown in Figure 1b, the GTS geometry is truncated one height dimension
upstream of the model base. Additionally, the wind tunnel confinement of the
GTS model is neglected and the simulations are performed with the trun-
cated GTS positioned above a two-dimensional ground plane. Through these
simplifications, the number of elements in the computational domain can be
significantly reduced, resulting in a reduction of the computational resources
required to perform this investigation. The resulting computational domain is
shown in Figure 2. One obvious drawback of this problem simplification is that
the resulting geometry may be too far removed from that studied in the wind
tunnel tests. Therefore, future investigations must investigate the influence
of model truncation and wind tunnel confinement on the results presented in
this study.
The unsteady, three-dimensional velocity and pressure fields are calcu-
lated with a Galerkin finite-element scheme [8]. The computed pressure and
velocity fields are first- and second-order accurate in space, respectively. The
simulations are performed using grids that have brick elements. Two fully, un-
structured grids are employed in the flow simulations: a coarse grid (384,000
elements) and a fine grid (1,054,000 elements). The minimum wall normal
spacing of both grids gives y+ values on the surface of the truck that are of
order 10. In refining the coarse grid to the fine grid, additional elements are
placed around the periphery of the truncated GTS geometry to better capture
the shear layers being shed by the GTS. Figure 3 shows a comparison of the
coarse and fine grids.
The surfaces of the ground plane and truncated GTS are treated with a no-
slip velocity boundary condition. At the inlet to the computational domain,
turbulent velocity profiles are specified on the ground plane and the GTS,
where the turbulent velocity profiles are given by
~= ('#..)1/7 (1)
Uo 8
where U0 = 92.65 m/s is the freestream velocity. 8 is taken to be the turbulent
boundary layer thickness on a flat plate with a length of l = 6.26w (see Figure
1b) and is found from
J = 0.37l(U0 ljv)-l/S (2)

where w is the width of the GTS model. Outside of the boundary layer, the
velocity specified at the inlet is U0 , yielding a width-based Reynolds number,
U0 w jv, of 2.0 x 10 6 , where v is the kinematic viscosity of air. On the top,
sides, and outlet faces of the computational domain, a zero natural boundary
condition is specified [8]. For this boundary condition, the surface integral of
the traction force is taken to be zero. No effort was made to determine the
sensitivity of the solution to this boundary condition. A large eddy simulation
(LES) was done using a Smagorinski turbulence model [9]. As discussed in [10],
there is no standard value of the Smagorinski coefficient. Some researchers
have had success in using c = 0.1 in modeling channel flows [11], while others
have shown that a value of c = 0.2 is too diffusive [12]. In the present study,
we use a value of c = 0.1. Both the coarse and fine grids are run on massively
parallel machines utilizing 96 and 128 processors, respectively. For the coarse
and fine grids, the simulations are run until a time at which the freestream
flow has traveled a distance of at least 100 trailer widths.
3 Results
To visualize regions of rotational flow, a sequence of iso-surfaces of vorticity
in the wake of the truncated GTS is shown in Figure 4 for the coarse grid. As
the solution evolves, shear layers develop on the periphery of the truncated
GTS. These shear layers roll up into a vortex ring, which is advected down-
stream (Figure 4a). A secondary vortex ring begins to develop, though it is
not quite as coherent as the first. Shortly thereafter, the vortex rings break
apart and no evidence of the formation of new vortex rings is seen for the
rest of the simulation. No effort was made to determine the dependence of the
characteristics of the vortex rings on the specified initial conditions. The ini-
tial transients quickly subside and the shear layers extend downstream of the
base of the GTS. The shear layers repetitively undulate periodically in time
and frequently shed patches of vorticity into the bluff body wake (Figure 4d).
It can be seen that the massively separated wake interacts with the ground
plane downstream of the GTS, resulting in a flow separation bubble on the
ground plane (Figure 4d). The vorticity fields from the solution on the fine
grid are slightly different in appearance than those obtained for the coarse
grid. Since the turbulent length scale is dependent on the grid resolution,
the vorticity fields calculated on the fine grid (Figure 5) possess significantly
more small scale structures than those found for the coarse grid. Additionally,
a review of the animations of the iso-vorticity surfaces reveals that patches of
vorticity often burst through the shear layers in the fine grid solution, while
no such phenomena is seen to occur in the coarse grid solution.
One of the more interesting calculated quantities is the helicity field in the
wake of the truncated GTS. Helicity is defined to be u x w, where u and w
are the velocity and vorticity vector fields, respectively. The helicity can be
thought of as a measure of a flow field that has a swirling nature to it. For
instance, a two-dimensional viscous vortex with an axial velocity component
acting co-linear with the vorticity field would be an example of a flow with a
positive value of helicity. Regions of a flow field that are irrotational (w = 0)
or have a no-slip boundary condition (u = 0) have a zero value of helicity. Fig-
ures 6 and 7 show iso-surfaces of the time-averaged helicity in the wake of the
truncated GTS for the coarse and fine grids, respectively. The time averages
are calculated over the life of the simulation after the initial transients have
decayed. The surfaces denote values of helicity that are ±10,000 m/s 2 , re-
spectively. The coherent structures present in the wake of the GTS are most
clearly evident in the upstream views of the helicity iso-surfaces. It can be
seen that the top corners each spawn the formation of two oppositely-signed,
swirling flow structures. From the side views in Figure 6b and 7b, it is evident
that these structures are fairly robust and persist relatively far downstream
in the wake of the truncated GTS. The solutions on the coarse grid and, more
distinctly, on the fine grid demonstrate oppositely-signed surfaces of helicity
at the bottom corners of the GTS. However, these surfaces are smaller than
those being produced on the top corners, indicative of the influence of the
ground plane. Due to the potential upstream influence of the truncation of
the GTS geometry, the reader may be skeptical of the validity of these helic-
ity surfaces and whether or not they would exist in an actual flow. Perhaps,
they are artifacts of the computational scheme related to the sharp corners of
the truncated geometry. To address these issues, future computational studies
need to determine the sensitivity of these results to the upstream truncation
condition, the turbulence model, the boundary conditions used in the simula-
tions, and the sharp corners of the geometry.
4 Comparison with Experiments
We wanted to determine how well the simulations with the truncated geom-
etry compare with the experimental data for the full GTS geometry [7] taken
at a Rew = 2.0 X 106 and yaw angle of 0°. For this comparison, the particle
image velocimetry (PIV) data of the wind tunnel study [7] is employed. Figure
8 shows a schematic of the PIV setup for vertical and horizontal mid-plane
velocity field measurements in the wake of the GTS. Post-processing of these
velocity fields allows for the calculation of other flow quantities, such as the
vorticity or kinetic energy fields.
Figure 9 shows a comparison of the time-averaged velocity fields in the
vertical planes for the coarse grid and fine grid, where the time-averaged
quantities are calculated in the manner described in Section 3. Figure 10
shows the corresponding PIV velocity measurements in this same plane. Due
to the limited field of view of the PIV camera, only a portion of the wake
of the GTS is measured in the PIV data. There is a difference in the wake
structure when comparing the results of the vertical mid-plane velocity fields.
For the solutions from both the coarse and fine grids, two counter-rotating flow
structures exist in the separated wake, with the top one positioned slightly
upstream of the bottom one. However, in the PIV data, there is no evidence
for a second flow structure. Perhaps, this second flow structure exists outside
the field of view of the PIV camera. The measured wake in the PIV data looks
very similar to the near wake of a bus [13]. This distinct difference between
the simulations and experimental measurements may be due to the effects of
truncating the model or neglecting the undercarriage on the GTS geometry
(e.g., the four supporting posts on the GTS model) and the wind tunnel walls.
Figure 11 shows instantaneous fields of the y-component of vorticity in the
horizontal mid-plane for the coarse grid, fine grid, and PIV data. As expected,
there is a distinct difference between the vorticity fields of the coarse and fine
grids, namely that the fine grid captures more smaller scale structures in the
shear layers being shed by the GTS. These small scale structures are also
evident in the shear layers measured in the PIV data.
5 Conclusions
Unsteady, three-dimensional, large-eddy simulations are done on the flow
about a truncated GTS geometry located above a no-slip surface. Calculations
of the vorticity field show the unsteady behavior of the shear layers being shed
by the GTS geometry. Time-averaged iso-surfaces of helicity demonstrate the
existence of coherent flow structures that are formed from the corners of the
GTS. These structures do not readily dissipate and exist beyond the massively
separated wake. A comparison with the PIV velocity measurements made at
the same Reynolds number and yaw angle reveals differences in the structure
of the separated wake in the vertical mid-plane, perhaps indicating the influ-
ence of not including the model supports or of truncating the GTS model.
Future simulations on the GTS geometry must investigate the sensitivity of
the solutions to these effects, including the influence of the wind tunnel con-
finement, turbulent boundary layer treatment, and time averaging issues. In
regard to achieving the goal of reducing the drag of heavy vehicles, future
simulations also need to explore and to understand the flow physics of various
base-drag reduction concepts.
References
1. Lanser, W.R., Ross, J.C., & Kaufman, A.E. Aerodynamic Performance of a
Drag Reduction Device on a Full-Scale Tractor Trailer. Paper No. 912125, SAE
Transactions, 1991.
2. Virgin, B. Rounded add-on makes driving truck less of a drag, Seattle Post-
Intelligencer, http: I /seattlepi. nwsource. com/business/103544_truck10.
shtml, January 10, 2003.
3. Whitten, W.D. Collapsible Streamlined Tail for Trucks and Trailer, U.S. Patent
Number 6,309,010, September 27, 2000.
4. Bassett, D.A., Bassett, M.R., & Schroeder, J.C. Method and Apparatus for
Reducing Drag on a Moving Body, U.S. Patent Number 5,374,013, November
4, 1993.
5. Kirsch, J.W., Sabodh, K.G., & Garg, K. Airvane Device for Bluff Vehicles and
the Like, U.S. Patent Number 3,999, 797, November 26, 1975.
6. Engler, R.J. Advanced Aerodynamic Devices to Improve the Performance , Eco-
nomics, Handling and Safety of Heavy Vehicles, SAE Paper 2001-01-2072.
7. Storms, B.L., Ross, J.C., Reineck J.T., Walker, S.M., Driver, D.M. & Zilliac,
G.G. An Experimental Study of the Ground Transportation (GTS) Model in
the NASA Ames 7- by 10-ft Wind Tunnel, NASA/TM-2001-209621, February,
2001.
8. Gresho, P.M. & Sani, R.L Incompressible Flow and the Finite Element Method,
Volumes 1 & 2, April, 2000.
9. Smagorinsky, J. General Circulation Experiments with the Primitive Equations,
I, The Basic Experiment, Mon. Weather Rev. , 91, 1963, 99-165.
10. McCallen, R.C. Large-Eddy Simulation of Turbulent Flow Using the Finite El-
ement Method, Ph.D. Thesis, University of California, Davis, 1993.
11. Deardorff, J.W. A Numerical Study of Threee-Dimensional Turbulent Channel
Flow at Large Reynolds Numbers , J. Fluid Mech., 41, 453-480.
12. Piomelli, U., Ferziger, J.H., & Moin, P. Models for Large Eddy Simulations
of Turbulent Channel Flows Including Transpiration, Rept TF-32, Stanford
University, 1987.
13. Gotz, H. & Mayr, G. Commercial Vehicles, Aerodynamics of Road Vehicles,
edited by Hucho, W.H., 1998, 415-488.
truncation
line
flow direction
0.24w
(a) (b)
Fig. 1. (a) Photo of the GTS geometry in the NASA Ames 7ft x 10ft wind tunnel.
(b) Schematic of the GTS geometry and location of the model truncation. w is the
width of the GTS model (0.3238 m).
226 J.M. Ortega et a!.
~ _.. . . . . . specified inlet

3w / velocity
~flow
(/ direction
I
3.7w
\
ground
plane
Fig. 2 . Computational domain and boundary conditions for the flow simulations.
(a) (b)
Fig. 3. Vertical mid-plane cross-sections (z = 0) of the (a) coarse and (b) fine grids
used in the computational study.
(a) t = 0.0036 s (b) t = 0.0093 s
(c) t = 0.013 s (d) t = 0.13 s
ground plane
Fig. 4. !so-surfaces of the vorticity magnitude at several times in the coarse grid
simulation.
228 J .M. Ortega et al.
vortex ring secondary
Fig. 5. !so-surfaces of the vorticity magnitude at several times in the fine grid
simulation.
(a)
• ~-'\o3 ~ A x.~
-w. 6 0. ~ 0 . :1 -o ~B!
0.8 .a 0. .e
0.6 .6 0. .6
,.,,
0.4 ,q 0. .4
' R
0.:1 . :1
•3 .~
0. . :1
0 'I
.,.,- ,...J -0 .
0.'1 0 . :1 -0 . 2' -0 . 'I -0 fiar
(b)
FI K,~
. 'I -0.:1 0 0 . 2' 0.'1 .6 0.8 I .0 1.:1

z R•' •S
0.8 0.8
0.5 0.6
0.4 0.4
A.
' ll.2
~
Rx.~
-0 . :1
z R
••S
~ -0 .:<'
' Rxo~
L.
Fig. 6. (a) Upstream and (b) side views of the time-averaged iso-surfaces of helicity
for the coarse grid.
(a)
(b)
.e o.e
().5 o. e.
0.4 0.'1
Fig. 7. (a) Upstream and (b) side views of the time-averaged iso-surfaces of helicity
for the fine grid.
Computational Simulation of a Heavy Vehicle Trailer Wa ke 231
GT ' model
PI\ ' camcm
\CMtcal plane hontontal plane
(a) (b)
Fig. 8. Schem atic of t he PIV setup in the NASA Ames 7ft x 10ft wind tunnel for
(a) vertical mid-plane a nd (b) horizont al mid-plane measurements.
o• (a)
03
02
0 I
~
>-
·0 I
.02
.03
·0 . ·0 2 0 02
X AJJI
•• 06 oa
•• (b)
Ol
02
01
.e
~
>-
.01
.02
.03
.o• .02 02
X All ls
•• 06 oa
Fig. 9. Time-averaged velocity fields in t he vertical mid-plane fo r t he (a) coarse

and (b) fine grids.
232 J.M. Ortega eta!.
0.4
0.3 (a)
0.2
§. 0.1
>-
0.0
-0.1
-0.2
-0.3
-0.4 -0.2 0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8
x (m)
(b)
~
CO\
................................................................ , .......
Fig. 10. (a) PIV velocity field measurements in the vertical mid-plane. For clarity,
a schematic of the velocity field in (a) is shown in (b).
(a)
~
0 (b)
to)
0 -·------------·
N ...;
ci
r.
~
~
ci r
"'
·x f
~
"'
N ~
~
~
9
N
9
M ...............................
9
~
9
~ N N .0 co
9 9 ~ ci
~
0 ci ci
~
0
(c}
.:.
to)
0 .................................
'' '
N :
ci '
ci
.!a 0
f
X
ci
"'
N
~
"'!
9
M ... . . .. ....... .............
9
"':
9
"': N 0 N "': co
9 9 ci ci 0 ~ ci
Fig. 11. Instantaneous y-component of vorticity in t he horizontal mid-plane for the

(a) PIV measurements, (b) coarse grid, and (c) fine grid. The dashed regions in (b)
and (c) correspond to the region shown in (a ).
Passive/ Active Flow Modification for Drag
Reduction
Drag Reduction of Two-Dimensional Bodies by
Addition of Boat Tails
D.R. Areas and L.G. Redekopp
Department of Aerospace & Mechanical Engineering

University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA 90089-1191
Abstract
Results of drag reduction studies based on direct numerical simulations of the
separating flow aft of a rectangular forebody are reported. The study examines
the two-dimensional wake flow forming in the presence of rectangular boat-
tails (blocks or plates) attached to the base of a forebody, with special emphasis
on modifying the base pressure component of the drag. An optimal aspect
ratio for boat-tail notches at the separation point are identified, and the
underlying mechanism leading to elevated base pressures in such
configurations is revealed.
1. Introduction
Aerodynamic drag reduction has been a prominent concern, and has received
extensive investigation, in the automobile industry for many years. However,
a comparable emphasis on optimizing the drag of large transport vehicles has
peaked only recently, driven largely by increasing economic and
environmental pressures arising from their increased role in most economies.
This is especially true in the case of large tractor-trailer units used widely for
the transport of raw and manufactured goods over large distances. In most
applications employing tractor-trailer rigs, a significant fraction of fuel
expenditures is directly attributable to aerodynamic drag, and incentives exist
therefore to devise both active and passive means of reducing this penalty.
There are several primary target areas on tractor-trailer combinations that
are deemed most amenable to aerodynamic improvement. These include the
aerodynamic shaping of the frontal area of the trailer, the shielding of the gap
between the tractor and the trailer, and modifications of the separating flow in
the base region of the trailer. It has been found in some cases that minor local
modifications can yield significant reductions in aerodynamic drag. These
practical improvements have often been realized largely through empirical
238 D.R. Areas and L.G. Redekopp
approaches, albeit motivated somewhat by theoretical considerations. A

prominent example is the use of top-cabin air shields on the tractor to reduce
frontal drag on the trailer unit. Such successes have spurred further
approaches directed at reducing the drag of different components of the full
assembly. Optimization studies are emerging and a variety of drag-reducing
approaches are under study (e.g., Hucho 1998).
In this work we focus exclusively on aerodynamic drag reduction through
modification of the base pressure drag of the trailer unit. Laboratory studies by
Balkanyi & Bernal (2000) have shown that some add-on devices, namely
extension plates attached to the base region of the trailer, can lead to a 78%
reduction of the base pressure drag in an optimal configuration. Full-scale
field tests have indicated that employment of the proposed modifications
yielded an overall drag reduction of9% (cf., Lanser & Ross, 1991). These are
truly significant aerodynamic reductions, and motivate the present study.
The primary goal of this study is to seek optimal configurations of add-on,
drag-reducing devices for attachment to the base of a trailer (boat-tail devices),
and to elucidate those underlying physical mechanisms that lead to drag
reduction in the use of these configurations. In particular, we seek to clarify
those configurations that lead to elevated pressures in the base region, and how
elevated base pressures are linked with near-wake flow properties.
2. Problem Definition
The possibility of reducing the aerodynamic drag of a bluff body through
modifications of the base geometry is investigated by means of numerical
simulation. Toward that end we assess changes in the structure and flow
properties in the wake behind a rectangular, two-dimensional body when a
class of boat-tails are attached to the trailing edge of the base configuration.
Two different boat-tail geometries are examined in this study: a closed boat-
tail obtained by the symmetric attachment of a closed box to the base of the
body, and an open boat-tail obtained by the symmetric attachment of a pair of
plates extending from the base of the body. A schematic of these base
configurations is shown in Figure 1. The closed box configuration has a width
smaller than that of the reference body, allowing for the formation of two
corner notches of non-dimensional depth d and extension length l adjacent to
the separation point. All dimensions are scaled with the forebody width W
Our purpose in particular is to examine the effect of these two geometric
parameters on the integrated base pressure over the total width of the body.
The open box configuration is characterized by the same non-dimensional
parameters, but offers further freedom to the near-wake dynamics arising from
the existence of a cavity formed between the two extension plates.
Drag Reduction ofTwo-Dimensional Bodies by Addition of Boat Tails 239
Figure 1. Schematic of boat -tail configurations.
For the purposes of this study we ignore any details concerning the frontal
shape of the forebody, and the forebody length, and simply examine the flow
in the base region with a prescribed inflow to the computational domain
which is specified at a set distance upstream of the trailing edge. The inflow
consists of identical parallel streams on either side of the forebody with
nominal laminar boundary layers adjacent to the forebody. With this
formulation, the (non-dimensional) boundary layer thickness {j at the inlet
station on the forebody is an independent parameter and must also be
prescribed in addition to the Reynolds number. Consequently, the parameter
space for the problem includes the geometric parameters d and /, and the flow
parameters {j and Re, where Re is the Reynolds number based on the ambient
speed and the forebody width.
The numerical code used in this study is based on the Marker-And-Cell
(MAC) method, developed originally by Welch & Harlow (1965) . The
method is characterised by the use of a staggered grid and the solution of a
Poisson equation for the pressure at every time-step. The code solves the two-
space dimensional Navier-Stokes equations for an incompressible fluid in a
channel with impermeable, stress-free boundaries confining the flow. In this
study the outer channel boundaries were positioned a distance of four and a
half units away from each side of the forebody, and the outflow boundary was
20 units downstream from the inlet. The forebody length was three units,
leaving a distance of 17 units for the wake development between the base of
the forebody and the outflow boundary. A convective outflow boundary
condition was applied at the downstream end of the domain. The code was
validated by comparing the critical Reynolds number for onset of vortex
shedding, the frequency of vortex shedding, and the length of the recirculation
region for sub-critical Reynolds numbers, with existing data and simulations
for flow over a rectangular forebody (cf. , Eisenlohr & Eckelmann, 1988, and
Hammond & Redekopp, 1997), and also comparing similar characteristics for
flow over a backward-facing step (cf., Armaly et al., 1983, and Kim & Moin,
1985).
With the flow being confined between impermeable, stress-free
boundaries, it is important to assess the problem of blockage imposed by the
proximity of these boundaries to the wake and their influence on the base
pressure drag. It was found that, with the channel boundaries set at a distance
of 5 W on each side of the centerline for computational efficiency, the base
pressure drag was essentially independent of the forebody length when L was
greater than 3. The insensitivity of the base pressure drag to forebody length is
important since the increased blockage arising from addition of a boat-tail
could adversely influence any conclusions regarding drag reduction. The
channel width and forebody length were, therefore, held fixed at these values
throughout the study. Also, all results that follow were computed for a fixed
boundary layer thickness of 0 = 0.3 and a Reynolds number of Re = 800. The
base pressure drag, computed by integrating the base pressure distribution
across the exposed end of the forebody, yielded a base pressure drag coefficient
CDp = -0. 11 . This value of the drag coefficient, noted hereafter as cdo> is used
subsequently as a reference value in comparing the efficacy of various boat-tail
configurations for drag reduction.
The computed drag coefficient can be compared to the experimental value
of C Dp = -0.2 reported by Balkanyi & Bernal (2000) for flow with Re =
100,000. The differences are substantial, but can perhaps be rationalized on
the basis of the considerable differences in Reynolds number and the three-
dimensional nature of the flow in the physical experiment. The variation of
our computed drag coefficient C Dp for a restricted range of low Reynolds
numbers is shown to be increasing with Reynolds number in Figure 2, but the
extrapolation of the curve to full-scale values is pure speculation.
-0 .02
-0 .04
-0 .06
-0 .08
'0 -0 .1
:.>
-0 .12 ...... •·>
-0 .14 ... .. .. ........... .~.
-0 .16
-0.18 ... '· ...
-0 .2 L . __ __.__ __..__ ___._ _._L__ _ .....__ _j
200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400

Re
Figure 2. Variation of base-pressure drag coefficient with Reynolds number.

3. Discussion of Results
The sensitivity of the base pressure drag to the notch depth was investigated
first for a fixed boat-tail length of l = 0.4. The time-averaged pressure field
was computed and pressure coefficient profiles along the base of the forebody
are plotted in Figure 3 for various notch depths. The arrows indicate the
direction of increasing values of notch depth d. It is clear that an optimum
depth exists, occurring for a value d = 0.13, where the base pressure recovery
attains its highest value. Interestingly, the pressure distribution is nearly
uniform across the base for this geometry. The integration of these profiles
across the base yields base pressure drag coefficients which, when normalized
by the drag coefficient for the reference case without any boat-tail, are plotted
in Figure 4. There is a quite steep decrease in drag for small notch depths
until the optimum for the particular boat-tail length is reached. The rise in
drag for notch depths beyond the optimum is, by comparison, quite modest.
- 0 .01
- 0.05
-0 .07
-0.09
---- --------
-0.11
-0 .13
-0 .15 L-~~-~----'----~~--~-'---'
· 0 .5 · 0 .4 -0 .3 -0 .2 -0.1 0 0 .1 0 .2 0 .3 0 .4 0 .5
y
-0. 02 1~~-~~---r--~-;==~~:;']
-0.025
-0 .03
-0.035
-0 .04
- 0 .1145
-0.05
-0 .055
-0 .06
-0 .065
- 0 .07 L__~---'-~_.__i__~___;_ _.__.__J
-0 .5 -0 .4 - 0 .3 -0 .2 - 0 .1 0 0 .1 0 .2 0 .3 0 .4 0 .5
y
Figure 3. Pressure coefficient profiles along base for different notch depths. l = 0.4, Re = 800.
0 .9
0 .8 ................. \
0.7 ~ . .. . .. ;, .......... : ........ .: ... ' .. '.

0 .6 .
..,
~
0
..,~ 0 .5
u 0 .4
0 .3
0 .2
0 .1
0
0 0 .05 0 .1 0 .15 0 .2 0 .25 0 .3
d
Figure 4. Normalized base-pressure drag coefficients as function of notch depth.

l = 0.4, Re = 800.
To expose the underlying source of the drag reduction with increasing

notch depths we plot the time-averaged streamlines, superimposed over
contours of the local pressure coefficient, in the near-wake region. Examining
Figure 5 one discerns the presence of an inflectional shape in the inner
streamline (whose upstream origin is nearly coincident with the displacement
thickness in the boundary layer) near the end of the boat-tail. We propose
that this inflectional shape is essential to increasing the base pressure, as can be
argued readily from the inviscid relation for the transverse pressure gradient in
a flow with curvilinear streamlines,
ap V2
(1) -=p-
an R
where R is the local radius of curvature of a streamline with local speed V and
n is normal to the streamline and pointing away from the center of curvature.
Since the ambient pressure is fixed, one needs a flow with a curvature that is
locally convex relative to the wake centerline (alt. concave relative to the
freestream) in order to increase the pressure along the base of the boat-tail.
This convex curvature is found to be maximized for the fixed parameters in
this set of simulations when d"" 0.13.
One can also examine characteristics of the time-averaged near-wake
structure as the notch depth is varied. We show in Figure 6 the distance
between the end of the boat-tail and the near-wake saddle point as a function
of the notch depth d. It is observed that the near-wake length reaches a
maximum when the optimum value d = 0.13 is attained. Clearly, the presence
of an inflectional shape in the streamlines defining the boundary of the near-
wake region increases the length of the near-wake. Also, as the length of the
near-wake increases, the convex curvature of the dividing streamline will be
diminished. Based on the inviscid relation (1), this effect will also contribute
to a raising of the pressure in the near-wake region
With these results in hand, the sensitivity of the base pressure drag
reduction to boat-tail length was pursued. For this purpose, the notch depth
was fixed at the optimum valued"' 0.13 for a notch length of I"' 0.4, and the
parameter I was varied to track the variation of the pressure drag with notch
length I. As shown in Figure 7, a pronounced minimum in the normalized
drag coefficient was found for I= 0.66. Using these two sets of simulations we
suggest that the optimum aspect ratio of trailing edge notches, optimum with
respect to base pressure drag reduction, is around lid= 6 (0.66/0.133). It is
interesting to note that this particular value of the notch aspect ratio
corresponds very closely with that identified by Lancer & Ross (1991) in their
tests of a full-scale model at typical speeds (i.e., Reynolds numbers). They
reported an optimum configuration of boat-tail plates having the values of I=
0.36 and d = 0.06 (both for the vertical and horizontal notch depths on their
three dimensional body); that is, a notch aspect ratio of six. For their vehicle
with added boat-tail plates satisfying these optimum dimensions, they report a
total drag reduction of 9%.
ct-l.tl
........,
Cp
....•••.,
'"'
....•••..
.........
'"'
·• 011
Oil
'"
Figure 5. Time-averaged streamlines and pressure contours for "optimal"

configuration with d = 0.13,
I= 0.4 and Re = 800.
0 .95
0 .9
.r; 0 .85
;;.
i
..... 0 .8
c
0 0 .75
-;;
:; 0 .7
2
'¥
a: 0 .65
0 .6
0 .55 .
0 .5
0 0. 05 0 .1 0 .15 0 .2 0 .25 0 .3 0 .35
d
Figure 6. Length of near-wake region as a function of notch depth d. I= 0.4, Re = 800.
0
'C
Q
'C
()
0.2
o ~----~------~----~~----~
0 2 3 4
Figure 7. Normalized base-pressure drag coefficients as a function of boat-tail length.

d = 0.13, Re = 800.
Experimental results by Balkanyi & Bernal (2000) show that sizeable

differences in the drag reduction occur when the boat-tail is open or closed.
Hence, further simulations were conducted to investigate the sensitivity of the
base pressure distribution to the opening of a cavity in the closed boat-tail
configurations. For this purpose we arbitrarily fixed the notch depth at d =
0.1 and varied the length of the boat-tail plates. For purposes of comparison,
simulations using closed configurations also with d = 0.1 were performed. The
results for the base pressure drag are shown in Figure 8. It is evident that
equivalent trends of drag reduction behaviors are realized when the boat-tail is
opened. Also, the absolute level of drag reduction is greater for an open boat-
tail as opposed to one that is closed. The extra freedom in the near-wake flow
structure, particularly the absence of the stagnation point on the plane
coinciding with the end of the boat-tail when it is open, allows for greater
pressure recovery in the near-wake. Evidently, it also allows for the appearance
of a region of more pronounced reflexive curvature of the streamlines at the
edge of the boundary layer. Also, the near-wake appears to be shorter when the
boat-tail is open, which would imply greater convex curvature of the
streamlines (relative to the center-line) just downstream of the boat-tail.
Comparisons of the pressure field for open and closed configurations with the
same parameters are shown in Figure 9 to exhibit some of these differences.
0 .8
~
\
\
I= closed
open
\
\
\
I
0 .6
..,
0 \
\
\
~ \
u \
0 .4
''
' ....
0 .2
0
0 0 .25 0 .5 0 .75
I
Figure 8. Base pressure drag coefficient for different boat-tail configurations as a function of
boat-tail length. d = 0.1, Re = 800.
1=0.4
1 . 5 .----~--~--~.----""'""-----..,....-----,
>-
Figure 9. Comparison of time-averaged pressure contours for an open and closed boat-tail
configuration.
d = 0.1, I= 0.4, Re= 800.
4. Conclusions
The numerical investigation presented in this paper clearly identifies an
optimum parameter setting for maximum pressure recovery (alt., drag
reduction) along the base of a rectangular body via the attachment of boat-tails
to the trailing edge. The combination of geometric parameters d, notch depth
Drag Reduction of Two-Dimensional Bodies by Addition of Boat Tails 247
and /, notch length for minimum drag configuration was found to be d =

0.13, l = 0.66 (lid"" 6.). The attachment of boat-tails to the trailing edge can
induce changes in the sign of the curvature of the separating streamlines. This
change of curvature is fundamental to inducing a modified pressure at the base
of the body because, as sketched in Figure 10, the direction of the pressure
gradient normal to the streamlines changes with changes in sign of streamline
curvature. The presence of a pressure gradient pointing toward the base, and
the fact that the ambient pressure is fixed, allows enhanced base pressure
values, resulting in a reduction in base pressure drag. Over the range of
parameters investigated here the extra flow freedom provided by the use of an
open boat-tail attachment in the very near-wake region played a crucial role in
attaining increased base pressure values for this configuration over its closed
counterpart, consistent with laboratory results (Balkanyi & Bernal (2000)).
dp1:1n
~dn
Figure I 0. Sketch of the modified separating streamlines and associated pressure gradients in
the presence of boat-tails.
Acknowledgements
The first author acknowledges partial support of a Powell Graduate Fellowship
during this study, and both authors gratefully acknowledge many collegial and
beneficial discussions of this work with F. K. Browand.
References
Armaly, B. F., F. Durst, J.C.F. Pereira & B. Schonung, 1983. Experimental

and theoretical investigation of backward-facing step flow. ]. Fluid Mech.,
127: 473-496.
Balkanyi, S. R. & Bernal L. P, 2000. Dynamics of manipulated bluff body

wakes, AIAA Paper No. 2556.
Eisenlohr, H. & H. Eckelmann, 1988. Observations in the laminar wake of a

thin flat plate with a blunt trailing edge. Experimental Heat Transfer, Fluid
Mechanics, and Thermodynamics (ed., R.K. Shau, E.N. Ganic & K.T. Yang).
Elsevier.
Hammond, D. A. & L. G. Redekopp, 1997. Global dynamics of symmetric

and asymmetric wakes. J. Fluid Mech., 331: 231-260.
Harlow, F.H. & ].E. Welch, 1964. The MAC Method: A computing
technique for solving viscous, incompressible, transient fluid-flow problems
involving free surfaces. Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory Report No. LA-
3425.
Hucho, W-H., 1998. Aerodynamics of road vehicles. From fluid mechanics to

vehicle engieneering. SAE International.
Kim, ]. & P. Moin, 1985. Application of a fractional step method to

incompressible Navier-Stokes equations. J. Comp. Phys., 59:308-323.
Lancer, W. R., Ross, ]. C. & Kauffman, A. E., 1991. Aerodynamic

performance of a drag reduction device on a full scale tractor-trailer. SAE
Paper No. 912125.
Drag Reduction of a Tractor-Trailer Using Planar
Boat Tail Plates
J.D. Coon and K.D. Visser
Department of Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering, P.O. Box 5725, Clarkson

University, Potsdam, NY, USA 13699
Abstract
The use of planar-sided boat tail plates for aft-end drag reduction on a tractor-trailer
was studied numerically, experimentally and on a full scale prototype. Parametric
wind tunnel tests utilized a 1:15 scale Peterbilt 379 tractor and 48 foot (14.6 m)
trailer with cavity plate concepts mounted perpendicular to the trailer base. Yaw
angles up to 9 degrees were examined. Qualitative numerical results confirmed a
pressure increase on the aft face of the trailer. Model drag increments, obtained at
zero yaw and a width-based Reynolds number of 230,000, based on trailer width,
indicated reductions in the drag coefficient, based on frontal area, of up to 0.075 or
about 9% of the baseline model trailer drag. Removal of the top plate degraded the
performance of all devices. Performance also decreased with yaw angle for all
plates mounted perpendicular to the trailer base, contrary to devices with angled
plates. Devices with shorter angled plates indicated better performance with the
top open rather than an open bottom. Drag reduction was more sensitive to plate
inset from the trailer edge than to plate length and a zero inset of the bottom plate
maximized performance. Two full scale prototypes were road tested, the first
utilized rigid composite sides with a flexible top and bottom and the second was an
all rigid-sided aluminum design. The former exhibited cross-country road fuel
savings of about 0.5 miles per gallon (0.2 kilometers/liter), approximately 9%, over
a 10,000 mile (16,093 km) trip, while the latter returned inconclusive results.
Estimated fuel savings for a typical 120,000 miles (193,121 km) per year traveled
were approximately 1500 gallons (5677 liters) per truck.
Introduction
The flow behind bluff bodies, and the desire to reduce the base pressure drag, has
been the subject of numerous investigations (Hoerner 1950; Mair 1965; Kentfield
1984; Rodriguez 1991). The reduction of the drag specifically associated with
tractor-trailers has also been under investigation for many years. In the early
1970's, NASA, as well as private firms, extensively examined the concept of trailer
drag by modifying the flow over the forward part of the vehicle (Montoya and
250 J.D. Coon and K.D. Visser
Steers 1974) Their results indicated that commercially available devices could
reduce drag by up to 24 percent.
Sovram et a!. (1978) reported that Mason and Beebe (1978) examined several
add-on devices to increase the base pressure of a tractor-trailer in 1976. They
included vertical and horizontal splitter plates, guide vanes, and non-ventilated
cavities as illustrated in Figure I a. The vertical splitter plates had little or no effect
on the tractor-trailer drag, while the vanes exhibited an adverse effect. The only
device that showed positive results was the non-ventilated cavity design, shown in
the bottom right of Figure I a. Mason and Beebe varied the length of the plates and
found an optimum of 22 inches (0.55 m) for a conventional48 foot (14.6 m) trailer
which yielded an overall drag reduction of 5 percent.
Splitters
Vanes Cavities
(a) (b)
Fig. 1. Drag reduction concepts a) Mason and Beebe in Sovram (1978) b) Bilanin (1985)
Similar research by Hucho (1987) on a small minivan style vehicle in the 1970's
substantiated the drag reduction behavior of non-ventilated cavities. Cooper (1985)
conducted extensive tests on detailed scaled models of a tractor trailer and a panel
truck using rounded and beveled panels on the rear end of the vehicle. His results
indicated an optimum reduction in the drag of 7-10% of the baseline model drag
and indicated it was not unreasonable to expect this at full scale. A patent was filed
by Bilanin (1985) on a variation of the cavity design concept, illustrated in Figure
I b, that inset the endplates from the trailer perimeter. His claims indicated a drag
reduction on the order of 10%. Recently patents filed by Boivin and Roberge
(2001) describe an attachment of plates to the edge of the trailer and inclination
toward the centerline, but with no bottom plate.
NASA has extensively supported testing of devices aimed to reduce the pressure
drag. A summary of the NASA work from 1973-1982 by Saltzman and Meyer
(1999) indicated that a reduction in base drag, such as by using a truncated boat
tail, will be necessary in light of the increase of base drag associated with forebody
streamlining. In 1988, full-scale tests were performed at NASA's Ames Research
Center on a full scale, inset, non-ventilated cavity device (Lanser et a!. 1991)
similar to Bilanin (1985). Inset, as well as overall plate length, were optimized.
The results showed that the highest drag reduction came with a plate length of
0.36w and an inset on the top and side plates of 0.06w , where w was the width of
Drag Reduction of a Tractor-Trailer Using Planar Boat Tail Plates 251
the trailer. This translates to a plate length of 33 inches (0.84 m) inset at

approximately 7 inches (0.18 m) from each edge for a 48 foot (14.6 m) trailer. The
researchers recorded an overall drag reduction of approximately 10% over a+/- 15°
yaw range. Tests at NASA using innovative testing techniques to validate CFD
methods on bluff body ground vehicle wakes have continued to the present
(McCallen et al. 1999).
Hucho and Sovran (1993) indicated that the major aerodynamic problem of a
bluff type body moving at subsonic speeds through a fluid is at the rear, not the
front. They state that the benefits of drag reduction are threefold: reduced fuel
consumption, increased acceleration, and increased top speed. If the objective is
reduced fuel consumption, the latter two benefits can be used to enhance this
requirement. Re-gearing of the drive train converts increased acceleration to a fuel
savings component, while a reduction in installed engine power accomplishes the
same for the increased top speed capability. It is also worth mentioning, in light of
the recent heightened focus on the environment, that a reduction in emissions will
result from this drag reduction.
The objective of the present study was to investigate and develop a working full
scale prototype of a device to passively reduce the base pressure drag on a tractor-
trailer. Title 23 of the United States Code of Federal Regulations (Part 658.5)
indicates that devices added to the rear of a semi-trailer, whose function is related
to the safe and efficient operation of the vehicle, are excluded from the length
determination, provided that they are not used for carrying cargo. Revision of this
code is presently underway, however the current regulations stipulate a maximum
length of 5 feet (1.52 m). The US Department of Transportation reported that there
were 1,997,345 combination trucks, including nine-axle tractor trailers, in service
in 1998. Approximately 128.4 billion miles (206.6 billion kilometers) were
traveled and 21.1 billion gallons (79.5 billion liters) of fuel were consumed. A
decrease in fuel consumption of only 5% would incur savings of over 1 billion
gallons (3.79 billion liters) per year and, of course, billions of dollars. Wind tunnel
experiments were utilized in the present study for geometry optimization and
enabled comparison of model scale to full scale results. A key consideration of the
full scale prototype was maintaining the functionality of tractor-trailer.
Numerical Simulation
Although the primary focus of this study was experimental, an effort to gain some
qualitative insight into the effect of endplates, and to provide direction for
experimental tests, was first undertaken using the numerical code FLUENT. The
use of FLUENT is questionable when attempting to estimate drag numbers or flow
structures on such an unsteady, asymmetric, separated bluff body flow, however
the purpose was a quick and "dirty" look to see if there was some time averaged
improvement on the aft trailer face. A simplified tractor-trailer geometry was
modeled three dimensionally in a large, 50ft x 50ft x 150ft, (15.2 m x 15.2 m x 45.7
m) wind tunnel as depicted in Figure 2. A total of 2.64xl0 5 nodes were used at a
Reynolds number of 4.32x 106 based on truck width. The grid was not refined in the
present study as the number of nodes were as many as the available computer
hardware could accommodate. The model was run under steady state conditions
only and utilized a k-£ turbulence model. The purpose of the numerical model was
simply to see if there was any pressure increase on the back of the trailer. Cases
were computed with and without plates attached perpendicular to the back of the
trailer. The plates were inset on each side an equal distance, d, from the trailer
edge for a range 0<d<36 inches (0 < d 0.91 m) full-scale in 6 inch (0.15 m)
increments. Plate length, L, was varied from 3-6ft (0.91- 1.83 m) in 1 ft (0.3 m)
increments.
(a)
' \
·v--~ ~
I
I
I
r ~ t., 1
-t ~ -
f-
r · --'"
~ ,jl
fill.l.
I
(b)
Fig. 2. Simplified numerical tractor trailer representation a) Grid distribution b) Pressure

distribution plane at aft face
An example of the calculated pressure distribution on the baseline (no device)

aft trailer face is illustrated in Figure 3a. The area of lowest pressure occurred near
the bottom of the trailer and extended towards the ground plane. The addition of
the plates was observed to qualitatively increase the pressure on the aft face of the
truck to levels in the flow field around the truck, as illustrated in Figure 3b. Close
inspection of the values in Figure 3b reveals asymmetries, probably due to a lack of
grid resolution in the vicinity of the plates. As noted above, the grid was not
refined due to a lack of available hardware. As the complex nature of this time
dependent, separated flow field limits the accuracy of a code such as FLUENT,
these numerical results were only used to obtain a general feel of what might occur
in the flow with the plates attached and to assist in the wind tunnel experimental
direction. Details can be found in Coon (200 I)
(a) (b)
Fig. 3. Numerical pressure distributions on aft face of trailer a) Baseline b) Boat tail plates
added, d = 6 inches (0.15m), L = 48 inches (1.22 m)
Experimental Study
An extensive set of wind tunnel tests were conducted on a scale model of a tractor-
trailer in the Clarkson University Low Speed Wind Tunnel. The tunnel facility is
an in-draft, open circuit type with a 4. 7: 1 contraction inlet. The test section is of 48
inch by 36 inch (1.22 m by 0.91 m) cross section with a length of 65 inch (1.65 m).
Honeycomb and fine screens are mounted across the entrance to the contraction
inlet to reduce the turbulence and flow irregularities. The maximum speed
obtainable in the tunnel was approximately 58 miles/hour (26 m/s) which
corresponds to a Re/m of about 1.5e06/m.
Models and Apparatus

A wind tunnel model was constructed at 1:15.25 scale to resemble many of the
common tractor-trailers on the road today. The cab was modeled after a Peterbilt
tractor model 379 and the trailer was modeled after a standard full-scale 48 foot
(14.6 m) trailer. The actual total length of the model was 51.35 inches (1.3 m),
with the trailer extending 37.75 inches (0.96 m) and the cab approximately 11.1
inches (0.025 m) There was a gap between the tractor and trailer of 2.5 inches
(0.064 m) which is approximately 38 inches (0.97 m) full-scale. The cross-section
of the tractor-trailer was approximately 6.30 in. x 7.125 in. (0.16 m x 0.18 m).
Eighteen model wheels were attached, but kept immobile for the experiments.
Figure 4 illustrates the model in the tunnel. The width-based Reynolds number for
the experiment was approximately 2.3xl05 , significantly below that of full-scale
width-based Reynolds numbers at common highway speeds of approximately
4.5xl0 6 •
The model blockage at 0° yaw in the tunnel was 2.6%. A 0.5 inch (1.27 mm)
thick splitter plate was installed to position the model in the center of the test
section, out of the boundary layer, and to model the ground plane. The added
blockage that the modeled ground plane contributed to the overall wind tunnel
blockage was 1.4%. This brought the total test section blockage up to 4%, which is
slightly below the recommended maximum of 5% (Mason et al. 1973).
Fig. 4. Wind tunnel model of tractor trailer
Four different plate cavity models were tested. The first, denoted Equal Inset
(EI), is illustrated in Figure 5a and was similar to the numerical geometries. The
second, Equal Inset, Zero Bottom Plate Inset (EI-OB), was identical to EI, but with
the bottom plate at zero inset, as suggested by previous literature (Bilanin 1985;
Lanser et al. 1991). The last two model types tested were identical to the previous
two except that the top plate was removed, and were referred to as EI-NT and EI-
OB-NT, respectively. Figure 5b illustrates an EI-OB-NT geometry. Full-scale
issues fueled the interest in top plate removal. If viable from a drag perspective, it
would be more practical as a design as it incorporates less material and would be
far easier to operate than a four-plate design. The geometries test matrix is listed in
Table 1.
(a)
Fig. 5. Wind tunnel plate cavity geometries a) Equal Inset (EI) b) Equal Inset, Zero Bottom No
Top (EI-OB-NT)
Table 1. Model test geometries: W=EI; X=EI-NT; Y= EI-OB, Z= EI-OB-NT

...
..,.~,.,.,.,~~~-- -
Plate Inset (Full L =36 inches (0.91 L=48 inc hes (1.22 L=60 inches( 1.56 m)
Scale) m) m)
1.91 (0.048) W,X,Y,Z W,X,Y,Z W,X,Y,Z

3.81 (0.096) W,X,Y,Z W,X,Y,Z W,X,Y,Z
5.72 (0.15) W,X,Y,Z W,X,Y,Z W,X,Y,Z
7.63 (0.19) W,X,Y,Z W,X,Y,Z W,X,Y,Z
9.53 (0.24) W,X,Y,Z W,X,Y,Z
11.44 (0.29) W,X W,X,Y,Z W,X,Y,Z
13.34 (0.34) W,X
15.25 (0.39) W,X W,X W,X
19.06 (0.48) W,X
- --
A model of the Boivin and Roberge (2001) design was also constructed,
containing three plates (top and sides) inclined at an angle towards the centerline
with no inset from the perimeter of the trailer. An estimated plate length of 18
inches (0.46 m), full-scale, and angle of 15° , based on photographs, was modeled.
A bottom plate was also added to the original design, perpendicular to the trailer
face, as an additional configuration.
A biaxial, drag and side force, balance was designed and built to take
measurements on the tractor-trailer model. It uses two IKO International linear
translators with crossed roller bearings (CRWU 80-125) mounted perpendicular to
each other. They enabled motion in the direction of flow and perpendicular to the
flow. Two Precision Transducers model PTlOOO load cells, were used to take
measurements for drag and side force on the truck model. Both have an instrument
error of 0.03% of the applied load. Voltage output data from the load cells was
signal conditioned with a National Instruments (NI) Strain Gauge Board Model
SG-2043 and acquired with aNI data acquisition (DAQ) card model PCI-6024E.
Zero Yaw Test Results

The differences in drag coefficient, ~C 0 , and the percentage of drag reduction,
%~C 0 , based on maximum frontal area for the truck model were used to compare
the baseline, no device, geometry to each different device where:
(1)
(2)
and
_
C D- Drag (3)
Dynamic pressure* Frontal area
The dynamic pressure is one half of the tunnel air density multiplied by the tunnel
velocity squared.
The experimental results for 0° yawed geometries will be presented first
followed by the yawed conditions. The method of Kline (1985) was used to
estimate the uncertainty in C0 , ~C 0 and %~C 0 . Although the typical uncertainty
error in C 0 was± 0.015 or approximately 2% of the measured value, the percentage
of error associated with ~C 0 and %~C 0 can be significantly higher depending on
the actual drag savings of the device as the uncertainty in ~C 0 can represent a
significant portion of the drag savings increment. Consider the uncertainty in ~C 0 ,
UtJ.c 0 , which is determined as:
(4)
Since Uc 08""' is equal to Uc Do""' this becomes:
(5)
Here the uncertainty in ~C 0 is roughly 40% greater than that of C 0 . The

percentage of error, however, is much higher, especially as the difference in drag,
~Co, decreases.
U11.c 0
% error in ~C = 100-- (6)
D !'!Co
The same is true for %~C 0 • As a result, the % error in ~C 0 , typically on the
order of± 0.02, becomes about 28% for an incremental drag savings of 10% over a
baseline C 0 of, say, 0.8. A drag savings of only 5% would incur % error in ~Co of
over 55%. Percent error magnitude in %~C 0 is similar.
It is important that this error associated with these data be kept in mind when
observing the trends in the following plots. Although many repeat cases were
taken and data was acquired over significant time periods to ensure time averaged
results, consideration of the error bars obscures many of the smaller trends
observed between individual geometric details. Thus, despite the fact that the
overall drag savings of these devices, relative to the baseline geometry, were
statistically significant, the specifics of the data presented below associated with
individual geometric differences should be taken only as indicative of potential
trends and not definitive conclusions. Note that the error bars have been left off the
figures for clarity.
Equal Inset
The behavior of the EI case is plotted in Figure 6a. The data indicated an optimum
geometric range of plate length, L, of 45in. to 55in. (I. 14m to 1.40 m) and inset, d,
of 3in. to 7in. (0.076m to 0.18m) full-scale. For comparison, the values of %~C 0
are presented in Figure 6b to illustrate the danger of only presenting percentages of
drag reduction instead of ~C 0 . Since the values of %~C0 are scaled by the
baseline, an unrealistic value of the magnitude of drag of the baseline geometry can
lead to erroneous conclusions. This is especially critical at model scales and
Reynolds numbers. As an example, note the difference in perceived %~C 0
performance of the 3 foot (0.91 m) case at an inset of 4 inches (0.10 m) compared
to the values of ~C 0 . Also, the incremental values of ~C 0 can more readily be
applied to a full scale geometry, as percentages require the baseline model C0 . The
maximum %~C 0 was achieved with a geometric configuration of L=48in. (1.22 m)
and d=5.72in. (0.14 m), yielding an 8.84% reduction in drag, however in terms of~
C0 , the L = 36 inch (0.91 m), d = 3.8 inch (0.097 m) geometry performed as well as
the 48 inch (1.22 m) case.
. '•
Full Scale Inset ( 1nt=-f'oe$l
.. . ,,
Ful Scale ktset (lncbttl
(a) (b)
Fig. 6. Effect of plate length and inset on drag reduction, equal inset geometry a) ~C 0 b)
%~Co
Effect ofZero Bottom Plate Inset

The EI-OB configuration performed best in similar geometric ranges to that of the
El cases, however, as seen in Figure 7, a local maximum in length is not as
obvious. For optimum performance, the plate length should be L>45in. (1.14 m),
but no strong upper limit for L is indicated. The optimum range for plate inset was
within 3in.<d<8in. (0.076m<d<0.20m), with a %8C 0 range from 8.5-9.0%. The
maximum 8C 0 for the EI-OB case was achieved with L=48in. (1.22 m) and
d=5.72in. (0.14 m), yielding a 8C 0 = 0.0754. Similar results were achieved for the
case with L=60in. (1.52 m) and d=5.72in. (0.14 m) where 8C 0 = 0.0747.
The EI-OB configuration forces a streamline to extend from the bottom-most
part of the trailer, unlike the plate inset which allows separation at the trailing edges
of the trailer and vortex formation in the step region. This vortex strategy for drag
reduction appears to work best for the top and sides of the trailer, but the bottom
plate seems most effective without this formation.
"'
~/
.... ~ -
"'
7
u
~
'" ~""'...
... FIJI $Q6t PI.J.l& llll"'gll'l
J- s '"' Otloaom
1::'..,-:1
)IMI~
,., ,,
0 e 1!1
F.. Seale Inset (1~ )

10
I 8 II) ,,
Full Scale lnse1 (~~AChes)
(a) (b)
Fig. 7. Effect of plate length and inset on drag reduction, zero bottom geometry a) ~C 0 b)
%~Co
Removal ofTop Plate

The effect of removing the top plate decreased the performance for both the EI-NT
and EI-OB-NT four-plate configurations. For the EI-NT case, no indication of an
optimum length was observed between the configurations. Best results were
obtained with the lowest plate inset, d. Although it was not tested, the optimum
configuration may even be a zero plate inset (d=O). The maximum ~CD of the EI-
NT configurations tested occurred at L=48in. (1.22 m) and d=l.91in . (0.049 m),
yielding a drag reduction of ~CD= 0.0517 or about 6.2%.
In contrast, the model type EI-OB-NT operated most effectively when plate inset
was in the range 2in.<d<5in, (0.051m<d<0.13m) yielding a maximum ~CD =
0.0532 at L=60in. (1.52 m) and d=3.81in. (0.097 m) or a %~CD=6.3%. This was
closely followed by the configuration having L=48in. (1.22 m) and d=3.81in.
(0.097 m) for a ~CD= 0.0521 or %~CD=6.3%.
The impact of no top plate is summarized in Figure 8 for the 48 inch ( 1.22 m)
length plate geometry. The EI-NT geometry performed at 57% below that of the
EI, while the EI-OB-NT dropped to 59% of the corresponding EI-OB maximum
value. Both configurations also exhibited a shift in the optimum inset value. The
EI results indicated an optimum range for plate inset of 3in.<d<7in
(0.076m<d<0.18m) while the optimum range for the EI-NT case occurs at a lower
range of Oin.<d<4in. (O.Om<d<O.lOm) Similarly, the EI-OB case had a local
maximum in the range 3in.<d<8in. (0.076m<d<0.20m), but the EI-OB-NT case
indicated maximum performance within the range 2in.<d<5in. (0.051m<d<0.13m).
0.08
u
<l
0 .04 t----"=---o..,-;""F:t,.--------=----~
0 .01
10 12 14 16 18
Full Scale Inset (inches)
Fig. 8. Effect of no top plate, plate length and inset on drag reduction of 4 foot ( 1.22 m) plate
length
Yaw Test Results

As Cooper (1982) has indicated, yawed conditions can play a major role on the
drag reduction, however yaw angles greater than 9 degrees are relatively
insignificant for trucks at 56 mi/hr (90 km/hr) based on statistical wind estimates.
Since these yaw angles are exceeded < 10% of the time, the present study restricted
testing to < 10 degrees. Limited yaw measurements were performed on select
model configurations from the zero degree tests from -3° to +9°, with an increment
of3°.
For all perpendicular plate configurations tested, and at low angles, the behavior
of the drag with yaw angle was concave down . In other words, the ilC 0
improvement decreased with increasing yaw angle. The device with maximum
ilC 0 from the zero degree tests, the EI-OB, L=4ft. (1.22 m) , d=5.72in. (0.15 m) is
illustrated in Figure 9. For all configurations tested with 4 foot ( 1.22 m) plate
length, drag benefits decreased with yaw angle. Erratic behavior was observed at
higher yaw angles for the model with L=3 foot (0.91 m). This may be attributed to
the effect of less area exposed to the flow with a shorter plate length L. Removal
of the top plate had a consistent, negative offset on drag reduction over the yaw
angle range, similar to that of the oo yaw data of Figure 8.
Yaw tests were also conducted on variations of the Boivin and Roberge (2001)
design. As previously mentioned, this design does not include a plate inset for any
of the three plates which were placed at a 15° angle with respect to the trailer top
and sides. Contrary to the perpendicular plate behavior, at low yaw angles the
trend is somewhat concave up. That is, ilC 0 increases with increasing yaw angle
over the range :t3 o. The behavior is similar for the inverted case which even
indicated better performance. The addition of an orthogonal bottom plate to the
design improved the drag yet further, but the performance remained below the 4
foot (1.22 m) optimum at 0° yaw.
It should be noted that the curves are not ideally symmetric about a yaw angle of
zero degrees. Two possible explanations can be given for this behavior. First,
although the centerline of the model was aligned with the tunnel free-stream, the
addition of the aft devices could be cause for a non-symmetric geometry. Each aft
device was carefully hand-built and attached with magnetized strips to the trailer,
however the impact of small scale construction and alignment errors at this scale
could be more serious than it was thought to be, certainly more so with a tunnel
model than the full scale device. Secondly, the asymmetries present at +/- 3
degrees can be seen to fall with in the estimated error bands of a ilC0 of about+/-
0.02, indicating that there may be no asymmetry present at all.
0.1 , . . - - - - - , - - - - - - - - - - -- - ,
3
Yaw Angle (Degrees)
Fig. 9. Effect of yaw angle on drag of selected designs
At higher yaw degrees, the results became more erratic and somewhat
unexplainable, possibly due to measurement uncertainty, as seen in Figure 9. At
+6°, the inverted case continues its convex behavior (as experienced over ±3°).
This differs from both the original and 4-plate cases. The common element in the
original and 4-plate cases is the presence of a top plate. It is possible that a
negative effect from the top plate is occurring at +6°. This is inexplicable at the
present, however, since at +9° the trend is reversed. That is, at +9°, the 4-plate
angled outperforms both the original and the inverted Boivin and Roberge (2001)
design. It is suspected that the low Reynolds number effects are contributing to
this behavior in addition to measurement uncertainty. The general conclusion in
the yaw tests is that further data is necessary at more yaw angles and higher
Reynolds numbers to substantiate any claims made for yaw trends of the angled
plate design, or any variations.
Literature Comparison
The optimum geometrical results from the present experimental data were
compared to that of Bilanin (1985) and Lanser, et al. ( 1991) using the definitions of
Figure 10. Plate insets, G and D, and the plate length, L, were non-
dimensionalized by the trailer width, W.
Fig. 10. Geometry definitions for literature comparison
Table 2 presents results for the optimum geometries. In terms of plate

placement, both the Bilanin (1985) and Lanser, et al. (1991) published geometries
compare most closely to the present experimental case with zero bottom plate inset,
since they all have the same bottom plate position. The G/W and D/W inset ratios
reported by Bilanin were twice as great as the current experimental inset ratios,
indicating higher optimum plate insets for the former design. Bilanin also specifies
a range for optimum inset ratio of 0.1 <GIW=DIW<0.2, but the current
experimental values still lie outside this range at GIW=DIW=0.06. The plate length
ratio reported by Bilanin (1985) of LIW=0.44 is less than that of the present
optimum at LIW=0.50, however, he also specified that the full-scale range for
optimum plate length should be in between 40in.<L< 56in. (1.02m <L< 1.42m)
within which the present study falls.
Table 2. Optimum geometry for current and published results
Case Length, L/W Inset, G/W = D/W

Equal inset 0.50 0.06
Bottom plate inset = 0 0.50 0.06
Bilanin ( 1985) 0.44 0.13
Lanser et a!. (1991) 0.36 0.06
The results of Lanser et al. (1991) indicate similar geometries to the present
study with identical insets of GIW=DIW=0.06. Plate length ratio differs, from
LIW=0.50 in the present study to LIW=0.36 for Lanser, et al, but recall, as
discussed earlier, that plate inset had a much stronger influence on drag reduction
than does the plate length.
Although it is tempting to speculate that an increase in the drag savings would
occur as Reynolds numbers increased into the full scale regime, other
investigations have indicated this is not always the case (Watkins et al. 1987;
Cooper 1985) provided the model scale Re is great enough A full-scale tractor-
trailer operates at aRe of about 4xl06 based on width of the trailer. Full-scale wind
tunnel tests have shown that the drag coefficient for tractor-trailers lies in the range
0.6 to 0.9 at typical road speeds (McCallen et al. 1999). It has been indicated (SAE
11252) that although theRe based on width need not match full scale for acceptable
results, it should be a minimum of 7x105 • Others have indicated a minimum of
1xl06 (Watkins et al. 1993) or 2xl06 based on the square root of frontal area
(Cooper 1985).
Full Scale Study

A prototype of the most promising configuration was constructed for the road
testing to compare with tunnel results and to provide an opportunity for the
students involved in the project to get "real world" data. As pointed out by
Saunders et al. (1985), wind tunnel results tend to be quite optimistic, not only
because of some unknown Re scale effects, but by other factors such as turbulence
levels. The primary objectives of the prototype were to maintain full functionality
of tractor-trailer unit with regards to loading and unloading of cargo and to find a
balance between manufacturing requirements and aerodynamic ideals.
The first full scale prototype was engineered to be collapsible such that it could
be folded to within three inches of the doors. The collapsing sequence is illustrated
in Figure 11. The nature of the design development timescale was that the
prototype was fabricated as the tunnel tests continued. Hence, the length of 32
inches (0.81 m) was chosen for the prototype, based on the work of Lanser et al.
(1991), before the tunnel tests indicated 48 inches (1.22 m) may be better.
The main frame of the device was constructed using 2 inch by 2 inch aluminum
(0.05m x 0.05 m) box beams TIG welded to 2 inch (0.05 m) by 1 inch (0.025 m)
horizontal box beams on the top and bottom. Both the top and bottom panels were
constructed of a flexible canvas to allow the unit to fold in. The side plates were
constructed out of fiberglass panels on separate aluminum frames. To facilitate
access to the trailer, the device was only hinged to the right door. Weather-
stripping was placed on the frame where each beam met the doors to improve
sealing. To alleviate concerns about the added weight of the main frame and flaps,
the standard extruded aluminum hinges were replaced with steel hinges.
Deployment required manual actuation of the two side flaps, both of which are
within reach of the truck operator from the ground
(a) (b) (c)
Fig. 11. Full scale prototype storage sequence a) open b) collapsing c) closed
A tensioning system was devised so that the cloth stayed taut and the side flaps
remained opened during operation. High-strength climbing rope was attached to
the flaps via eyelets on the top and bottom of each flap. A ratcheting tie-down
tensioner (a "come-along") pulled the flaps into the open position. In order to close
the device the tensioners were relaxed and the rope unhooked . A locking
mechanism latched the device to the driver side door when the doors were closed
and the trailer in motion. The flaps were secured in place when non-operational by
two keyed hasp locks.
Issues associated with fitting the device to the truck doors were alleviated by
purchasing doors from the local trucking company, La Valle Trucking Inc. (L TI),
who were going to road test the device, and installing the device on the doors
before the doors were put on the trailer. Originally, the prototype was to be
centered on the back face of the trailer, inset from all sides by about 7 inches (0.18
m). Due to complexities within the trailer doors, such as hinges and latches, the
prototype placement had to be changed. The bottom of the prototype framing was
inset about 20 inches (0.51 m), because of interference with the latches used to get
in and out of the trailer, and the sides were inset 10 inches (0.25 m). Figure 12
illustrates the installed prototype.
(a) (b)
Fig. 12. Full scale prototype configuration on test vehicle a) closed b) open
The prototype was tested on a cross-country trip that covered approximately

10,000 miles (16,093 km). Several factors were compared before, during, and after
the trip took place, including fuel mileage, fuel consumed, payload, idle times, and
average speeds. The truck was fitted with an onboard fuel consumption and
condition monitoring computer. It should be noted that as this was a one-truck test
and not a standard SAE Type II test (SAE 11321 1981) the data collected could
have an appreciable bias due to the particular ambient atmospheric and road
conditions experienced during the trip.
The results from the test indicate that the addition of the device increased the
fuel mileage from 5.8 to 6.3 miles per gallon (mpg), or 2.5 to 2. 7 km/liter, ± 0.1 %,
for a savings of approximately 0.5 mpg (0.2 km/liter) This corresponds to an 8.3%
average increase in fuel mileage. Based on these values, an estimated savings for a
typical 120,000 miles (193,121 km) per year use would be on the order of 1500
gallons (5677 liters) per truck. Single trip and single truck bias without a control
issues aside, the preliminary data did indicate encouraging results in the right
direction. Observation of the device before the cross-country road test did indicate
an increase in pressure in the aft region of the trailer. The upper and lower canvas
surfaces bulged outwards from the stationary position, indicating a pressure
difference across the material.
A second generation device was constructed based on experience gained with
the first test. It utilized all aluminum rigid sides with a split plate design as
illustrated in Figure 13a. Unfortunately, uncertainty in results and a short 5500 mile
(8851 km) trip, combined with questionable data reporting led to inconclusive
results. In addition, geometry and fatigue issues, as illustrated in Figure 13b,
caused complications. Excessive vibration, according to the driver, was the cause
of the cracking along the hinges, breakage of a pin joint in the top flap, and
resulting geometry mismatch that led to increased cavity ventilation.
(b)
Fig. 13. Full scale aluminum prototype a) installed on trailer b) hinge fatigue
Conclusions
The wind tunnel and full scale data presented in this study verify results from the
literature that significant drag reduction can occur through the use of a cavity
device mounted on the aft face of a tractor-trailer rig. The best results were
obtained with a four foot (1.22 m) plate width yielding a drag savings of about
C 0 =0.075 or about 9% of the baseline drag. It should be noted that because the
incremental drag is a difference of two substantially larger values, the error in AC 0
was appreciable.
All the wind tunnel results indicated a higher sensitivity for plate inset on drag
reduction than for plate length. Setting the bottom plate inset close to the bottom of
the trailer base appears to be essential to maximizing drag reduction. The optimum
experimental plate inset, d, was found to agree very closely to that of Lanser, et al.
(1991). Removal of the top plate decreased performance by about 30% in all cases,
but there still was an observable drag reduction and this may be a key factor in
realizing the practical role of such a device on a full-scale level.
Device performance decreased with yaw angle for plates mounted perpendicular
to the trailer base. Each of the angled plate design variations, however, displayed a
concave up behavior at low yaw angles, contrary to the concave down behavior of
the perpendicular plate-cavity devices. At small yaw angles, the four-plate angled
plate device achieved the highest drag reduction, indicating the importance of the
presence of the bottom plate to maximize performance.
A full-scale, fully operational prototype was road tested and indicated that the
addition of such a cavity device increased the fuel mileage by 0.5 mpg (0.2
km/liter) or about 8%. Estimated savings for a typical 120,000 miles (193,121 km)
per year use would be on the order of 1500 gallons (5677 liters) per truck
The positive results obtained from the scale and full size tests have prompted a
continued study of the potential use of a cavity design for drag reduction, especially
the possibility of a design employing only three sides. A new series of models is
being constructed to optimize length, inset, and boat tail angle. Yaw behavior,
optimization of three plate geometries, and downstream effects obtained with seven
hole probe flow field surveys will be conducted. In addition, two more full scale
prototypes are being designed with the aim of improving functionality in addition
to obtaining full scale data.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators
Alliance (NCIIA) for their support of this project through an E-Team grant and the
New York State Energy Research & Development Authority (NYSERDA) Grant
Agreement #6436 for their support. The contributions by the local trucking firm,
La Valle Trucking Inc of Potsdam, NY, of time and labor on the road are also much
appreciated. Finally, a big thank you to the enthusiastic undergraduate Clarkson
students who participated in this project: Anna Sawabini, Matthew Pausley,
Matthew Menotti, Jamison Coon, and Matthew Allen.
References
Bilanin AJ (1985) Vehicle Drag Reducer. US Patent 4682808
Boivin and Roberge (2001) Vehicle Drag Reducer. US Patent Number 6257654
Bureau of Transportation (2000) National Transportation Statistics
Coon JD (2002) The Effects of Non-Ventilated Plate-Cavity Devices on Drag Reduction of
Tractor Trailers. Masters Thesis, Clarkson University, Potsdam NY.
Cooper K (1982) The Wind Tunnel Testing of Heavy Trucks to Reduce Fuel Consumption.
SAE 821285
Cooper K (1985) The Effect of Front Edge Rounding and Rear-Edge Shaping on the
Aerodynamic Drag of Bluff Vehicles in Ground Proximity, SAE 850288
Cooper KR, Mason WT, Bettes WH (1982) Correlation Experience with the SAE Wind
Tunnel Test Procedures for Trucks and Buses. SAE 820375
Davidson L, Krajnovic S (2001) Large Eddy Simulation of Flow around a Ground Vehicle
Body AIAA 2001-0 1-0702
Hoerner SF (1950) Base Drag and Thick Trailing Edges. J Aeronautical Sciences:622-628
Hucho W (1987) Aerodynamics of Road Vehicles
Hucho W, Sovran G (1993) Aerodynamics of Road Vehicles. Annual Review of Fluid
Mechanics
Kentfield, JAC (1984) Short, Multi-Step, Afterbody Fairings. J Aircraft: Vol.21 No. 5
pp.351-2
Kline SJ (1985) The Purposes of Uncertainty Analysis. J. of Fluids Eng: 153- 160
Lanser WR, Ross JC, Kaufman AE (1991) Aerodynamic Performance of a Drag Reduction
Device on a Full-Scale Tractor/Trailer. SAE 912195.
Mair WA (1965) The Effect of a Rear-Mounted Disc on the Drag of a Blunt-Based Body of
Revolution. The Aeronautical Quarterly Royal Aeronautical Society:350-360
Mason Jr WT, Beebe PS, Schenkel FK (1973) An Aerodynamic Test Facility for Scale-
Model Automobiles International Automotive Engineering Congress
Mason Jr WT, Beebe PS ( 1978) The Drag Related Flow Field Characteristics of Trucks and
Buses, Aerodynamic Drag Mechanisms of Bluff Bodies and Road Vehicles, General
Motors Research Laboratories, pp. 45-93
McCallen R, Couch R, Hsu J, Browand F, Hammache M, Leonard A, Brady M, Salari K,
Rutledge W, Ross J, Storms B, Heineck JT, Driver D, Bell J, Zilliac G (1999) Progress
in Reducing Aerodynamic Drag for a Higher Efficiency of Heavy Duty Trucks (Class
7-8). SAE 1999-01-2238.
Montoya LC, Steers LL (1974) Aerodynamic drag reduction tests on a full-scale tractor
trailer combination with several add-on devices. NASA TM X-56028
Rae WH, Pope A (1984) Low Speed Wind Tunnel Testing
Rodriguez 0. (1991) Base Drag Reduction by Control of the Three-dimensional Unsteady
Vortical Structures;. Experiments in Fluids Vol. 11 p218-226
SAE J1252 (1981) SAE Wind Tunnel Test Procedures for Trucks and Buses
SAE J1321 (1981) Joint ATA/SAE Fuel Consumption Test Procedure, Type-11
Saltzman EJ, Meyer RR ( 1999) A Reassessment of Heavy Duty Truck Aerodynamic Design
Features and Priorities. NASA/TP-1999-206574
Saunders JW, Watkins S, Hoffmann PH, Buckley FT (1985) Comparison of On-Road and
Wind Tunnel Tests for Tractor Trailer Aerodynamic Devices, and Fuel Saving
Predictions. SAE 850286
Sovran G, Morel T, Mason W (1978) Aerodynamic Drag Mechanisms of Bluff Bodies and
Road Vehicles, General Motors Research Laboratories
Watkins S, Saunders JW, Hoffmann PH (1993) Comparison of Road and Wind Tunnel Drag
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RANS Simulations of Passive and Active Drag
Reduction Devices for a Road Vehicle
G. Iaccarinol, B. de Maio 1 , R. Verzicco 1 and B. Khalighi 2
1 Center for Turbulence Research, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305-3030

2 General Motors Corporation, Warren, MI 48090-9055
Numerical simulations of a truck-type configuration are carried out with the

aim to investigate the effectiveness of various drag reduction devices. Un-
steady Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes equations are solved to capture the
periodic wake motion at the base of the model and comparisons with available
measurements show satisfactory agreement. Two passive devices are applied
to the back of the model to investigate their effect on the pressure recovery
and the base pressure. Up to 15% drag reduction is obtained using a boattail
appendix. In addition, a Coanda jet system is designed and simulated. In this
case the amount of drag reduction is directly related to the amount of injected
mass and a zero drag condition can be obtained.
1 Introduction
Several drag reduction devices have been studied in the literature with ap-
plication to bluff bodies [I]; in most cases they correspond to modifications
of the basic geometry and aim to generate a more streamlined body (pas-
sive devices), thus limiting viscous losses associated with separated flows and
pressure losses corresponding to incomplete recovery in the wake. In addition
to change the baseline geometry, several investigators have studied the effect
of appendices added to the body base [2]: plates, cavities, boattails, etc. are
well known as possible means to alter (and eventually eliminate) the large
low-pressure recirculating bubble in the near wake of truncated bodies.
In contrast to passive devices, actuators and suction or blowing (active
devices) modify the flow structures in the near wall region affecting mainly
the viscous contribution to the total drag. This is generally negligible with
respect to the pressure drag for bluff bodies. Strong blowing (base bleed [3]),
on the other hand, modifies the wake thus impacting directly the pressure
recovery. Sophisticated blowing systems use a jet parallel to a curved surface
(Coanda jet) to eliminate completely the base recirculation [4].
268 G. Iaccarino et al.
In this work, a CFD study of passive and active drag reduction devices is
carried out. The baseline configuration was provided by GJ\I [5] and analyzed
previously using Large Eddy Simulation [6]. In the present work two modified
configurations with base appendices (plates and boattail) are considered and
compared. In addition, a new geometry with active drag control by Coanda
jets, has been designed and analyzed.
The present investigation is a complement of the CFD work reported in
[6]; steady and unsteady three-dimensional RANS simulations are carried out
using the Immersed Boundary Technique [7] and the v 2 - f turbulence model
[8] for every geometry.
2 Numerical Method
The incompressible Unsteady RANS (URANS) equations are solved using a

dual time-stepping technique, with the inner iteration driven by a SIMPLE
algorithm. The time derivative is discretized using a second-order backward
difference; convective and diffusion terms are discretized using second order
upwinding and the standard central difference stencil, respectively.
Turbulence is modeled via the Boussinesq assumption; the eddy viscosity
is computed according to the v 2 - f model proposed by Durbin [8]. Three dif-
ferential transport equations (turbulent kinetic energy, turbulence dissipation
rate and a turbulence velocity scale) are solved to compute the eddy viscos-
ity. An additional elliptic equation is used to model no-local effects and wall
proximity effects.
The present numerical technique relics on the Immersed Boundary method
developed in [7], suitably modified to be applied in the context of RANS.
Standard CFD methods require a mesh that fits the boundaries of the com-
putational domain considered; for a complex geometry the generation of such
a grid is very time-consuming and often requires the simplification of the geo-
metrical model. In the Immersed Boundary (IB) approach, the computational
mesh is generated independently from the model of interest and the no-slip
velocity boundary conditions on its surface arc imposed via forcing terms. The
basic principles for the application of the immersed boundary technique are:
1. The (moving) body is not physically present in the computational domain:

only its effect on the fluid is accounted for.
2. Starting from a description of the body (CAD primitives) and a struc-
tured/unstructured volume grid, a geometrical module "tags" the cells as
internal, external or interface.
3. Source terms are added to the Navier- Stokes equations for the interface
cells to impose the no-slip condition on the body surface. External cells
are not considered in the calculations being inside the body; internal cells
do not require any modifications.
RANS Simulations of Drag Reduction Devices 269
The immersed surface is described as a collection of surface triangles. The

other input is the computational grid for the domain of interest without the
body; in the present implementation of the IB technique the underlying grid
can be structured or unstructured, in contrast with the original IB technique
[7] that uses Cartesian meshes. The present approach allows the use of mixed
immersed and body-fitted boundaries in the domain.
Given the computational grid and the surface description, the geometrical
preprocessor tags all the cells that are completely inside the immersed body
(dead cells) and the cells that are cut by its surface (interface cells). For the
interface cells the distance between the surface and the first cell outside of
it (in the wall-normal direction) are computed and stored. The preprocessor
uses several Computational Geometry Tools [9]; in particular, a generalized
Ray-Tracing algorithm is used to search and tag the cells.
The calculation of the source terms is based on a linear reconstruction
of the velocity components outside the immersed surface. The computed so-
lution in the second point away from the surface is used together with the
specified velocity Vs on the surface (Vs = 0 for no-slip stationary boundaries)
to compute the values in the first cell center outside the body. In other words
the boundary conditions are applied inside the computational domain, around
the immersed surface.
In the v 2 - f equations forcing terms are included to impose proper bound-
ary conditions for the turbulent quantities on the immersed boundaries. The
calculation of these terms follows the same scheme used for the velocity com-
ponents. A simple linear reconstruction is used to impose the boundary condi-
tion in the first point away from the body (inside the computational domain).
It must be noted that the linear reconstruction for the velocity components is
consistent with the assumption that the first cell center away from the body is
located within the viscous layer; on the other hand, in this region the turbu-
lent quantities have a quadratic asymptotic behavior. Further investigation is
required to fully evaluate the consequences of this assumption for turbulence
variables.
3 Simulations
Three-dimensional steady and unsteady simulations are carried out with the
objective of measuring the performance of different drag reduction devices
applied to a baseline configuration representative of a truck or a van [5].
The results are presented in two separate sections; the first one is related
to the passive devices, the second to the investigation of a configuration with a
Coanda jet. Numerical results are reported in terms of velocity profiles in the
wake and drag data. Time averaged URANS results are presented and com-
pared to steady-state RANS and LES predictions for the baseline geometry.
For all the other configurations only time-averaged URANS results are pre-
sented. During the calculations time signals of the velocity at eight locations
270 G. Iaccarino et al.
in the wake are recorded and analyzed using Fourier transforms to evaluate
the dynamics of the wake. These signals provide indications on the base bub-
ble pumping (movement in the streamwise direction) and of unsteadiness in
the vertical and horizontal directions respectively (wake flapping).
3.1 Passive Drag Reduction Devices
Three geometries are considered for the study of passive devices for drag
reduction, Fig. 1. The first one is the baseline geometry used previously [5]
and [6], hereafter called Square-Back (SB). It is a hexahedron 360mm long,
140mm wide and 100mm high, with the front edges rounded and a truncated
tail. The second geometry has an appendix on the tail consisting of a solid
protrusion of 50mm and a tapered angle of 9 degrees. It will be referred to in
the following as Boat-Tail (BT). The third geometry has four plates on the
tail each 8mm thick and 50mm high forming an open cavity; this geometry
will be referred to as Cavity (CT).
In the experiments conducted by GM the models were placed in a wind
tunnel1700mm long, 710mm wide and 377mm high and mounted on a stream-
lined support with a ground/body clearance of 20 mm. In the simulations, all
the models are positioned as in the experiment with the leading edges located
at 270 mm from the flow inlet, 20 mm of clearance from the floor and centered
with respect to the side walls of the wind tunnel.
The use of the immersed boundary technique has reduced the overall time
required for the grid generation process. For the SB geometry, three struc-
tured volume grids have been generated ranging from 250,000 to 1,150,000
cells. Strong clustering has been used to obtain a good representation of the
boundary layers with an adequate clustering of the grid cells near the walls
(y+ < 10 everywhere). Grid convergence was achieved with a grid size of about
650,000 cells. All the results presented are obtained using this grid resolution.
The Reynolds number is 1.25 million based on the inflow velocity (50 m/s)
and the SB model length (360mm); a very low inlet turbulence intensity has
been used.
At the beginning of the simulation, a very large time step is employed
leading to a steady solution; later the time step is decreased (to .L\t = 0.001
seconds), and a time accurate simulation is carried out. Coherent periodic
wake motion is obtained after 1 seconds for the SB configuration; the averaged
solution is then computed gathering results in a period of .5 seconds.
The initial work was focused on the baseline geometry (SB) because de-
tailed measurements of the near wake region are available. Velocity profiles
are reported in Figure 2 and 3 in a horizontal and vertical plane respectively.
The time averaged RANS predictions are compared to a steady RANS solu-
tion and to the LES data reported in [6]. The URANS represent a substantial
improvement with respect to the steady RANS results even if the accuracy
especially very close to the base of the model is still limited compared to the
LES data.
The predictions for the two passive devices (BT and CT) are reported
in Fig. 4. The CT configuration appears to be very similar to the baseline
whereas the boattail alters the intensity of the recirculation substantially.
This is reflected in a better pressure recovery and a lower drag (see Table 1).
The analysis of the unsteady velocity signals in the wake shows that an-
other important effect of the boattail is the strong reduction of the wake
motion. The CT on the other hand provides only a limited damping of the
unsteadiness.
3.2 Active Drag Reduction Devices
A Coanda blowing device has been designed starting from the original SB
geometry following the process described in [4].
In Fig. 5, a sketch of the Coanda device is reported. The final part of the
original SB has been shelled with a thickness of 2.25mm, a width of 67mm and
a tapered angle of 5 degrees. The rounded base plate has a radius of 15 mm
to satisfy the relationship discussed in [11] and [4]. The model is positioned
as before with the leading edge of the body located at 270mm from the flow
inlet, 20mm from the floor and centered with respect to the side wall of the
wind tunnel. As for the previous configurations the geometry description is
obtained via a surface triangulation with very small elements in the region
at the Coanda jet exit. The same flow conditions specified in the previous
sections have been used.
Several different jet velocities have been considered up to 150% of the
free-stream velocity; in what follows three different cases are presented and
compared to the original SB configuration (Fig. 6). The first case corresponds
to a no jet condition (V/Vi = 0) and the results are similar to the ones
obtained with the BT geometry (even if there is a slight reduction in drag
due to the presence of the rounded corners). By increasing the jet velocity the
wake modifications are substantial and, for the highest jet velocity investigated
(V/Vi = 1.5) there is no recirculation at the base of the body. This correspond
to a substantial drag reduction.
An interesting aspect of the Coanda jet simulations is that no unsteadiness
is present in the wake even for low jet velocities (V/Vi = 0.2 was the lowest
velocity investigated).
3.3 Summary of Drag Data
In Table 1, the drag coefficients obtained for the passive and active drag
reduction systems analyzed are reported; the forces are computed using mo-
mentum balance and non dimensionalized using the inlet dynamic pressure
and the cross section area. The method used does not allow generating drag
breakdown (friction, base, etc.) and therefore only global values are reported.
Additional work will be devoted in the future to obtain more detailed drag
analysis from the flow calculations.
272 G. Iaccarino et a!.
Table 1. Drag Coefficients
Passive Devices Active Devices

Model Cn L1 I"Jet/Vi Cn L1
Square-Back 0.3031 0.0 0.2980 1.6%
Cavity 0.2935 3.2% 0.5 0.2764 8.8%
Boat-Tail 0.2584 14.7% 1.5 0.1542 49.1%
4 Conclusions
A computational analysis of passive and active drag reduction devices for road
vehicles is presented. The numerical procedure used is based on the Immersed
Boundary technique and the v 2 - f turbulence model. Three configurations
have been compared to the baseline SB geometry; the first is obtained by
adding a boattail at the base, the second by appending four plates forming
a base CT and the third by including a Coanda jet system and a rounded
base plate. Unsteady three-dimensional RANS simulations were carried out
to investigate the qualitative and quantitative differences between the config-
urations both in terms of global drag coefficients and in terms of wake dy-
namics. A suppression or damping of the unsteadiness is the common element
of all the devices studied. The baseline configuration exhibits strong three-
dimensional flapping of the wake (the horizontal motion being stronger than
the vertical because of the presence of the ground) and the main shedding
frequency captured is in good agreement with available experimental data.
The BT configuration does not show a strong coherent wake motion and the
recirculating region at the base is shortened and weakened; this results in 15%
reduction of the overall drag with respect to the baseline geometry. On the
other hand, the CT shows only a 3% drag reduction and the wake structure
is very similar to the SB case; the unsteadiness is somewhat reduced by the
presence of the stagnating fluid within the cavity. The most effective drag
reduction system investigated is the one based on the Coanda jets; a very
careful design is required to force the jet to stay attached to the base surface.
The low-speed flow in the near-wake is completely eliminated and the pressure
recovery is extremely fast with a jet velocity larger than the inlet velocity; no
unsteadiness is observed.
References
1. Hucho, W. H. (1998) Aerodynamics of Road Vehicles, SAE SP-1441 Interna-
tional, Fourth Edition, Warrendale, PA
2. Mason, W. T., Beebe, P. S. (1978) The Drag Related Characteristics of Trucks
and Buses, Aerodynamic Drag Mechanism, Plenum Press
3. Bearman, P. W. (1967) Aero Quart 18:207-224
4. Freund, J. B., Mungal, M. G. (1994) J Aircraft 31:572-578
Fig. 1. P assive Drag Reduction Devices
Experiments
LES
RANS
URANS
Fig. 2. Velocity profiles in a horizontal plane in the wake of t he Square-Back ge-

ometry.
5. Han, T., Sumantran, V., Harris, C., Kuzmanov, T., Huebler, M. Zak, T. (1996)
SAE Paper 960678
6. Verzicco, R. , Fatica, M. , Iaccarino, G., Moin, P. Khalighi B. (2002) AIAA J.
40:2447- 2455
7. Fadlun, E . A., Verzicco, R., Orlandi, P ., Mohd-Yusof, J. (2000) J Comp Physics
161:35-43
8. Durbin, P. A. (1995) AIAA J 33:3241- 3247
9. O'Rourke, P . (1998) Computational Geometry inC, Cambridge Press
10. Duell, E. G., George, A. R. , (1999) Experimental Study of a Ground Vehicle
Body Unsteady Near Wake. In: Vehicle Aerodynamics and Wind Noise, SAE
SP-1441 International, Fourth Edition, Warrendale, PA
11. Mahesh, K. (1989) Private Communication
274 G. Iaccarino et a!.
.0.5
Experiments
LES
RANS
URANS
Fig. 3. Velocity profiles in a vertical plane in the wake of the Square-Back geometry.
.0.5
Square Back
Cavity
BoatTail
Fig. 4. Velocity profiles in a horizontal plane m the wake. Passive drag reduction
devices.
67mm
2.25mm
Fig. 5. Sketch of the Coanda jet active drag reduction device
o SquareBack
Coamda Jet- VN; = 0
Coamda Jet- VN; = 0.5
Coamda Jet- VN; = 1.5
Fig. 6. Velocity profiles in a horizontal plane in the wake. Coanda jet device.
Pneumatic Heavy Vehicle Aerodynamic Drag
Reduction, Safety Enhancement, and Performance
Improvement
Robert J. Englar, Principal Research Engineer
Georgia Tech Research Institute

Aerospace, Transportation & Advanced Systems Lab
Atlanta, GA 30332-0844
Abstract
Under contract to the US Department of Energy, Georgia Tech Research Institute
(GTRI) has developed and applied blown aircraft aerodynamic technology to en-
train separated flowfields, significantly reduce drag, and increase the fuel economy
of Heavy Vehicles. These aerodynamic improvements also lead to increases in sta-
bility and control, braking, and traction, thus enhancing safety of operation. GTRI
wind-tunnel model results on test Heavy Vehicle (HV) models demonstrated drag
coefficient reductions of 50% using only 1 psig blowing pressure in the plenums,
and over 80% drag reductions if additional blowing air were available. Addition-
ally, an increase in drag force for braking was produced by blowing different slots.
Lift coefficient was increased for tire rolling resistance reduction, while down force
could be produced for traction increase. Also, side force and yawing moment were
generated on either side of the vehicle, and directional stability was restored by
blowing the appropriate side slot. These experimental data confirmed the elimina-
tion of directional instability caused by side-winds.
The above model data formed the basis for the design and modification of a full-
scale test vehicle by prototype shop Novatek, Inc. and GTRI. Initial confirmation
road test results are presented for this patented concept applied to an HV test rig
supplied by team members Volvo Trucks of North America and Great Dane Trail-
ers. To verify fuel economy increase, anSAE Type-11 Fuel Economy test was con-
ducted at the Transportation Research Center test track in East Liberty, Ohio. Re-
sults presented in this paper include wind-tunnel data for both unblown and blown
configurations, full-scale blowing and fuel-economy data, comparisons to experi-
mental results of the smaller-scale blown Pneumatic Heavy Vehicle model, and
tunnel tests on a full-scale Pneumatic SUV.
278 R.J. Englar
Nomenclature
A Vehicle frontal area
b Vehicle width
c Vehicle total length, tractor+trailer+gap
cD Drag coefficient=Drag/(qA)
CL Lift coefficient=Lift/( qA)
eM Pitching moment coefficient about mid-length =Pitching moment/(qAc)
eN Yawing moment coefficient about mid-length =Yawing moment/(qAb)
cy Side Force coefficient=Side force/(qA)
C Jet momentum coefficient=mVj/(qA)
~
h Blowing jet slot height

m Measured jet mass flow
q Freestream dynamic pressure
Re Freestream Reynolds number, based on vehicle length c
V Freestream velocity
Vi Isentropic jet velocity
p Freestream or jet density
'ljJ Yaw (side wind) angle
Introduction
Considerable interest has arisen recently in improving the aerodynamics of Heavy
Vehicles (HVs) as a means of improving their operating costs, performance and
safety. While devices that can reduce the HV's drag coefficient can significantly
improve the fuel economy, it is also desirable that additional capabilities result
from advanced aerodynamic devices. These could include increased stability (both
lateral and directional), reduction in side-wind sensitivity, reduction in splash and
spray, and improved aerodynamic braking. One could also include an aerodynamic
means to reduce tire rolling resistance as well. Any such devices being considered
in these applications should also be simple and robust, contain few or no moving
parts, not be hampered by weather, and not increase vehicle weight or external di-
mensions. This paper presents pneumatic aerodynamic devices currently under de-
velopment at GTRI under contract to the DOE Office of Heavy Vehicle Technol-
ogy, which possess many if not all of these desirable characteristics. The paper
first describes the basics of pneumatic aerodynamics and its application to Heavy
Vehicles, and then provides details of the wind-tunnel programs, the full-scale pro-
grams, their results, and possible future applications.
Basics of Pneumatic Aerodynamics
GTRI researchers have been involved for a number of years in the development of
pneumatic (pressurized air blowing) concepts to yield efficient yet mechanically
simple means to control and augment or reduce the aerodynamic forces and mo-
Pneumatic Heavy Vehicle Aerodynamic Drag Reduction 279
ments acting on aircraft. This is detailed in References 1, 2, and 3, but will be

summarized briefly to familiarize the reader with the technology.
Figure 1. Basics of Circulation Control Aerodynamics on a

Simple 2-Dimensional Airfoil
Figure 1 shows the basic pneumatic concept, which has become known as Cir-
culation Control (CC) aerodynamics. Here, an airfoil's conventional mechanical
trailing edge device has been replaced with a fixed curved surface and a tangential
slot ejecting a jet sheet over that surface. That jet remains attached to the curved
surface by a balance between sub-ambient static pressure on the surface and cen-
trifugal force (the so-called Coanda Effect, Reference 3). This entrains the external
flowfield to follow the jet, and thus enhances the circulation around the airfoil and
the aerodynamic forces produced by it. The governing parameter is not angle of
attack, but rather the blowing momentum coefficient:
where m is the jet mass flow, Vi the isentropic jet velocity, S is a reference wing
area (or frontal area A for a ground vehicle configuration) and q is the freestream
dynamic pressure, 0.5 p V 2 (with p being the free-stream density, not the jet's). At
lower C~ values, augmentation of the aerodynamic lift by a factor of ~C 1 I C~ = 80
has been recorded (Ref. 3), representing an 8000% return on the invested momen-
tum (which in a physical sense is also equal to the jet thrust). Familiarity with
blown aerodynamic systems will remind the reader that this is quite extraordinary:
thrust-deflecting Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) aircraft are fortunate if
they recover anything near 100% of the engine thrust expended for vertical lift.
It is because of this high return, or conversely, because of very low required
blowing input and associated pumping power required to achieve a desired lift, that
Circulation Control airfoils appear very promising for a number of applications.
The A-6/CC Wing Short Take Off & Landing (STOL) flight demonstrator aircraft
(Figure 2 and Ref. I) showed the STOL performance listed, and also suggested ca-
pabilities very useful to ground vehicles: during short takeoff, it demonstrated high
280 R.J. Englar
lift and reduced drag, while in the approach/landing mode, very high lift with in-
creased drag was shown.
These advantages led to the application of this pneumatic concept to improve the
aerodynamics of an already streamlined car (Reference 4). The curved rear of the
vehicle and the resulting large jet turning angle are shown in Figure 3. Significant
but distinctly different trends were observed depending upon which portion of the
tangential slot was blown. Blowing the entire slot produced the large jet turning in
Figure 3, and drag increases of greater than 70%, showing potential for pneumatic
aerodynamic braking. Blowing only the outside corners of the slot weakened the
corner vortex rollup, lessened aft suction, and reduced drag by as much as 35%.
Blowing the aft slot also yielded a lift increase of 170%. One can envision a simi-
lar slot applied to the lower rear surface that could yield negative lift or positive
down force instead. This concept has been patented by GTRI and verified by a
similar installation on a model of a European Formula 1 race car (Reference 5).
Flight Test Results: 140% Increase in Usable Lift Coefficient, CL

30-35% Reduction in Takeoff & Approach Flight Speeds
60-65% Reduction in Takeoff & Landing Ground Rolls
75% Increase in Liftable Takeoff Payload
Figure 2. A-6/CCW STOL Flight Test Confirming Pneumatic

Devices for Aerodynamic Force Augmentation or Reduction
Figure 3. Experimental Confirmation of Pneumatic Technology on a Streamlined

Car; Aft View Showing Blown Jet Turning
DOE Pneumatic Heavy Vehicle Model Test Results

Based on the above results, a research program was initiated at GTRI for the De-
partment of Energy's Office of Heavy Vehicle Technologies (Reference 6). The
goal was to apply this pneumatic technology to tractor-trailer configurations to de-
velop an experimental proof-of-concept evaluation leading to an on-the-road dem-
onstration of an operating blown Pneumatic Heavy Vehicle (PHV). Portions of that
effort, including a preliminary feasibility study and design of baseline and pneu-
matic wind-tunnel configurations, have been reported in Reference 5. Figure 4
shows a schematic of a generic Pneumatic Heavy Vehicle with tangential blowing
slots on each of the trailer's aft edges as well as blowing on the rounded upper
leading edge of the trailer.
Figure 5. GTRI 0.065-scale Baseline GTS Model, Full Open Gap, High Cab
Wind-Tunnel Evaluations of Baseline Unblown HV
To develop a representative Pneumatic HV configuration prior to full-scale testing,

an initial baseline wind-tunnel test was conducted, which was then followed by
several phases of blown test configurations. For this, an existing generic Heavy
Vehicle configuration, the Ground Transportation Systems (GTS) vehicle of Refer-
ence 7, was used, and is shown in Figure 5 before the blowing modifications were
installed. It is actually representative of a faired cab-over-engine HV based on the
Penske racing team ' s car carrier, and is thus relatively independent of the numerous
and varying cab roof fairings employed on a number of current Heavy Vehicles.
282 R.J. Englar
Tests of this unblown model configuration did, however, demonstrate the impor-
tance of cab/trailer gap and fairing treatments. These configurations were tested in
the GTRI Model Test Facility research tunnel (Refs. 5 and 8) and showed some
significant drag reductions just due to changes in unblown geometry. Figure 6
shows drag reductions of up to 25% over a low-cab full-gap vehicle if the gap is
.. f V•7DI"'Cf''
... w. I ._... ~ .... ' .... G.Jp," Of'
'"
1114.
,..
I •
..
q. jN
Figure 6. Test Results for Unblown Configurations, Showing Effects of Cab

height, Gap, Wheels and Reynolds Number ( -q0 ·5 )
eliminated (tilled) and the cab top is even with the trailer top. An additional 15%
reduction was confirmed with a round trailer leading edge facing into the open gap
and a round trailing edge on the trailer (this is the unblown Pneumatic HV). These
comparisons are made at a typical tunnel speed of 70 mph. Also very significant is
the tremendous increase in C 0 (a doubling or more is seen in Figure 7) due to a side
wind (yaw angle) acting on the HV.
••r---~--~----~--~--~~---.
..
11 Dr.t!!' , ._ Y;1" An~;lc. u::()O, Whee l' On /'
"
,,
1:o "
II
...
...
...'"
...
"' '
Y11"
II
f\n~c. "t· d"-'1!:
Figure 7. Effects of Side Wind on Drag for Various Unblown HV Configurations

Wind-Tunnel Evaluations of Blown HV Configurations
Based on the lowered-drag unblown configurations above, additional wind tunnel

tests were conducted to evaluate aerodynamic improvements resulting from various
blown configurations. Details of these investigations were presented in Reference
8, but are summarized herein. Unless otherwise noted, the blowing variations were
run at tunnel (vehicle) wind speeds of approximately 70-71 mph (q=ll.86 psf and
Reynolds number of 2.5 x 106 , based on total cab plus trailer length).
Drag Reductions (Fuel Economy) or Drag Increases (Braking &

Stability)
The slot heights at each aft edge of the trailer could be tested either unblown or
blown in any combination of the 4, or even with the leading edge slots on the trailer
front face also blown. Flow visualization tufts in Figure 8 show jet turning of 90°
on all four aft corners, even the bottom slot blowing upwards. Figure 9 shows the
results of this jet turning on reducing or increasing aerodynamic drag by blowing
various combinations of these aft slots. The combination of all 4 slots blowing to-
gether yielded the greatest drag reduction, more effective than blowing individual
slots. Compared to the typical unblown baseline configuration from above (full
gap between cab and trailer, square trailer LE and TE, and cab fairing slightly
lower than the trailer front) which produced a CD = 0.824 at this Reynolds number,
the blown configuration reduced drag coefficient to 0.459 at Cll = 0.065. This is a
44% CD reduction, and the internal plenum blowing pressure required was only 0.5
psig. A second blown configuration (labeled 90°/30° TE) used less jet turning on
the upper and lower surfaces to generate even greater drag reduction: at 0.5 psig,
C was reduced by 47%, and at 1.0 psig (C,.=0.13), CD was reduced by 50%.
D r
Additional evaluation of the effectiveness of the blown configurations was
made. The drag coefficient of the unblown baseline configuration above but with
the tractor-trailer gap filled in is CD = 0.627. Addition of the unblown pneumatic
surfaces onto the rear of the trailer thus reduces C D by 9.7% in Figure 9. Adding
blowing at Cll = 0.065 reduces that CD by another 23.1 %. This combination re-
duces CD to 30.6 % less than the square TE baseline having a smooth fairing in the
cab/trailer gap.
284 R.J. Englar
Figure 8. Jet Turning 011 all -t ' ide> of Blo" 11 Trailing dgc
Run 36.Unblown Baselone.

II Ml Unfatred, Full Gap
co-0.824
h=tl.CII ". IU75 R C'in:ul;~r ;\ rc YO"TE. \\ heel' on
(I'.~ q=ll.~(l p,f. \':7(1 mph. \j'=O". (l:(l"
. -6 .~ ,6·• ·6,·· -- ~
.A Top & Bottom Slots Only
• Bonom Slo Only

II hO
2 Sode Slots Only

~v - V
v· v-
sr '
. 0 O!
• •~ 0 0 0 All 4 Slots Blown
• •
• Ooo,. o o oi o o 0 0
0.25 PSIQ ; .. .._. ~ .. ~ 1
' .. 10 p~og
03
J(
0 .5 pstg~ 0.7S ps q: • .. i
IIAII '----'--...J'--L.....-....J.....L...-..L....~..u..~~-'---.....!.......J-~-'-._;_..:.:_~-._1
~ - . ~·
() ()() 1111! IIIIJ IICif> IIIIX IIIII 11. 1! 11. 14 II. If> ll!ll
\1umcntum Coefficient. C 1-i
Figure 9. Drag Reduction or Augmentation on Blown Trailer

With 90° Aft Turning Surfaces
When only the top slot, the bottom slot, or both of these slots were blown in the
absence of the side jets, drag initially reduced slightly, but then significantly in-
creased with the addition of blowing. This represents an excellent aerodynamic
braking capability to supplement the hydraulic wheel brakes. Blowing efficiency is
plotted in Figure 10, where ~CD is an increment from the blowing-off value (nega-
tive ~CD is reduced drag). Absolute values of ~CDIC!l greater than 1.0 represent
greater than 100% return on the input blowing CW It is seen that the 4-slotted con-
figuration generates values as high as -5.50, representing 550% of the input blow-
ing momentum recovered as drag reduction. The figure also shows the opposite
trend as well, with up to 200% of the blowing momentum from top/bottom slots re-
covered as increased drag for braking.
However, should additional air become available from an onboard source such
as an existing turbocharger or an electric blower, additional drag reduction is possi-
ble, as shown in Figure 11. Drag coefficients of less than 0.30 are shown for faired
blown HV configurations. This is in the arena of streamlined sports cars. (The
drag coefficient of a 1999 Corvette coupe is C0 =0.29). Figure 11, origin-
"' Lm' C1h. :\n Gap. RnunLI LE.0 .37 ~ R Cu\:ul.u \r~.: 'Jt) 'II::..
q:: ll ~hp, t. \ '::7Hmph . tl~l . R~ ::o: :! ..S' IU ' ' 6
:u li •
II r ~lo1 Bot tOm 51 : Only
I ~ Top 6~g~t _~~~·
HI __ § __________-_-_-_.: ~·~#~
"·
~ '<>.. Z Side Slots Only
Ill 1----\
f ~
-------------gt --- ••
I ~
' 3 o0 •
~-• :V
.••
0
o
00
-~~ 0
•
0
0
; ; L---~--~--~--~--~~--~--~--~--~--~
Il l ~ 1112 U.U\) U UO ll tl' (UIO (IO \ O(Hl 0(1') .tJI.! --tJI5
&c 0 =Co-Coo
Figure 10. Blowing Efficiency and Drag Increments due to

Blowing Slot Configuration
286 R.J. Englar
h=UOI IU7~ " R Circular \n: 4(1 30' I :'~TE,I E & Tr Blm~mg. \\'hc.."t'h un.
C..1h 'hu1lcr(i..1p Pl~lc~ ln,l.lllt..>t.l. ljr-l:l • u-<l
..
0.
·o
• o.
0
0
••• • ••t-
(1\
00 q 1 psr
o; \·~1 mrh
Re· 'b' ·o· ·o
0/
n 111 to
0
0
·o
"15
II :'II b
0
Ul~
0
. 0
010
II Ul u :' u~ (I ..I ~~~ 11.1> 117 II t)tJ
Moml'nlum Coefficient . C ~
Figure 11. Effect of Reynolds Number and Increased Blowing Values, plus Leading-edge
Blowing and Gap Plate Effects
ally intended to show that the drag curves tend to converge onto one slope inde-
pendent of Reynolds number, also shows a measured drag coefficient of 0.13 for
the Pneumatic Heavy Vehicle model with blowing. This is about half the drag co-
efficient value of the Corvette or the Honda Insight hybrid (C 0 =0.25). Even though
not achieved in the most efficient blowing operation range, this is an 84% drag re-
duction compared to the unblown baseline configuration. Note that the tractor cab
in Figure 11 has "gap plates" (or fairing extensions) instead of the full "No Gap"
fairing of Figure 9, and is thus much closer to an actual tractor/trailer configuration.
Figure 11 also shows the reduction of drag coefficient with increasing Reynolds
number at constant lower Cf..l values
It should again be mentioned, when comparing these data to other experiments
on similar GTS models being conducted by other researchers, that these GTRI data
above and below include simulated wheels, which as Figure 6 shows, should add
about llCo = 0.18 to the non-wheeled vehicles' Co values, perhaps more, depend-
ing on how well the tunnel ground effects are treated experimentally. GTRI's
measured data are generated using test section tangential floor blowing to eliminate
the floor boundary-layer interference, as discussed in References 3 and 8.
Stability and Control

Strong directional instability can be experienced by Heavy Vehicles operating at
yaw angles (i.e., experiencing a side wind) because of large side forces on the flat-
sided trailers, Figure 12. This yaw sensitivity is confirmed by the unblown (Cf..l = 0)
yawing moment coefficient CN shown, where yaw angle as small as -8° produces a
large unblown yawing moment coefficient of CN=-2.0 about the model mid-length.
(It should be mentioned here that this yawing moment is measured about the rigid
model's midpoint at the ground level, whereas on a real articulated tractor-trailer, it
would be experienced at the tires of the individual units. However, comparisons of
blowing on and off are being made for the same single unit, and relative benefits
should still be valid). Blowing only one side slot can easily correct the yaw insta-
bility: with the nose straight ahead ('lfl=0°), blowing the left slot at Cfl = 0.06 yields
the equivalent opposite yawing moment (CN = +2.0). With the nose yawed left (for
example, 1fJ = -8°), slightly higher blowing (Cfl = 0.063) returns this unstable
yawing moment to CN = 0.0. Then, increasing the blowing a bit more can cause the
nose to yaw in the opposite direction, to the right. The opportunity for a non-
moving-part quick-response aerodynamic control system is apparent.
.r:i
25
.0
20
o' Blow1ng Produces Elllcess
I'
10
05 Ol r:::-~:
"
~)
0
-10 0 Yaw1ng Moment Tnmmed
0 by Blowing
0
-I ~ 0
,......
l.dl ·B L-___.~__._ _ __._._ _.__....__~_.._..__...____.~__,
000 O.Ol 0 .04 0.06 O.OM 010 0 ll 111• 016 0 IM O.lO
Momentum Coefficient, C Jl
Figure 12. Directional Control Capability Provided by Blown HV Configuration (left

slot blowing only)
Pneumatic Heavy Vehicle Fuel Economy Testing

The above model tests led to the conclusion that a full-scale proof-of-concept series
of tests should be conducted on a Pneumatic HV test rig to determine if the above
anticipated results would materialize in the real world. Based on GTRI wind-
tunnel results, GTRI team member prototype shop Novatek, Inc. designed and fab-
ricated the PHV blown test trailer, including blowers, drive motors, control systems
and instrumentation. This configuration is shown in Figure 13 in comparison to a
288 R.J. Englar
stock (reference) Great Dane trailer. Blowing tufts turning around the trailing-edge
curved pneumatic surfaces are shown in Figure 14.
Figure 13. PH pneumati trailer and baseline reference trai ler

Tuning Tests
Test vehicle fabrication and assembly were completed at GTRI in February 2002.
The modified trailer was then picked up by team member Volvo Trucks of North
America and moved to their test facility in Greensboro, NC, where two initial
Tuning Tests were conducted (Reference 9) in February and May 2002, Figure 15.
Figure 16 shows a rear view of the pneumatic trailer with the tufts confirming on-
road flow turning. These tests verified the test equipment and data system opera-
tions, and indicated unofficial fuel economy increases on a highway, rather than on
a test track.
igure 15. On-road Pneumatic Heavy ehicle Tuning Te tat

olvo Facility In orth Carolina
290 R.J. Englar
Full-Scale PHV On-Track Fuel Economy Tests

In July, 2002, on-track testing of the PHV Test vehicle (tractor and modified
trailer) was conducted at the Transportation Research Center (TRC) test track in
East Liberty, OH, along with a Control vehicle (a stock Volvo/Great Dane rig) .
Figure 17 shows these two vehicles while in a pit lane fuel station at the 7.5-mile
banked test track at TRC. TRC/GTRI/Volvo/Novatek team members conducted
SAE Type-11 Fuel Economy runs in strict accordance with SAE test procedures (as
specified in SAE 11321 , Oct 1986). During these tests , a total of 59 runs was made
for the 6 configurations evaluated, each at 3 different speeds (55 , 65, and 75 mph)
and with each run covering 6 laps (45 miles of the TRC test track). See References
10, 11, 12, and 13. Figure 18 shows the pneumatic test tractor-trailer at speed on
the track.
Figure 17. Test and Control Vehicles in Pits at TRC Test Track
The six sets of fuel economy runs were made at different blowing rates and at
zero blowing. This allowed reference comparisons to be made when the pneumatic
test trailer was re-configured into the baseline trailer, and tested to provide refer-
ence fuel economy for the standard vehicle (all fuel economy data achieved with
the other test configurations was compared to this one to determine percent fuel ef-
ficiency increase, %FEI). Figure 19 shows %FEI as a function of blowing coeffi-
cient, C!-l, at several vehicle test speeds. The %FEI improvements shown range
from 4% to 5% (5% to 6% if the l% error band is included) above the fuel econ-
omy of the baseline standard tractor-trailer, but these are seen to reduce somewhat
as blowing increases to values beyond C!-l = 0.02 - 0.03. Whereas responses heard
from typical HV users indicate this 5-6%FEI to be quite respectable, it is less than
we had anticipated based on our smaller-scale wind-tunnel tests (Refs. 5 and 8).
Figure 20 compares this data to the predicted fuel efficiency increase that we had
expected from the blown configurations. Whereas the lower blowing values were
nearing 70-80% of the expected values, at greater blowing the payoff was reduced.
The test team of GTRI, Novatek, and American Trucking Associations identified
suspected reasons for this, and we then conducted an experimental test program to
confirm these, as discussed below.
·,,
.,.___ --···-··· !jl
\ '=55 mph .
..,.1 r.; tnM R..ukl
\ =<li~ mph
q ffi /
~ ,-~:.l\1mum R.P\ t
,/' Lamll
. ~~--~--~--L-~~~--~--~--~~
0 001 00~ 0.03 U.o.l 00~ 006 0.07 0.08 009 0.1
Blowing Momentum Coefficient, C ~
Figure 19. Measured PHV Fuel Economy Increase, With 4 Trailer Slots Blowing
292 R.J. Englar
,,
"..
\\ u.S f ll11nt"lf{unl l A . - - .... ~
"
'n
\ II ~ . 111b Hlo,..-a •#
,. ~
,.
17
"·
",,
,, .• WT ~ GTRJ mali·<CUI< W,nd Tunn<l Tesc-.
(from f 1gu~ I J
%FEI TRCz Full--.cole Tmcl Te-.1ru TRC
"
II •
10
· -..... ~'T. RWl IS7. 25Mlc Slab Onl)
fR{ <4i
U L-~--~~--~--~~--~~~-L--~~
o 001 om om on. om 006 001 008 009 o1 o 11
Blowing Momentum Coefficient, C Jl
Figure 20. Comparison of Wind-Tunnel Results (Reference 8)

to TRC Track Test Results
Wind-Tunnel Tests of On-Track Configuration
A new series of wind-tunnel runs was made on the 0.065-scale PHV model, where
we began with the "Best Blown Configuration" from previous tests and sequen-
tially made the changes suspected of being detrimental. It was the intent of this
new wind-tunnel program to determine if the geometric differences between the
full-scale test vehicle and the wind-tunnel model produced the aerodynamic and
fuel consumption differences discussed above. Figure 21 shows that as the con-
figurations approached the representation of the full-scale test vehicle (Run 239),
both blown and unblown drag increased. Reference 14 summarizes this data. Fig-
ure 22 compares the percentage drag reduction due to each configuration change,
while Figure 23 shows the predicted change in percent Fuel Efficiency Increase
(%FEI) due to each configuration. A comparison of Run 239 (model most like the
blown full-scale test vehicle) with Run 36 (most like the standard tractor-trailer ve-
hicle) shows that only a 2% FEI occurs for the unblown vehicle and only 7% for
the blown one. This confirms the trends of Figures 19 and 20, and explains the
causes of the less-than-expected test results. We have since conducted further tun-
nel testing to improve the final PHV configurations in anticipation of a second on-
road fuel economy test at TRC. Note from Figure 23 that if we converted the full-
scale PHV test vehicle to a blown configuration much more like the one in Run
205, we can expect Fuel Efficiency Increases of 16% unblown and 23% blown,
which will be very significant results.
0.7
• b..
··o~r:fl
'b R.tr 2'11.

\ ~CU"d LE. s.tme Fatrrl1'\ n ~i?oet
6crQ1 . o- -- -o - "\ - · (). · o- ..,_ -o-.

\ '0 ·---- -o. ...... o
- ~ ltul"' 210 209 wtth LD Cab, Ful Cab GJIIl, VcMvo type Cllb £xte1dtn,
... Aour'ld U. Samt! fll'1r'1CJ! n RlM
R~Ah 'ill~. Addf.rqJt3tP:'I Aft S~"PCufOUT
. ··-····· ·-....... .
'\.:. .... 201) 101,
··a• ....----•------ ...... I
.. •. - ......... t__.--. .
0~ •~ ... ........
- ~
0.45
O.<IOOJlO
L...~~O.L
JY2~......;•0.-04
~:...-~0•.L06-'-~•0...J.Cli!
L...~......;O_.
.I0~~·0.-'-
12~~~0.L
. I-
4 ~~0...1.1 6
Momentum Cotf!l<lut, C j.l
Figure 21. GTRI MTF065 Wind-tunnel Test Results: Drag Change with Configuration
~5 .------------=-------------------------------------,
0 CD~(I'~o
50
Lll
!:i2ru;
{fo...rCol/Co. 0 r. where
Co•ef • ({, for R36. Unblown
All Conf09s except RZOS & R36
have Lower Surface Fair1ng
JO
Run Z12·R239
1.1
239 212 ZIO 207 20.1

Tes1 Run No.
Figure 22. GTRI Model Drag Reductions Relative to Run 36

(Configuration Closest to Baseline HV)
294 R.J. Englar
~ r---------------~----------------~--------,
0 ,f."'£1. .. • uo Rm 205•R207 "'•th No
~ ret c~.~..ooM lov.ef FHlflVS. No Cab Gape
f'lQw.; Bet.t ~ COtlhgurat.on
%FEI•0.5'1 OO'(COret · Co)/Coref• ~ 207-.U09 w.th
CD<ot ·Co for R36, Unblown Wedge Fa.nngs on Lower
Ah Cutout
All Configs except R205 &R36
have Lower Surface Fatrong
!0
'1FEI
·~ Run 239, H1 Cab, Full

Gig, 30 Cab E1.1ndrs,,
Rnd Lt. LOO.O.tr W~el
10
36 :!10 207 205

Test Run No.
Figure 23. Equivalent Fuel Efficiency Increase (%FEI) Relative to Run 36
Pneumatic Sport Utility Vehicles (PSUVs)

An analysis of the fuel usage rates in the United States (Figure 24 and Refs. 15 and
16) shows that as of about 2001, DOE data predicts that SUVs and light trucks will
consume more fuel than either automobiles or HVs. It thus seemed quite relative to
determine if pneumatic technology would be as beneficial to SUVs as to HVs, per-
haps even more so. In preparation for a full-scale evaluation of the pneumatic con-
cept applied to a Sports Utility Vehicle, we acquired the use of the Georgia Tech
Future Truck vehicle, a 2000 Chevrolet Suburban SUV. Preliminary wind-tunnel
testing of the conventional SUV was first conducted to determine baseline aerody-
namic characteristics and flow separation point locations (Figure 25). The baseline
GM Suburban SUV, unmodified at this point, was installed on the 6-component
balance in the Lockheed 16' x 32' subsonic wind tunnel in Marietta, GA. Figure
26 shows aerodynamic force and moment variations as a function of yaw angle, and
confirms that indeed side winds can play a significant effect on the performance
and stability of these large SUV s.
The conventional Suburban was then modified into the Pneumatic SUV configu-
ration for the blowing tests. We had received an additional aft door assembly for
the Suburban, donated by the GM Technical Center. The modification was con-
ducted at the prototype shop of our team member Novatek, Inc. in Smyrna, GA.
Since it was impractical to tear away the rear sheet metal of the Suburban, we sim-
ply added blowing plenums, slots and turning surfaces onto the outside of the do-
nated door. The blowing slots were adjustable and the trailing-edge jet turning an-
gle could be changed. Blowing coefficient was variable, and mass flow, pressure
and jet velocities were measured to enable on-line calculation and setting of Cf.,l.
jSotJtce Refs 12 and 13}

1~1.11
BGV:Bill1ons of Gallons per Year
I.UJ.tl
I~J(J
I~HI
IWU
,
·-.., Domestoc Ool Productoon
·..
\
, ...
...\
I
•.....r·.-*'.~
1(1()1)
'.. Gap
\lO.O
BGV
<()0 ..•
··-·· ' "•.•"-.......,
.,'7 _1-"---
(Class 1&2a)
lUll
Repon Oate ,. t.;
199() 100.) ~OUO 2tKlS 2010 ~OJS 2020

Year
Figure 24. Highway Energy Usage Comparisons (Billions of Gallons per Year) by Vehicle
Type
Figure 25. GM Suburban Vehicle Undergoing Smoke Flow and Tuft Visualization
Testing in the Lockheed 16' x 23' Wind-Tunnel Test Section
296 R.J. Englar
Ct..., u;"i
l'ncuma11c S ·v. Lnd,hcc I_. \\. Tl~~5. 10 IS 02
It"' Yol\\ S\\t.:cp. q=l::!.!'-+ fl'L \ '=71 7 mph . Run _l
Ct,n' c-nt1unal G ,\1 Suhurhan u .:u
......
Co
.
u<
H ~~
"" -
"'
II III
/
..1 uu"' c,.~, .

<\ .. \1.
l---------"~~----'-------J ur•' c~.. u
Ull"i
-H Ill
-H IIIIi
n:•u
.
f1 ~41
-I II•
' lO..CRI).!hl
' U" \n~ot l l·. 'l'· dcJ,.:
Figure 26. Resulting Aero Forces and Moments as Functions of Yaw Angle for Baseline
Suburban
PSUV Test Results
Flow visualizations taken with blowing activated on the pneumatic vehicle prior to
tunnel testing showed significant attachment of flow over the curved aft surfaces
and a contracting of the jet wake behind the vehicle. The wind-on, blowing-on data
showed different behaviors for different trailing edge configurations. Greater trail-
ing-edge turning-surface angle produced greater jet turning but also greater suction
of the trailing edges, adding a downstream suction force. The resulting drag gener-
ated is shown in Figure 27 for four different blowing configurations. Notice that
for some configurations initial drag reduction reaches a minimum point, followed
by drag increase at higher C~. This drag reduction at low blowing is on the order
of 3 to 4.15 times the input blowing coefficient, representing as much as a 415%
return on the jet momentum invested. Note also that increased blowing eventually
yields a rise in drag for some of the configurations, which represents an opportunity
for an aerodynamic braking system. What is needed, of course, is an onboard con-
trol system to switch from drag reduction to braking as needed by the driver. Note
also that the configuration with a 4SO turning surface on all exposed trailing edges
continued to reduce drag with increased blowing, although at a lesser rate of reduc-
tion. Also, the blowing-off drag coefficient for these non-optimized configurations
was the same as that of the stock reference Suburban tested earlier (Figure 26), in-
dicating no blowing-off drag penalty for installing this system on a typical SUV.
PSUV Drag Variation with Blowing, V=50mph

0.56 r----.-----,r----.-----,----.-----,----,-----,
Run I~- -15 lt•p. Bollom &. Bonum Sode,:

IJ(J• Top Side -......__
--............. g
0.51 Run II. -15° Top & Bonom: 90• Side,
D
0.50 0 ..
o·
Run I t . I (I' ·\II ~ Suk'
OAS
···---A-- ....6 .. ___ 11....... Run 14.45° All ide'

OA6 1!>--··~
-·~----.
0.+1 '--~--'-~-'-----'-~----''----'-~----'---'-~----'
0 0 01 0 .02 0.0.1 0()..1 0.05 0.06 007 008
Momentum Coefficient, C14
Figure 27. PSUV Drag Coefficient Changes with Varying Cr-t
An additional benefit of the blowing system is the ability to provide increased

safety of operation. Aerodynamic braking was mentioned above, but Figure 28
shows an additional strong potential. To counteract the adverse effects of yaw (side
winds) on both yawing and rolling moments shown in Figure 26, we tested blowing
of only one side slot, the left side. In Figure 26, the SUV is directionally unstable
(for instance, nose-left yaw produces nose-left negative yawing moment, which
yaws the vehicle more), but blowing on the left side produces an aft aerodynamic
side force to the left and a restoring yawing moment that returns the SUV's stabil-
ity. Figure 28 shows the amount of blowing required to eliminate the destabilizing
yawing moment at each of three side wind angles, 'ljJ. In each case, blowing at a
slightly higher rate produced yaw in the opposite direction, so that varying blowing
alone can control the vehicle's stability in either direction.
298 R.J. Englar
PSUVAero Daw. LSWT Tcsti85J. Run 17. 1..eft ide It ONLY.

Cmu v.cep. =50 mph. All Turning Comers are 45'
Nose0 r:fl ,.-....;c:...,;.:..;:....,:..:~-r:..;.:.:::c::.;.;;;:-;,.=:;s...,=:.;:.::.,:::;...;;....___,
Right
008
0.07
0.06
Cyaw reqUired to offset ~·-· 1 0 unblown
005
Cyaw requited to offset ; •• ·S unblown
O.Ql
001
0 ~------------------------------~
.0.01 L.....-....L-~...L..--.J......---.Jc.-.~-.L----J
0 0 01 O.Ol 0.03 0.0< 0.05 0.06

Left Slot Momentum Coefficient, Cmu
Figure 28. Yawing Moment Control by Blowing of the Left Side Slot Only
It is to be noted from the above that we have not yet achieved the optimum con-
figuration to maximize drag reduction and yaw generation while requiring mini-
mum blowing input, but we have otherwise verified that blowing on SUVs can be a
powerful means to reduce or increase drag as needed, and to increase vehicle sta-
bility, all with no external moving parts.
Conclusions
Under DOE-sponsored research programs, GTRI and its teammates on the DOE
Pneumatic Heavy Vehicle project have completed experimental model investiga-
tions as well as full-scale road and track tests to confirm and improve upon the use
of pneumatic aerodynamics on these vehicles. These concepts will reduce aerody-
namic drag; favorably modify other aerodynamic characteristics; and thus improve
the performance, stability & control, handling qualities, safety, and economics of
both Heavy Vehicles and Sports Utility Vehicles. The GTRI team has confirmed
these capabilities by designing, fabricating, and testing small-scale PHV models in
3 separate wind-tunnel tests; and designing, fabricating and conducting 3 road or
track tests of a full-scale Pneumatic Heavy Vehicle demonstrator. We have also
conducted 2 full-scale wind-tunnel tests of the technology applied to a typical
Sports Utility Vehicle. The very favorable capability to control all aerodynamic
forces and moments was shown for the PHV and PSUV configurations, as was the
ability of a non-external-moving-part pneumatic control system to restore direc-
tional stability by eliminating unstable yawing moment and providing yaw in the
opposite direction. In a related application, GTRI is also currently developing a
patented aerodynamic heat exchanger that is based on these pneumatic principles
(Ref. 17). This device can further reduce the drag associated with the conventional
vertical radiator and related cooling system, while also adding favorable aerody-
namic characteristics to the vehicle.
The above test programs and analyses have confirmed the following capabilities
for pneumatic aerodynamics applied to Heavy Vehicles or Sports Utility Vehicles:
• Pneumatic devices, using one to four blowing slots and non-moving downstream
jet turning surfaces on HVs and SUVs, have reduced drag up to 84% in tunnel
tests. Recent tunnel tests of a PHV new configuration soon to be tested full-
scale have shown anticipated drag reductions of up to 46% with resulting Fuel
Efficiency Increase of approximately 23%. This is caused by prevention of
flow separation and increase in base pressure on the rear of the vehicle.
• Specific blowing on only some of the slots can cause a deliberate increase in
drag that can be used for instantaneous aerodynamic braking without the delay
time of moving parts, or the wear of mechanical parts.
• Specific blowing on only the top or bottom slots can cause a deliberate increase
in lift to reduce rolling resistance and thus increase fuel economy, or a deliber-
ate increase in downforce and thus a further increase in load on the wheels to
increase both traction and braking.
• Specific blowing on only one side slot can cause a deliberate increase in side
force and yawing moment to overcome the directional instability of these vehi-
cles caused by side winds and/or gusts.
• Because blowing is instantaneously switchable to whichever slot it is needed in,
these devices provide a very rapidly responding pneumatic control system with-
out external moving parts. Integrated with an onboard sensor and controls, it
can thus control all aerodynamic forces and moments acting on HV s and SUV s
and increase operational safety.
• Pneumatic reduction of the vehicle's wake should reduce splash and spray from
behind and its effect on following vehicles, and thus also increase safety of op-
eration.
• Low pressure blowing required could be supplied from onboard sources such as
a turbocharger or supercharger, or from an existing auxiliary engine such as is
currently used by HV refrigeration units.
• These pneumatic aerodynamic systems can be integrated with a patented
GTRI/Novatek aerodynamic heat exchanger to further increase fuel economy by
additional drag reduction and reduced radiator size requirements for cooling
(see Reference 17).
• Non-moving external components can yield an all-pneumatic system with very
small (if any) blowing-off component drag.
• Very small-size aft trailer extensions for blowing should incur no length limita-
tions
• For safety, stability and/or economy, positive use can be made of aerodynamic
forces and moments (lift, download, side force, yaw, roll) that are not currently
employed to influence Heavy Vehicle or SUV operation.
In the first 4 years of this DOE Pneumatic HV and SUV project, reported herein,
we have confirmed that these patented blown devices are able to control the aero-
300 R.J. Englar
dynamics of these vehicles and thus favorably affect their fuel consumption, their
performance, and their safety of operation. The importance of that is confirmed in
Figure 24. It appears that it is time to approach this fuel-consumption problem for
Heavy Vehicles, Light Trucks and SUV s in order to reduce the predicted deficit
shown between oil usage and supply. The concepts demonstrated by these pneu-
matic vehicle results suggest that certain favorable options are now available to do
so. In addition to Heavy Vehicle and SUV application, the above results appear
quite promising to other forms of automotive vehicles. Clearly, buses, motor
homes, and trains are also prone to large drag values and directional stability issues
due to aft flow separation and large vertical panels exposed to side winds. Of
course, the application of improved blown aerodynamics to increase the perform-
ance, traction, braking and handling of race cars is a very related and promising
subject.
Thus all the original objectives for this Pneumatic Heavy Vehicle program have
been experimentally confirmed: drag, lift, down force, side force and all corre-
sponding moments can be significantly augmented (increased or decreased as
needed) by blowing, and improved to the point where appreciable increases in
Heavy Vehicle and SUV performance, economy, stability and safety of operation
should result.
Recommendations
The above aerodynamic data confirm the Pneumatic Heavy Vehicle and Pneumatic
SUV as viable concepts for improving the aerodynamic performance, economy,
stability, handling and safety of operation of these vehicles. Data presented has ex-
ceeded the 35% drag reductions (previously demonstrated on streamlined cars) that
the American Trucking Associations claim will result in savings of more than 1.2
billion gallons of diesel fuel per year for the US heavy trucking industry, (as much
as 1.7 billion gallons per year can be saved at the 50% drag reduction level). The
following recommendations are made to suggest a meaningful continuation of this
program:
• Additional wind-tunnel evaluations should be conducted to even further reduce
the required blowing momentum, which needs to be acquired from some air
source on board the tractor-trailer rig or SUV. These tests might include slot
height variation, improved blowing surface geometry, alternate jet turning sur-
faces, pulsed blowing, or other innovative means.
• Continued feasibility studies are needed, where the above results are transferred
to the HV and SUV industries and interactions occur with tractor, trailer, and
SUV manufacturers, as well as with engine manufacturers, turbocharger builders,
or other possible air-supply specialties.
• Additional full-scale on-the-road demonstration and development of this technol-
ogy should continue, including further study of available air supplies and any as-
sociated penalties, plus further blowing configuration optimization.
Acknowledgements
The author wishes to acknowledge and thank Dr. Sidney Diamond, Dr. Jules Rout-
bart, Mr. Richard Wares, and Mr. Rogelio Sullivan of DOE for their continued
support and encouragement of this work, as well as Mr. Victor Suski for the con-
tinued very valuable involvement of the AT A. The technical assistance of Mr. Ken
Burdges of Novatek, Inc. in wind-tunnel model and road-test vehicle design and
fabrication is also greatly appreciated, as are experimental efforts of GTRI Co-op
students Graham Blaylock, Warren Lee, Chris Raabe, Erik Kabo, and Brian Corner
of the Georgia Tech School of Aerospace Engineering. Assistance of Skip Yeakel
of Volvo, Bob Dotson of TRC and Charlie Fetz of Great Dane is also much appre-
ciated.
Contact
Robert J. Englar, Principal Research Engineer
Aerospace, Transportation & Advanced Systems Lab
Acoustics and Aerodynamics Branch
Atlanta, GA 30332-0844
(770) 528-3222
(770) 528-7586, Wind tunnel
(770) 528-7077, Fax
bob.englar@ gtri.gatech.edu
References
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strator Aircraft," DTNSRDC Report ASED-274, January 1979; and Englar, R. J,. eta!,
"Design of the Circulation Control Wing STOL Demonstrator Aircraft," AIAA paper
No. 79-1842, August 1979.
2. Englar, R. J. and C. A. Applegate, "Circulation Control-A Bibliography of DTNSRDC
Research and Selected Outside References (Jan 1969 to Dec 1983)," David Taylor Na-
val Ship Research and Development Center Report 84/052, Carderock, MD, Sept.,
1984.
3. Englar, R. J., "Circulation Control Aerodynamics: Blown Force and Moment Augmen-
tation and Modification; Past, Present and Future," AIAA Paper 2000-2541, June, 2000.
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Aerodynamic Concepts for Control of Lift, Drag, and Moments plus Lateral/Directional
Stability of Automotive Vehicles," SAE Paper 960673, Feb. 26-29, 1996. Also pub-
lished in SAE SP-1145, "Vehicle Aerodynamics: Wind Tunnels, CFD, Aeroacoustics,
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5. Englar, Robert J., "Development of Pneumatic Aerodynamic Devices to Improve the
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20,2000.
302 R.J. Englar
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ing Tests," GTRI Report A-5871, Mar 14, 2002.
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Economy Test," GTRI Draft Report, September, 2002.
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Improve the Performance, Economics, Stability and Safety Of Heavy Vehicles," DOE
Quarterly Progress Report No. 14, April1, 2002 to June 30, 2002.
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Fuel Economy Tests," Transportation Research Center report, Project 20020465, Sep-
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hicle Road-Test Configurations," GTRI Draft Report, Projects A-5871 and A-6395,
January 10, 2003.
15. "Transportation Energy Data Book: Edition 19," DOE/ORNL-6958, September, 1999.
16. "EIA Annual Energy Outlook 2000," DOE/EIA-0383(2000), December, 1999 and "AEO
2001", Appendix A Table 11.
17. Gaeta, R. G., R. J. Englar, and G. Blaylock, "Wind Tunnel Evaluations of an Aerody-
namic Heat Exchanger," published in Proceedings of the UEF Conference "The Aero-
dynamics of Heavy Vehicles: Trucks, Buses and Trains," Monterey-Pacific Grove, CA,
Dec. 2-6, 2002.
Base Flaps and Oscillatory Perturbations to
Decrease Base Drag
Tsun-Ya Hsu, Mustapha Hammache, and Fred Browand
Aerospace & Mechanical Engineering, University of Southern California, Los

Angeles, CA 90089-1191
Abstract
The objective of this investigation is to study possible means for reducing the base
drag of a tractor-trailer. The experiments are conducted in the Dryden wind tunnel
at the USC Ground Vehicle Aerodynamics Laboratory. A roughly 1115 scale
model resembling a trailer is utilized for the study. The model is fitted with a
shaped nose-piece to ensure attached flow over the forward portion of the model.
The model is equipped with a force balance to measure drag. In addition base
pressures are measured, and hot-wire wake surveys are conducted downstream
from the model base. The Reynolds numbers (based on the square-root of the
model cross-sectional area), range from 0.1 x 106 to 0.4 x 106 •
Drag reduction is effected by means of flaps attached along the edges of the
model base, and inclined inward to decrease the size of the downstream wake. In
addition, an oscillatory perturbation is applied at the flap origin in an attempt to
maintain attached flow for larger angles of flap inclination.
The present study has found that a simple, passive base-flap deflection-no
forcing whatsoever-produces significant drag saving. The maximum drag
reduction is 0.06-0.08 at an angle of 9-10 degrees. The magnitude of the saving
is in accord with both early and recent measurements in other laboratories.
The present results also show that oscillatory momentum addition has little
effect on drag reduction unless the net oscillatory momentum flux coefficient is
equal or greater than 0.1 %. Increasing the oscillatory momentum perturbation to a
coefficient value of 0.3% produces drag savings at angles greater than 9-10
degrees, but has very little effect upon the maximum saving at 9-10 degrees.
To further study this anomalous behavior, follow-on experiments are planned to
investigate a larger range of forcing amplitudes, and a variety forcing-function duty
cycles. In addition, Digital Particle Image Velocimetry will be used to capture the
detailed flow-field in the vicinity of the flap.
304 T.-Y. Hsu, M. Hammache, and F. Browand
Introduction
The objective of this research is to provide guidance for the reduction of base drag
of a typical tractor-trailer. Roughly speaking, the total drag of a tractor-trailer can
be broken down into a contribution from the tractor and undercarriage, a
contribution from the trailer base and a much smaller contribution resulting from
skin friction along the (long) trailer sides. As truck tractors become more
streamlined, and other sources of drag are minimized, the base drag of the trailer
will remain and assume even more importance.
As a hypothetical example, assume a tractor-trailer with a drag coefficient CD =
0.7. The drag coefficient is defined as C 0 = D , where D is the measured
_!_pU 2 A
2
drag; p is the air density; U is the wind tunnel speed, and A is the area of the
cross-sectional body perpendicular to the flow. In this case, the contribution from
the trailer base might be chased = 0.14, which is 20 percent of the total drag.
Reducing trailer base drag by 50 percent would reduce total drag by approximately
10 percent. Now imagine continued improvements to the tractor that decrease the
total drag to CD= 0.5. The base drag coefficient might actually increase somewhat
because the thinner boundary layer separating from the end of the trailer is more
efficient in entraining air from the base region. More efficient entrainment may
increase the base drag to a value Chased = 0.20. In this circumstance, trailer base
drag becomes approximately 40 percent of the total drag, and reducing trailer base
drag by 50 percent now represents a total drag reduction of 20 percent. The
observation that base drag and fore-body drag are inversely related was put forth by
Hoerner [5] based upon observations on aircraft shapes having blunt bases. The
argument has also been suggested to hold for heavy trucks (see Diebler & Smith in
this proceeding, and Saltzman & Meyer [10]).
There are two general approaches for the reduction of base drag. One approach,
we would term passive control, is to alter the geometry of the base region is some
way. The boat-tail-plate attachment studied by Lanser et al., [8], and illustrated in
Fig. 1, represents one possible alteration of base geometry. Measurements on a
full-scale tractor-trailer in the 80x120 Foot Wind Tunnel at NASA Ames indicate
total drag reductions of the order of 10 percent, and good performance at angles of
yaw (Lanser et al., [8]). Other more recent investigations of the boat-tail-plate
attachment include Khalighi et al., [6], and Storms et al., [11]. Storms et al., show
that total drag decreases from 0.263 without the boat-tail-plates to 0.215 with the
boat-tail-plates for a clean tractor-trailer geometry without wheels-the GTS
model. The total drag reduction is 18 percent.
The second approach is to attempt flow control by means of an active forcing
(such as an oscillating flap, or a blowing slot), meant to alter the boundary layer
properties- usually to avoid an unwanted separation. The blowing device
discussed by Englar in this proceeding and in [3], falls within this second category.
Our approach encompasses both a modification of the base geometry by means
of the addition of flat-panel flaps, and an additional active control by means of an
oscillatory mass flow perturbation within the boundary layer meant to delay flow
separation over the surface of the flaps. The (flat) flaps are attached to the trailer
Base Flaps and Oscillatory Perturbations to Decrease Base Drag 305
base along the trailer base edges, and are inclined to the free stream to close the
wake more efficiently, as in Fig. 2. They are attractive, because they can be folded
flat against the base when not in use.
Fig. 1 Boat-tail-plate attachment at a truck base (from NASA Ames [II])
Fig. 2 Base flaps attached to model truck base, recent test at NASA Ames
The addition of passive flaps to the base of a realistic tractor-trailer model was
first studied by Cooper [2]. Cooper shows that the drag coefficient for a typical
straight-sided truck decreases from 0.78 without flaps to 0.72 with flaps. The
optimum flap angle is within the range I 0-15 degrees. Further, Cooper
demonstrates that the effectiveness of the drag reduction increases with non-
dimensional flap length, l, defined as l = L!sqrt(A), where Lr is the flap length and
A is the cross-sectional area of a truck. He points out that most of the drag
reduction is accomplished for flap length less than a value of approximately, l =
0.18.
With regard to active flow control, Nishri and Wygnanski [9] reveal that an
oscillatory jet introducing momentum flux with a net zero mass flow is more
effective than a steady blowing jet in delaying flow separation over a flapped
airfoil. They are concerned primarily with increasing lift by means of oscillatory
suction/blowing. Their oscillatory jet, generated by a loudspeaker, is located at the
origin of the flap as illustrated in Fig. 3 from Nishri and Wygnanski. They show
that the effectiveness in delaying flow separation is determined by the location of
the jet, the frequency of the induced oscillation, the net momentum flux coefficient,
and the shape size of the slot. The frequency of the induced oscillation, f, is non-
dimensionalized by the flap length and free-stream velocity, Ux. It is defined as
F+ = f* Lr . The net oscillatory momentum flux coefficient, Cl' , is defined as
u~
g u
c" 2 *- * (-')' , where g is the slot height, i.e., the gap between the flap and
=
Lr U x
the side wall, and Uj is the amplitude of the oscillatory jet fluctuation. Favorable
delays in separation are obtained for slot heights of the order of 1/3-112 of the
incoming boundary layer displacement thickness, and for cl' values less than 0.1 %.
The most effective non-dimensional frequencies appear to lie in the range p+ =
0.3-1.5.
We wish to carry over these previous insights and technologies, and to apply
them for the purpose of base drag reduction. Specifically, we wish to address the
following questions.
• For the flat-panel base flap geometry applied to our model, what is the optimum
flap angle to achieve drag reduction?
• Will the oscillatory jet delay the separation of the flow , resulting in additional
drag reduction?
• If the oscillatory jet has the positive effect of drag reduction, what will be the
magnitude of the drag reduction?
• What are the critical parameters for the application of active flow control?
G = g+THICKNESS O F F L APE R O N
Fig. 3 Sketch of the flap (from Nishri & Wygnanski [9])

Experimental Apparatus
Wind Tunnel
The USC Dryden closed-circuit wind tunnel facility consists of a settling chamber,
contraction, test section, diffuser and axial fan section. The contraction represents
an area change of 10:1. The test section-6.1 meters in length-has an octagonal
cross-section. The dimension between any two parallel sides of the octagon is 1.37
meters. For the ground vehicle studies, a porous ground-plane 1.37 m in width and
5.8 m in length is installed in the test section. A small amount of suction is applied
over the surface of the ground-plane to maintain a thin boundary layer. The
maximum free stream velocity in the wind tunnel is approximately 30 m/s.
Truck Model
A bluff-body model consisting of a parallelepiped having a rounded nose is used to
study base drag reduction, Fig. 4(a). At this point, no attempt is made to model an
actual tractor-trailer. The width of the model is 0.197 m. The ratio of width:
height: length for the parallelepiped is [1:1.4:4]. It is mounted above the ground
plane a distance 50.8 mm. To this parallelepiped is attached a rounded nose of
length 0.934 m, as shown in blue in Fig. 4(a). The nose is carefully shaped to
avoid flow separation. The cross-sectional area of the model, A = 0.0535 m2 , is
used as the reference area.
Model drag, side force and yawing moment are measured by means of a strain
gage sandwich designed specifically for this purpose. The model is mounted
directly to the upper surface of the sandwich. The lower surface of the sandwich is
anchored below the surface of the ground plane by means of the two protruding
pins seen in Fig. 4(a). Also seen within the model is a Scanivalve pressure
sequencer. There are fourteen pressure ports on each side of the model, and sixteen
pressure ports on the model base. Each of these ports is connected to the
Scanivalve and sequentially sent to a Baratron pressure transducer located outside
the wind tunnel.
The model incorporates flat-panel flaps along each edge of the base. In Fig.
4(a), the flaps are shown fabricated from acrylic plastic flat stock. To provide a
cleaner design and more reliable flap-slot geometry, we now construct the flaps
from 0.89 mm brass flat stock, as in Fig. 4(b). The flaps are soldered along the
four common edges to form a box-like structure attached to a plate mounted
directly to the base of the model. A total of eight independent sets of flaps at flap
angles 0, 4, 8, 12, 16.5, 20.5, 25 and 29 degrees are tested. Flaps can be doubled in
length by taping on the appropriate flap extension, as the second photograph in Fig.
4(b) illustrates.
A detailed picture of the model base is shown in Fig. 5. A schematic drawing
looking from the top is shown to the left. A commercial hi-fi loudspeaker made by
Vifa (frequency range from 35 to 4000 Hz) is used to produce the oscillatory
forcing. Motion of the speaker diaphragm in an otherwise sealed enclosure forces
air out through the slot gaps, g = 1mm, along all four edges of the base. Two flap
lengths, Lr = 5.4 and 10.48 em, are studied. When normalized with the
308 T.- Y. Hsu, M. Hammache, and F. Browand
v
characteristic scale, A = 0.231 m, the non-dimensional flap lengths become,
respectively, l =0.233 and 0.453).
Hot Film Anemometer
In order to measure the amplitude of the oscillatory jet, a hot-film anemometer is

adopted (see Blackwelder 1981 [1] for details of anemometers). A TSI Model
1210-10 general-purpose probe is used for single component velocity
measurements. The probe is calibrated by varying the wind tunnel speed as
measured by a Pitot-static tube connected to a second Baratron.
(a)
(b)
Fig. 4 USC model equipped with rounded nose and base flaps
Top''
Experimental Method
Experimental Conditions
All data sets are recorded at wind tunnel speeds between 13 and 25 m/s. Reynolds
numbers, based on the square-root of the model cross-sectional area are,
respectively 0.11 x 106 and 0.36 x 106 • A sine wave is chosen as the forcing
function. The forcing frequency is zero or within the range 40-600 Hz. The
corresponding non-dimensional frequencies are, F = 0, 0.17-3.93. The
oscillatory momentum flux coefficient, C1, ranges from 0 (no forcing) to 0.3%.
Data Acquisition and Data Processing
Signals from the force balance, the Baratron, and the hot-wire probe are digitized
using Labview. The nominal sampling rate for the force measurements in the wind
tunnel is 100-1000 Hz for a total sampling time of 5-8 seconds for each data point.
The sampling rate for the pressure measurements is similar. The averaging time of
5-8 seconds is sufficient to obtain accurate mean values. Previous observations of
wind tunnel performance (Zabat et al., [12]) have shown that virtually all of the
wind tunnel turbulence (including low frequency unsteadiness) lies above 0.2 Hz.
Typically, 5-second averages of the free stream velocity lie within .0015*U, of the
long-time mean. Hot-wire signals are normally sampled at about 20 samples per
cycle for a suitable number of cycles.
The rms amplitude of the unsteady velocity in the vicinity of the slot gap is
measured outside the wind tunnel by placing the hot-wire a distance of about one
gap width downstream from the slot. This measurement is needed to determine the
magnitude of the applied forcing (the value of C~'). Observations at several
positions along the length of the slot verify that the influence of the corner is
restricted about two slot widths. The slot flow is two-dimensional within ± 8%.
The rms fluctuation amplitude that determines the value of Cl' is measured at
ambient pressure on a bench test, as is common practice [4], [7], [9]. The particular
level of ambient pressure has no influence on the measurement of rms fluctuation
since all surfaces are exposed to the same uniform pressure. In the wind tunnel,
however, the situation is slightly different. One side of the driving speaker is open
to the slot gap while the other side is exposed to a static pressure equivalent to a
pressure along the underside of the body. The speaker must be driven against this
pressure difference. In our case these pressures are both close to the wind tunnel
static pressure, and no correction to Cl' has been made. A more thorough in situ
calibration of forcing is planned.
Fig. 6 shows the large variation in rms amplitudes that are a consequence of the
dynamic response characteristic of the speaker plus enclosure at the different
applied frequencies. The largest rms amplitudes occur in two periods-one at
about 50 Hz and the other centered at about 140Hz.
The hot-wire is also used to determine boundary layer thickness at the trailing
edge of the model. The boundary layer there is turbulent with a displacement
thickness of approximately 2 mm at a wind tunnel speed of 16 rnls. The hot-wire is
used to measure the downstream wake of the model truck for a variety of flap
angles. For this purpose, the hot-wire is positioned at the mid-height of the model
in a cross stream plane 76.2 mm behind the flaps.
10
--.. 8 5.5
5
>
'-'
~.5
~ 7 J.~
J
c. 1.5
E l
< 6 1.5
I
o.s
5 0
100 200 300

Frequency (Hz)
Fig. 6 Strength of the oscillatory jet for I mm gap with sine wave forcing
Passive Control
We first examine the addition of flat-panel base flaps in the absence of the
oscillatory jet forcing. The effect of flap angle upon drag reduction is shown in
Fig. 7. The horizontal axis represents the flap angle in degrees, and the vertical
axis represents the change in drag coefficient, ilC 0 = Conotlaps - Cotlap"" A positive
value of ilC0 corresponds to a reduction in drag. Data is shown here from three
widely different experiments. The two curves in red are from our wind tunnel
experiment on a model having an aerodynamically clean fore-body at Reynolds
numbers of 0.23 and 0.36xl06 • The experimental reliability is indicated by the
scatter of data points representing multiple trials.
The blue curve is an earlier mentioned result from Cooper [2]. Although the
flaps are similar, the model truck geometries are different. His flaps are attached to
the base of a truck model along the vertical edges and the top edge. The bottom
edge has an attached flap, but this flap is not deflected. The result shown
represents flaps on a model truck having straight sides, wheels and a trailer with
rounded nose tested at a Reynolds number of RevA:::: l.5x10 6 •
The data shown in black is from a recent experiment performed in the NASA
Ames 12-foot pressurized wind tunnel at a Reynolds number of 6x106 , which is
comparable to a Reynolds number for a full-scale truck at highway speeds. In this
case, the model is a generic truck shape having a gap between tractor and trailer,
cab extenders and simple axles with wheels. Multiple data points again give an
indication of the measurement reliability.
In spite of the different model geometries, all of the ilC 0 curves have a roughly
similar shape. Drag savings first increase and then decrease with increasing flap
angle. Thus there is an optimum angle for maximum drag saving. The maximum
saving is in the range LlC 0 = .06 - .08 for all three experiments. Overall, the three
data sets suggest a robust drag saving that is neither particularly dependent upon
the details of truck shape nor upon the Reynolds number of operation. However,
the angle for maximum saving does seem to depend upon Reynolds number. The
optimum angle seems to increase steadily from 9-10 degrees at 0.3x10 6 to perhaps
20 degrees at 6x106•
The drag reduction resulting from base flaps can also be observed in the wake
profile as a reduction in the wake momentum deficit. Wake velocity profiles are
shown in Fig. 8 for flap angles of 0 and 12 degrees. The horizontal axis represents
the span direction, non-dimensionalized by the square-root of the model cross-
sectional area. The model centerline is at the zero span position. The vertical axis
represents the non-dimensional velocities. The blue curve indicates the wake
profile for flap angle equal to zero. It can be seen that the wake width is the order
of the model width. The red curve shows the wake profile for flap angle equal to
12 degrees. The wake width is now considerably narrowed. The small velocity
increase at mid-span may actually represent a recirculation (backflow) along the
center-plane. The single hot-wire used here is not capable of determining flow
direction and may thus "demodulate" the recirculation.
Active Control
Now consider the addition of oscillatory blowing/suction along the edges of the
model base, coincident with the origin of the flap. The purpose of the oscillatory
blowing/suction is to attempt to maintain attached flow over the flap for larger flap
deflection angles, and thereby to further reduce drag. Fig. 9 summarizes the best of
our results. The drag coefficient difference, .:lC 0 , is now shown for two flap
lengths- with and without oscillatory blowing. The two blue curves represent
flaps of length 0.233 and 0.453 in the absence of forcing. The drag saving peaks at
about 9 degrees as in Fig.?, and doubling the flap length has no significant effect
on the result. The results in red, for a momentum coefficients of C11 =0.15% and
0.3%, demonstrate the effectiveness of oscillatory blowing/suction. There is a
modest additional drag saving at the higher flap angles, but the application of
forcing has very little effect in the vicinity of peak saving. Thus the peak saving is
almost unchanged. The cause of this unexpected result is still under investigating.
Examination of the forced and unforced results in the vicinity of 10 degrees
suggests that the momentum addition does delay the onset of separation in some
manner. However, we had anticipated that in the presence of forcing and delayed
separation, the drag saving would continue to increase beyond the unforced peak at
9-10 degrees. Rather, the demonstrated effect of forcing is to broaden the peak
region by extension to larger angles but not to increase the maximum value of drag
saving.
For the shorter flap length, the optimum forcing frequency definitely lies in the
range F* ... 0.6 - 0.7. For the longer flap, the forcing frequency may be slightly
below optimum. Here the non-dimensional value F* ... 0.33 is dictated by the need
to stay in the frequency band near 40 Hz to achieve the highest momentum
coefficient possible.
Our experiments suggest that there is a rather broad range of non-dimensional
forcing frequencies F+ ... 0.3 - 1.0 that will effect flow modification, but that
forcing amplitude is critical. We begin to see noticeable change only at momentum
coefficients of the order of 10-3 or greater (C11 ~ 0.1 %). Nishri & Wygnanski [9]
show observable increases in lift over deflected flaps at momentum coefficients as
small as 0.01 %. Evidently drag reduction for a three-dimensional body such as
ours is a much more subtle proposition.
0.1 ..------.-----.---..------- .----r---.-----,
C> 0.05
c::
·~
0
lL
0
z
'C
~ 0
Re=0.23x1 ()6 Red. 1=0 233 from USC
Re=0.36x1o6 Blue, 1=0.183f Stra1ght truck w/
Re=1 .5x1o6 rounded ront from Cooper
Re=6x1o6 Black, 1=0.25 from NasaAmes
-O OSOL--_ __._5_ __.10_ _ _1.._5_ __..20_ _ _2._5_ _3_,_0_ _~35-
Fiap Angle (degrees)
Fig. 7 Effect of base flap angle on total drag
Fig. 8 Effect of base flap angle on the momentum defect in the wake
0.1 r----r----.---..-----,.-----.-----.-----,
"0
5 0.05
Cll
u.
"'
Cll
"0
U5
5
0
u.
-o 0 1=0.233: f•=o. c " =O t;r
~ 1=0.453: F•=o. c " =O
1=0.233: F• =0.67, Ce=0.3%
1=0.233: f • =o.33, c "=0.15% Re=0.23x1Q6 for a ll case
1=0.453: f+:0.33, Ce=0.3%
,___
15::------'20
-0.050~--5":---1-L0--....1. _2.._ 35
_,___ __J
5 _ _ 30
Flap Angle (degrees)
Fig. 9 Effect of oscillatory forcing on drag decrease
Conclusions
Present Study
The present study describes the addition of flat-panel flaps to all four sides of the
downstream end of a bluff-body model resembling a tractor-trailer. The nose of the
model is rounded to prevent unwanted upstream separation (and boundary layer
thickening). It is possible to form partial answers to the questions posed at the end
of the introduction.
• The flaps-when deflected to flap angles of 9-10 degrees-produce a total drag
reduction of ~C 0 "" 0.075, as measured by a force balance within the model. The
drag reduction is broadly consistent with reductions measured earlier by Cooper
[2], and with more recent measurements acquired in the 12-foot wind tunnel at
NASA Ames.
• The amplitude of the oscillatory forcing applied at the origin of the flaps is most
important. Forcing has little effect at small values of the oscillatory momentum
coefficient, C" = 0.1 %. Forcing at amplitudes of C" = 0.3 %, does produce
modest additional drag reduction at larger flap angles, but does not alter the peak
drag reduction at 9-10 degrees.
• The forcing does appear to delay separation over the flap.
• Non-dimensional forcing frequencies in the broad range, F•=f*LrfU, "" 0.3 - 1.0,
do appear to provide the greatest effect on the flow , although this is a tentative
conclusion.
Modifications to Present Experiment
To date, the results from oscillatory forcing leave several questions unanswered.
We believe oscillatory forcing should lead to greater drag savings. This view is
supported by the more recent work of Kjellgren et a!., [7], who investigated drag
changes for a two-dimensional V-22 model wing in hover mode. In this case, the
bluff-body is the wing itself with down-flow normal to the upper surface of the
wing, as would be achieved in hover mode (with tilt rotors above the fixed wing
providing the down-flow). Forcing at the leading and trailing edges near flap
junctures does delay separation to larger flap deflection angles, and appears to
provide ~C 0 of as much as 40-50 percent. What is evident from this work is that
drag improvements may require larger forcing amplitudes-of the order of c~
?:O.oi.
The present experiment will be modified in several important respects to allow
an expansion of the range of forcing parameters-particularly the forcing
amplitude. The present loudspeaker arrangement cannot achieve C~ values beyond
0.3%, when all four sides are forced. A means for forcing at higher amplitudes is
currently being investigated, and will be incorporated into the redesign of the
model.
We plan to investigate forcing-signals other than sinusoidal. For example, a step
in speaker voltage produces a blowing impulse response or a suction impulse
response as sketched in Fig. lO(a). If either the suction or the blowing portion of
the cycle should provide more effective control (there is anecdotal support for the
importance of suction), one or the other can be emphasized by means of saw-tooth
signals as in case (b).
Finally, we plan DPIV studies (Digital Particle Image Velocimetry) of the flow
adjacent to the flap with and without forcing. The intent is to answer the question
regarding the state of the boundary layer and the degree of attached/unattached
flow present.
b~~~
omp..,m-d
I
1+-------"1
1 Cycle
1 Cycle
(a) (b)
Fig. 10 New designs: (a) Example of equal blowing and suction response, (b) Saw-tooth
emphasizing either blowing response or suction response
Acknowledgement:
Support from Dr. Sidney Diamond, Chief of Technology Development, Heavy
Vehicle Systems, Office of FreedomCAR and Vehicle Technologies, is gratefully
acknowledged. Additional thanks to Dale Satran and to NASA Ames for providing
the recent experimental results for base flaps operating at full-scale Reynolds
numbers.
References
1. R. Blackwelder, "Hot-Wire and Hot-Film Anemometers," Methods of

Experimental Physics: Fluid Dynamics, Vol. 18 Part A, 1981.
2. K. Cooper, "The Effect of Front-Edge Rounding and Rear-Edge Shaping on the
Aerodynamic Drag of Bluff Vehicles in Ground Proximity," SAE, 850288, 1985.
3. R. Englar, "Advanced Aerodynamic Devices to Improve the Performance,
Economics, Handling and Safety of Heavy Vehicles," SAE, 2001-01-2072,2001.
4. R. Grife, A. Darabi & I. Wygnanski, "Download Reduction on a Three
Dimensional V-22 Model Using Active Flow Control," AIAA, 2002-3071,2002.
5. S. Hoerner, Fluid Dynamic Drag, self-published, Library of Congress Card
Number 64-19666, Washington, D.C., 1965.
6. B. Khalighi, S. Zhang, C. Koromilas, S. R. Balkanyi, L. Bernal, G. Laccarino &
P. Moin, "Experimental and Computational Study of Unsteady Wake Flow
behind a Bluff with a Drag Reduction Device," SAE, 2001-01-1042, 2001.
7. P. Kjellgren, D. Cerchie, L. Cullen & I. Wygnanski, "Active Flow Control on
Bluff Bodies with Distinct Separation Locations," AIAA, 2002-3069, 2002.
8. W. Lanser, J. Ross & A. Kaufman, "Aerodynamic Performance of a Drag
Reduction Device on a Full-Scale Tractor/Trailer," SAE, 912125, 1991.
9. B. Nishri & I. Wygnanski, "Effects of Periodic Excitation on Turbulent Flow
Separation from a Flap," AIAA Journal, Vol. 36, No.4, April1998.
lO.E. Saltzman & R. Meyer, Jr., "A Reassessment of Heavy-Duty Truck
Aerodynamic Design Features and Priorities," NASA TP-1999-206574, 1999.
11.B. Storms, J. Ross, J. Heineck, S. Walker, D. Driver, & G. Zilliac, "An
Experimental Study of the Ground Transportation System (GTS) Model in the
NASA Ames 7- by 10-Ft Wind Tunnel," NASA TM, 2000.
12.M. Zabat, S. Frascaroli, F. Browand, "Drag Measurements on a Platoon of
Vehicles," UCB-ITS-PRR-93-27, California PATH, University of California,
Berkeley, 1993.
CFD Calculations by Various Methods
Use of Computational Aerodynamics for
Commercial V ehide Development at
DaimlerChrysler
Dr. Jlirgen Urban
DaimlerChrysler AG
In the commercial vehicle department at DaimlerChrysler, CFD is extensively

used for many different design tasks in the development of trucks and
commercial vans. Since simulation software has become available allowing fast
and easy setup of aerodynamic models, computational aerodynamics is playing
an important role in earlier stages of the design development process.
In the initial design stage the fundamental structure, specification, and
layout of a new truck or van are determined. During this stage, computational
aerodynamics assist in evaluating different styling concepts and aerodynamic
components with respect to drag, lift and soiling minimization. Available data
are usually based on simplified wind tunnel test configurations or on
predecessor models. During the styling design phase, stylists work with clay
models, which are periodically scanned for packaging studies. These data are
used to set up aerodynamic simulation models which are analyzed to evaluate
drag of the evolving clay models. After the styling design has been frozen, the
optimization of aerodynamically relevant components, such as air deflectors,
side mirrors, sunvisors and bumpers, has to be carried out in cooperation with
testing engineers. In this stage, the focus of development includes drag and
other customer-relevant aspects like soiling of door handles or splashing of
water on side windows.
For future vehicle development projects, computational aerodynamics is
planned to be further integrated into the design process in order to pre-
optimize styling designs and aerodynamic components in order to produce
more effective wind tunnel testing.
320 J. Urban
1 Integration of computational aerodynamics into the design
process
1.1 Planning stage
During the planning stage the fundamental structure, specification, and layout
of a new vehicle are determined. Goals like fuel consumption, safety and
comfort requirements are defined. A great bandwidth of design concepts and
innovative ideas is characteristic for this period. Available data are usually
based on simplified wind tunnel test configurations or on models of
predecessor vehicles. CFD is becoming a more and more important tool for
evaluating design studies of aerodynamic components. In general, the CAD-
data that are available early in the design process are not very detailed, allowing
for fast and easy setup of the computational models. As an example, fig. I
shows the model of a tractor trailer configuration where the tractor cabin or
other relevant aerodynamic components can easily be replaced in the baseline
model. The model is scaled down to 40% of a production vehicle. It exists in
hardware as well as in CAD-format. Investigations of the various design
concepts may be done in a full scale wind tunnel as well as in a virtual CFD
wind tunnel. A good coordination of experimental and computational
investigations is important.
The drag force of the assembled configuration and the contribution of the
investigated components are the major results of both experiment and
computation. The effect of geometrical modifications on the drag values has
been well captured by the CFD results and the total drag forces differ in a
range of 5-1 Oo/o compared to the experimental results.
The CFD results also offer information about the pressure and velocity field
as well as specific flow field phenomena like vortices and separation zones. As
an example, fig. 2 shows the surface streamlines and the near wall velocity
distribution on the surface for two different COE (cab over engine) tractor
cabin studies. In both pictures, the stagnation zone at the grill and the
separation zone downstream of the a-pillar can be seen. Obviously, the
separations are much more extended for the cabin on the right side of fig. 2
where the front roof edge and the a-pillar have significantly smaller radii. For
this cabin the reattachment zone is located on the trailer, while for the cabin
with the more rounded edges the reattachment zone is located downstream of
the side door.
Use of Computational Aerodynamics for Commercial Vehicle Development 321
....
Fig. 1. 40% tractor-trailer model with different tractor cabin designs
Fig. 2. COE (cab over engine) tractor study- near wall velocity and surface streamlines for two
different cabin designs
1.2 Styling stage
With respect to computational aerodynamics, the styling stage is the most

dynamic period during the overall design process. Between two and six stylists
work on different clay models which periodically need to be evaluated from an
aerodynamic point of view. For tractors, the focus of the investigation is the
principle shape of the fore-body, cabin and wind deflector. For vans, the fore-
body and rear end are of major interest from an aerodynamic point of view.
The radii of a-pillar, fender, bumper and the roof edge need to be evaluated in
order to minimize flow separation for a range of yaw angles. At the same time,
the styling of add-on parts like side mirrors and sunvisors need to be evaluated
with respect to drag and soiling.
322 ]. Urban
During the styling stage, digital surface data are available from surface scans
which are periodically performed for packaging verifications. These data can
be used to set up computational models. Because of the dynamic change of the
shapes of the styling models an important requirement for the use of
computational aerodynamics is a short time lag between the surface scan and
the aerodynamic evaluation. Therefore a process has been established which
allows fast CFD model generation based on scanning data. This process will be
discussed in the subsequent section.
Again, the most important result of the computation is the total drag
coefficient. Nevertheless, the difference in the drag value between various
styling models can be explained by inspection of the 3-dimensional flow
results. As an example, fig. 3 shows the isosurface of the total pressure
coefficient Cp,=O for four different van styling models. In the interior of the
isosurface the flow velocity usually is small. Therefore the extension of the
isosurface indicates separation and wake regions as well as zones of weak flow
attachment near surfaces.
As an example fig. 3 shows that the near wall air flow between the front
wheel well and the a-pillar is much weaker for model (d) compared to model
(a). This indicates that flow separation along the fender panel will occur at
greater yaw for model (a) than for model (d) which is important in order to
reduce crosswind sensitivity. On the other hand the separation at the a- and d-
pillar is remarkably smaller for model (d) compared to (a).
In addition, the pressure distribution on the body surface is inspected.
Stagnation regions at the underbody can be identified as well as separation
lines at the a- and d-pillar and the rear roof edge. Also the base pressure
distribution is inspected in order to assess the overall aerodynamic quality of
the styling model. Differences in the base pressure usually can be explained by
geometrical differences in the models.
Fig. 3. Isosurfaces of Cp,=O for four different styling models
For vans, the styling of side mirrors needs to be evaluated with respect to
drag and foreign soiling of the side window. Also the drag reduction potential
of underbody paneling can be studied with flow computation. It can be
demonstrated that underbody paneling strongly influences the underbody flow
as well as the flow structures in the wake region. Stagnation zones at
underbody structures can be detected and minimized. The influence of full
underbody paneling on the wake flow is demonstrated with section streamlines
in the vehicle mid-plane in fig. 4. In the figure the dashed lines indicate the
extension of the wake. Obviously the full underbody paneling reduces the
extension of the wake zone (fig.4,b) and thus the total drag. It may also
influence the shape of the vortex system in the wake and therefore the soiling
of the rear window.
(a) (b)
-'
~
', '
·.
·.'
. .
·······--· ·······=· ~~ ~·-·-
Fig. 4. Streamlines in vehicle mid-plane without (a) and with (b) underbody paneling
1.3 Prototype stage

At the end of the styling period the shape of the vehicle is nearly frozen.
During the prototype stage the design is refined and the complexity of the
digital surface representation increases more rapidly than in the previous
stages. Aerodynamic prototypes are now available which often can be
optimized more efficiently in full scale wind tunnels than with CFD
calculations. Computational aerodynamics is now used to assist the
optimization of component parts such as air deflectors, mirrors, windshield
wipers, roof containers, sunvisors etc. Investigating the flow field in the area
surrounding a component helps to understand the influence of the component
on the overall flow field. As an example, the pressure distribution is shown in
fig. 5 for a day-cab tractor without and with two different sunvisor designs.
The pressure distribution shows that the added sunvisors in fig. S(b) and (c)
324 J. Urban
generally enlarge the static pressure on the windshield and therefore increase
the total drag of the tractor.
(a) (b) (c)
Fig. 5. Pressure distribution on a tractor cabin with different sunvisor designs
2 Model generation and analysis

Traditionally CFD models are based on CAD data in a format such as
CATIA. Using this CAD data, a surface representation needs to be defined
which can be processed by the external aerodynamics simulation software. For
Powerflow, a closed triangulated surface is required which can manually be
derived from the CAD data. Depending on the degree of detail of the vehicle
exterior and the underbody structures, a computational model can be set up
within five to ten working days.
clay mod el ~ duration
urface scanning 2-3 days

digitized poin t clouds I
L
! CAD surrace creation
CAD Data( CATIA) J
20 days
! surface triangulation
Ismooth surface m esh (ANSA) I
1-2 days surface triangulati on
Ipolygonal representation (POLYWORKS) I
! Ill
Analys is I 2-4 days

I
(Fujitsu-Siemens 16# Linux cluster)
Fig. 6. Model generation and aerodynamic simulation during the styling stage
During the styling stage only data from surface scans are available. The
traditional work process which is necessary to obtain computational results
during this stage is depicted in fig. 6 on the left side. Digital data representing
the surface of the clay model are obtained from surface scans. A 100% clay
model is scanned during 2-3 days; a 25-40% model in approximately one day.
Based on the resulting point cloud a polyhedral with up to 10 million triangles
can automatically be generated. These data are used for packaging verification
and in-house presentations. During the following 20 work days, CAD data
(e.g. in CATIA format) are derived from the polyhedral. For the CFD
calculation with Powerflow, a closed surface mesh is required which can be
derived from the CAD data within 1-2 additional days with the assumption
that an appropriate underbody already exists. Fig. 7 (a) shows a section which
has been meshed manually with ANSA. In this mesh which consists of
approximately 100,000 triangle elements, the surface curvature is very well
represented. The analysis with EXA Powerflow takes about 2-4 days on a
Fujitsu-Siemens 16# Linux cluster. The overall time lag between the
availability of digital surface data and the computational results amounts to at
least 5 weeks which is not acceptable within a dynamic styling process.
Therefore an alternative process has been established which is depicted on
the right side of fig. 6. There the polyhedral is reduced (e.g. with
POLYWORKS) to an appropriate number of triangles whereas the surface
curvature is still sufficiently represented. This surface needs to be
complemented with an underbody structure in order to finally obtain a closed
surface mesh. Fig. 7 (b) shows the result of this procedure with approximately
the same number of triangles as in fig. 7 (a). The computational results
obtained with the different meshes differ within an acceptable range while
reducing the time lag from 5 weeks to one week with the alternative surface
meshing process.
(a) (b)
Fig. 7. Smooth surface mesh (a) and polygonal surface representation (b)
326 ]. Urban
Fig. 8. Voxel distribution and refinement regions
Once the closed surface model has been generated, a partially refined
volume mesh is generated within a fully automatic procedure of Powerflow.
The refinement regions can be defined with simple hexahedral boxes or other
closed volumes of arbitrary shapes. The voxel size is halved in each spatial
direction at every refinement level. A section of such a mesh is depicted in fig.
8 for a Freightliner Century Class. In this case, hexahedral boxes have been
defined in order to resolve the flow structures around the sunvisor and the
bumper region.
During the instationary computation, the solution is periodically stored on
scratch and the total drag of the vehicle is calculated. The computation is
considered complete when the total drag reaches a stable level. A quasi-
stationary solution as well as a drag value is finally obtained by averaging a set
of solutions as shown in fig. 9.
averag1ng Interval
0 10000 20000 30000 50000

TimeSt~t-J
Fig. 9. Transient course of the total drag
3 Assessment of self and foreign soiling

Due to safety requirements, the vehicle needs to be designed to minimize the
accumulation of water on the side window and side mirror when following
vehicles on a wet surface. In the same way, self-induced soiling produced by
the spinning wheels needs to be minimized. It is also necessary to minimize
soiling in the areas contacted when entering and exiting the cab, such as the
side door handle.
Currently, there is no software available which allows an efficient
computation of droplet and spray behavior around aerodynamic shapes. But
an indication of foreign and self soiling can be done by an assessment of flow
pattern.
Fig. 10. Separation bubble Fig. 11 . Experimental validation
For the Mercedes-Benz Actros face-lift, a side flap at the a-pillar has been
designed which prevents water droplets and spray from entering the zone
between the side window and the side mirror. Three-dimensional streamlines
in fig . 10 show the generation of an extended separation bubble. As a
consequence, droplets only splash on the outer edge of the side mirror and the
spray is transported with the main flow around the mirror. The flap increases
the total drag significantly, but the water accumulation on the side window
and mirror has been significantly reduced. This has also been verified by wind
tunnel experiment (fig. 11). Final optimization of the flap shape was done in
the wind tunnel at a level of efficiency higher than that for CFD.
In order to reduce self-induced soiling of the side door handle and other
cabin entry contact areas, a vent has been designed which is depicted in fig. 12.
This side vent prevents flow separation at the lower region of the a-pillar and
creates a jet flow which reduces road spray from the front wheels. The
streamlines in fig. 12 show the downward direction of the net flow. The
twisting of the streamlines represent the swirl which is generated at the sharp
edges of in the vent. Nevertheless there remains soiled regions at surface areas
where the flow is weak or separated from the surfaces. This has been
demonstrated with wind tunnel testing as depicted in fig. 13.
328 ]. Urban
Fig. 12. Air flow through the side vent
Fig. 13. Experimental simulation of self soiling.
4 Conclusions
During recent years, computational aerodynamics has become a powerful tool
within an efficient design process. The delay between the first available digital
data and the flow results has been significantly reduced with an innovative
model generation method and enlarged computational resources. It has been
shown that computational aerodynamics offers an assessment of various design
aspects of the exterior.
It needs to be noted that during all stages of the design process, a
synchronization of computational investigations and testing activities is
important in order to obtain the best available design within a limited time
frame.
Numerical Simulation of the Flow about a Train
Model
Samira Barakat and Dieter Schwam born
DLR, Institute for Aerodynamic and Flow Technology, Gottingen, Germany
Summary
This paper presents results from flow simulations about a simple train model
to be used in an upcoming experiment. The simulations are made with the un-
structured Navier-Stokes solver TAU employing hybrid grids. The influence of
wind tunnel walls as well as a ground plate with and with out a boundary layer
is examined. The results obtained so far indicate that the influence of the wind
tunnel wall can be neglected in the computation, while the boundary layer on
the ground plate might become critical in the experiment. Furthermore the
influence of cross wind on the train is studied by yawing the train up to 30° to
the oncoming flow.
1. Introduction
Amongst different kinds of trains used in Germany are the fast trains called
ICE (Inter City Express). While the front and rear cars with the engines were
quite heavy in the first generation trains, they are quite light weighed in the
new generation since the engines are now distributed over all bogies. Travelling
at very high speeds while encountering strong side winds can be hazardous
causing derailment of the train especially at the instance of exiting a tunnel or
crossing a bridge. Therefore the study of high speed trains under different cross
wind angles is of great significance. The objective of this particular preliminary
analysis has been the determination of suitable wind tunnel conditions for fu-
ture tests and studies of stability and derailment of the ICE trains. Therefore a
simple geometry of the train without bogies is considered to examine both the
influence of the tunnel walls in the experiment and of the boundary layer de-
veloping on a ground plate below the model. Once the computer simulation
and the wind tunnel test results to be available in the near future are within
reasonable agreement, more complex geometries will be studied.
330 S. Barakat and D. Schwamborn
2. Numerical approach
In this study the DLR-TAU Code which solves the Reynolds-averaged Navier-
Stokes equations (RANS) on hybrid grids (Gerhold and Evans 1999;
Schwamborn et al. 1999) is used. The three major modules of this code are:
the pre-processing for the unstructured hybrid grid, the flow-solver which
works on a dual grid with an edge-based data structure and the adaptation
which allows for an automatic adaptation of the grid to the solution. Both pre-
processing and solver are fully parallelized for distributed memory machines
such as the LINUX cluster used in this exercise. Parallelizing the adaptation is
currently under development.
The pre-processing supports tetrahedral, prismatic, pyramidal and hexahe-
dral elements thus enabling the use of efficient and flexible modern grid gen-
erators for the generation of meshes about complex geometries within days.
Besides producing the dual grid, the pre-processing also takes care of the do-
main decomposition for the case of parallel computation, the agglomeration of
coarser grids to be used in the multi-grid acceleration and the optimisation of
the data structure for vector or cache-based computers.
TAU is based on a finite volume technique, and it integrates the solution in
time using a Runge-Kutta method. It employs different central and upwind
discretisations for the convective fluxes and a number of one- and two-
equation turbulence models. In the current investigation, central discretisation
and a Spalart-Allmaras one-equation model (Edwards 1996) is used. For time-
accurate calculations a dual-time stepping approach can be enabled.
The resolution of flow features can be taken automatically into account by
the adaptation which allows for local refinement of the hybrid grids based on
different refinement sensors. Additionally a redistribution of grid points in
structured sub-layers (composed of prisms or hexahedrons) is possible in order
to adapt the mesh along wall-normal rays for an improved boundary-layer
resolution.
3. Computer Simulation
A geometry representing a German ICE train is used in the simulation which
considers only the leading car where the engine is located plus a connector
section and the front part of a second car. The physical specifications and
condition of the train are given below:
• Length of the part of the train that was simulated: 45 m

• Speed: 282 km/h
• Cross sectional area: 10m2
• Standard condition (ambient pressure and temperature)
• Reynolds number: 2.2 108 (based on length)
Numerical Simulation of the Flow about a Train Model 331
Fig.l. Overview of the mesh near the train
The commercial grid generation tool CENTAUR was used in creating the
hybrid unstructured grid. The near wall grid of the train consists of prismatic
layers to resolve the boundary layer, while the remainder of the computational
domain is filled with tetrahedrons except for the area of the ground plate be-
low the train where the grid was also prismatic to allow the simulation of a vis-
cous ground plate
Fig.2. A close-up of the surface grid at the train nose
in the experiment. The grid consists of about 2 million elements of which

about one million are prisms, while seven hundred thousand are tetrahedral
and twelve thousand are pyramidal elements. A view of the surface mesh near
the engine car is given in figure 1 indicating the increased grid resolution near
the train and in areas of high surface curvature, while figure 2 gives a close-up
of that the train nose.
3.1 Analysis and Results

The objective of the analysis has been the determination of the influences
coming from wind tunnel conditions compared to "free air" conditions in or-
der to obtain close to reality results in future studies. In order to achieve this
objective the following cases are studied:
• Influence of boundary conditions
• Influence of different yaw angles
3.1.1 Influence of boundary conditions

The boundary condition influences that are analysed here are the effect of the
wind tunnel walls and the turbulent boundary layer along the ground plate.
During this first part of this study the yaw angles are kept at zero degrees.
In order to determine the effect of the wind tunnel, the flow simulations are
made for the train once in the free air and then inside the wind tunnel. In both
cases the ground below the train is treated as inviscid. Of course, the compu-
tational domain had to be reduced in size in the wind tunnel case and the
boundary conditions at the wind tunnel walls were set to inviscid wall condi-
tions omitting the effect of the tunnel wall boundary layer for simplicity. The
original geometry is taken from the test section of the High Pressure Tunnel in
Gottingen. This tunnel will be used in the experiments since it allows for real-
istic Reynolds numbers. The cross-sectional area of the tunnel is 60 by 60 em,
but for this experiment the the blockage of the tunnel compared to the cross-
sectional area is about .36 per cent.
In wind tunnel Free air Free air

inviscid ground inviscid ground viscous ground
Fig.3. Streamline distribution, isometric view
In the case of the viscous ground plate, a no-slip condition was used along
the ground below the train starting at one reference length (considered train
length 45m) in front of the nose. The prismatic layers on the ground plate are
now additionally redistributed by the adaptation in the solution process in or-

der to arrive at a y+ of one in the boundary layer.
Figures 3 and 4 show a comparison of the streamline distribution for the
three mentioned boundary conditions on the front part and along the bottom
of the train, respectively. No substantial difference in the streamline distribu-
tion is observed for the cases inside and outside the wind tunnel indicating the
tunnel wall are far away enough to have no effect on the flow in the viciniry of
the train. This can also be seen from Table 1, which summarizes the drag co-
efficient and its components for these cases. The influence of wind tunnel
walls compared to the free air case is very small and much smaller than that of
the viscous ground plate.
In wind tunnel Free air Free air

inviscid ground in viscid ground viscous ground
Fig.4. Streamline distribution, bottom view
In the case of a viscous ground; however, the stagnation point at the nose of
the train is shifted upwards (fig.3) due to the displacement effect of the on-
coming boundary layer. In Figure 4 it can be seen that the streamlines tend to
diverge along the bottom due to the increase in boundary layer thickness along
the ground.
The influence of the boundary layer on the pressure distribution in the
symmetry plane of the train can also be seen in Figure 5 where the cases with
and without ground plate are compared for free-air boundary conditions in the
far-field . Due to the displacement effect of the boundary layer the stagnation
point is moved upward, and the pressure on the upper nose is increased. At the
same time the suction peak below the nose is reduced. Thus the average pres-
sure on the frontal area rises resulting in an increase of the pressure drag.
From this it is concluded that the effect of the wind tunnel can be neglected
at the low blockage for the case of zero yaw. Although a nonzero yaw angle
would increase the blockage effect to a certain extent, this increase would not
be substantial. Although this has still to be proven in a future calculation, it is
concluded for the moment that the wind tunnel simulation would not be
negatively influenced by wall effects. Thus it seems not necessary to simulate
the wind tunnel in future computations.
Table 1. Drag Coefficient Comparisons between the Train inside the Wind Tunnel, Outside the
Wind Tunnel and Viscous Ground
cd (~ressure) cd (viscous) Total Cd

Train in Free Air 0.0118 0.0629 0.0746
Train in Tunnel 0.0120 0.0608 0.0728
Percent Difference 2.0% 3.4% 2.5%
Viscous Ground 0.0558 0.0561 0.1119
Percent Difference 78.9% 10.8% 49.9%
1 5
- - ~ VISCous ground plate
- NOf'l scous ground pla;e
I
Trai n ~· o n lour
/
~
0.5
c.
'1
....__
J
0
- 05
I
!
0 0 .2 0 .4 0.6
Normalized Length
Fig. 5. Comparison of pressure distribution in the symmetry plane of the train
However, the ground plate might play a critical role in the experiments. In
the current calculation the running length of the boundary layer in front of the
train was equal to the simulated length of the train. Since the front edge of the
plate will be much closer to the nose of the train (approximately one train
height) in the experiment, the effect of the boundary layer would be much
smaller at least at the nose of the train and at zero yaw. However, at higher yaw
angles the running length of the boundary layer is increased again. Addition-
ally the boundary layer height will then vary along the train causing effects in
the flow about the train that cannot be neglected.
3.1.2 Influence of different yaw angles

In order to study the effect of yaw, four different cross wind (yaw) angles were
considered: zero, 15, 25 and 30 degrees. The angle of 30 degrees is included
to cover the worst case scenario which is unlikely to occur in reality at train
speeds above 200 km/h.
Fig.6. Streamlines distribution on the train seen from the windward side for yaw angles of 0°,
15 o, 30° (top to bottom)
Figure 6 depicts streamlines on the surface of the train as the yaw angle
changes. (Please note that the train in the picture is see-through, i.e. the
streamlines from both sides of the train could be viewed). Looking at this fig-
ure it can be concluded that separation occurs along both the top and bottom
leeward edge of the train in all cases of nonzero yaw. This separation leads to
the formation of leeward vortices which are visualized in Figure 7 for the case
of25° yaw in a cut 11m behind the train nose using lines of constant vorticity.
It can also be seen from Figure 6 that the top separation is moving upstream
as the yaw angle increases, finally arriving at the very nose of the train.
.---- - -. ------.:::=~:-
:· .... '
Fig.?. Vortices separating from top and bottom of the train indicated by vorticity contours in a
cut a 11m behind the train nose
3.2 Comparison with preliminary experiments

In order to get an idea about the validity of the present computer simulation
before the corresponding experiment has taken place, the results are compared
with an earlier experiment. However, this experiment was performed using a
train with a slightly different nose (Loose 2002). Unfortunately, in this ex-
periment some problems were found with respect to the accuracy of the drag
force measurements, but the results are used here due to unavailability of a
better data for a similar simulation.
Comparisons of the numerically obtained drag and side force coefficients
with the experimental data as a function of the yaw angle are shown in Figures
8 and 9. While the experimental data are given in the body-fixed coordinates
only, the numerical data are presented additionally in the aerodynamic system
distinguishing between pressure and viscous components. As can be seen, the
viscous part of the drag is almost independent of the angle of cross wind and
already at moderate angles (about 4°) the pressure drag, which increases
strongly with yaw, becomes larger than the viscous drag.
Due to the fact that there isn't a large base pressure area on the engine car,
the drag in body-fitted coordinates very quickly turns into a suction force with
increasing yaw angle. The experimental drag shows the same trend although it
can not be used for a real judgement due to the error involved (indicated by
the fact that is doesn't start with a positive value at zero yaw).
With respect to the side force in the body-oriented system both experimen-
tal and theoretical data follow the same trend in increasing forces with in-
creasing yaw angle. Experiments and simulation are in relatively good agree-
ment despite the slight difference in nose geometry. But, of course, it is not
clear how much of the discrepancy between experiment and computation is to
be attributed to that difference.
2 ~----~------~----~------.------.------,
·····-.. ··· Cd in Flow Di rectio n

-- -- Cd- Pressure
1.5 - · - Cd-Viscous
- - - C<J- Train Direction
- - Cd - Exp.. Re=5.9e6
.-· . . ...
0 .5 . . ..··:=-~:--~ , . .
..........
_... --
- 0.5
- 1
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Yaw Angle (Degrees)
Fig. 8 Drag force coefficient in wind and body fixed coordinates
4 ~----~------~------,------,----.----~.
- - CS - Pressure
- · - CS - Viscous
···· ······ CS- Fiow Direction
3 ---- CS- Train Direction
- - CS-Exp ., Re=5.9e6
-1
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Yaw Angle (Degrees)
Fig. 9 Side force coefficient in wind and body fixed coordinates
4. Conclusion and future work

Trying to investigate the influence of wind tunnel condition using a simula-
tion on a German ICE train, the following can be concluded:
The in-house Navier-Stokes solver TAU which was originally intended for use
in the aerospace industry is perfectly capable of handling the flow simulation
of ground-based vehicles such as trains.
In the train simulation it could be shown that the blockage effect can be ex-
pected to be low for the configuration considered. Thus it seems reasonable
not to simulate the tunnel in most of the future calculations. This will, how-
ever, be checked at least with one additional computation at a reasonably high
yaw angle.
The ground plate boundary layer, however, has considerable effects on the
flow solution as it moves the stagnation point upwards and increases the pres-
sure on the nose of the train resulting in an increase in the drag. Even with a
shorter ground plate using the correctly scaled distance between model and
ground as it is planned in the upcoming experiment, it is quite likely that some
effects would still exist.
For yaw angles greater than zero it was found that separation occurs both
along the upper and lower leeward side of the train generating a pair of vor-
tices. It was seen that the upper separation starts to move to the front of the
train when the yaw angle is increased.
Despite the differences in the experiment and simulation, the preliminary
comparison seems quite promising.
Further studies will be performed regarding influence of grid refinement as
well as turbulence modelling on the results.
References
Edwards JR, Chandra S (1996) Comparison of Eddy Viscosity Transport Tur-
bulence Models for Three-Dimensional Shock-Separated Flow Fields.
AIAAJ. Vol. 34, pp 756-763
Gerhold T, Evans J (1999) Efficient Computation of 3D-Flows for Complex
Configurations with the DLR TAU-Code Using Automatic Adaptation.
In: Notes on Numerical Fluid Mechanics, Vol. 72, Vieweg
Loose S (2002) Private communication
Schwamborn D, Gerhold T, Hannemann V (1999) On the validation of the
DLR TAU-Code. In: Notes on Numerical Fluid Mechanics, Vol.
72,Vieweg
Adaptation of Eddy-Viscosity Turbulence Models to
Unsteady Separated Flow Behind Vehicles
F.R. Menter and M. Kuntz
Ansys-CFX
Introduction
Turbulence model development for aerodynamic applications has for many
years concentrated on improving the capabilities of CFD methods for separa-
tion prediction. Validation studies of turbulence models in the '80'h have
clearly shown that most turbulence models were not capable of predicting the
development of turbulent boundary layers under adverse pressure gradient
conditions. Based on that observation, new models were developed to specifi-
cally meet this challenge, resulting in a series of models capable of capturing
boundary layer separation in good agreement with experimental data Qohnson
and King 1984, Menter 1993, Spalart and Allmaras 1994).
From the experience with the SST turbulence model (Menter 1993), the
present authors would argue that the capability of the model with respect to
the prediction of the onset of separation is within the accuracy of the available
experimental data and that no systematic deviation between the simulations
and the data is observed. Based on the experimental evidence (which is admit-
tedly limited for three-dimensional flows), there is currently little need for
model improvements for that type of flows. Off course, this does not imply
that aerodynamic flows can be predicted within experimental uncertainty lev-
els, as these flows involve other effects, which pose additional challenges to the
turbulence model. The main areas of concern are the behavior of the flow
downstream of the separation line, including the flow recovery after re-
attachment Qohnson et al. 1994), the proper simulation of vortex flows and
questions related to laminar-turbulent transition. Particularly the flow devel-
opment downstream of separation is of major importance from an aerody-
namic standpoint and can have a significant effect on the characteristics of
aerodynamic bodies. This is particularly true for ground vehicles, as they gen-
erally exhibit significant regions of separated flows, even at design conditions.
From a modeling standpoint, it has been observed for a long time that
RANS turbulence models underpredict the level of the turbulent stresses in the
detached shear layer emanating from the separation line Qohnson et al. 1994).
This in turn seems to be one of the main reasons for the incorrect flow recov-
ery predicted by the models downstream of reattachment. The issue is some-
340 F.R. Menter and M. Kuntz
times masked by the tendency of models of under-predicting the onset and
therefore the strength of the separation zone, which in turn results in an ac-
ceptable agreement in the recovery region. However, the improvement is only
the result of a cancellation of errors, as one cannot trade separation prediction
capabilities against improved velocity profiles in the recovery region. The de-
layed recovery of the boundary layer downstream of the reattachment line can
lead to a premature separation under a second adverse pressure gradient. A
second, and even more disturbing uncertainty resulting from the incorrect
prediction of the detached shear-layer, concerns the flow topology downstream
of the separation line. Current turbulence models cannot reliably answer the
question, whether the flow is forming a closed separation bubble, or a fully
stalled flow regime. This question is of major importance for the prediction of
the aerodynamic characteristics of automobiles, which almost always exhibit
regions of separated flow. The topology of these regions has a strong influence
on the drag and more pronouncedly on the lift of the car.
In an attempt of improving the predictive capabilities of turbulence models
in highly separated regions, Spalart (1997) proposed a hybrid approach, which
combines features of classical RANS formulations with elements of Large Eddy
Simulations (LES) methods. The concept has been termed Detached Eddy
Simulation (DES) and is based on the idea of covering the boundary layer by a
RANS model and of switching the model to a LES mode in detached regions.
Ideally, DES would predict the separation line from the underlying RANS
model, but capture the unsteady dynamics of the separated shear layer by
resolution of the developing turbulent structures. Compared to classical LES
methods, DES saves orders of magnitude of computing power for high Rey-
nolds number flows, due to the moderate costs of the RANS model in the
boundary layer region, but still offers some of the advantages of an LES
method in separated regions.
There are two main concerns with the current DES formulation. The first is
how quickly the unsteady turbulent structures develop after the model has
switched from the RANS to the LES mode. This is of significance for the pre-
diction of separated shear layers, as a delayed onset of resolved turbulent
structures would aggravate the underprediction of the turbulent stresses due to
a reduction of the unresolved turbulence level by the DES formulation.
The second concern is with the switching mechanism employed by the cur-
rent DES methods. In order to prevent the activation of the DES limiter in
attached boundary layers, it is typically required to ensure a lower limit on the
local surface grid resolution. If this condition is violated, the integrity of the
RANS model is severely compromised resulting in most cases in grid induced
separation. This issue will be addressed in the section on turbulence model
formulation. For an alternative of a hybrid turbulence model without an ex-
plicit grid dependency see Menter et al. (2003).
The capabilities and limitations of advanced aerodynamic RANS and DES
turbulence models for automotive applications will be evaluated and discussed.
Alternatives to the current RANS/DES switch will be discussed. The models
will be applied to the flow around a simplified generic car shape, known as the
Ahmed car body (Ahmed et al. 1984, Lienhart and Becker 2003). The RANS
Adaptation of Eddy-Viscosity Turbulence Models to Unsteady Separated Flow 341
simulations have been presented at the ERCOFTAC workshop on Refined
Turbulence Modelling (Durand et al. 2002) in a comparison study of different
CFD methods for specific testcases. A detailed report is available from the
authors upon request.
All simulations have been computed with the commercial CFD method
CFX-5 of ANSYS.
Flow Physics
The geometry of the Ahmed car body is shown in Figure 1. It consists of a box
with rounded edges and a slanted back. The angle of the slant is adjustable and
is the main variable model-parameter in the experimental investigations. Two
sets of experiments have been carried out for this geometry (Ahmed et al.
1984, Lienhart and Becker 2003).The present comparison is mainly based on
the data of Lienhart and Becker (2003). In this experiment, the Reynolds
number with respect to the length of the car was ReL=2.6x10 6• Slant angle of
25° and 35° were investigated. The emphasis of the experiments was on the
flow structure in the slant region and downstream of the body.
o.• .--- - - - - - - -
288
[ -1
D-og
Cc€ hcienf
viscous drag
front part
back part
slant part
40°
Figure 1: Ahmed car geometry and drag forces on body
It was observed by Ahmed et al. (1984) that a change in the slant angle gave
a significant change in the drag coefficient, as shown in Figure 1 taken from
Ahmed et al. (1984). An increase in the slant angle from zero to around 30°
results in a gradual increase in the drag coefficient with a significant shift in
the contributions from the different surfaces. While the viscous drag forces
show little sensitivity to the slant angle, there is a distinct increase in the drag
portion coming from the slant surface combined with a decrease in the contri-
bution from the back surface. At a critical slant angle of around 30°, the drag
coefficient drops significantly, mainly due to a reduction in the contribution
coming from the slant. At higher slant angles, the drag coefficient stays virtu-
ally constant. The change in drag coefficient is due to a change in the flow to-
pology in the aft region of the car body (Lienhart and Becker 2003) .
Figure 2: Flow topology in the aft region of Ahmed car body (left: 25° and right: 35°). Courtesy
Lienhart, LSTM Erlangen.
Figure 2 shows a sketch of the flow topologies identified by Lienhart and

Becker (2003) for 25° and 35° of slant angle. One of the main differences is
that the flow at 25° shows a separation bubble at the onset of the slant,
whereas the 35° case is fully stalled over the entire slant.
A possible interpretation of the flow dependence on the slant angle is as
follows: the initial increase in the slant angle results in a change of the direc-
tion of the free flow (similar to the effect of a flap on an airfoil). The change in
flow direction requires an opposing force on the body, resulting in an increase
of lift. An increase of lift in turn results in an increase of the induced drag and
a strengthening of the trailing vortices (tip vortices). The effect of the induced
drag results in an increased drag on the slant, as shown in Figure 1. At a criti-
cal slant angle, the flow over the slant can no longer follow the contour, re-
sulting in a fully stalled flow with no reattachment on the slant. At this point,
the induced lift breaks down and the drag comes mainly from the base drag of
both the slant and the back surface. Note that the flow topology has to be
identical for 0° and 90°. The present interpretation is consistent with the sig-
nificantly reduced vortex strength between the 25° and the 35° case measured
in the experiments.
This flow poses a severe challenge to RANS turbulence models, as it re-
quires models which are capable to correctly predict separation and reattach-
ment at the lower slant angles in order to capture the correct flow topology.
Otherwise, the overall flow characteristics will be missed resulting in an incor-
rect prediction of drag and more severely of lift.
Turbulence Model
RANS simulations have been carried out with the standard k-E model (Laun-
der and Spalding, 1974) with wall functions and the SST model (Menter
1993) with automatic wall treatment (Esch et al., 2003). In addition, the SST-
DES model proposed by Strelets (2001) has been modified and applied to
overcome some of its deficiencies in the RANS regions.
SST-DES Formulation Strelets et al. (2001)

The idea behind the DES model of Strelets (2001) is to switch from the stan-
dard SST-RANS model to an LES model in those regions where the turbulent
length, Lv predicted by the RANS model is larger than the local grid spacing.
In this case, the length scale used in the computation of the dissipation rate in
the equation for the turbulent kinetic energy is replaced by the local grid
spacing, 11.
The practical reason for choosing the maximum edge length in the DES
formulation is that the model should return the RANS formulation in at-
tached boundary layers. The maximum edge length is therefore the safest esti-
mate to ensure that requirement. The DES modification of Strelets can be
formulated as a multiplier to the destruction term in the k-equation:
e ={Jkw- {J*kw · FnEs with FnEs = max(_b__,l)

CDES/1
with CoES equal to 0.61, as the limiter should only be active in the k-E model
region. The numerical formulation is also switched between an upwind biased
and a central difference scheme in the RANS and DES regions respectively.
SST-DES Formulation CFX

The main practical problem with the DES formulation (both for the Spalart
Allmaras and the SST-DES model) is that there is no mechanism of preventing
the limiter of becoming active in the attached portion of the boundary layer.
This will happen when the local surface grid spacing 11, is less to the boundary
layer thickness 11s < c(J with c of the order of one. This is not a situation un-
likely to occur, especially when unstructured grids are used in the simulation.
344 F:R: Menter and M. Kuntz
In case that the limiter is activated in the boundary layer, the result will in
most cases be grid induced separation. In other words, the separation onset
and therefore the flow topology can be altered by the grid provided by the
user. Figure 3 shows an example of a grid-induced separation based on the grid
spacing shown by the grid lines. It can be argued that the grid induced separa-
tion could be avoided by a larger grid spacing in the lateral direction, but that
implies that the flow direction is known at the grid generation stage, which is
not the case in most complex three-dimensional simulations. Furthermore, un-
structured prism/tetraeder based grids are typically isotropic on the surface,
eliminating this option. It should also be noted that a grid-spacing in the lat-
eral direction (spanwise for a wing) which is solidly on the "safe" side of the
DES limiter, would prevent the DES mode in the region downstream of sepa-
ration and thereby limit the effectiveness of the DES model to produce un-
steady structures in the separating shear layer.
Figure 3: Regions of negative U-velociry for NACA4412 simulation for SST model (left) and
SST-DES model by Strelets (right)- separation point indicated by arrow
One way of alleviating the grid induced separation problem is to "shield"

the boundary layer from the DES limiter, thereby avoiding/reducing the
problem. As the SST model is based on a zonal formulation, differentiating
between the boundary layer and the rest of the flowfield, the blending func-
tions of the model can also be used to formulate a zonal DES limiter. The fol-
lowing modification is therefore proposed for the SST-DES model:
F DES - cFx = max( _____£____ (1- Fssr ) 1); with Fssr = 0, F 1 , F 2

CDES/).
FssT=O recovers the Strelets et al. model. F1 and F2 are the two blending
functions of the SST model. F2 shields more of the boundary layer and is
therefore the prefered default. It should however be noted that even F2 does
not completely eliminate the problem, but reduces it by an order of magni-
tude, /). s < co
where c is now of the order of 0 .1.
Figure 4 shows the same simulation as for the standard SST-DES formula-
tion computed with the SST-CFX-F 2 model. The influence of the DES limiter
Adaptation of Eddy-Viscosity Turbulence Models ro Unsteady Separated Flow 345
is avoided and the DES model does not affect the separation point. It can be
seen that even a more severe grid refinement does not lead to separation (right
picture). However, refinement of the surface grid below !l 5 = 0.10 should be
avoided.
Figure 4: Regions of negative U-velocity for NACA4412 simulation for SST-DES-CFX-F2

model- separation point indicated by arrow. Right -locally refined
Numerical Results
Simulations for the two experimental cases with 25° and 35° slant angle have
been computed using three different grids with 0.65, 1.3 and 2.6 million
nodes for the half-model. The results were grid converged to plotting accuracy
on the medium grid. For the 35° case the k-£ and the SST model predict a
fully separated flow at the slant region, which is in good agreement with the
experimental data. In the following, the flow for the 25° slant angle is ana-
lyzed, as it is the more challenging configuration. A detailed report for the 25°
and 35° slant angle, including a grid refinement procedure, can be obtained
upon request from the authors. Note that both cases have been computed by
several authors for a recent ERCOFTAC workshop (http:/ /labo.univ-
poitiers.fr/informations-lea/Workshop-Ercoftac-2002/lndex. html) .
RANS Simulations 25° Slant Angle

For the 25° case, the agreement between the numerical simulations and the
experimental data was much less satisfying than for the higher slant angle and
severe differences between the solutions have been observed. It was also found
that this case was very sensitive to numerical details - a first order upwind
simulation with the SST model resulted in an attached flow, whereas a second
order solution produced a separated flow.
Figure 5 shows a comparison of the velocity profiles in the symmetry plane.
For this case, the models produce very different results. The k-£ gives a fully
attached flow, whereas the SST model results in a stalled flow. Both solutions
are not in agreement with the data, which show a separation and subsequent
reattachment along the slant. The SST-DES results are discussed in the fol-
lowing chapter.
For this case, the differences in the turbulent stresses are even more pro-
nounced, as can be seen in the turbulent kinetic energy shown in Figure 6,
which is underpredicted by an order of magnitude by the SST model. The k-£
model does not predict an increased level of turbulence at all, as it fails in
capturing the flow separation. Shear layer experimental data suggest however,
that there is an excessive level of turbulence in the experimental data, which
seems to be a result of a large-scale unsteady behavior of the flow. Spalart
(2003) argues that the observed level of turbulence could be obtained by a re-
peated switch in the flow topology from attached to separated and back. The
large level of the experimental turbulence intensity in the spanwise direction
suggests that this motion should be accompanied by a strong lateral move-
ment. None of these effects is apparently predicted by any of the RANS mod-
els.
Profile in the ·ymmetry plane

U- d oci1y. [am : 25deg
i'a/ ..: · . ·~· '

.JJ}j·.·~
'*'I
WI
W)
§ \!(1
I • '
f :"
I /
<::
:J , i i !' : I . .'. ,'
.- ; \00
~ ~lkl il . JJ. i£u~.. f. .. ' ...

L ~ • I •
' " J, .
~
!:'II
~I ~~'~<I
ll"
lt.' •·" 1.!-' 1•1, l f)\ n !\ ' u n
- a is [mmj
Figure 5: Velocity profiles computed with different turbulence models for the 25° case
Adaptation of Eddy-Viscosity Turbulence Models to Unsteady Separated Flow 34 7
Pr file in the . ymmetry ~lane

Turbulent Kinetic nerg . ·tam : _Sdeg
4•••
III
""'
""'
l.&O
..• ·.
E '~
E
--' lt:.:l
"' • Experiment
· ~ !~1 - ~ -e
- - S T
~611
T-DES
,.~~~
~-~ :!!' :ttl un lt.1 tH ·~' 10~ !'' -t:~• ""'' ..!' ' 11 u
X - a i [mm)
Figure 6: Profiles for the turbulent kinetic energy for the 25 ° case
From the standpoint of the steady state flow topology, it appears that the
k-E model is in closer agreement with the experimental data than the SST
model. For the 2) 0 , the experiments show a topology associated with high lift
and strong trailing vortices. The confined separation bubble does not alter the
overall flow topology. RANS models, which predict no separation, are there-
fore in closer agreement with the experiments. This does however not imply
that the k-E model is as superior turbulence model for this type of flow. The
agreement in flow topology is a result of the failure of the model to predict the
separation and not of its ability to accurately predict reattachment. The ability
of a turbulence model of predicting the onset of separation is still the first pri-
ority for aerodynamic flow simulations and cannot be traded against other
model characteristics.
DES Simulations 25° Slant Angle

The 25° testcase is a good candidate for the evaluation of the improvement
achieved by the DES formulation in the separated flow region. The goal is the
resolution of the unsteady features of the shear layer separating from the edge
of the slant. The vortex-shedding and break-up is expected to be the main
mechanism to increase the turbulent energy in the separated shear layer,
thereby forcing a reattachment of the flow. However, as the high levels of tur-
bulence in the measurements cannot be explained by classical shear layer
physics, the next question is, if the large-scale unsteadiness observed in the ex-
periments can be triggered by the turbulent structures emanating from the
slant.
The DES simulations require a significantly refined grid in the slant region,
particularly in the spanwise direction, to activate the DES limiter. In order to
keep the total number of nodes at an acceptable level, two steps of local grid
refinements have been introduced in the slant region. The total number of
nodes is 1.783.000, and the number of spanwise cells is 70 on the slant. Off
course, the entire body is now computed without a symmetry assumption. The
time step for the simulation is dt=10- 4 [s], which corresponds to 250 time steps
for one passage of the car at freestream velocity. A large number of steps were
required to ensure proper statistical behavior of the solution. Due to the high
computing costs of DES, only one grid could be analyzed. Care was taken,
that the resolution in the RANS region was sufficient to capture the attached
boundary layers. In the separated region, local grid refinement was applied to
ensure an optimal distribution of nodes.
Figure 7 shows the time history of the forces acting on the body in the three
space dimensions. It can be seen that the forces are non-periodic and even after
~ 7000 time steps do not follow a regular pattern. Nevertheless, the unsteady
structures in the separating shear layer have changed the flow topology as can
be seen in Figure 8, showing the wall-shear stress vectors on the slant for the
SST and the SST -DES-CFX-F 1 formulation. Instead of the fully separated
flow topology, with low lift and weak trailing vortices, the DES topology is
closer to the experiments with a confined separation zone, increased lift and
strong trailing vortices. Note that the level of fluctuations in the lift forces is
more than 50% of the mean lift.
50 r-~-,--~-.,-~--r--r--.-~--.-~--.
- Drag force
lO ide force
LifL force
30
Figure 7: Time history of forces on Ahmed car body

Figure 8: Flow structure on the slant for SST (left) and SST-DES-CFX-Fl (right)
More details can be seen in Figure 9 showing the velocity profiles at a plane
at 180 [mm] (the half width of the body is 194 [mm]). In the symmetry plane
(see Figure 5 and Figure 6), the advantage of the DES simulation is not very
pronounced, but in the off-symmetry plane, the change in flow topology and
the improvement in the predicted results is apparent. The unsteady simula-
tions give a first indication of the underlying mechanism of the large-scale un-
steadiness of the flowfield. It is observed that the separation zone has a strong
lateral movement, which at some instances interacts with the side vortices,
leading to a vortex-breakdown. This is shown for a certain instance in time in
Figure 10. The right side vortex is unaffected by the separation, whereas on the
left side of the body the separation interacts with the vortex leading to a vor-
tex-breakdown. The time value correlates with a maximum of the side force
(compare Figure 7). While it is likely that this is the main mechanism for the
experimentally observed global unsteadiness, it is not (yet) of sufficient
strength to reproduce the experimental fluctuation level. It is not clear if this is
a question of an insufficient length of the time integration, or a shortcoming
of the DES model.
Pr file. in the Y= l80[mm]-plane

-\ el ' il y. ~l am : _')deg
!6,.\ -1•1 -!!\ -~' -181 lflol ·l-ll -In -103 -3J ~\ ..... , ·21 ·l 11 )I
X - axi [mml
Figure 9: Comparison of velociry profiles at Y=l80[mm] for SST and SST-DES-CFX-FI model
for the 25 o case
Figure 10: Vortex structures on slant of Ahmed car body (25°)
Grid Induced Separation - Revisited

After the simulation of the Ahmed car body using DES, it is worthwhile revis-
iting the issue of grid induced separation. The present application required a
significant increase in the lateral grid spacing (compared to RANS) in order to
activate the DES limiter in the separating shear layer emanating from the car
roof. As the 2D vortices originating from the separation are smaller than the
boundary layer thickness and have to be resolved with several grid nodes, it is
also required to have a streamwise grid spacing lower than the boundary layer
thickness. If these grid resolution requirements would not be satisfied in the
region close to the separation line, the onset of the DES limiter would be de-
layed to a significantly further downstream location, thereby reducing the
chances of capturing the essential flow features. For the present application,
the flow separation takes place at a corner - it is therefore not of major conse-
quences if the DES limiter is activated already in the region upstream of the
separation line, as the boundary layer there is not exposed to an adverse pres-
sure gradient. Grid induced separation is therefore not a problem for the pre-
sent geometry.
However, for a general car geometry, where the separation can be induced
by an adverse pressure gradient from a smooth surface, standard DES would
face severe difficulties. One choice is generating a fine grid, which would allow
the activation of the DES formulation in the separation zone, at the danger
that the DES limiter will change the RANS part and produce grid-induced
separation. The second choice is the use of a coarser grid and thereby delay the
DES impact far downstream of the separation line and miss the physics of the
flow. As the separation line is not known during grid generation, it is difficult
to imagine how a suitable DES-grid could be generated for such a flow.
The use of the proposed zonal DES formulation, based on the SST model
blending functions, will at least reduce the risk of a grid induced separation
occurrence, however, it still has to be tested if the blending function will
switch quickly enough from RANS to DES to activate the DES mode for a
pressure induced separation. Nevertheless, this approach is preferred, as it re-
duces the influence of the user (grid) on the solution.
Conclusions
CFD simulations have been carried out for the generic Ahmed car body at
25°. Strong turbulence model differences where observed for this case. The k-f
model produced an attached flow over the entire slant, whereas the SST model
predicted a fully stalled flowfield. Both solutions are in disagreement with the
experiment, where the flow separates and reattaches at about 50% of the slant.
DES simulations based on a modified version of the SST-DES formulation,
resulted in a significant improvement of the solution compared to the SST-
RANS model. Instead of a fully stalled flow, the time-averaged DES solution
shows a confined separation zone and strong trailing vortices, associated with
the experimentally observed flow topology. The DES solution also gives first
insight into the mechanism driving the strong unsteadiness of the flow, as ob-
served in the experiments. The most likely explanation is a strong lateral
movement of the separation zone, which interacts with the side vortices, lead-
ing to periodic vortex-breakdown. It could not be determined if the full un-
steady effect could be obtained by further continuation of the simulation, due
to constraints in computing power.
Acknowledgment
This work was supported by research grants from the European Union under
contracts GRDl-2001-40199 (Flomania) and EVGl-2001-00026 (EXPRO).
The authors want to thank H. Lienhart from the University of Erlangen for
the provision of some of the figures concerning the physical interpretation of
the flow.
Literature
Ahmed S.R., Ramm G. and Faltin, G., 1984, "Some salient features of the
time-averaged ground vehicle wake" SAE technical paper 840300.
Durand, L., Kuntz, M. and Menter, F., 2002, "Validation of CFX-5 for the
Ahmed Car Body", CFX Validation Report, CFX-Val13/1002.
Esch, T., Menter, F.R. and Vieser W., 2003" Heat transfer predictions based
on two-equation turbulence models", 6'h ASME-JSME Thermal Engi-
neeringJoint Conference, March 16-20, 2003, Hawaii.
Johnson, D.A. and King, L.S., 1984, "A new turbulence closure model for
boundary layer flows with strong adverse pressure gradients and separa-
tion", AIAA Paper 1984-0175.
Johnson, D.A., Menter, F.R., and Rumsey C.L., 1994, "The status of turbu-
lence modeling for aerodynamics", AIAA Paper 1994-2226.
Launder B.E. and Spalding D.B., 1974, "The numerical simulation of turbu-
lent flow", Comp. Meth., in Appl. Mech. and Engng., 3, pp 269-289.
Lienhart H. and Becker S., 2003, "Flow and turbulence structures in the wake
of a simplified car model", SAE Technical Paper 2003-01-0656, Michi-
gan.
Menter, F .R., 1993, "Zonal two-equation k-w turbulence model for aerody-
namic flows", AIAA Paper 1993-2906.
Menter, F. R. Kuntz, M. and Bender R., 2003, "A scale-adaptive simulation
model for turbulent flow predictions", AIAA Paper 2003-0767.
Spalart, P.R. and Allmaras, S.R., 1994, "A one-equation turbulence model for
aerodynamic flows", La Rech. Aerospatiale, V.l, pp.5-21.
Spalart, P.R, Jou, W.-H., Strelets, M. and Allmaras, S.R., 1997, "Comments
on the feasibility of LES for wings, and on a hybrid RANS/LES ap-
proach", 1st AFOSR Int. Conf. On DNS/LES, Aug.4-8, 1997, Ruston,
LA. In Advances in DNS/LES, C. Liu & Z. Liu Eds., Greyden Press, Co-
lombus, OH.
Spalart, P.R., 2003, Private communication.
Strelets, M., 2001, "Detached eddy simulation of massively separated flows",
AIAA Paper 2001-0879.
Simulation of vehicle aerodynamics using a
vortex element method
Goeric Daeninck 1 , Philippe Chatelain 2 , Michael Rubel 2 , Gregoire

Winckelmans 1 , and Anthony Leonard 2
1 Mechanical Engineering Dept.
Universite catholique de Louvain
Place du Levant 2, Louvain-la-Neuve, 1348, Belgium
daeninck@term.ucl.ac.be
2 Graduate Aeronautical Laboratories
California Institute of Technology
Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
philch@galcit.caltech.edu
Summary. Recent developments of the 3-D Lagrangian vortex element method for
bluff body flows are presented. In this approach attached boundary layer regions are
modelled using infinitely thin vortex sheets while Lagrangian vortex elements are
used for the separation regions and the wake. Preliminary results for the flow past
a simplified generic truck geometry are presented. Further developments, aimed at
the development of a hybrid Eulerian-Lagrangian solver, are briefly introduced.
1 Introduction
The numerical method used here is a combination of a Lagrangian vortex ele-
ment method (VEM) and a boundary element method (BEM). Vortex meth-
ods are based on the vorticity formulation of the Navier-Stokes equations and
on the fact that, for incompressible flows, it is sufficient to follow the evolution
of the vorticity field (the velocity can be recovered from the vorticity).
For bluff body flows, the vorticity is only present in the boundary layers
and in the wake. As vortex methods only require particles to carry the vortic-
ity, they require much less computational elements than grid-based methods.
It was only recently that direct numerical simulations (DNS) of 3-D bluff
body flows were performed using a vortex method (Ploumhans et al. [6]). Such
simulations were made possible because of the important advances made by
the "vortex methods community" in the past ten to fifteen years.
We present some recent developments on going aimed at the extension of
the vortex method as a tool for Large Eddy Simulations of bluff body flows.
First, we review the modifications that we introduced for computing 3-D flows
where the attached boundary layer regions are modelled using infinitely thin
354 G. Daeninck et al.
vortex sheets while the separation regions and the wake are modelled using
vortex blobs. We then present some results using this approach applied to
the flow past the Ground Transportation System (GTS, Gutierrez et al. [2]).
Finally, a new hybrid Eulerian-Lagrangian approach is briefly presented: the
near-wall regions are resolved using a grid based method while the vortex
element method is used for the convection-dominated part of the flow.
2 VEM and BEM with infinitely thin boundary layers

As the contributions presented here are based on the vortex and boundary
element methods developed in the frame of DNS for 3-D bluff body flows,
please refer to [6] and references therein for more details on the these meth-
ods. Also, notice that performing simulations of 3-D flows using a vortex
method requires fast N-body solvers based on multipole expansions running
efficiently on parallel computers [7, 8]. Finally, an excellent general overview
of Lagrangian vortex methods can be found in Cottet and Koumoutsakos [1].
2.1 Infinitely thin boundary layers
We here consider simulations where the thin attached boundary layer regions
are modelled using infinitely thin vortex sheet panels, while the vorticity in
regions where separation is allowed is captured using vortex particles. In prac-
tice, the body surface mesh is tagged in order to define the "attached" regions
and the "separation" regions.
Let us consider a set of M panels, discretizing the body surface, and N
vortex particles. Let Patt be the subset of "attached" -tagged vortex panels
and Pdiff the "diffusing" -tagged panels (i.e. where separation is allowed).
One time step then goes as follows:
1. Compute the velocity field, u, and its gradient, V'u, at particle locations
from w, the vorticity carried by the vortex particles and"'(, the vorticity
carried by the subset of attached vortex panels, Patt·
2. Update the particles' position, xi, and strength, ai, for the time step, 6t,
(1)
where the Particle Strength Exchange (PSE) scheme is used to treat the
viscous diffusion.
3. Enforce the no slip boundary condition at the wall:
a) Compute the slip velocity, lls!ip, underneath all vortex panels (Patt U
Pdiff) from the vorticity carried by the vortex particles and Patt·
b) Compute the vortex sheet, 6"'(, that cancels the slip velocity at the
solid boundary.
Simulation of vehicle aerodynamics using a vortex element method 355
c) For panels belonging to Patt, the new panel strength is set to /;+6.1;·
For panels in Pdiff, the vortex sheet is equivalent to a vorticity flux that
must be emitted into the flow for the time 6t: v ~';: = !f{- (where v
is the molecular viscosity, and n is the local outward-pointing normal
to the body surface). This amounts to modifying the strength of the
particles close to these panels as in [6].
4. Redistribute the particles (when necessary): the old set of particles is
replaced by a new one, in which the particles are on a regular lattice.
2.2 Progressively diffusing panels
When using "attached" panels, it is obvious that the flow experiences an

abrupt transition as it goes from the "attached" vorticity region to the "sep-
aration" region. In this transition region, the boundary layer thickness varies
from zero to a finite value (magnitude of the local particle size) over a very
short distance.
In order to ensure a smooth transition zone, "partial" diffusing panels are
used: a diffusion ratio, r, is attributed to each of these panels. The idea is to
ensure that a fraction r of the total boundary layer vorticity, ltot' is carried
by the vortex particles while the remaining fraction (1- r) is still attached to
the vortex panels. The diffusion fraction is chosen such that there is a smooth
transition from non-diffusing panels (r = 0) to totally diffusing panels (r = 1).
First, let's define I tot as the total boundary layer strength after the no-slip
enforcement:
ltot = lpanel + lpart + 61, (2)
where /panel is the current panel strength, /part the current strength of the
boundary layer fraction discretized by vortex particles (see below) and 6.1
the vortex sheet that cancels the slip velocity at the solid boundary (Step 1b,
Section 2.1).
We can then compute 6./part and 6./panel, respectively the variation of
the vortex panel strength and the vorticity flux to be emitted onto the vortex
particles, such that, for each panel:
lpart + ,6./part =r ltot (3)

lpanel + ,6./panel = (1- r) ltot· (4)
Notice that these equations are solved in the local panel coordinate system
for the tangential vorticity components only (as the panel's strength normal
component must be equal to zero).
For progressive diffusing panels, Step 3c (Section 2.1) is modified as follows:
the new panel strength is set to /panel+ 6./panel; the vortex sheet 6./part
is the vorticity flux that must be emitted into the flow for the time 6t:
{)W _ f::,lpart
v an - -----z:;:t
Even if 1 part, the boundary layer strength carried by the vortex particles
above a given panel, is well defined conceptually: /part = J; Wpart dz (where
t5 is the local boundary layer thickness), its evaluation is somewhat arbitrary

(Fig. 1). First, lets redefine /part as the averaged boundary layer strength
(carried by the vortex particles) over a surfaceS (ideally the panel's surface):
fs J~ Wpart dz dS
Tpart = S
For each panel, we approximate this quantity as the discrete integral of Wpart
over an hemisphere of radius R centered on the panel divided by an "equiva-
lent" surface Seq:
Ldi <R 0 i
Tpart rv S
eq
where d; is the distance of a particle to the panel center, ai is its strength,
and Seq was chosen equal to 1r R 2 . It is clear that R should be greater than the
local boundary layer thickness, but also remain fairly low in order to obtain
a good approximation of the local boundary layer strength.
Fig. 1. Boundary layer strength carried by the vortex particles (r part) and attached
to the vortex panels (r panel).
2.3 Auto diffusing panels
If one wants to perform simulations where ground effects are taken into ac-
count, ground panels are necessary in order to enforce the no-slip boundary
condition there. Furthermore, the wake vorticity has to interact in a viscous
way with the ground. This is true even if one is not interested in the wake-
ground effect (as in the far wake for example), due to the fact that the inter-
action of wake vorticity with a non-viscous ground rapidly leads to numerical
blowup. This observation leads to the conclusion that it is necessary to use
"diffusing" ground panels over the whole wake region.
In order to avoid the extra cost of ensuring a few layers of particles above
the whole wake region at all times (to capture the diffused panel vorticity),
we introduce "automatic" diffusing panels: as soon as vortex particles travel
above these panels, their vorticity is diffused onto them (they act as "diffusing
panels"); otherwise the panel vorticity remains attached.
2.4 Improved panel solver
The vortex sheet 6.1, necessary on the body surface in order to cancel the
slip velocity, is found as the solution of a boundary integral equation. The dis-
cretization of this boundary integral equation results in a system of 2M linear
equations for the vortex panels (i.e. find 6.ri for each panel) which is solved
iteratively. The use of multi pole expansions for vortex panels reduces the cost
of each iteration to O(M log M). The efficiency of this iterative "multipole-
based" solver was improved as follows:
• Choice of a good initial guess: the use of 6.ri = -2 nix u~lip (exact solu-
tion for coplanar panels) has proved to lead to faster convergence compared
to the former method where the previous time step solution is used. This
is mainly because the vortex sheet is only a small correction at each time
step dominated by high frequency variations as vortex particles come lo-
cally close to panels or not. These high frequency variations call for local
corrections which are well estimated by the exact solution for coplanar
panels.
• Let 6.1r be the corrective vortex sheet at iteration r. In order to evalu-
ate 6.1r+ 1 one must compute the slip velocity, uslipr, induced by 6.rr.
Now, instead of computing the slip velocity induced by the whole vortex
sheet 6.1r at each iteration we can compute the slip velocity induced by
(6.rr - 6.1r- 1 ) and simply add it to uslipr-I (linear problem). This is
advantageous because of the use of multipole expansions: as we converge
to the solution, (6.ri- 6.1~- 1 ) gets smaller and thus each iteration takes
less time to compute as we can make a more extensive use of multipole
expansions.
• When using "attached" panels, compute the vortex sheet correction 6.1
only, even for "attached" panels (instead of solving the system for 1).
This correction is much smaller compared to 1 (panel's attached vorticity)
which, again, is advantageous because of the use of multipole expansions.
These modifications reduced the global computational time for the panel
solver by a factor 2 (up to 5 in some cases).
2.5 Total circulation
For a physical flow, one must ensure that the total vorticity remains equal to
zero for all times. As the global time integration scheme is not conservative,
358 G. Daeninck et a!.
the sum of the particle strengths is set back to zero at each time step, by
distributing the difference over all particles.
However, when "attached" vortex panels are used, this simple scheme can-
not be used anymore as one must take the "attached" vorticity into account.
Several approaches for enforcing the total vorticity where investigated.
• Our first approach was based on the fact that the vortex flux at the wall
must be divergence free. At a global level, this leads to the following con-
1
straint :
61 dS = 0.
Sbody
We track the total amount of circulation diffused onto the vortex particles
(Fshed) over time. The particle strengths are then adjusted to Fshed at each
time step.
Despite the sound physical foundation of this approach, it performs very
poorly in time. Actually, the basic hypothesis, Is
body
61 dS = 0, is true
only for a divergence free vorticity field, which is not the case in practice.
Practically, as we modify 61 in order to satisfy the total vorticity con-
straint, the vortex sheet no longer cancels the slip velocity and particles
soon penetrate inside the body which finally leads to numerical blowup.
• In the second approach we do not place any constraint on the vortex
sheet. We simply ensure, at each time step, that the total vorticity remains
equal to zero by setting the sum of the particle strengths to minus the
total "attached" vorticity, - Isbody
1 attached dS (carried by the "attached"
vortex panels).
This approach produces good results, even for long time simulations.
2.6 Vorticity flux at the wall for under resolved boundary layers
When performing simulations where the boundary layers are no longer well
resolved, the characteristic diffusion distance becomes small compared to the
local particle size. This can become critical as the panel diffusion step must en-
sure that the total flux of vorticity is distributed to neighbor vortex particles.
The use of the classical diffusion scheme with the correction for conservation
leads to a very noisy distribution of the vorticity on the neighbor particles.
This situation degrades even further for simulations with ground effect where
a decreasing resolution is used in the wake.
Actually, in these under-resolved computations, one "simply" wants to
transfer the whole vorticity flux to the first layer of particles above the wall.
We therefore "relax" the local Reynolds number at the wall with respect to
the local grid size to ensure that the vorticity flux can be "sufficiently well"
captured. This scheme gives produces results because of its diffusive nature
which helps to remove the high-frequency noise present in the computed vor-
ticity flux.
2. 7 Redistribution schemes, relaxation of the particle field

divergence and subgrid-scale modelling
The vortex particle method has no built-in control for keeping the vorticity
field divergence-free as time evolves. When the computation is well resolved
(as it has been shown in various DNS results for the flow past a sphere), the
divergence of the vorticity field appears to be kept "naturally" to a fairly low
value, even for long time simulations. However, as soon as one wants to push
the resolution towards its limits, the divergence problem becomes a major
issue.
In fact, one can state that an increasing divergence of vorticity field is the
sign that the computation is not well resolved locally and that energy is ac-
cumulating in small scales of the flow: subgrid-scale stress modelling becomes
necessary.
It is clear that the redistribution step plays a major role here, as it is
essential to keep a good representation of the vorticity field. One can go even
one step further by using the redistribution scheme as a form of subgrid-
scale model: it can easily be shown that the low order A 1 scheme (which only
conserves moments of order zero and order one of the vorticity field) has a
viscous-like behavior. The diffusion effect introduced by a A1 redistribution
scheme applied every n time steps is roughly equivalent to an effective viscosity
given by:
Zlredist ~ 12 n 6.t , (5)
where h is the local grid size and 6.t the time step.
In the vicinity of the body, the resolution is h/ D "' 0.035t. Although
quite crude, the method enabled us to perform long time simulations for the
flow past a hemisphere (T = 75) with a relatively low number of particles
(Fig. 2). The present results show that the vortex method appears to be able
to capture the dynamics of the complex vortex structures with a reduced
number of computational elements and to reproduce the qualitative behavior
of a turbulent flow past the hemisphere.
However, due to its highly diffusive nature which is only controlled by the
local grid size, the redistribution interval and the time step, one cannot rely
on a low order A1 redistribution scheme to perform satisfactory subgrid scale
t For information (although they should not be compared), the case of DNS past
a sphere at Re = 300, requires a grid twice as fine in all directions. This case
was studied in [6] where it was shown that the "mesh Reynolds number", Reh =
lwlh2 /v, never exceeded 6 in the far wake and 2 in the boundary layer and near
wake regions. For the viscous vortex method, this corresponds to a well resolved
DNS in the far wake and a very well resolved DNS near the sphere surface.
Furthermore, the results also compared favorably to those obtained by other
authors using different numerical methods. For further discussion about the DNS
method, as well convergence studies of the method, refer to [5] and [6].
Fig. 2. F low past a hemisphere using the 1h redistribution scheme. Only particles
with Ja; I above an arbitrary threshold are shown. Top: view of the vortex particles
and their strength at an early stage of the flow (T = 6). One can see the vortex ring
behind the body becoming unstable. Bottom: view of t he developed turbulent flow
at T = 75.
modelling. Furthermore, the effect of any additional model would by far be

exceeded by the highly diffusive behavior of the redistribution scheme.
From this arises the need for high order redist ribution schemes such as
the A 3 scheme, which is classically used in DNS computations. This scheme
conserves up to the third moments of the vorticity distribution and acts as
hyper-viscosity. As the A 3 scheme does not have a viscous behavior , t here also
is no longer enough dissipation of the small-scale energy: this translates into a
rapid increase of the vorticity field's divergence and finally leads to numerical
blowup.
Before introducing more advanced subgrid-scale models, we wanted to as-
sess the capability of the vortex method combined with a high-order redistri-
bution scheme to capture small flow structures compared to the local particle
size. In order to deal with the divergence problem, we introduced a "relaxation
scheme" where the particle strengths are set back to the curl of the velocity
field computed at particle locations (t his field is necessarily divergence free).
This relaxation procedure is, again, a diffusive operation. However, when it is
applied sufficiently scarcely, the global diffusive effect remains fairly low. The
particle reset can be seen as a periodic filter which eliminat es the energy t hat
get s accumulated in the small scales captured by t he computation.
Very promising results were obtained using t his approach for t he flow
past the GTS (see Section 3). The next step will be to introduce a subgrid-
scale model (a Smagorinsky model to start wit h), as it would no longer be
annihilated by t he effect of t he redistribution scheme. T he periodic relaxation
scheme should t hen become less necessary as the energy dissipat ion at small
scales will be taken into account. We however think t hat some active control
on the divergence-free property of the flow should still be maintained.
AUached panels
ProgreSSiVely diffUSing panets
• Diffusing panels
' Auto drffus~ng panels
Fig. 3. Left : "Numerical setup" for the flow past the GTS. Right: Zoom on body
surface discretization (vortex sheet panels) ; panels are colored by diffusion ratio.
3 Flow past the G TS
All the recent developments presented in the previous sections where tested
on the flow past the GTS. This simple geometry was used because modelling
the flow using infinitely thin attached boundary layers along the truck and
allowing separation on the back-face is a good approximation of the physical
flow (at a zero degree yaw angle). The "real" ground effect was also taken into
account in this simulation: the truck is travelling above a fixed ground.
As can be seen in Fig. 3, the whole front part of the truck was tagged as an
attached boundary layer region. Then progressively diffusing panels are used
in order to ensure a smooth transition from the infinitely thin boundary layers
to the region where diffusing panels are used. A close up view of the panel
discretization is shown in Fig. 3. One can see that a variable panel size is used
for computational efficiency: coarse panels can be used in the attached regions,
whereas the diffusing (and progressively diffusing) panels' size is chosen equal
to the local particle size. On the ground, the panels were tagged as attached
except for the wake region: the near wake region uses diffusive panels (with a
transition region), and the far wake uses auto-diffusing panels.
We use a redistribution mapping which smoothly goes from a constant
lattice (in the near body region) to an exponentially growing lattice (in the
far wake). At each redistribution, the center of the mapping is "displaced"
randomly around its nominal position: this reduces the influence of the ar-
bitrary intersection between the redistribution lattice and the body. In the
near body region, the particle size is h = 0.023 W (W is the width of the
truck). The time step is 6T = 0.01 W/UcTS (UcTs is the velocity of the
GTS). Redistribution is performed every 5 steps (A 3 scheme). The relaxation
scheme for the divergence of the vorticity field is applied every 50 steps. The
simulation was carried out up to T = 16, at that time the number of particles
362 G. Daeninck et a!.
Fig. 4. Flow past the GTS with viscous ground effect in the wake. Top: The
regions of non zero vorticity are shown in three slices behind the truck: each slice is
colored by the y-component of vorticity. Bottom: Zoom on the vertical midplane
slice behind the truck.
was "' 1 000 000. The computation ran 50 hours on 8 Pentium 4 processors at
2.4 GHz (Beowulf Linux cluster).
Defining a Reynolds number for these under-resolved computations has
little meaning (no quantified subgrid scale modelling, infinitely thin boundary
layers). We can however mention that the viscosity coefficient used for the PSE
scheme was VpsE/(UcysW) = w- 4 .
In Fig. 4 one can see the vorticity field in a slice behind the GTS: it
clearly shows the development of a truly turbulent flow in the wake. These
results feature much more small structures when compared (qualitatively) to
simulations where the A1 redistribution scheme was used.
Lagrangian subdomain
Eulerian subdomain
Fig. 5. Example of Eulerian and Lagrangian subdomains. The Eulerian subdomain

covers only the near-wall region in order to capture the thin boundary layers and the
separation regions. The Lagrangian subdomain covers whole computational domain
and captures well the wake dynamics.
The results for the flow past the GTS are certainly preliminary; no con-
vergence studies have been carried out yet. We believe however that these
results already capture a significant fraction of the turbulent wake dynamics,
including the interaction with the ground and with the back face of the GTS.
Hence we hope that they will allow to obtain global quantities, such as the
mean pressure drag, at a fair level of accuracy.
4 A hybrid Eulerian-Lagrangian vortex method for flows

with massive separation
In the previous section, an "over-simplified" approach was used for the bound-
ary layers: they were modelled by infinitely thin vortex sheets in a priori de-
fined regions. It is clear that this approach can only provide physical results in
simple cases. In more general situations, the evolution of the boundary layer
has to be simulated in order to determine where the separation dynamically
occurs.
The VEM suffers from two drawbacks in the boundary layer regions which
prevent it from working efficiently in these regions:
• The VEM uses isotropic computational elements whereas, in the boundary
layer regions, the strong gradients in the direction normal to the wall would
allow highly anisotropic elements for computational efficiency.
• Although the VEM performs particularly well for flows dominated by con-
vection (due to the implicit treatment of the convective term), it is less
suited to flexible and accurate treatment of the no-slip boundary condition.
These drawbacks currently limit the applicability of the VEM to relatively
low Reynolds number flows or flows where an excessive degree of modelling
must be introduced in the boundary layer regions. Approaches along the lines
364 G . Daeninck et a!.
Fig. 6. Vorticity field for the flow past cylinder at Re = 3000. One can see the
Eulerian subdomain covering the near-body region with the fine grid, and the coarse
Lagrangian subdomain covering the whole computational domain (the near wall-
region is hidden by the Eulerian subdomain).
of Detached-Eddy Simulation (DES), combining RANS methods (boundary

layer regions) and LES methods (separated regions) , are required in order to
perform simulations at much higher Reynolds numbers.
This leads naturally to the observation that Eulerian grid-based methods
should be used to resolve the near-wall regions, where viscous effects are im-
portant, while using the Lagrangian VEM for the convection-dominated part
of the flow. The strengths and the weaknesses of both methods are indeed
complementary in such a hybrid approach.
Hybrid Eulerian-Lagrangian vortex based methods are not new. A great
challenge for these methods is to ensure consistant boundary conditions on
each subdomain (Eulerian and Lagrangian) and to allow an accurate transfer
of information between these subdomains. Previous approaches (e.g. Cottet et
al. [4]) required complex and expensive iterative methods in order to determine
the boundary conditions on each domain.
We propose a new approach where the Lagrangian subdomain covers the
entire computational domain (although under-resolved in the near-wall re-
gion), while the Eulerian subdomain is limited to the near-wall region and
resolves well that region (Fig. 5). This allows to obtain the boundary condi-
tions on the Eulerian domain directly from the information in the Lagrangian
domain (no need for iterative methods). On the other hand, the evolution
of the Lagrangian field in the near-wall region is corrected by the Eulerian
information which is well resolved there.
Preliminary results where obtained for the 2-D simulation of the flow past
a cylinder at Re = 3000 (Fig. 6). In this simulation, a finite difference method
based on the velocity-vorticity formulation was used in the Eulerian subdo-
main. A coarse resolution was chosen for the Lagrangian subdomain, while the
Eulerian subdomain uses a fine grid in order to capture well the detailed dy-
namics in the near-wall region. A good behavior of the algorithm was observed
in terms of robustness and information transfer between subdomains. Further
investigations will focus on quantitative validations of the method. The next
steps will be to extend the method to 3-D, to introduce a DES approach in
the Eulerian subdomain, and a LES model in the Lagrangian subdomain.
5 Conclusions
Several contributions to the 3-D vortex and boundary element method where
presented. The main feature of the resulting method is its capability of mod-
elling "high" Reynolds number bluff body flows with prescribed attached I
separation regions at a reduced computational cost. Preliminary results for
the flow past a simplified truck geometry showed the promising capabilities
of the method.
An important issue in vortex methods is the vorticity field divergence. It
was addressed here through the use of a relaxation scheme. This relaxation
scheme also acts as a filter which eliminates the energy that gets accumulated
in the small scales. The next step will be to introduce a more involved subgrid-
scale model I procedure.
Finally, a new hybrid Eulerian-Lagrangian vortex method was presented.
In this method, the Eulerian subdomain is used as a near wall flow solver
"feeding" the Lagrangian domain.
We believe that the future of vortex methods for bluff body flows could be a
combination of the "simplified" 3-D vortex method (as presented in Section 2)
using a grid-based approach to solve the boundary layer and early separation
regions: a type of detached eddy simulation (DES) approach.
References
1. Cottet G-H, Koumoutsakos P (2000) Vortex Methods: Theory and Applications.
Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, UK
2. Croll R, Gutierrez W, Hassan B, Suazo J, Riggins A (1996) Experimental In-
vestigation of the Ground Transportation Systems (GTS) Project for Heavy
Vehicle Drag Reduction. SAE paper 960907
3. Leonard A, Shiels D, Salmon J, Winckelmans G, Ploumhans P (1997) Recent
Advances in High Resolution Vortex Methods for Incompressible Flows. Proc.
13th AIAA Computational Fluid Dynamics Conf., Snowmass Village, CO, June
29 - July 2, 1997, AIAA #97-2108
4. Ould-Salihi M, Cottet G-H, El Hamraoui M (2000) Blending finite-difference
and vortex methods for incompressible flow computations. SIAM J Sci Comp
22:1655
5. Ploumhans P, Winckelmans G (2000) Vortex methods for high resolution sim-
ulations of viscous flow past bluff-bodies of general geometry. J Comput Phys
165:354
6. Ploumhans P, Winckelmans G, Salmon J, Leonard A, Warren M (2002) Vortex

methods for high-resolution simulation of three-dimensional bluff body flows;
application to the sphere at Re=300, 500 and 1000. J Comput Phys 178(1):427
7. Salmon J, Warren M (1994) Skeletons from the Treecode Closet. J Comput Phys
111(1):136
8. Winckelmans G, Salmon J, Leonard A, Warren M (1995) Three-dimensional
vortex particle and panels methods: Fast tree-code solvers with active error
control for arbitrary distributions/geometries. Proc. Forum on Vortex Methods
for Engineering Applications, Albuquerque, NM, February 22-24, 1995, p. 25
Heavy Vehicle Thermal Management
Energetic and CFD Modeling Considerations of
Thermal Management
Thomas Gielda
Visteon Inc., USA
An up front CAE coupling of tools is described which provides for routine

thermal flow analysis of vehicle powertrain cooling systems for a variety of
vehicle shapes and sizes. A family of parametric models is generated using
ProlE which allows for flexible representation of a variety of vehicle classes
with accurate thermal flow analyses. The parametric CAD models are
morphed to model the important flow features in a relatively complex
underhood vehicle model. Some detailed modeling is often added to the
generic parametric model for flexibility in modeling important unique details.
All tetrahedra meshes are generated automatically from the CAD model using
Simmetrix software. High aspect ratio elements are layered near appropriate
surfaces for appropriate modeling of shear layers. Templates are used for
exporting the mesh and flow simulation parameters to the flow solver,
AcuSolve. An unsteady, incompressible air flow with energy equation and
Spalart-Almaras turbulence model is used underhood and around the vehicle
with simple heat exchanger models and coupled radiation. The flow through
grille opening elements is modeled with detailed surfaces and appropriate grid
resolution of flow. An adaptation technique using an a posteriori approach is
demonstrated. Comparison to test data shows good correlation for a variety of
steady and unsteady cases.
Measurement of Underhood Temperatures with
Various Ventilations
Ronald Dupree
Caterpillar Inc., USA
The management of underhood temperatures is becoming ever more

important as emissions and noise regulations become more severe. The
emissions regulations typically add to the heat load, while the noise regulations
lead to a more tightly sealed engine compartment.
To gain more insight into the ventilation needs for an enclosed engine
compartment and provide boundry condition and correlation information for
a 1-D underhood thermal model (to be discussed later in this session), an
engine, complete with all installation hardware, was installed in a sealed metal
box with controlled air inlet locations and controlled ventilation airflow rates.
The effects of air inlet location and flow rate on heat rejection and air
temperatures inside the enclosure will be discussed.
Measurement and Analysis of U nderhood
Ventilation Air Flow and Temperatures for an Off-
Road Machine
Tanju Sofu and Fon-Chieh Chang, Argonne National Laboratory
Ron Dupree and Srinivas Malipeddi, Caterpillar, Inc.
Sudhindra Uppuluri and Steven Shapiro, Flowmaster USA, Inc.
Abstract
To gain insight into the ventilation needs for an enclosed engine compartment
of an off-road machine, a prototypical test-rig that includes an engine and
other installation hardware was built. Well controlled experiments were con-
ducted to help understand the effects of ventilation air flow on heat rejection
and component temperatures. An assessment of 1-D and 3-D simulation
methods was performed to predict underhood ventilation air flow and compo-
nent temperatures using the experimental data. The analytical work involved
development, validation, and application of these methods for optimized ven-
tilation air flow rate in the test-rig. A 1-D thermal-fluid network model was
developed to account for overall energy balance and to simulate ventilation and
hydraulic system response. This model was combined with a 3-D CFD model
for the ventilation air circulation in the test rig to determine the flow patterns
and the distributed surface heat transfer. The tests conducted at Caterpillar
and the complementary analyses performed at Argonne provide an opportu-
nity to understand the isolated effect of ventilation air cooling on underhood
thermal management.
Introduction
Construction equipment and other types of heavy vehicles have common un-
derhood thermal management challenges: restrictive enclosures and ever-
increasing variety of heat sources. But off-road machines have rather unique
additional underhood thermal management issues such as
• high auxiliary loads,

• severe operating conditions involving dust and debris,
• wide range of altitudes and temperatures,
374 T. Sofu et al.
• lack of ram air, and
• increasingly restrictive sound regulations.
In addition to the cooling

system design, the thermal man-
agement challenge for a system
with separate engine enclosure
(as shown in Fig.l) is to main-
tain acceptable underhood com-
ponent temperatures in a rela-
tively well sealed enclosure with
limited ventilation. The specific
issues for underhood tempera-
ture control are the ventilation
Engine radiator
air flow requirements and the
effect of ventilation on thermal
Fan
balance (e.g., cooling system de- Fig.! . Schematic of an off-road machine with
separated engine and cooling system compart-
sign). Typical underhood tem- ments divided with service wall.
peratures in a separated engine
compartment vary from 50°C to 200°C.
Since high underhood temperatures can reduce component durability and

life, the assessment of component temperatures is an important element of a
design cycle. These assessments are typically made during a conventional
cooling test. However, the measurement of large number of component tem-
peratures for various configurations is not always feasible. Furthermore, the
cooling test typically occurs during the later stages of the development cycle
when major component relocation is not practical. Therefore, an analytical ca-
pabiliry to help understand the thermal conditions inside the separated engine
compartment is desirable for identification of possible hot-spots and assurance
of adequate air cooling.
To address these issues, a Cooperative Research and Development Agree-

ment (CRADA) has been executed between Argonne National Laboratory and
Caterpillar, Inc. for measurement and analysis of underhood ventilation air
flow and temperatures. The experimental effort by the Caterpillar team has fo-
cused on building a prototypical test-rig for an off-road machine engine, and
conducting tests with controlled ventilation air flow rates from various inlet lo-
cations to estimate the ventilation needs in an enclosed engine compart-
ment[!] . The purpose of the analytical studies by the Argonne team (with
modeling support from Flowmaster USA) has been the assessment of various
simulation methods that could be used in predicting underhood ventilation air
flow and temperatures. The work involved development and validation of
combined 1-D and 3-D simulation models of the Caterpillar test-rig for opti-
mized ventilation air flow rate. Although the separated cooling system com-
partments are unique to off-road machines, the Caterpillar tests and the com-
plementary analyses provide an opportunity to understand the isolated effect of
air cooling on the engine performance for a wide range of heavy-vehicles.
Measurement and Analysis ofUnderhood Ventilation Air Flow 375
Experimental Study
A U .S. EPA Tier II emis-
sions level engine (Fig 2)
was installed into a
mockup representing a
typical medium size off-
highway machine with a
full engine enclosure sepa-
rated from the cooling fan
by a solid wall [1] . The en-
closure was constructed
from sheet metal and
tightly sealed at all seams,
but was not insulated. The
CAD model shown in Fig 2. Engine setup and enclosure frame without walls.
Fig.3 provides a perspective
on the enclosure and in-
let/outlet locations with respect to engine components. Consistent with a typi-
cal off-highway machine with this size engine, the enclosure dimensions were
100x140x140-cm3 • The 30x30-cm 2 inlet opening in front of the crank shaft
was used to supply ventilation air into the enclosure. A 30-cm diameter open-
ing at the top was connected to a variable capacity blower to draw air from the
enclosure, and the total flow rate throughout the enclosure was measured.
Since the highest underhood tem-

peratures are expected to occur at the
highest engine loads, the engine was
maintained at its rated speed and
power throughout the testing. In ad-
dition, the test cell temperature was
kept constant at 25°C. Engine coolant
and intake manifold temperatures
were maintained by laboratory heat
exchangers and instrumented to con-
trol the heat rejection closely.
Air and surface temperatures at

various locations in the enclosure were
monitored. The other critical engine
related temperatures-such as coolant,
Fig.3. CAD model of engine and its
oil, fuel, exhaust and intake manifold
components relative to inlet/outlet loca-
temperatures-were also measured in tions - front view
real time. The total energy balance
(energy in fuel vs. shaft work and heat
rejection to coolant, aftercooler, ventilation, and energy in stack) was calcu-
lated for each data point. All measurements were recorded after temperatures
376 T. Sofu et al.
were stabilized. To allow the data to be scaled for different engine compart-
ment configurations, the ventilation air flow rate was normalized with respect
to the engine combustion air flow rate. This ratio of the ventilation air flow
rate to the engine combustion air flow rate was also used as the basis of com-
parisons with analytical results. The airflow ratio varied between 0.5 and 3.75.
Analytical Studies
Computer simulations can improve the understanding of interactions between
the engine subsystems[2]. The main purpose of this study has been an assess-
ment of simulation methods that could be used in predicting underhood ven-
tilation air flow field and temperatures for an off-road machine. The work in-
volved development and validation of combined 1-D and 3-0 simulation
models of the Caterpillar test-rig. A 1-D thermal-fluid network model was de-
veloped to account for overall energy balance and simulate cooling system re-
sponse using the commercial software Flowmaster[3]. A 3-D underhood
model of the complex test rig was built using the commercial CFD software
Star-CD[4] to determine the flow paths for the ventilation air system and the
surface heat transfer coefficient.
3-D CFD Analysis

Starting with a CAD model of the test rig, an unstructured hexahedral mesh
was generated using Star-CO's underhood expert system module ES-Uhood.
First the IGES surface definitions were extracted from the CAD model, and
then the ProSurf utility was used to generate a triangulated surface mesh.
Starting from this mesh, surface fixing functions were used to merge the over-
lapping surfaces, fill the open holes, generate feature lines, and create a new
"wrapped" surface which captures the details of computational domain
boundaries in 8 mm resolution (Fig.4a). This wrapped surface formed the basis
of an extrusion layer through which the suitability of turbulence wall function
is assured. Although the flow is expected to separate over the complex engine
geometry, the inherent assumption of attached flow is made through the use of
logarithmic wall function since the integration to the wall is computationally
prohibitive. After filling the computational domain with regular brick cells
with gradual mesh refinement near the engine and enclosure surfaces, the vol-
ume mesh was completed by cutting those hexahedral cells that intersect the
extrusion layer (Fig.4b).
In order to capture the ventilation air flow distribution at the enclosure in-
let accurately, a large inlet plenum (not shown in Fig.4) was also included in
the model to represent ambient conditions (pressure and temperature). The
desired flow rate through the enclosure was assured by imposing a proportional
uniform flow field at the plenum inlet as the boundary condition. The enclo-
sure outlet pipe was considered much longer than what is shown in Fig.4 and
its top end was treated as a standard outlet boundary. The final CFD model
consists of 1.34 million fluid cells, with a 3 mm thick extrusion layer sur-
rounding the engine and enclosure surfaces to give a maximum y+ value of 200
for airflow ratio of 1.5.
Fig.4. CFD mesh of the test rig (a) cutaway view of the surface mesh (b) a cross section of the
volume mesh.
The ventilation air flow field in the test rig and the convective heat transfer
coefficient for the solid surfaces were obtained using the commercial CFD
software Star-CO. An initial parametric study for inclusion of the buoyancy
force in the thermal-fluid calculations revealed that the effect of density varia-
tions on the overall flow and temperature fields is negligible. Thus, the venti-
lation air flow field was simulated as a steady incompressible flow with energy
equation using the high-Re number k-epsilon turbulence model with loga-
rithmic wall functions.
As the most basic two-equation model, k-epsilon model is believed to pro-
vide a reasonable approximation of the time-averaged flow distribution over
the surface of the engine and its components in the test rig. A set of transient
calculations were also studied to investigate temperature fluctuations observed
during the experiments and assure that the calculated flow field is steady with
no oscillations. The results indicated negligible difference between the tran-
sient and steady state solutions. Five different inlet locations, each for five air-
flow ratios, were studied with the CFD model; however, only the results of
front inlet configuration (shown in Fig.4) are discussed here. The calculations
were performed on a linux cluster.
378 T. Sofu et al.
1-D Network Flow Analysis

The complete thermal system analyzed with the network flow model is a col-
lection of different thermal subsystems of an off-road machine engine includ-
ing the air, coolant, and oil loops. The model consists of 1-D descriptions of
these three loops combined with a lumped parameter approach to characterize
the thermal interactions between them through the engine structure as the
major conduction paths (Fig.5). This approach simplifies the complex engine
system by discretizing it based on known heat transfer paths under steady-state
conditions; i.e., the heat generated from combustion is considered to be trans-
ferred to various discrete surface points on the engine using specified conduc-
tion paths. This 1-D network flow model served as a tool to analyze the inter-
actions of the engine with the ventilation air, coolant, and oil loops for
predicting the complete thermal system performance.
Key
Cc- !ant
Engmt
Au
Fig.5. 1-D network flow model of the test rig for front-inlet configuration.
Air flow paths in the 1-D model are based on 3-D simulation results. In the
air loop, the entering ventilation air is considered to gain heat as it passes
through individual surface points on the engine as shown in Fig.5. In the oil
loop, after losing heat through the oil pan, the flow splits into three separate
branches (the turbo, the cylinder head, and the engine block) before returning
to the sump. In the coolant loop, the water cools the lubrication oil in the oil
loop and circulates inside the engine block and the cylinder head. The radiator
is simply modeled as a source with constant flow rate and with known inlet
temperature.
Interface between the 3-D CFD and 1-D Network Flow Models
Fig.6 shows the schematic of the sequential analyses with the 1-D network
flow and 3-D CFD models. The 1-D model requires flow rates and inlet tem-
peratures as the boundary conditions in the air and coolant loops and oil pump
speed in the oil loop to account for overall energy balance and predict the en-
gine component temperatures. In the 3-D thermal analysis, these predictions
are prescribed as surface temperature boundary conditions for various engine
components and enclosure walls, and they are used to calculate ventilation air
flow field and temperatures. The results of the 3-D CFD analysis are, in re-
turn, provided back to the 1-D model to improve component temperature
predictions by modifYing the air flow paths and heat transfer coefficients be-
tween the engine components and ventilation air. The typical values of esti-
mated heat transfer coefficients between the engine components and ventila-
tion air are found to vary in the range from 10 to 50 W/m 2 -K.
Mnt1PI Tr
,,,......,
+ I
Boundary Conditions: 1-D Network Flow Model Output:
Coolant flow rate and r------- using FLOWMASTER vSurface temperatures
inlet temperature Air temperatures
(All four loops)
Oil and coolant temps.
Oil pump speed
--
/
3-D CFD Model Output:
Boundary Conditions:
using STAR-CD Ventilation air flow paths
Air flow rate and inlet f----o (only for ventilation air and heat transfer rates
temperature flow inside enclosure) between engine and air
Fig.6. Schematic of combined 1-D and 3-D simulations.

380 T. Sofu et al.
Results and Validation
Energy Balance
Over the entire range

Enclosure with Front Inlet
of testing, approxi-
mately 96% of the
total fuel energy (cal-
culated based on fuel
consumption) was ac-
counted for. The dis-
tribution of fuel en-
ergy between the shaft
work and heat rejec-
tion through exhaust
system, coolant, com- 20
pressed air aftercooler, 10
and ventilation air is o~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
shown in Fig 7. The 38 3 2 15 125 075 05
ventilation a!f flow Al~owRabo
rate was varied from
high flow to low flow Fig 7: Effect of airflow ratio on different heat loads
in small steps. The for front inlet opening.
figure indicates that
heat rejection through the ven- 1.0 X
tilation air in the engine com- • Calcu lated
partment is only a small frac- 0.9
X X xperimental
tion of the overall energy ~
balance. The unaccounted en- '§ 0.8
ergy in this test (about 4% of 8.
::l
X
•
total energy) is attributed to E
the energy convected from ex- ~0.7
X
•
-o
terior of the enclosure walls. (J
~0.6
X
A comparison of the meas- E 0 •
urements and 1-D model pre- z 0.5
dictions for the enclosure outlet • X X
air temperature as a function of

0.4 - 1 - - - , - - - - , - - - - , - - - - - ,
airflow ratio is provided in
Fig.8. As the airflow ratio in- 0.0 1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0
creases, the enclosure outlet
Airflow Ratio
temperature stabilizes. This Fig.8: Comparison of ventilation air tempera-
tures at enclosure outlet as a function of airflow
implies that, after reaching the ratio.
inflection point at around an
airflow ratio of 2.5, the enclo-
sure heat rejection increases linearly with mass flow.
3-D CFD Results and System Restriction
As examples of the results obtained with the CFD model, the ventilation air
flow field and temperature distributions are shown in Fig. 9 on a vertical plane
through the enclosure front inlet. The results indicate that the most significant
pressure drop takes place near the inlet and outlet restrictions. Consistent with
the experimental observations, the results indicate a well mixed flow inside the
enclosure with no significant difference in component temperatures for differ-
ent ventilation inlet locations.
Fig.9. The calculated ventilation air flow field and temperature distributions on a vertical plane
that intersects the front inlet.
The comparison of the ex- 1.0

perimental and 3-D model pre-
dictions for pressure drop • Calculated
through the test rig is shown in o..0.8
2 -Experimental
Fig. I 0 as a function of airflow 0
ratio. The y axis is the normal- :=
~ 0.6
ized pressure drop for flow "-
through the enclosure. A good :=
0..
agreement for such "system re- -o
~ 0.4
striction curves" is the first indi-
cation that CPO model captures "....t::
~
the flow field accurately. The :i. 0.2 ..J
other comparisons (air tem-

peratures throughout the enclo-
sure) are consistent with the ex- 0.0
perimental values when accurate 0.0 1.0 2.0 3.0
surface temperatures are speci- irflow Ratio
fied as the boundary conditions. Fig.lO. System restriction curve comparisons for
front inlet.
382 T. Sofu et al.
Air and Fluid Temperature Comparisons

The various temperatures in the 1-D model are calculated based on the engine
component dimensions and the heat transfer coefficients at the solid-fluid in-
terfaces as input. Some physical dimensions for the internal loops of the engine
were supplied by Caterpillar and others were interpreted based on CAD data.
A comparison of measured and calculated ventilation air, coolant water, and
oil temperatures is shown in Fig. 11. Most of the predictions with the 1-0
network model (including surface temperatures) are within 10% of the ex-
perimental values. For a complex network of engine and its thermal subsystems
of coolant, oil, and ventilation air, these small discrepancies are considered a
respectable degree of accuracy.
(a) Air Temperatures (b)Co lam and Oil Temperature

I
~0.8 ~0.
2 3
~06 ~0.6
=
~ ~
"8N 0.4 ]OA
-;::; -;::;
:: 0 E
§0.2 5 0.2
z z
0
... ... .,... ...u
e u u 0.
<0 cJ.)
E <0
=
0
U:
"'
u
c:.:: "'u
c:.:: <
~
<
~
t::
·co ' Oi,) 0 0
t::
·;::: E
::>
u
Ll.
u u ~ u
t::
tlJ t.5
0
u u0
"'
u Cll
g
"(i);;;
0 CI:l
~ :=! ~ u ~ g E g E g
Cll Cll Cll t.ll 0::: ... 0 0
6
e
u
6 .!:;:
.,...
:;: u -"' 3 .!:;:
::>
~
:::>
.::c: 6
"'
.<::
X
= "
.<::
>( Ll. ~ ;; 6
t.ll t.ll ~
Fig. II. Comparison of temperatures between measured data and model predictions: (a) ventila-
tion air temperatures, (b) coolant and oil temperatures.
Although the discrepancies are generally small, the attempts to resolve them
are part of the overall modeling effort to provide a better description of the
underhood system. For example, based on the CFD results, the discrepancy for
the exhaust-side rear ventilation air temperature is attributed to a local recir-
culation zone in that region. However, since the estimated temperature is small
and its impact on overall temperature distributions is negligible, a modification
to the network flow model for the front inlet configuration is not considered
to be essential.
Measurement and Analysis of U nderhood Ventilation Air Flow 383
Conclusions
Experiments were conducted to gain insight into the ventilation air flow needs
for an enclosed engine compartment of an off-road machine. These laboratory
experiments were well controlled to provide good accuracy and to draw im-
portant conclusions on minimum ventilation flow requirements for maintain-
ing acceptable underhood temperatures. About 96% of the total fuel energy
was accounted for during the test. Underhood temperatures in the areas of
concern are found to be generally stabilized near an airflow ratio of two. Data
obtained were also used to provide boundary conditions and validation infor-
mation for simulation methods.
A combined 1-D and 3-D simulation methodology was developed for op-
timization of engine compartment ventilation air flow. The air flow field and
the rate of heat transfer between engine and ventilation air inside the enclosure
were determined with the 3-D CFD simulations. A 1-D network model was
built by discretizing the various fluid paths and the solid metal structure in the
system. Once the ventilation air flow paths and heat transfer coefficients were
determined with CFD, the 1-D network model with reduced complexity was
used to simulate thermal interaction of the engine structure with the air, cool-
ant, and oil flow. The results indicate that the temperatures and distributed
heat rejection rates can be estimated within reasonable accuracy when 3-D and
1-D models are used in combination.
Acknowledgements
This work was completed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of En-
ergy Office of FreedomCAR and Vehicle Technologies. The submitted manu-
script has been created by the University of Chicago as Operator of Argonne
National Laboratory ("Argonne") under Contract No. W-31-109-ENG-38
with the U.S. Department of Energy.
References
[1] Srinivas R. Malipeddi, "Underhood Thermal Management Guidelines",

Jan 2003, Caterpillar Internal Document.
[2] C. Hughes, et.al, "Heavy Duty Truck Cooling System Design Using Co-
Simulation", SAE Technical Paper Series 2001-01-1707, Proceeding of
Vehicle Thermal Management Systems Conference & Exhibition, Nash-
ville, TN, May 14-17,2001.
[3] D. S. Miller, Internal Flow Systems, 2nd edition, Flowmaster Interna-
tional Ltd., published by BHR Group Limited, 1996.
[4] Star-CD, Version 3.150A, CD-adapco Group, Melville, NY.
Flow Field and Thermal Management Analysis of an
Armored Vehicle Engine Compartment
Robert F. Kunz
Penn State University Applied Research Laboratory, University Park, PA

16804. rfk@wt.arl.psu.edu
Narneer Salman
ICEM-CFD Engineering, Livonia, MI 48152, nsalman@icemcfd.com
Abstract
Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) analyses were performed for an ar-
mored tank engine compartment cooling flow. Large hybrid unstructured
meshes (2.5-3.0x10 6 cells) were constructed using the ICEM-CFD grid gen-
erator. The flow and convective heat transfer field were computed using an in-
house CFD code, NPHASE. The commercial software package,
RADTHERM was utilized to incorporate radiation heat transfer within the
simulations.
Two steady operating conditions and one engine-off cool-down transient
were analyzed. Specifically, the conditions analyzed were open throttle (here-
after OT), Tac Idle (TI) and engine off soakback (SB). OT and TI were run
with and without convection heat transfer employed in the radiation assess-
ments to provide best-estimate and conservative peak temperature predictions
respectively. SB was run transiently using fixed heat transfer coefficients ob-
tained from NPHASE analysis.
Results are presented for the simulations performed, with emphasis placed
on peak temperatures of several design critical elements.
Software Tools
ICEM-CFD (2000) is a commercial geometric modeling and mesh generation
package that has been widely employed in the automotive industry to accom-
modate the very complex geometries associated with underhood thermal man-
agement analysis.
The NPHASE CFD code was developed by the author and several col-
leagues and is described in detail in Kunz et. al. (2001), Antal et. al. (2000)
386 R.F. Kunz and N. Salman
and Yu et. al. (2001). The code is fully unstructured and supports arbitrary
element types (the meshes employed here utilize hexahedra, tetrahedra, prisms
and pyramids). A parallel implicit, pressure-based segregated solution proce-
dure is employed. The code can predict steady state and time dependent flows
and employs higher order temporal and spatial discretization. A range of
physical models are implemented in the code. Those implemented in the pre-
sent work are:
• High Reynolds number k-£ turbulence model
• Perfect gas compressibility (with buoyancy)
• Porous media
• Turbomachinery capability (including body force modeling).
• Specified temperature, heat flux, heat transfer coefficient and various spe-
cialized conjugate heating boundary conditions
NPHASE does not contain an on-board radiation heat transfer modeling
capability. For this, the commercial package RADTHERM
(http:/ /www.thermoanalytics.com) was employed. This software is widely used
for underhood thermal management analysis in the automotive industry. As
described below, heat transfer coefficients and fluid temperatures, obtained
from NPHASE analyses, were imported into RADTHERM. Based on speci-
fied material properties, RADTHERM employs a view-factor based algorithm
to determine the convection-conduction-radiation heat balance on all solid
surfaces in the domain, resulting in the final temperature predictions of inter-
est.
ICEM-CFD generates a "CGNS" file that includes all vertex, edge, face and
element data defining the hybrid unstructured mesh, as well as "patch family"
designations that can be used to define boundary conditions, as well as volume
family identifiers that can be used for localized element based treatments
within the flow solver (e.g., body forces within the fan). A CGNS file reader is
available for NPHASE, which accommodates this richness afforded by the
CGNS format.
The ICEM/NPHASE meshes employed for the CFD analyses carried out
here have just under 5.0xl 0 5 triangular wall faces. This very fine resolution is
consistent with fine grid requirements for the fluid-thermal CFD analysis.
However, this is far more than necessary for requisite accuracy in the
RADTHERM analysis, and would require processor weeks to even run in
RADTHERM (which is not currently parallelized). Accordingly, a procedure
was developed to "coarsen" the CFD surface so as to the reduce fidelity of
viewfactor and radiation patch simulation. This process involves: I) Using
ICEM to coarsen surface meshes (while retaining good resolution on impor-
tant parts), and to generate a Patran Neutral file defining the new surface
mesh, 2) Running the Thermoanalytics (vendors of RADTHERM) tool, map-
convbc, to "interpolate" (closest point) the fine mesh CFD surface solution
(heat transfer coefficients and film temperatures) onto the coarser model, and
to output a Patran Neutral file with these interpolated values, 3) Importing
these interpolated H, T 61 m in the RADTHERM analysis to define convection.
Flow Field and Thermal Management Analysis 387
Modeling Details
The general configuration and flow path of the engine compartment is shown
in figure 1. In figure 2, two views of the ICEM model are shown. Note that
for TI and OT an artificial exit extension was installed to accommodate the
highly recirculating fan exhaust flow within the cooling fan housing.
Grids
For OT and TI, a 2,951,279 element mesh was constructed. The mesh em-
ployed 2,804,579 tetrahedra and 146,700 prisms. A detail of the ICEM mesh
in the vicinity of the engine is shown in figure 3a, illustrating the complexity
and high geometric resolution of the model. Further indication of the high
resolution of the present mesh is observable in the part surface grid plots given
in figure 13. For the SB case, all elements downstream of the top of the heat
exchanger pack were deleted and the face on the top of the heat exchanger
pack itself was re-designated as a wall (see figures 1 and 8 for reference). This
resulted in a somewhat smaller mesh of 2,424,411 tetrahedra and 240 prisms.
By virtue of the relatively low Reynolds numbers encountered in the engine
compartment, tetrahedra were deemed adequate for resolution of most wall
layers. An average wall spacing (i.e., wall adjacent element volume centroid to
wall face centroid distance) for all wall faces was 1.6mm. This gave rise to an
average y• value for all wall adjacent cells of 73 and 39 for OT and TI runs re-
spectively, consistent with the high-Reynolds number shear and thermal wall
function turbulence modeling employed. For the SB case, the average value of
y• was approximately 7. In all simulations, those elements for which y• drops
below 10 employ a two-layer wall-function treatment consistent with the pres-
ence of the cell centroid in the laminar sublayer.
Domain Decomposition
ICEM outputs a CGNS file which is read into a sequence of front-end utilities
which, among other tasks, implements domain decomposition using the freely
available METIS (2001) partitioning software. All of the NPHASE simula-
tions were performed on a LINUX cluster of 1GZ Pentium IV processors, us-
ing 24 processors. The 24 domain METIS partitioning for the OT and TI
simulations is shown in figure 3b.
General Flow Modeling Parameters

The following physical parameters were common to all analyses performed:
1. Perfect gas air: y=l.4, R=287 Jlkg*°K
2. Thermal wall-functions for convection heat transfer (Prmrbulenr=0.91)
3. Fixed exit pressure = 1 atm
4. Buoyancy terms included in momentum equations
5. Constant molecular viscosity, ~-t= 1.5x1 o- 5 kg/m*s
All simulations were performed employing second order accurate convec-
tion and diffusion discretization. All simulations exhibited a several order of
magnitude residual reduction within 500-1000 iterations. Figure 4 shows a
representative residual and global mass conservation history for an OT simula-
tion. In these analyses, residuals all eventually begin to level off due to the in-
herent small amplitude unsteadiness in regions of very low flow. Nevertheless,
global mass conservation and various solution monitoring scalars (incremental
pressure and temperature drops) converged to three significant digits within
2000 iterations. All simulations were run out to at least this level of conver-
gence.
OT and TI NPHASE Modeling

For all cases, an inlet ambient temperature was specified. An inflow density
was specified corresponding to this temperature and assumed standard atmos-
pheric pressure. Inlet axial velocities were specified based on inlet cross-
sectional flow area, density and prescribed mass flow rates. Inlet values of tur-
bulence kinetic energy and turbulent dissipation rate were determined based
on an assumed turbulence intensity level of 3% and length scale of 5% of the
inlet duct width. In each of these three cases the pressure at the exit plane was
specified as ambient.
OT and TI simulations were carried out in similar fashion to one another,
with the only differences being the inflow velocity values, and the values of
fixed engine temperatures assigned as illustrated in figure 5 (values adapted
from engine manufacturer). For OT and TI, the transmission was modeled in
a fashion that accommodates the nearly constant transmission fluid tempera-
ture on the inside of its housing. As illustrated in figure 6, a locally one-
dimensional conjugate heat transfer condition is applied by considering the
wall thickness and material conductivity, with the inner wall temperature set
to the design operating transmission oil temperature. For OT and TI, the air-
box was modeled in a fashion that accommodates the near-ambient tempera-
ture flow of engine air on the inside of the box. As illustrated in figure 7, a lo-
cally one-dimensional conjugate heat transfer condition is applied by
considering the wall thickness and material conductivity. The treatment here
differed from that applied to the transmission in that rather than a fixed inner
wall temperature, an inner wall film temperature (ambient) was defined, and a
heat transfer coefficient was determined from a standard N usselt number cor-
relation (Kreith, 1973):
(1)
Nu =HL = .029 Re· 8 Pr 1 13
k
where L is taken as half the airbox duct length, k is the thermal conductivity of
air at the inlet temperature, Pr is the Prandtl number of air (.72), and the Rey-
nolds number is determined based on L and the bulk velocity of the engine air
based on nominal air-box cross-sectional area and given engine air mass flow
rates at OT and Tl respectively.
The exhaust duct is treated as a constant temperature surface for OT and
TI. A number of the compartment parts are "2-sided", that is, they have flow
on both sides. These "sheet-metal" pieces are treated as infinitely thin internal
boundaries. A conjugate heat transfer boundary condition is applied for these
pieces where heat flux and wall temperature are constant on each side of such
faces. These pieces include the cooling fan housing and the heat exchanger
housings. Adiabatic boundary conditions were employed for all other surfaces.
Bulk modeling is employed for the heat exchangers and cooling fan. As il-
lustrated in figure 8, design values of pressure drop and temperature rise are
available for each of the three heat exchangers. Each of these devices is meshed
independently using tetrahedra, such that each element is uniquely defined as
being within one of the three coolers. Body forces are added to the momentum
equations to establish the correct pressure drop and flow straightening. Specifi-
cally, in the flow direction a force is added: FY = m1ocal;(Vrer/2), where
rillocal is the local cell's mass flow rate and; is a loss coefficient. Generally, ; is
determined from empirical correlations for loss mechanisms associated with
inlet, core, acceleration, and exit losses, using a suitable definition of reference
velocity, Vrer· In the present work, since Llp and rillocal are known, ; was itera-
tively determined through several solution restarts such that the desired Llp was
matched to requisite accuracy. In the two cross flow directions, the loss factor
was increased by a factor of 10 to "straighten" the flow. This is illustrated with
a velocity vector plot in figure 9. The accuracy with which the design pressure
drops were matched is shown in figure 11.
Heat addition to the air flow in the three coolers was accommodated in a
consistent fashion. Specifically, local heat addition sources were added to the
enthalpy equation based on a local energy balance: q 1ocal = Ih1ocaiECpi\THx'
where L\THX = Tair - Tcoolant , Cp is the specific heat of the air and E is an un-
known cell "efficiency". For each exchanger we have available approximate
values for q,orai and Ll T HX> which when substituted into the equation above
yield estimates for E for each of the three coolers. As with the loss coefficients,
E was then iteratively refined through several solution restarts such that the de-
sired LlT was matched to requisite accuracy. The accuracy with which the de-
sign temperature rises were matched is shown in figure 12.
The fan was also modeled using a bulk representation. Specifically, ap-
proximate machine rotation rates and pressure rise across the fan were avail-
able. Since the mass flow rate and flow path are fixed, a suitable body force
distribution could be designed. A design code at Penn State Applied Research
Lab was utilized to generate tangential, axial and radial forces through the me-
ridional plane of the fan. These were then distributed onto the NPHASE grid
using bilinear interpolation. Elements of this procedure are illustrated in figure
10. The accuracy with which the design pressure rises were matched is shown
in figure 11.
Soakback NPHASE Modeling

Soakback is the engine cool-down transient. This cool-down process has the
potential to be design limiting since at engine shut off, all engine and transmis-
sion cooling flow ceases. The large thermal capacitance of the engine and
transmission can lead to local increases in radiative heating within the com-
partment since convective cooling within the compartment will be signifi-
cantly diminished. The cool-down transient has a time scale on the order of an
hour, whereas at engine shut-down, convection cooling is lost (or with a small
auxiliary soakback fan operating, greatly reduced) in a matter of seconds. Ac-
cordingly, this disparity in scales led to a soakback modeling approach involv-
ing a steady state analysis with the small soakback fan flow to provide heat
transfer coefficients for the transient radiation analysis. This approximation
should be valid, since heat transfer coefficients will be a weak function of com-
ponent temperatures, and, as indicated above, little accuracy will be lost by ne-
glecting the short duration convective heat transfer transient right at engine
shut-down.
Engine shut-down is specified to occur while the engine is at TI. Accord-
ingly, NPHASE was run with all boundary conditions as specified above for
TI, with the exception of inlet mass flow rate, which was set to a small value
corresponding to a notional soakback cooling fan. Also, no flow was admitted
through the heat exchangers for SB operation, as described above.
OT and TI RADTHERM Modeling

The engine compartment contains a variety of materials including metals and
alloys, insulation and lubrication oils. In general, the emmissivity, conductiv-
ity, density and specific heat of these materials had to be obtained. Each of the
surfaces in the model had to be assigned to one of these materials and given a
nominal thickness for conduction heat balance purposes.
The heat transfer coefficients and film temperatures predicted by NPHASE
were input into RADTHERM as described in the "Software Tools" section
above. The ICEM coarsening process left several of the key engine compart-
ment parts under-resolved (i.e., too few triangle elements), so ICEM's refine-
ment feature was then applied to hull, engine, airbox, and transmission com-
ponents to recover requisite surface resolution. Figure 13 illustrates example
NPHASE and RADTERM surface meshes for the airbox and generator com-
ponents.
RADTHERM is brought up and the model imported through the
PATRAN neutral file generated from the NPHASE solution file interpolated
onto the coarsened surface mesh (using the mapconvbp utility provided by
Thermoanalytics, Inc., vendors of RADTHERM). The RADTHERM display
appears as shown in figure 14. Each of the 91 parts was then assigned appro-
priate material definitions and thickness as indicated above. All parts except
the engine components and exhaust duct are specified to employ the imported
H and T film values. Engine components are assigned fixed temperatures per
figure 5. The exhaust duct is assigned a fixed temperature of T,ef for both OT
and TI.
Appropriate values for the "back" (i.e., not-flow-facing) side of every part
must also be specified. For the 2-sided "sheet-metal" parts, H and Tfilm values
are available from the NPHASE solution and are employed for each side. For
the steady state OT and TI simulations, the engine and exhaust duct back side
boundary conditions are not important since the engine is almost a completely
closed surface and the outer surface temperature is specified. Accordingly,
there H is set = 0. The transmission back side is set to a constant temperature
of T/T,er = 0.75, consistent with the NPHASE analysis by setting Tmm/T,er =
0.75 and H = 1000 (i.e., so high that Twa11 = T 61 m). The airbox backside Hand
T film are specified as in the NPHASE analysis discussed above. The generator
backside is specified as adiabatic. For all hull pieces, including the bulkhead
and engine cover, H=O is specified on the backside, which still allows radiative
transfer away from the engine compartment. All other pieces are set to adia-
batic on the backside.
Emmissivities are set for the front and back faces of all parts. These are set
based on the material of the part, or, if the part is painted, an appropriate em-
missivity corresponding to the paint is set. All components are painted except
the compartment cover, bulkhead, rear door, and the engine itself.
For OT and Tl, RADTHERM was run as specified above for 400 itera-
tions. This was sufficient to converge the runs to within 0.05°F. For compari-
son, another pair of OT and TI runs was performed with all internal engine
convection cooling "turned-off'', that is, all heat transfer coefficients imported
from NPHASE were overwritten as equaling zero. These "no-cooling-flow"
runs were performed to provide upper bound conservative estimates on peak
component temperatures.
Soakback RADTHERM Modeling

As discussed above, the soakback runs were performed transiently using the H
and Tmm field obtained from steady state SB NPHASE simulation. In order to
accommodate the critical thermal inertia physics associated with soakback, sev-
eral changes were made to RADTHERM part specifications. These changes
involved the engine, transmission, recuperator, and exhaust duct. Specifically,
the transmission was redefined as a 3-layer part as illustrated in figure 15a. The
reasoning for this is as follows: For soakback, the transmission was originally
modeled as a large chunk of alloy, of nominal thickness to match the dry
weight of the transmission and thereby mimic its thermal capacitance. This
non-conservative assumption allowed all incident radiative flux to be con-
ducted away very efficiently into the transmission, thereby rapidly "smooth-
ing" hotspots on the surface of the transmission since the thermal conductivity
of the alloy is high. Moving to the 3-layer model is more physically realistic
because the presence of the air and transmission oil layers (above and below
the sump line, respectively, as illustrated in figure 15b), that exist in the real
configuration, greatly inhibits conduction normal to the transmission surface,
while the thick third layer still accommodates the thermal capacitance of the
system. The nominal core thickness of the transmission was determined using
an estimate for the volume of the transmission, the transmission's known dry
weight, and the density of the alloy.
A similar 3-layer model is employed for the engine, as illustrated in figure
16. The nominal core thickness of the engine was determined using an esti-
mate for the volume of the engine, the engine's known dry weight, and the
density of steel. The TinjTref = 1.24 core initial temperature of the engine was
estimated based on engine output, fuel consumption and engine air flow rate.
The recuperator and exhaust duct were also treated as three-layer parts with
outer surfaces of painted sheet metal, a layer of insulation and an inner layer of
sheet metal. A zero heat transfer coefficient was set on the inside of the recu-
perator and exhaust duct for soakback.
Except as noted above for the engine, all parts were given an initial tem-
perature distribution from the steady Tl simulation.
Results
As already indicated, three sets of runs were made: OT, TI, and SB. In this
section we summarize the results obtained. First, details of the CFD simula-
tions are presented, followed by the RADTHERM results.
OT and TI NPHASE Results

Figures 17 through 27 contain elements of the NPHASE simulations per-
formed. In figure 17, selected streamlines emanating from the inlet are shown
for OT. These are shaded by temperature. A temperature isosurface (T/T,ef =
0.82) is also plotted. Though most streamlines are seen to follow a fairly direct
path from the inlet to the heat exchanger pack, a good deal of the flow is seen
to divert to either side, and this gives rise to a fairly complex compartment
flow field. The streamlines that transit the compartment toward the heat ex-
changer pack, come in close proximity to the exhaust duct and are thereby
heated through convection from the exhaust duct. The T /Tref = 0.82 isosurface
is seen to envelop the engine, heat exchanger pack, and exhaust duct in this
view, as expected. The strongly swirling exit flow induced by the fan is also ob-
servable in this view (2 counter-rotating vortices).
Figures 18 shows two views of numerous streamlines seeded at the inlet
and/or the top of the heat exchanger for OT. A very complex three-
dimensional flow field is seen to exist throughout the engine compartment.
Figures 19 and 20 show near engine views of the predicted velocity field for
OT and Tl. The velocity vectors shown are projected into the viewing plane
and are shaded by magnitude of total velocity. It is observed that in the imme-
diate proximity of the hottest components of the engine, velocities of V/Vref >
0.7 are encountered for OT (compare with inlet bulk velocity of V/Vref = 2.4).
Peak values for TI are somewhat smaller than OT, as expected. Figure 21
shows two cross-sectional views of density contours, illustrating the weak but
non-negligible thermally induced perfect gas density variations within the en-
gine compartment.
Soakback NPHASE Results

Elements of the NPHASE soakback solutions are provided in figures 22-27. In
figure 22, predicted contours of pressure are shown, for a compartment cross-
section, illustrating the gravity head most responsible for driving the flow in
this case. Figure 23 illustrates the complex nature of the buoyancy driven flow
within the engine compartment. There, numerous streamlines, shaded by
temperature, are plotted. In general, the entire compartment is subject to free
convection flow. Temperature contours in the vicinity of the generator are
plotted in figure 24. Clearly, free convection from the hot exhaust duct im-
pacts the engine cover and generator. Figure 25 shows a similar plot for a slice
taken in a nominal engine-airbox plane. Here free convection heat transfer
from the engine burner region and recuperator are seen to clearly impact the
airbox. Predicted velocity vectors in a cut plane through the transmission and
exhaust duct are shown in figure 26. These vectors are resolved into the x-y cut
plane and shaded by the magnitude of the resultant velocity in that plane,
IVxyl· Values of IVxy I!Vref e 0.05 are observed compared to inlet velocities of
Vinte/Vref = 2.4, 1.52 and 0.034 for OT, TI and SB, indicating a weak but non-
negligible flow. Free-convection induced velocity vectors in the y-z plane in
the vicinity of engine and transmission are shown in figure 27, illustrating sig-
nificant free convection in the hot region between transmission and engine.
OT and TI RADTHERM Results

Selected RADTHERM results for OT are shown in figures 28 and 29. There,
temperature contours are shown for the RADTHERM runs carried out with
the NPHASE Hand Tmm and with no convection cooling for the engine com-
partment cover, generator and airbox. These results, as well as those of other
engine components and for the TI operating condition illustrate that signifi-
cant hot spots can occur opposite the engine and transmission surfaces. Also
found is that convection cooling provided significant reduction in these hot
spot peak temperatures as expected.
Soakback RADTHERM Results

As mentioned above, the soakback transient could be limiting for several criti-
cal engine components due to the sudden loss of internal convective cooling to
the engine and transmission thermal masses. The desire to capture this was ac-
commodated in the RADTHERM modeling strategy outlined above.
RADTHERM was run in transient mode for the SB case. After some experi-
mentation, it was found that time steps of 30 seconds, and per-time-step con-
vergence tolerances of 0.5°C yielded requisite numerical accuracy. The results
in figures 30 through 36 summarize these runs.
Figure 30 illustrates the thermal history of the airbox. It is observed that the
temperature of the airbox hot-spot adjacent to the recuperator increases before
peaking after tlt,er e 4, and then dropping off. The figure includes a time his-
tory of the peak airbox temperature, including a comparison to an
NPHASE+RADTHERM simulation with no soakback flow. It is seen that
that the impact of soakback cooling flow is very small.
Figure 31 illustrates the thermal history of the bulkhead. The temperature
of the bulkhead hot spot opposite the engine increases only very slightly,
peaking after tlt,er e 1.5 and then dropping off. The time history of the peak
temperature shown in the figure demonstrates that the impact of soakback
cooling flow is small, however, it is seen to actually increase the bulkhead peak
temperature somewhat. The physical explanation for this counter-intuitive
finding can be gleaned from figure 32. There, predicted total velocity vectors
are plotted in an x-y plane midway between the smallest recuperator-bulkhead
gap. Clearly, the soakback flow has a significant effect on the local velocity
field there, with significant cross flow arising compared to the principally ver-
tical buoyancy dominated field without soakback flow. Comparison with the
lower part of the figure shows that with the soakback fan on, cross flow gives
rise to higher local convection temperatures by virtue of the transport of hotter
fluid into the hot-spot region. This in turn gives rise to higher film tempera-
tures when interpolated to RADTHERM. Accordingly convection
flux, q" = H(Twall- Tmm), is lower for the case without soakback flow.
Figure 33 illustrates the thermal history of the engine compartment cover.
The temperature of the cover hot spot opposite the exhaust duct increases,
peaking at tlt,er e 4 and then dropping off. Soakback cooling reduces the peak
predicted engine compartment cover temperature by a negligible amount.
The thermal history of the engine is illustrated in figure 34. There it is seen
that the engine cools quite rapidly from its initial condition {steady TI opera-
tion). The figure illustrates that all components of the en-
gine+recuperator+exhaust duct cool with the exception of those parts in im-
mediate contact with the burner, which retain higher temperatures through
conduction from the burner region. The peak engine temperature decay is
rapid in the first tlt,er e 10 after engine shut down, but levels off to a much
slower decay after that. Simulations with and without soakback fan cooling are
virtually indistinguishable for the engine on this scale. For comparison, in fig-
ure 34, the original engine model prediction (no-multilayer treatment - as-
sumed pure metal) is included. It is observed that the improved physical mod-
eling of the engine gives rise to a higher peak (and, as it were, bulk)
temperature in the slow heat decay region beyond t/t,er e 10.
The generator soakback thermal history is illustrated in figure 35. The hot
spot on this part is seen to decay monotonically during soakback. This is due
to the comparatively low thermal mass of the exhaust duct which itself cools
quickly (refer figure 34). The simulations with and without soakback cooling
are very similar.
Figure 36 shows views of the transmission over the t/t,er = 30 after engine
shut down. Clearly observable is the decay in the engine-burner-facing hot
spot. Also observable is the relatively rapid cooling experienced in the sump
region compared with the transmission housing above the sump line. This of
course is due to the modeling discussed above. The figure also includes the
time history of the decay of the two transmission hot spots. The temperature
decays monotonically from engine shutdown for both hot spots, and simula-
tions with and without soakback cooling are very similar.
Conclusions
The analyses carried out under the present effort involved the application of state-
of-the-art grid generation, CFD and radiation heat transfer analysis software. Large
high quality hybrid unstructured meshes were constructed using ICEM-CFD. The
NPHASE CFD code was employed to solve the flow and convective thermal trans-
port. The commercial radiation analysis package, RADTHERM, was employed in
assessing the radiation dominated peak temperatures in the system.
References
Kunz, R.F., Yu, W.S., Antal, S.P., Ettorre, S.M. "An Unstructured Two-Fluid
Method Based on the Coupled Phasic Exchange Algorithm," AIAA Paper 2001-2672,
Proc. 15th AIAA Computational Fluid Dynamics Conference, Anaheim, CA, June,
2001.
Antal, S.P., Ettorre, S.M., Kunz, R.F., Podowski, M.Z. "Development of a Next-
Generation Computer Code for the Prediction of Multicomponent Multiphase
Flows," presented at the International Meeting on Trends in Numerical and Physical
Modeling for Industrial Multiphase Flow, Cargese, France, September 27, 2000.
Yu, W.S., Kunz, R.F., Antal, S.P., Ettorre, S.M. "Unstructured Rotor Stator
Analysis of Axial Turbomachinery Using a Pressure-Based Method", ASME Paper pre-
sented at the International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition, New
York, NY, November, 15,2001.
Kreith, Frank Principles of Heat Transfer, Harper and Row, New York, 1973.
Schlicting, Hennann Boundary Layer Theory. McGraw-Hill, New York, 1968.
Touloukian.. Y.S., DeWitt, D.P. (eds.) Thermal Radiative Properties: Metallic
Elements and Alloys, Vol. 7 of Thermophysical Properties of Matter, Plenum Press,
New York, 1970.
METIS Version 4.0 documentation, 2001.
ICEM CFD Software User Manual v4.1, ICEM CFD Engineering, Berkeley, CA,
2000.
Front
Airflow
~~~~~---- Pa
lntak1
Grille
Fig. l. Sketch of engine compartment configuration and cooling air flow path for OT & T I.
Fig. 2. Two views of the ICEM model.
Fig. 3. a) View of the ICEM engine compartment model illustrating the complexity of the con-
figuration . b) View of24 domain METIS partitioning for engine compartment model.
mas flow 05
to'
• .li"
to'
" .,~
pressure -l '8
5
25
.J
Fig. 4. Representative NPHASE convergence history for engine compartment analyses. Shown
are pressure and velociry residuals, and global mass flow rate through compartment (outflow-
inflow).
Fig. 5. Engine T/T.,rmap, specified in NPHASE for OT/TI operation.
Auld uD
AT- q" =kt.T/ll.y
Fig. 6 . Illustration of transmission components and specialized conjugate heating boundary

condition employed in NPHASE.
"Cbhf" b..."1.rkside
lhsiltttU
Fig. 7. Illustration of airbox and specialized conjugate hearing boundary condition employed in
NPHASE.
Wide Open Throttle
Electronics coo ler:

·\pl\p., =
1.00
Transmission o il cooler :
\pi .p 1 : 1 31
Engine oil cooler:

=
.:.pi. 'P ., 0.69
Fig. Sa. Illustration of three heat exchangers and design specifications for their respective pres-
sure drop, l1p/l1p"r' at OT & TI operation.
Wide Open Throttle
Electronics cooler:
'\T' T =100
Transmission o il cooler:
\T T =
9.12
Eng ine oil c ool er:

T"T = 2.47
Fig. Sb. Illustration of three heat exchangers and design specifications for .their respective tem-
perature rise, !1T/!1T"r' at OT & TI operation.
Fig. 9. Predicted velocity vectors just above and through the three heat exchangers, illustrating
the straightening due to resistance modeling employed.
• (m
Fig. 10. Elements of fan body-force modeling employed. a) View of fan vicinity, b) output of
throughflow code.
Fig. 11. Errors in NPHASE vs. design pressure changes (dp NPHASE-dPoESIGN) across heat ex-
changers and fan .
Predicted Temperature Contour IWide Open Throttle

+ 0.8 °F
i + 0.0 °F
+ 0.0 "F
Fig. 12. Errors in NPHASE vs. design temperature changes (LlT NPHASE-Ll T DESIGN) across
heat exchangers.
Fig. 13. NPHASE and RADTHERM surface meshes for generator and airbox.
·--
~-- i.. ~ ·-
;·- r--- ~ r-
~ =- ,§~-~qo=u
,,_,_~· ~ ·A< -•<..•--•
Fig. 14. RADTHERM interface with view of engine compartment model (grey-scale).
tr=~:u:~:on tt.'Jgnant air

oil
3 layer
lr3nsrnl 1.. 1
part
Fig. 15a. 3-layer transmission part treatment for soakback RADTHERM analyses.
Fig. 15b. ICEM-CFD family split employed for the transmission to distinguish between regions
with sump oil and those without under soakback conditions.
J l':ilyer tt-•gir•e
pAri
Fig. 16. Sketch of 3-layer engine part treatment for soakback RADTHERM analyses.
Fig. 17. Elemenrs of OT NPHASE simulation. Streamlines shaded by temperature, and tem-
perature (T/T"r = 0.82) iso-surface (lighter surface enshrouding engine region).
Fig. 18. Selected streamlines from OT NPHASE simulation.
Fig. 19. Rear-view in-plane velocity vectors, shaded by velocity magnitude (scale in VIV"r), for
OT (left) and TI (right) NPHAS E simulations.
Fig. 20. Top-view in-plane velocity vectors, shaded by velocity magnitude (scale in V/V"r), for
OT (left) and TI (right) NPHASE simulations.
Fig. 21. Two cross-sectional views of density contours (p/p,mb;,.,), illustrating weak thermally
induced perfect gas density variations within the engine compartment.
1 1013)3
p ( h> )
101 3_')
Fig. 22. NPHASE SB simulation. Pressure contours, illustrating weak gravitational head rise
within engine compartment.
Fig. 23. NPHASE SB simulation. Streamline field illustrating the complex thermally induced
free-convection field.
Ttr"'
.111
Fig. 24. NPHASE SB simulation. T/T"rcontours in vicinity of generator and exhaust duct.
Fig. 25. NPHASE SB simulation. TIT..r contours in vicinity of engine and air box.
Fig. 26. NPHASE SB simulation. Free-convection induced velocity vectors in x-y plane in vi-
cinity of transmission, generator and exhaust duct.
Fig. 27. NPHASE SB simulation. Free-convection induced velocity vectors in y-z plane in vi-
cinity of engine and transmission.
r,,.,.r,., u -t6 r ..,""rr,.r = o 767

Fig. 28. RADTHERM OT temperature predictions on engine compartment cover. With
NPHASE H,Tfilm convection values (left) and no-convection (righr\
T.~T,., 0.- ~ 1,,. T,., 0.803
T ,.,r'Trt: 0.686
Fig. 29. RADTHERM OT temperature predictions on generator and on airbox. With

NPHASE H,Tfilm convection values (left) and no-convection (right) .
•611 !----!:----+.,.~-~---!
llnl
Fig. 30. Sequence of predicted airbox surface temperature fields for SB case. Temperature con-
tour range is from 120°F to 240°F. tlc"rO, 2.5, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30. Time history of peak pre-
dicted airbox surface temperature.
.
.
718
~ Soakbatc:k Flow
.... No Soakback Flow
!2
....
§
E
]
"
.&n a 10 1~ lO ~ ~ ~
l 'tnr
Fig. 31. Sequence of predicted bulkhead surface temperature fields for SB case. Temperature
contour range is from l20°F to 225°F. t/t.,r =0, 2.5, 5, I 0, 15, 20, 25, 30. Time history of peak
predicted bulkhead surface temperature.
Fig. 32. NPHASE predicted total velocity vectors in an x-y plane midway between smallest re-
cuperator-bulkhead gap for SB cases. NPHASE predicted temperature contours (T/T"rl on
bulkhead for SB cases.
....
t;
,!
~
~
~
..2
!L
~
e
So akbKk Flow
~
::< No SoabKk Flow
.•35"
"
,.
Vt..r
Fig. 33. Sequence of predicted engine compartment cover surface temperature fields for SB case.
Temperature contour range is from 115°F to 185°F. t/t"r =O, 2.5, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30. Time
history of peak predicted engine compartment cover surface temperature.
SoMbacll now
No ao•ba<:k Flow
Sa .. bade now, Of'ig. RADTt£RM Model
' '·
.611 ,. .. ..
Vt..r "
Fig. 34. Sequence of predicted engine and exhaust duct surface temperature fields fot SB case.
Temperature contour range is from 120°F to 550°F. tlt"r =0, 2.5, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30. Time
history of peak predicted engine surface temperature.
........
r ' 1- 1: r
----
I
I I I I
.711
l
J
\ \
-Flow
No Solld:taciCRow
.750 of-'-~..-...,!10,_...._"'"";\,.,......~""-;!:;,.~~~..
llt..r
Fig. 35. Sequence of predicted generator surface temperature fields for SB case. Temperature
contour range is from 120°F to 290°F. t!t"r =0, 2.5, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30. Time history of peak
predicted generator surface temperature .
... i
.ru
t::.
.~t .!
s•
SoMbadl Flow
No So*bac:k Flow
' --
e ·~ ~~c~Fiow
No Solllcblck Flow ~
!! !!
I
1!
:it ---------- !
.
... .
L'\,.r
.,
"
~t!
.
Fig. 36. Sequence of predicted transmission surface temperature fields for SB case. Temperature
contour range is from 120oF to 280°F. t!t"r =0, 2.5, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30. Time history of peak
predicted transmission surface temperature. Hot spots considered here are directly across from
the engine burner (left) and directly attached to the engine (right).
Aerodynamics of High Speed Trains
Experiments and CFD in Train Aerodynamics: A
Young and Turbulent Association Full of Potential
Remi Gregoire
Alstom Transport, France
The advent of the modern high-speed train system may be dated back to 1964
with the opening of the first Shinkansen high-speed line in Japan, at an initial
revenue service speed of 210 km/h. At same time it associated very fast rolling-
stock and dedicated high-speed track infrastructure, it opened a new era for
the aerodynamic design of ground transportation systems. On the one hand,
the aerodynamic portion of the train running resistance was going over two
third of the global running resistance. On the other, new kind of aerodynamic
problems needed to be faced, such as those going together with train travels in
tunnel and passing of opposite high-speed trains on adjacent tracks.
These new problems could not anymore be grasped solely through
conventional full-scale or even wind-runnel reduced-scale test methods due to
(i) the absence of already built high-speed tracks and tunnels, (ii) the transient
nature of the airflows and boundary conditions in case of a train moving
relatively to another train or a tunnel. As a consequence, the usefulness of the
newly born CFD techniques started to emerge in the seventies with first
applications made by the French National Railways (SNCF) with dedicated
steady and unsteady 3-dimensional Panel Method programs. The way was
then paved for the very diverse CFD investigations the design of high-speed
train systems could benefit.
The objective of this paper is thus to address, through a few examples, the
way the need and the use of the CFD techniques have evolved these last
decades in complementarity with experiments. The paper also focuses on
present and future speed-up of CFD applications due to both ever increasing
computational, CAD and CFD resources and appearance of new troublesome
railway aerodynamic issues related to HSTs' cross-wind sensitivity as well as
aerodynamic noise emergence over 320 km/h.
Recent Studies of Train Slipstreams
T. Johnson, S. Dalley, andJ. Temple
AEA Technology Rail, Derby, England
1 Introduction
When a train travels in the open air it displaces the air around and over it
forming a slipstream alongside the train and a wake behind. The air at the
surface of the train moves at the speed of the train, whilst far from the train
the air moves at the ambient air speed. Therefore, there is a region near the
train sides where the air can be moving at speeds comparable to that of the
train. In this region the air is very turbulent and, depending on the aerody-
namic roughness of the train, may contain complex and interacting vortices.
After the train passes there is a wake flow, which decays as the train moves
away.
The turbulent and highly chaotic air flows in the train's slipstream and wake
impact on people and objects near the passing train. The adverse effects in-
crease with the aerodynamic roughness and speed of the train. Certain trains
can create airflows sufficiently large that they pose a danger to people either
working at the trackside or to passengers waiting on station platforms.
With increasing freight and passenger train speeds in Europe, there has been
a strong interest in understanding the nature of slipstreams with a view to
minimising the potential danger and producing common European standards
to control the risk. Recent studies of high-speed train slipstreams have been
carried out in a European collaboration and are briefly reviewed in this paper.
2 Slipstream Generation and Effects

The mainly longitudinal airflows created by the train slipstream can produce
hazardous aerodynamic effects at the trackside, both on trackside workers and
their equipment as well as on passengers with their belongings on station
platforms. Indeed, there have been a number of incidents caused by train slip-
streams on station platforms in Britain since 1977:
• A luggage barrow was drawn by the train slipstream and hit the train side
before rebounding across the platform,
416 T. Johnson, S. Dalley, and J. Temple
• Children's pushchairs, usually with luggage in and the brakes on, have been
drawn into the trains' slipstreams and set into motion or destroyed by the
train.
• Three people have been almost knocked off their feet by passing trains.
The train slipstream is generated by the viscous shearing effect of the train
moving through the air. Gust components and turbulence are created by sur-
face roughness elements and discontinuities in the train surface, such as ex-
posed bogies, intercar gaps and gaps between containers. Aerodynamically
rough trains such as freight trains, especially freightliners and open car carriers,
generate very strong slipstream flows, which peak as the train is passing. For
streamlined trains the peak air speeds occur in the wake of the train after it has
passed.
Fig. 1 shows typical measured averaged resultant slipstream air speeds
caused by a German ICE high-speed passenger train passing a station platform.
The air speeds have been normalised by the train speed and the time base has
been adjusted to be a distance base by multiplying by train speed. Measure-
ments were made using anemometers measuring the longitudinal and lateral
horizontal components of the air velocity at a height of 1.335 m above the
platform and at 0.5 m, 1.0 m and 1.5 m from the platform edge.
At each position, the resultant air speeds show similar characteristics:
• A sudden peak and subsequent fall in speed as the train nose passes (at about
50 m) .
• A maximum value just after the tail of the train passes (just after 400 m) .
• A steady rise in mean air speed between the nose and tail passing.
• A gradual decay in air speed after the train has passed for a distance similar to
that of the train length.
0.3
0.25
Platfom1 1.5 m
c
·u
0 0.2
v
.,> 0. 15
"
.!::!
-.;
e 0. 1
z0
0.05
100 200 300 400 500 600 700 00
Distance (m)
Fig. 1. Comparison of mean slipstream velocities on a platform at a height of 1.335 m

and at different locations from the platform edge
Recent Studies of Train Slipstreams 417
0.6
Fig. 2. Mean, 5'h and 95'h percenrile slipstream velocities from full-scale tests
However, at the measurement position closest to the train, the peaks associ-
ated with the nose and tail passing are significantly greater than at the other
rwo positions. Also, the air speed as the train passes is much higher and ex-
hibits larger fluctuations at the closest measurement position. The larger
fluctuations have been found to correlate with the passing of the coaches of the
train.
Fig. 2 shows the spread of the data around the mean slipstream history for a
typical series of data, consisting of 10 train passes and taken with very low am-
bient wind speeds. This demonstrates the wide spread of the data even when
ambient conditions are favourable.
The main factors influencing slipstream strengths are the train speed; the
distance away from the side of the train; the shape and surface finish of the
train and the ambient wind speed and direction. It has been observed in tests
that strong cross-winds significantly enhance slipstream effects on the lee-side
of the train.
It is worth noting that improvements in the design of trains from the point
of view of aerodynamic drag are usually also beneficial in reducing slipstream
effects.
Finally, a train slipstream is a truly unsteady and almost chaotic phenome-
non when viewed from a stationary viewpoint. This has sometimes led to
confusing and contradictory results being obtained from full-scale test meas-
urements in the past.
3 Safety Standards
Despite the concerns held by the European railway operators, there is currently
no single safety standard for train slipstreams in Europe. However, the Euro-
pean standardisation body, CEN, will shortly be working to determine one.
Nevertheless, each railway company has its own rules for controlling the risk
based on notional limit values. For instance, in the UK a maximum peak slip-
stream value of 17 m/s has been applied in the past, although more recently a
comparative air speed criterion has been applied on the basis that existing op-
erations are 'safe'. In France, the French national railways apply limits to the
maximum force exerted by a train's slipstream on a cylindrical instrument; the
limit value being derived by comparison with exerting traffic. The German
railways also apply limits to maximum slipstream speeds using existing opera-
tions to determine limit values.
The risk from the slipstreams is then controlled by applying safe standing
distances for people near the track, indicated by a yellow line on the platform
for passengers; limiting train speeds or banning people from passing high
speed trains altogether. Safe standing distances vary from one European
country to another.
What is puzzling is that, although the physics of slipstreams must be invari-
ant, there is no international consensus about the most important characteris-
tics of the turbulent slipstream and wake as they affect people. This has led to
different characteristics being measured, i.e. air speeds or air forces on a repre-
sentative body, rather different limit values being adopted and differing meas-
ures to control the risk.
There are several possible reasons for this lack of consensus.
1. There is a genuine uncertainty about which physical quantity is the most
important for the stability of people.
2. The use of limit values determined from the assumption that the current
situation is safe will highlight differences between national railways e.g. op-
erating practices and train speeds, existing control measures, train patterns
etc.
3. Ensuring the safety of people from train slipstreams is not entirely an aero-
dynamics issue as there is a strong element of subjective response involved,
with other factors being involved such as the person's perception of danger,
their preparedness for the event among several.
It is for the reasons discussed above the recent studies of train slipstreams
were made at a European level.
4 The RAPIDE Project
The RAPIDE Project (Schulte-Werning et al 1999) was a three year EC co-

funded project under the Brite-Euram 3'd Framework with the following part-
ners:
Recent Studies ofTrain Slipstreams 419
• Deutsche Bahn AG, the German national railway company.

• Societe Nationale des Chemins de Fer Frans:ais, the French national railway
company.
• Trenitalia, the former Italian national railway company.
• AEA Technology Rail, a British railway consultancy company.
• Motor Industries Research Association, a British motor research and devel-
opment company.
• RUAG, a Swiss aircraft and systems company.
• Bombardier, one of the world's leading railway manufacturers.
Part of the project programme of studies consisted of investigating the slip-
streams of high-speed passenger trains and consisted of a series of tests at full-
scale in Germany, complementary model scale measurements and CFD stud-
Ies.
4.1 Full Scale Tests - HST

Full-scale tests were carried out in Germany in 2000 with German ICE high-
speed passenger trains as part of the RAPIDE project. A variety of slipstream
measurements were made by the trackside and on a station. The along-track
and across-track components of the slipstream velocity were measured at a
number of lateral positions using ERA gust anemometers, (see Fig. 3). Other
measurements were made simultaneously: the aerodynamic forces on a cylin-
der (see Fig. 4) and on instrumented shop mannequins; the ambient condi-
tions, temperature, pressure and wind speed. During the tests, data was col-
lected for a number of passes of an ICE 2 test train and for normal service ICE
trains.
The analysis of the velocity data is described later in the paper.
Fig. 3. ERA gust anemometer array at the trackside during full-scale tests
Fig. 4. Force measurement cylinder at trackside. (Note the height of the ballast shoulder)
4.2 Model Scale Tests

Prior to the full-scale tests described in the last section, an extensive series of
model scale tests were carried out to systematically investigate the slipstream of
a high-speed train. The facility used was the AEA Technology Rail Moving
Model Rig (MMR).
4.2.1 The MMR

The MMR consists of two 150 m long tracks, along which train models can be
fired at full-scale train speeds. About a third of the track length is required for
the acceleration of the models, the central third comprises the test section and
the final third is needed to decelerate the trains. Fig.5 shows the model ICE
train on the MMR test section.
The MMR was originally conceived as a facility to study train-generated
pressures in tunnels and to ensure that the pressure waves are correctly phased
with the train movement, it is necessary to ensure the train Mach number
similarity with full-scale.
The power for the models is supplied by bungee rubbers using a catapult
principle and train speeds up to 270 km/h can be easily achieved. However, ·
gearing is necessaty to prevent over-rapid acceleration and deceleration, which
potentially could damage the models. The train speed is nearly constant along
the test section if no tunnel is mounted. Braking is achieved by the model
picking up a link to a piston that is drawn into a deformable tube and the
model kinetic energy is thereby dissipated.
Recent Studies ofT rain Slipstreams 421
Fig. 5. ICE train model on the AEATR Moving Model Rig
The MMR has been used extensively for determining train aerodynamic
characteristics in tunnels and in the open air (pressures). Pressure measure-
ments in both types of tests have been validated against full-scale data.
Further information about the MMR can be found in Johnson and Dalley
1999.
4.2.2 Test Programme

A programme of studies was carried out on the MMR. A 1/25'h scale model of
the leading and trailing end vehicles plus two intermediate vehicles of an ICE
train model was fired along the MMR. A large number of runs were under-
taken with two nominal train speeds of 110 km/h and 180 km/h. Eight hot
film anemometers were used in a trackside rake, extending from 5-80 mm
from the train surface, to measure the slipstream velocity along the sides and
over the roof of the train. Both lateral and longitudinal components of velocity
were measured. The data was collected using 4000 Hz sampling with filtering
at 1000Hz.
4.2.3 Data Analysis

Preliminary analysis of the data showed (Baker et a! 200 1) that it is necessary
to treat the time histories of slipstream velocity in a statistical manner. Even
when the ambient conditions were the same and the train speeds very similar,
it was found that there was a large variability between runs in the time histories
of the velocity components at each measurement position. It was decided,
therefore, to ensemble-average the results.
The runs were sorted according to train speed, with two target values, and
the data grouped when the speed varied within ±2 m/s of the group mean
speed. The time base was converted a distance base by multiplying by train
speed, and the slipstream velocity magnitudes formed and non-
dimensionalised by the train speed. The time series data was then aligned to
event markers, particularly the train nose passing. This enabled the data to be
meaningfully averaged at each measurement position.
Following detailed analysis, it was found that 10 runs were sufficient to
form stable ensemble averages of means, but at least 20 runs were needed to
form stable ensemble averages of standard deviations.
This result is important and explains some of the non-repeatability between
results observed in previous full-scale tests obtained with the few measure-
ments that were practicable. This seems to imply that the slipstream is a cha-
otic process requiring a statistical description. This point will be returned to
later.
Upslream - normalised velocltie! Nose - normalised velocities
~
OA
-2 -1.5 ·I
-· gl
.0.5 0 0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25
Boundary layer • normalised velocities Near wa ke- normalised veloci1ies
0.4 0.4
~
0.3 0.3
0.2 0.2
0.1 0.1
I
2 0 6 8 10
Fig. 6 . Ensemble-averaged measurements of the train model slipstream velocities. (Distances

from train side: dark line 5 mm, medium line 20 mm, light line 60 mm)
Fig. 6 shows the ensemble-averaged slipstream velocities as the train passes.
At non-dimensional times t=O and t=4, the nose and tail of the model respec-
tively pass the measurement position. Measurements at 5 mm, 20 mm and
60 mm from the side of the train are shown. The measurement made at 5 mm
from the train side is within the train boundary layer.
It was concluded that:
1. Five flow regions describe the train slipstream: an upstream region, a nose
region, a boundary layer region as the train passes, a near wake region just
after the tail passes and a far wake region.
2. The effect of model speed is small if the results are suitably normalised.
3. Ensemble averaging of the velocity data is required to achieve some order to
the data (as stated above).
4. The train boundary layer reaches equilibrium (ie the ratio of the momen-
tum and displacement thicknesses is constant) along the first carriage then
grows steadily after that.
4.3 Comparison of Full Scale and Model Scale Tests

The analysis of the full-scale data followed the methodology developed during
the analysis of the measurements from the model scale tests. The velocity data
was re-based to a distance rather than a time base and non-dimensionalised by
train speed. The full-scale test train speeds were approximately 280 km/h for
ICE2 test train and 250 km/h for the ICE service trains. The velocities were
ensemble-averaged, although there were only 9 suitable runs with the service
trains and 7 for the ICE2 test train, and the mean slipstream resultant veloci-
ties determined. The data from the MMR tests had also to be adjusted for
model scale.
One further process was necessary before comparison of the data from the
model and full-scale tests. The ICE train is 364m long; the ICE2 train is
205 m long whilst the model was approximately 100m long (full-scale value).
Therefore, it was necessary to cut the various velocity traces in order to align
the tail passing events. The comparison is shown in Fig. 7 for trackside meas-
urements at approximately 1.5 m from the nearest rail. This shows reasonable
agreement in the magnitude of the velocity pulse produced by the passing of
the train nose.
The magnitude of the velocity pulse caused by the passing of the model
train tail is significantly larger that that measured at full scale for the service
trains, but is slightly smaller than that for the test train.
Between the passing of the train nose and tail there is a significant difference
in the velocity magnitudes measured on the model and those measured at full-
scale. At full-scale, the velocity magnitudes climb steadily after the nose passes,
generally being above 1Oo/o of train speed. For the model measurements, how-
ever, it looks as if the velocity magnitude will remain well below 10% of train
speed after the nose passes. This is ascribed to the boundary layer around the
model train being thinner than that at full scale.
At the surface of the train the air will move at train speed and will reduce
with lateral distance from the train side. The train boundary layer thickness
may be defined by the lateral distance from the side of the train at which the
air velocity is 1o/o of train speed. In practice, it is the region of fast moving air
close to the train side which is on most interest for the safety of people at
trackside. For the MMR it appears as if this region of fast moving air is thin-
ner than at full-scale. It is not clear if this is a Reynolds' number effect, an ar-
tefact of the reduced train length used at model scale or caused because the
high track ballast shoulder at the full-scale test site was not simulated at model
scale.
0
·;:;
0
">
E
"'
"
t:
"' 0.20
~
"0
0.15
"
.;!l
-;;;
E
0 0.10
c
c
"'
"
:::E
0.05
0.00
0 200 400 600 00 1000
Distance (m)
Fig. 7. Comparison of model slipstream measurements with full-scale results for the ICE service
trains and the ICE2 test train.
The slipstream velocities in the wake initially compare favourably, with the
decay well captured. However, in the far wake region there is a poorer com-
parison. This has been attributed to the use of a linear calibration for the hot
film sensors, which introduces an increasing error as velocities become smaller.
It was concluded that model tests are useful for examining train slipstreams,
but, until the discussed discrepancies are satisfactorily resolved, they should be
conservatively used for making comparative studies, eg freight trains with and
without streamlining devices, rather than absolute measurements.
4.4 CFD Calculations

Deutsche Bahn carried out a transient analysis of the flow around the end ve-
hicle and in the wake of an ICE train. Of interest originally, was the possibility
of aerodynamically induced oscillations of the train end-car when travelling in
tunnels.
Fig. 8. Transient flow around the rear section of an ICE2. The approximate time step between
frames is 0.15 seconds
This phenomenon has been observed in Japan and has led to complaints
from passengers of a type of motion sickness. For this application, however,
CFD was used to provide some insight into the transient nature of the slip-
stream and wake behind a high-speed passenger train.
The method used was a fully three-dimensional transient RANS approach,
with a RNG k~ _ turbulence model. The method was embodied in the
FLUENT 5.4 CFD software.
The transient flow around a horizontal section through the ICE was exam-
ined. Fig. 8 shows a series of instantaneous solutions from the CFD simula-
tion, depicting the flow pathlines. The periodic nature of the can be observed
in the pathline patterns.
It was observed by inspecting the evolution of the pathlines from the train
frame of reference, that the flow behind the train has a periodic nature and
vortices are shed from alternate sides of the train with a frequency of about
1.4 Hz. This means that when the train passes a single velocity measurement
device, it may see only one of a number of different velocity time-history pos-
sibilities. From the train frame of reference the predicted slipstream behaviour
is more orderly than appears from a fixed passed point. This goes some way to
explaining why such variability has been observed in slipstream velocity data
and why a statistical approach was necessary to analyse the data. It also implies
that the use of many along-track measurement positions, rather than multiple
train passes may be a practical way of capturing the data in future with the
consequent reduction in costs.
4.5 Human Response Modelling

It was stated in section 3 that the issue of people's safety from slipstream ef-
fects is complicated by subjective response. Nevertheless, a model of human
response to the aerodynamic effects alone is useful to begin with. A simple
mechanical model was developed within the RAPID£ project which provides
some insights.
There is a wide body of published research into the effects of wind on peo-
ple, primarily associated with wind speeds around the built environment (e.g.
Peters 1999, Poulton et al. 1975, Soligo et al. 1998).
Fukuchi (1961) examined human response to winds and conjectured that
muscular response begins after about 0.25 s following the application of an in-
stantaneous force. After a further 0.125 s, 64% of muscular response is
achieved. After this it is assumed here that subjective response will begin,
which cannot be predicted in a mechanical way.
Thus, the model proposed in RAPID£ assumed that in the period for about
113 of a second following the application of a wind force, humans respond
mechanically ie like an object.
Fig. 9 shows an idealised body with an applied aerodynamic force, F(t),
generated by a wind. By applying conservation of energy, it is possible to re-
late the angular acceleration of the body to the angle of tilt, S(t):
Recent Studies ofT rain Slipstreams 427
d 2e (1)
I - - - F(t){bcose + 2asin8)- mg( acose- bsine)
dt 2 -
where:
I is the body moment of inertia about the line of rotation
F(t) is the time-dependent aerodynamic force due to the wind load
a is the body half-width
b is the body half-height
m is the body mass
g is the acceleration due to gravity
tis time
The aerodynamic force is related to the wind speed V)t) in the usual way:
F(t) =; pACD Vw 2 (t) (2)
where p is the density of air, A is the area of the body facing the wind and C 0
is the aerodynamic drag coefficient.
r
2b
F(t)
1
Timet= 0 Timet
Fig. 9. Idealised human body rotating under the influence of an aerodynamic force.
Using values of a, b and C 0 appropriate for human beings, a solution to (1)

can be obtained using a simple time-stepping method. An idealised slipstream
gust consisting of a mean wind speed with a sinusoidal pulse superimposed on
it is shown in Fig. 10. The amplitude and width of this pulse, (hence the gust
frequency), can be varied and used as an input to the model.
20 - - -
15 ~
/ '\
"'E
......
-o
0
10
/
0
c..
~
</)
~
I::
~ 5
0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3
Time, s
Fig. 10. Wind pulse superimposed on a 5 m/s mean wind speed.
'Falling down' is defined as occurring when the body tilts to the angle at
which the mass moment acts to continue the rotation rather than resisting it
within 0.35 s. An examination was then made of when falling down occurs
with different gust amplitudes and pulse widths. Such an examination is
shown in Fig. 11 for an object with the characteristics of a typical man of
85 kg weight.
This example shows three curves corresponding to the falling down wind
speeds associated with three values of mean wind speed on which the wind
pulses have been superimposed. It shows how the combined wind pulse and
mean wind speed needed to cause falling down increases as the pulse width be-
comes smaller (effectively as its frequency increase), as might be expected. The
effect of the mean wind is to reduce the total wind speed needed to cause fal-
ling down, as it provides a pre-load to the body. However, the relative effect of
the pre-load is not large unless the pulse frequency is high.
This model appears capable of providing useful insights into the aerody-
namic effects on people before they have a chance to respond, and it will be
used to compare with published results for human stability in natural winds
and in the building environment.
29 \
27
\
,...,
--f/)
25
\\
\\"
E
--
.........
-ci 23
'~
0)
0) \
a.
Cl) ... '
"0 21 ...
'~
c: ...
3 19 ...
. ......
• .... . . ~ r-- I
17 .. - -... -r---
.. - - .
15
0 0. 1 0.2 0.3 0.4
Pul e Width, I
Fig. 11. Wind speeds necessary to cause falling down for a man of weight 85 kg for different
wind pulse widths and mean wind speeds. (Heavy line, mean wind=O m/s; chained line, mean
wind=5 m/s, dotted line, mean wind= 10 m/s)
5 Conclusions
A brief review has been made of recent studies undertaken on the slipstreams
of high-speed passenger trains. This work was carried out in the European re-
search project RAPID£. The studies included:
• Full-scale test measurements of slipstream velocities generated by German
ICE trains.
• A model scale investigation of slipstream velocities at the side and above the
roof of a model ICE.
• CFD modelling of the flow around the rear of an ICE.
• Estimating the wind speeds necessary to make humans fall over before they
have time to react using a simple mathematical model.
The model tests showed that a stochastic approach is necessary for slip-
stream analysis. Single measurements of slipstream velocity give only one pos-
sibility, as the slipstream is highly transient and appears chaotic from the
ground frame of reference. It is necessary to have at least ten ensemble-
averaged runs to obtain stable mean values of velocity, and about twenty for
stable standard deviations. This may be achieved either by having either mul-
tiple runs of the train and/or having multiple simultaneous measurements for a
single train pass.
Model tests may offer a cheaper approach to full scale testing, but some is-
sues related to boundary growth on short train models have not been resolved.
CFD has shown that the flow structure behind a train may exhibit more or-
derly behaviour when viewed from the train reference frame. The use of CFD
as a useful flow visualisation tool has been demonstrated.
The simple mathematical modelling of wind speeds necessary to cause fal-
ling down shows some promise in helping to understand human behaviour
before subjective response takes over. However, more subjective data is needed
for track workers and people in stations, including the effects of; wind speed,
train noise, distraction and surprise. Until this information is available and
correlated with the physical effects, it is difficult to determine how much the
safety of people from slipstream effects depends solely on aerodynamics.
Another outstanding issue is that the effect of cross winds not been reliably
established, although there is some evidence that they can significantly aug-
ment slipstream velocities in the lee-side of trains.
A new European project is proposed to address some of these outstanding
issues, particular subjective response.
References
Baker CJ, Dalley S, Johnson T, Quinn A, Wright NG (2001) The slipstreams and
wake of a high-speed train. Proc Instn Mech Engrs, Part F, 215: 83-99.
Fukuchi G (1961) Field Measurement of Train Drafts. Permanent Way No. 11, (Vol.
4, No. 2), Translated from "Tetsudo Senro", bulletin of Permanent Way Society
of Japan, Vol. 9, No.4, Permanent Way Society of Japan
Johnson T, Dalley S. (1999) An experimental facility for the investigation of aerody-
namic effects. World Congress on Railway Research, Tokyo, 19-23 October.
Glockle H, Gawthorpe RG (1991) Railways: consideration of the environment. Aero-
dynamics- Trackside Safety Environment, Seminar S992, London, October, Inst
Mec4 Engnrs.
Peters JWH (1999) Air Movements and human postural stability Arbo Management
Groep\ Ergonomics 2109-E (AM) Project Organisation High Speed Line South
Infrastructure (HSL South Infra), Utrecht, Netherlands
Poulton E., Hunt JCR, Mumford JC, Poulton J (1975) The Mechanical Disturbance
Produced by Steady and Gusty Winds of Moderate Strength: Skilled Performance
and Semantic Assessments, Ergonomics, Vol. 18, No.6, pp 651-673
Schulte-Werning B, Marschke G, Gregoire R, Johnson T (1999) RAPID£: A project
of joint aerodynamics research of the European high-speed rail operators. World
Congress on Railway Research, Tokyo, 19-23 October
Soligo MJ, Irwin PA, Williams CJ, Schuyler GO (1998) A comprehensive assessment
of pedestrian comfort including thermal effects. Journal of Wind Engineering and
Industrial Aerodynamics, Vol. 77/78, pp. 753-766, Elsevier
Aerodynamic Effects in Railway Tunnels
as Speed is Increased
V. Bourquin, C. Beguin, and P .A. Monkewitz
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Laboratory of Fluid Mechanics, EPFL-

LMF, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland. bourquin@mac.com
Abstract
The aerodynamic effects occurring in a tunnel as a train moves into or through
it are totally different from those observed in the open air and their amplitude
and severity grow as the train speed is increased. The flow in the whole tunnel
needs to be considered in the same time as the flow in the vicinity of the vehi-
cle. Aerodynamic forces, pressure waves and acoustics have a strong impact on
safety and comfort issues.
When a train enters into a tunnel, a compression wave is generated, propa-
gates through the tunnel and is reflected at the tunnel extremity. During the
reflection process a part of the wave is transmitted outside the tunnel in the
form of a micro-pressure wave, which may generate a "sonic boom" problem,
depending on the shape of the incident wave, in particular the gradient of the
wavefront. The shape of the wave changes as it propagates through the tunnel
under the influence of the unsteady viscous effects (in particular skin friction
at the tunnel wall), the non-linear effects and the presence of material and
components in the tunnel (for example, ballast or niches). Measurements of
the skin friction behind a pressure wave are presented.
Introduction
The development of improved transportation systems is highly desirable and is

corroborated by the necessity to satisfy long-term sustainable objectives, in
particular more environmental responsibility [2]. In this context, solutions
need to be found to lower the energy consumption, the emission of pollutants
and the environmental impacts. This effort is characterized by both the im-
provement of existing ground transportation systems (with new generations of
railway systems, for example), as well as the emergence of new transportation
technologies and systems (Swissmetro, ET3, MLX, Transrapid, etc.)[3]. For
railway systems, these developments, aiming at increasing the competitiveness
of the railway systems, have lead to a significant increase of the commercial
432 V. Bourquin, C. Beguin, and P.A. Monkewitz
speed and the building of more and more tunnels of increasing length. The es-
sential advantage of a tunnel is that the environmental impacts observed in the
open air are reduced. A new one, the "sonic boom", may appear and impair
the comfort of people living in residential area close to the tunnel portals.
The presence of the tunnel confines the air flow to a finite domain and con-
strains the air perturbations generated by the vehicle to propagate along the
axis of the tunnel only. The general flow can be divided in two different flow
domains, which are the near-field flow (in the vicinity of the vehicle) and the
far-field flow (far from the vehicle, corresponds to the flow in the tunnel).
Both domains are strongly dependant to each other.
The near-field flow is strongly influenced by the blockage ratio 15 defined as:
(1)
In which A. is the cross-section of the vehicle and A, the cross-section of the

tunnel. In long tunnels, at moderate speeds and blockage ratios (railways
situation), the flow in the annular space 1 is essentially driven by the pressure
gradient and the relative speed between the train and tunnel walls (see Eder &
Sockel, 1985 [7]). As the speed or/and the blockage ratio are increased, the air
flow velocity increases, as well as the momentum loss along the vehicle. Drag
becomes a key issue. The amount of energy necessary to overcome the aerody-
namic drag at 300 km/h in the open air is of the order of 80% of the total re-
sistance. In a tunnel, it easily exceeds 90%. This substantial increase is essen-
tially due to the presence of a flow in the tunnel, increasing the pressure in
front of the vehicle and decreases it behind. The drag does not only depend on
the train characteristics, but also significantly on the tunnel characteristics.
This dependency on the train and environment characteristics associated with
the high length to width of trains makes it necessary to use rigs with moving
models such as the MMR (Moving Model Rig) operated by AEA Tech. Rail in
Derby (UK), see [20],[21] and [24].
As speed, train length and blockage ratio are increased, compressibility ef-
fects become significant and the flow at the end of the annulus may even
choke (i.e. it reaches the sonic speed), see [4], [8] and [12]. Such complex
flows have been studied in the framework of projects of vehicles operated in
evacuated tunnels (5 to 10% of the atmospheric value for the case of the
Swissmetro project). The low pressure allows to reduce the size of the tunnel
and to lower the total energy consumption of the system.
The transverse forces are another category of force-related effects induced by
side-winds, train passing or flow instabilities. Usually unsteady, the transverse
forces have an impact on the stability (safety), the ageing of the structure (fa-
tigue) and the dynamic comfort of the passengers (transverse accelerations).
The far-field flow is considered as essentially one-dimensional and unsteady
(see Hammitt, 1975 [9] and Sockel, 1989 [10]). In tunnels of short to me-
1 The annular space (also referred to as annulus) is defined as the volume between the vehi-
cle and tunnel walls: following the flow, it starts at the end of the nose and ends at the start
of the tail.
Aerodynamic Effects in Railway Tunnels as Speed is Increased 433
dium length, the unsteadiness of the flow is due to the train-tunnel entry pres-
sure waves. The transmission of these pressure waves inside coaches generates a
comfort problem since the internal ear of the human being is very sensitive to
pressure level changes (amplitude and rate). This problem can be a limiting
factor while defining speed and blockage ratio. The sealing efficiency and the
stiffness of coaches can be increased to limit the pressure variations at the ear
of passengers during tunnel travel. In long tunnels, these pressure waves are
strongly attenuated and, after a given travel time, the unsteady effects are es-
sentially associated with the motion of the train. In this situation, the drag-
related effects become dominant.
The oncoming of a high-speed train in an underground station can induce
high air velocities, which must be controlled by an appropriate design in order
to satisfy the comfort and safety criteria for the passengers on the platforms
and in the station. Ventilation is another key aspect to preserve the air quality
and to maintain the temperature within acceptable values.
Pressure wave effects in tunnels

In the open air, pressure effects are associated with the pressure distribution in
the near-field flow of the moving train (in particular at its extremities): when a
train passes another train or a stationary object, an unsteady pressure loading
appears, which is associated with the train motion. In tunnels, two types of
pressure waves related effects should be considered: (1) The short term situa-
tion is essentially characterized by the pressure waves provoked by the train-
tunnel entry or the acceleration of a train in a tunnel; (2) The long term situa-
tion is characterized by a strong attenuation of the pressure waves and the
buildup of a pressure profile in the tunnel moving with the train (the charac-
teristic length of this profile is much longer than the train length). The short-
term effects are dominating in tunnels shorter than 15 km. It depends essen-
tially on the initial amplitude of the wave and on how waves are influenced by
the presence of ballast, the friction and heat transfer effects, as well as by the
presence of connections to another tunnel (pressure relief ducts) or to the at-
mosphere (shafts).
Focusing on waves produced by the train-tunnel entry in tunnels of me-
dium length, it is useful to consider separately the pressure wave generation, its
propagation and the reflection process including the emission of micro-
pressure waves.
Pressure wave generation

Pressure waves are generated during the train-tunnel entry or exit. Additional
pressure waves are generated when the train passes a location in the tunnel
where a change of the cross-sectional area occurs or near an airshaft of impor-
tant cross-section, as well as in the case of a train-passing situation inside the
tunnel. The initial gradient of the wavefront is directly related to the nose
shape, the portal shape, blockage ratio and the speed of the train.
A typical shape of the pressure signal recorded in a tunnel, as a train enters
into it, is shown in the following figure (from the TRANSAERO project, see
e.g. [11]):
L
Prt.o urt
ri>e due Wtlu• frictwn

e/frcH in tht! wmu/ar
~JHICI!
Pre~ \urt• tlrop tlue lfJ

Primary prc~sure rlre pcu,,(.lgc of the nose
riJe cflw w llll,\e t'lllry in front of the
trcm.,tlucer
Prelimi1wry pre.l.m re
ri;e due to the j70II'
ahead of the frainJwse
Actt~altrain entry Tmr~
Pressure history measured close to the tunnel entry (typical amplitude

Fig. 1.
1'500 Pa)
The maximal amplitude generated as the train enters into the tunnel de-
pends essentially on the speed and the blockage ratio. State-of-the-art numeri-
cal methods and the use of a facility such as the MMR allow an accurate pre-
diction of the pressure wave profile during the generation process [24].
Pressure wave propagation

As the wave propagates, changes in its amplitude and gradient are influenced
by the nonlinear effects, the friction and the heat transfer to the tunnel walls as
well as mass transfer (through ducts or ballast). The tunnel characteristics are
of primary importance (mainly roughness, perimeter, length, presence and
characteristics of ballast or niches, tunnel equipment, connections to the at-
mosphere or to another tunnel, changes of cross-section). The presence of
other vehicles and their associated pressure waves will also affect the unsteady
pressure profile in the tunnel. One problem is the superposition of the waves,
in particular for short tunnels (see Schultz & Sockel, 1991 [13]), that may lead
to severe unpleasant peak-to-peak amplitudes. The phenomena involved in the
propagation problem will be addressed later in this article.
Pressure wave reflection at the portals

The waves are reflected at the open extremities of the tunnel and part of their
energy is transmitted out of the tunnel in the form of micro-pressure waves.
Their amplitude depends on the ratio between the wavelength and the tunnel
diameter. This may lead, under some circumstances, to a "sonic boom", an
unpleasant noise for people living in the vicinity of a tunnel portal. Account-
ing for the unsteady viscous effects appearing during this wave reflection proc-
ess (shear flow, vortices, etc.), the flow is actually quite complex. The problem
of the emission of micro-pressure waves at the exit of a tunnel has been studied
since the 70's in Japan. Descriptions can be found in Hammitt, 1973 [4],
Matsuo et al., 1997 [5] and Ozawa et al., 1995 [138]. This problem has been
addressed in the framework of the TRANSAERO project [11]. Very accurate
predictions have been obtained by Reiterer, Ehrendorfer and Sockel, 2002
[16].
Experimental measurements associated with the propagation of a

pressure wave
The behavior of pressure waves in full-scale tunnels has been investigated by
several authors (see e.g. Ozawa et al., 1994 [14], Gregoire et al., 1997 [15]).
The attenuation of the amplitude and the change in the gradient are of pri-
mary importance for the tunnel design. Non-linear effects tend to steepen the
wavefront and viscous and additional effects tend to weaken the wavefront.
Tests were carried out on a shock tube by Matsuo et al., 1991 [17]. The
scale of the facility is approximately 1/310 and its length is about 20 m. The
effect of the unsteady friction could be noticed particularly for pressure steps of
low amplitudes. These authors have shown that a pressure wave amplitude ex-
ists at which the gradient is stabilized at a constant value during the propaga-
tion (7 kPa for this facility). Comparing with full-scale data, it appears that the
attenuation of the waves is more than an order of magnitude smaller. A real
tunnel is actually much more complex than most experimental facility (pres-
ence of equipment, niches, rails, wires, pipes, etc.). The presence of ballast has
also a strong influence on the pressure shape and wavefront, but in this case a
dynamic effect occurs in the void space of the ballast ([12] and [19]). Oda et
al., 1997 [18], have recorded pressure waves in a tunnel on their high-
performance moving model facility (the propagation of a wave over 62.3 m has
been analyzed at scale 1/30 and compared with numerical results). A.E. Vardy
has proposed different models that can be used in numerical methods to ac-
count for the propagation effects (see e.g. [22], [23]).
The STARLET facility has been built at EPFL to study the propagation of
pressure waves in long tunnels. The length of the facility is 120 m. The inner
diameter is 176.2 mm (typical scale 1/50). Two devices are used to generate
pressure waves: (1) Diaphragm: the facility is used as a shock tube with a paper
diaphragm separating a high-pressure zone from the rest of the facility (atmos-
pheric pressure). With this method, essentially pressure steps (weak shocks)
can be generated. (2) Valve: the facility is kept at low pressure and pressure
waves are generated as the valve opens and let air at atmospheric pressure
flowing into the tube.
Fig. 2. Picture of the STARLET facility located in a service tunnel at EPFL,

Lausanne
Pressure measurements are done using Kulite XT -190 pressure transducers

with a specific data acquisition module developed by the company Gillieron
electronique Ltd (Morges, Switzerland). The measurement of the skin friction
is done using a transducer developed at EPFL specifically for this application.
The measurement makes use of the analogy between the heat transfer at the
wall and the skin friction. An electrical current heats a thin film of platinum at
the wall. An appropriate electronic regulating device (hot-wire anemometer of
type TSI-1054a) keeps the temperature of this film constant. The magnitude
of the skin friction is related to the electrical power required to keep the plati-
num film at a constant temperature. The sensor is made of a thin platinum
film (800 x 50 mm, thickness: 0.1 mm) deposited on a pyrex substrate (see
Figure 3). The electrical connections are thin gold contact areas deposited by
vacuum evaporation (triangles on figure 3, thickness: 0.3 mm). The time re-
sponse of the transducer is 0.05 ms. The overheat ratio is set at 1.4. The trans-
ducer has been calibrated in a wind tunnel [25].
Fig. 3. Picture of the transducer used to measure skin friction
Experimental results
Figure 4 shows the superposition of the pressure histories of 3 weak shock

waves of different amplitudes (6'100 Pa, 7'800 Pa and 16'600 Pa) recorded at
two different locations along the facility. The first location (IB-1) is located at
a distance of 10.19 m from the diaphragm. The second one (IB-2) is located at
a distance of 50.95 m from IB-1. IB is an acronym for Instrumentation Block.
P1essr.sre {Pal
o~oor---~--~--~---.----~--.----r---,
1&000 ~
no lal step ol 16'ti00 Pa
fOCDtleO 18-1
14000
12000
10000 lnllal Sl"Jl017BXl Pa

recaded m 18-1
aooo
SOOO
nllal s1ep ol 6 100 Pa

1000 raco-D:!d 01 18-1
1000
005 01 015 02 021 0) 0 l5

TiiT'e /SI
Fig. 4. Pressure histories for three different pressure levels at 50.95 meter dis-
tance, see [ 11]
The pressure histories recorded close to the diaphragm (IB-1) shows a typi-
cal step shape for a shock tube experiment. The pressure histories recorded at
the IB-2 location are characterized by slight differences close to the wavefront,
as well as lower amplitude due to dissipative effects. A "rounding" of the "cor-
ner" can be noticed on the rwo low-amplitude pressure steps (6'100 & 7'800
Pa). This is due to the unsteady friction. The flow just behind the pressure
step is laminar and the value of the unsteady friction is very high close to the
pressure step and decreases until the start of the transition to turbulence. As
the flow is getting turbulent, higher values of the skin friction are reached.
This unsteady skin friction profile behind the pressure wave has a significant
impact on the shape of the pressure wave close to the wavefront as the wave
travels over long distances (kilometers in the case of railway tunnels).
The definition of the transitional Reynolds number Re" can be done as fol-
lows:
Weak pressure
wave hypothesis:
Re,,=-w
u~ s }
Uo << Uw ;
Uw
-"' Re"""
oVr Wo
In which, uw = wave velocity; u 0 , w0 = flow velocity (u in the tube referen-

tial, w in the wave referential); I; = distance between the wave front and the
transition point; trr time to transition after the passing of wavefront; v, = kine-
matic viscosity.
For weak pressure waves the flow velocity is proportional to the amplitude
of the pressure step and therefore the transition time is inversely proportional
to the square of the pressure step amplitude. Works undertaken by Hartunian
et a!. [26], 1960 and Aoki, 1996 [27] have shown that the transition appears at
a distance from the wavefront characterized by a Reynolds number Rerr of ap-

prox. 106 . For the profiles shown on Fig. 4, the time values to transition are
(from low to high pressure amplitude): 0.068 s, 0.041 s and 0.0093 s. The
laminar part of the pressure step of highest amplitude is very small and is close
to the maximal value of the pressure history recorded on IB-2.
Figure 5 shows the measured history of the skin friction for a pressure step
of an amplitude of 5'800 Pa. The air velocity induced by this wave is approx.
14.5 m/s. The laminar part is clearly visible on the left. It can be seen that the
flow is fully laminar until a time of 0.012 s (corresponding to a Rerr of 2·10 5).
Then, instabilities appear and a transitional zone starts.
Skin friction [Pa]

0.4
0 .35
0.3
Laminar
0.25
0 .2
0.15
0.1 \
\._,
0.05
Transition
0
0 0.02 0 .04 0 .06 0 .08 0 .1 0 .12 0.14 0.16
Time [s]
Fig. 5. Measurement of skin friction 10.19 m away from the diaphragm . The
pressure step amplitude is 5'800 Pa (shape is similar as what was recorded on
IB-1 location, see Fig. 4) .
It is difficult to define at what time the flow is fully turbulent on this graph.
The expansion wave limits the recording time. A longer pressure step would be
required to analyze the transition and turbulence zone in deeper details. This
can be obtained by an increase in length of the facility.
It is interesting to note that the shape of the first two peaks in the first part
of the transition zone (up to 0,02 s) is different from the following ones. This
can be compared to the observations of "turbulent bursts" by Dillon and Na-
gamatsu, 1984, [28]. The precision of the measurement technique is approx.
5%. But it must be stated that the flow is very sensitive to small geometrical
perturbations close to the transducer, as well as difference in level between the
transducer and the tube wall. Attention has been paid to minimize these per-
turbations, bur a systematic error may appear and it is difficult to evaluate it
precisely. Based on wind tunnel experience and the shock tube peculiarities,
the uncertainty was estimated at 40o/o. Further development of the measure-
ment technique is necessary to evaluate more precisely and reduce this uncer-
tainty.
Considering the railway systems, the pressure waves generated by a train is
of slightly lower amplitude and the wavefront is not a pressure step, but a pres-
sure wave. Additional experiments are necessary to evaluate the effects of a
gradual pressure increase on the shape of the unsteady skin friction profile. It
appears nevertheless that the wavefront is probably influenced at least by the
laminar and transitional part of the unsteady skin friction profile. The model-
ing of the unsteady laminar and turbulent skin friction in numerical codes
have been studied by many authors [12],[23],[29]. Improving these models
also requires experimental data, in particular to account for the transition and
to model the turbulent part more accurately.
Conclusion and prospects
The aerodynamic effects appearing in railway tunnels have been described and
the preliminary results of a study on the propagation of pressure waves in tun-
nels have been presented. The context of this work is the research effort done
to understand and model tunnel flows for railway systems and new transporta-
tion systems, such as Swissmetro or ET3. The importance of the unsteady skin
friction behind a pressure wave appears clearly from the measurements, in par-
ticular, the importance and peculiarities of the transition from a laminar to a
turbulent flow.
This research has been motivated by the importance of improving models to
predict the propagation of pressure waves for the design and operation of rail-
way tunnels. Another area in which similar effects can be observed is during
the repressurisation (for safety reasons) of an initially evacuated tunnel, for the
case of vacuum-based transport system in development. The constraints due to
aerodynamic effects have a significant impact on the costs of both tunnels and
trains. Aerodynamics is as well a key issue in the performance of high-speed
systems, in terms of energy consumption and performance.
Research projects such as TRANSAERO have provided an opportunity to
develop methodologies and tools for the improvement of the performances of
existing railway systems. On the other hand, projects as Swissmetro or ET3
show that there is a potential for new transport systems to address sustainabil-
ity issues and opening new fields for aerodynamic research.
The results presented in this paper have shown the limits of the Starlet fa-
cility. In order to investigate in more details the skin friction behind a pressure
wave, it is necessary to improve the following points: 1) to increase the length
of the facility to be able to record pressure histories over a longer time behind
the pressure wave; 2) to generate different shape of pressure waves in order to
measure the influence of the gradient on the transition; 3) to investigate in
deeper details the transition; 4) to improve the unsteady skin friction meas-
urement and to apply other techniques as well.
Bibliography and references

Gawthorpe R. G., Pope C. W.: The Measurement and Interpretation of Tran-
sient Pressures generated by Trains in Tunnels, Proc. of the 2nd Int. Symp. on
the aerodynamics & ventilation of vehicle tunnels, Paper C3, March 1976, p.
C3-35 - C3-53.
2 Brodmann U., Spillmann W.: Mesure de Ia durabilite dans les transports, Dossier
du PNR 41 "Transport et environnement", vol. M2, Berne, 1998.
3 Chevroulet T., Wilken D.: Potentials of alternative systems, Scenarios Deliver-
able D8: Working paper for DG VII, October 1998.
4 Hammitt A. G.: The Aerodynamics of High Speed Ground Transportation,
Western Periodicals Co., 13000 Raymer Street, North Hollywood, CA 91605,
USA, 1973.
5 Matsuo K., Aoki T., Kashimura H., Mashimo S.: Generation mechanism of im-
pulsive wave emitted from high-speed railway tunnel exit, Proc. of the 8th Ind.
Symp. on Aerodynamics and Ventilation of Vehicle Tunnels (Liverpool, UK: 6-8
July 1994), BHR Group Conference Series. Bury St Edmonds, London: Mech.
Eng. Publications Ltd., 1994, p. 199-209
6 Ozawa S., Maeda T., Matsumura T., Uchida K.: Micro-pressure Waves Radiat-
ing from Exits of Shinkansen Tunnels, Quarterly Report of RTRI (Railway
Technical Research Institute), vol. 34, n° 2, May 1993, pp 134-140
7 Eder R., Sockel H.: Calculation of turbulent flow in the annular gap between the
walls of train and tunnel, Proc. of the 5th Int. Symp. on the aerodynamics &
ventilation of vehicle tunnels, Lille 1985, Paper E1, p. 259-284
8 Bourquin V., Chuard R., Manfriani L.: Etude aerodynamique, Pilatus Aircraft -
EPFL report on Swissmetro, niveau 4, chapitre 1, version 2.0, Etude preliminaire
89-92, 1992
9 Hammitt A. G.: Unsteady Aerodynamics of Vehicles in Tubes, AIAA Journal, 13
(4), p. 497-503, April1975
10 Sockel H. : Aerodynamik des Eisenbahntunnels, Z. angew. Math. Mech.
(ZAMM), 69 (1989) 6, T540- T551
11 Schulte-Werning B. eta! (Eds), TRANSAERO- A European Initiative on Tran-
sient Aerodynamics for Railway System Optimisation: Results obtained by the
Brite/Euram Project TRANSAERO, Notes on Numerical Fluid Mechanics 79,
Springer Verlag, Berlin, 2002
12 Bourquin V.: Reduced-scale aerodynamic testing of high-peed vehicles in tun-
nels, PhD Thesis no.1973, EPFL, Lausanne, 1999
13 Schultz M., Sockel H. : Pressure transients in short tunnels, Proc. of the 7th Int.
Symp. on the aerodynamics & ventilation of vehicle tunnels, Brighton (UK),
1991, p. 221-237
14 Ozawa S., Maeda T., Matsumura T., Nakatani K., Uchida K.: Distortion of
compression wave during propagation along Shinkansen tunnels, Proc. of the 8th
Int. Symp. on the aerodynamics & ventilation of vehicle tunnels, Liverpool,
1994
15 Gregoire R., Eckl B., Malfatti A.: TRANSAERO: a major European research
programme on transient aerodynamics to optimise the railway systems,
WCRR'97, Proc. of the 1997 World Congress on Railway Research, (Firenze, It-
aly: 16-17 nov. 1997), 1997.
16 Reiterer M., Ehrendorfer K., Sockel H. : Experimental investigations of the mi-
cro-pressure wave, Notes on Numerical Fluid Mechanics 79, Springer Verlag,
Berlin, 2002, p. 290-301
17 Matsuo K., Aoki T., Kashimura H., Kawaguchi M., Takeuchi N.: Attenuation of
Compression Waves in a High-speed Railway Tunnel Simulator, Proc. of the 7th
Int. Symp. on the aerodynamics & ventilation of vehicle tunnels, Brighton, UK,
1991, p. 239- 252
18 Oda T., Mitsuda M., Tanaka T., Yamagiwa I., Nakura T., Ooishi M.: A nu-
merical simulation of compression wave generated by a train entering a tunnel,
Proc. of the 9th Ind. Symp. on Aerodynamics and Ventilation of Vehicle Tun-
nels (Aosta, Italy: 6-8 October 1997), BHR Group Conference Series, Bury St.
Edmonds, London: Mech. Eng. Publications Ltd., 1997, p. 905-924.
19 Vardy A.E., Brown J.: An overview of wave propagation in tunnels, Notes on
Numerical Fluid Mechanics 79, Springer Verlag, Berlin, 2002, p. 249-266.
20 Johnson T., Recent studies of train slipstreams, UEF Conference on the Aerody-
namics of heavy vehicles: Trucks, buses and trains, Monterey, 2002
21 Gawthorpe R.G., Johnson T., Figura-Hardy G.I.: The aerodynamic sizing of
tunnel cross-sections for train operation, Proceedings of the International Con-
ference on Speedup Technology for Railway and Maglev Vehicle, STECH'%,
(Liverpool, UK), !MechE, 1996.
22 Vardy A. E.: Aerodynamic drag on trains in tunnels, Part 1&2, Proceedings of the
Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part F: Journal of Rail and Rapid Transit
(ISSN: 0954-4097) vol. 210, n° 1, 1996. p 29-49.
23 Vardy A.E., Brown J. : An overview of wave propagation in tunnels, Notes on
Numerical Fluid Mechanics 79, Springer Verlag, Berlin, 2002, p. 249-266.
24 Johnson T., Dalley S. : 1/25 Scale Moving Model Tests for the TRANSAERO
Project, Notes on Numerical Fluid Mechanics 79, Springer Verlag, Berlin, 2002,
p. 123-135.
25 Bruns J.: Experimental Investigation of a three-dimensional turbulent boundary
layer In an "S"-shaped duct, Thesis No. D 83, Berlin (1998).
26 Hartunian R.A., Russo A.L., Marrone, P.V.: Boundary layer transition and heat
transfer in shock tubes, Journal of aeronautical sciences, vol. 27, 1960, p. 587-
594.
27 Aoki T., Kondoh N., Matsuo K., Mashimo S.: Transition of unsteady boundary
layer induced by propagating compression wave, Proc. of the 20th int. symp. on
shock wave, publ. by World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd, London, 1996,
vol.l, p. 723.
28 Dillon R.E., Nagamatsu H.T.: "Heat Transfer and Transition Mechanism on a
Shock Tube Wall", AIAAJournal, vol. 22, n°ll, Nov. 1984.
29 Schultz M., Sockel H.: "The Influence of Unsteady Friction on the Propagation
of Pressure Waves in Tunnels", Proc. Of the 6'h Int. Symp. On the aerodynamics
and ventilation of vehicle tunnels, Durham (UK), 1988, p. 123-135.
Flow-induced Vibration of High-Speed Trains in
Tunnels
Masahiro Suzuki
Railway Technical Research Institute, 2-8-38 Hikari-cho, Kokubunji-shi,

Tokyo 185-8540, JAPAN
Abstract
The lateral vibration of high-speed trains in tunnels has recently become a

subject of discussions concerning riding comfort. The paper describes the phe-
nomenon, its mechanism and countermeasures.
First, running tests revealed that the aerodynamic force in tunnel sections is
much greater than that in open sections. The aerodynamic force and the vi-
bration in tunnel sections gradually increased from the head toward the tail of
a train set; and the yawing vibration of cars had a close relation with the aero-
dynamic force.
Second, to clarify the interaction between the vehicle dynamics and the
aerodynamic force, the flow field around a scale model, which was forcibly vi-
brated, was analyzed by a wind tunnel experiment. The results showed that a
pressure field that had the same properties as those of real trains was found
even though the train model did not vibrate. The effect of vibration on the
flow field was small and thus the phenomenon was considered as a forced vi-
bration by the aerodynamic force.
Third, to investigate the aerodynamic force, numerical simulations were
conducted. The computation proved that the cause of the large pressure fluc-
tuation at the tail is the flow separation by the sudden expansion of the effec-
tive flow area. It also revealed that the flow becomes unstable under the train.
The resulting vortices are spread on the train side by the tunnel wall, and then
the unsteady aerodynamic force is generated when the vortices pass.
Finally, to derive an optimal shape, which suppresses the unsteady aerody-
namic force, scale model tests were conducted. The results showed that a long
nose effectively decreases the large pressure fluctuation at the tail. Rounding
the lower section of the car and installing fins under the train were also shown
to be effective countermeasures for reducing the unsteady aerodynamic force.
444 M. Suzuki
1. Introduction
As the maximum speed of Shinkansen trains in Japan increases, vibration of
the trains has recently become a subject of discussion especially concerning
riding comfort. This phenomenon has the following characteristics (Fujimoto
et al. 1995). (1) The vibration amplitude of the train in tunnel sections is
more noticeable than in open sections (fig. 1), (2) it gradually increases from
the head toward the tail of the train set, and (3) the yawing vibration is more
prominent than the other vibrations.
F:
~ Open section Tunnel section
~~ ~ § 0.1
~~ _o.o. ~
·- Q) 0.1
~ 0 ~~~~~~~~~--~L_~~~~~~
~ )6 0 5 10 t[s] 15
Fig. 1. Time history of yawing angular acceleration of a train entering a tunnel (train speed: 300
km/h).
Since mountains account for about 70 % of Japan's total land area, there
are a large number of tunnels in its railway system. For example, half of the
Sanyo Shinkansen line, which connects Osaka and Hakata (622.3 km), is in
tunnels. So, the riding quality in tunnel is critical for service. Therefore, in-
tensive studies have been carried out to solve the problem of vibration in tun-
nels.
Track irregularity was considered at the initial stage as one of the factors
causing the phenomenon. However, there was no correlation between the vi-
bration and the track irregularity in the tunnel sections (Takai 1989). Another
factor, namely aerodynamic force, has also attracted attention. As for the
aerodynamic force, the effect of Karman-like vortices on the vibrations of the
train had been suggested. But, no mechanisms had been clarified in detail at
this first stage. Thus, we have been extensively investigating flow around the
trains in tunnel by running tests, wind tunnel experiments and computer
simulations.
The paper describes the phenomenon, its mechanism and countermeasures
from our studies.
2. Characteristics of the phenomenon

In this section, we describe some characteristics of the phenomenon that have
been revealed by the analysis of the running test data (Suzuki 2000) .
Flow-induced Vibration of High-Speed Trains in Tunnels 445
Open section Tunnel section

C>
c
·~'E
~z
uo
.E .....
C!l~
o
c ......
?;' ~ - 1
e E0
Q)
<C E 0 5 10 15
t [s]
Fig. 2. Time history of aerodynamic yawing moment acting on a train entering a tunnel (train
speed: 300 km/h) .
-
'2..
800
t - --Open section ........
>Q)
..c ~
600
-
<I>J2 -Tunnel section ~
-.r ---"
c:: 400
0 .2
-o E
~
.... C!l
c:: 200 .,a,-
s:
0~
0
....
Q)
0
~·
C!l
-200
0 3 6 t [s] 9
Fig. 3. Time histories of work done by aerodynamic force (train speed: 300 km/h).
To clarify the effect of aerodynamic force, we set several sensors on the

train side in a running test. From the pressure data, we calculated aerody-
namic yawing moment (fig. 2) . The train speed was 300 km/h. When the
train ran in the open section, the aerodynamic force was small. However, once
the train went into the tunnel, the aerodynamic force suddenly increased.
Figure 3 shows the work done by the aerodynamic force on a car. When
the train ran in the open section, the work was nearly zero. In the tunnel sec-
tion, however, the aerodynamic force clearly vibrated the train.
Figure 4 is a typical chart of the pressure on each side of a train entering a
tunnel. The course of the train deviates from the tunnel center, as it runs on
one of the double tracks. The side of the train nearest the tunnel wall is called
the Tunnel wall side, and that nearest the tunnel center is called the Tunnel
center side. When the train enters a tunnel, a pressure wave occurs. Besides
the propagation of this pressure wave, continuous pressure fluctuation appears.
The difference in pressure between the tunnel wall side and the tunnel center
side (hereafter referred to as pressure di.ffirence) acts on the vehicle as an aero-
dynamic lateral force and yawing moment. Since the pressure fluctuation on
446 M. Suzuki
the tunnel wall side is much larger than that on the tunnel center side, the
pressure difference is mainly dependent on the pressure on the tunnel wall
side.
Tunnel section
Cross sectional area
oftun nel: 63.4m2
"w-_,___,___....Joo..rv-.-...J-... Cross sectional area
~:::::1:::::s::e:::c·~-~--+----+------1 of train : 10-13m 2
Pressure on tunnel center side(A)
,. .. ro_
Pressure on tunnel wall side (B)
0...1
Pressure difference (8 -A) l[s ]
Fig. 4. Time histories of pressure on each side of a train entering a tunnel (train speed: 300
km/h)
To investigate the pressure on the tunnel wall side, we set pressure sensors
on the sides of two consecutive cars, the 4th and 5th cars. Figure 5 shows
pressure as a function of time. The pressure fluctuation that travels leeward
while keeping its shape does not decay even when it passes the gap between
two cars. The speed of this propagation is equivalent to approximately 80 per-
cent of the train speed.
Running test data of various series of trains were analyzed to find that there
is coherence in the data. The pressure fluctuation does not appear locally but
develops along the whole length of the train (the typical train length was 400m
with 16 cars) irrespective of the train types. Figure 6 displays pressure fluctua-
tion developing along the whole set of train. The pressure fluctuation in-
creases from the head to the 6th car (125~ 150m from the head), then remains
constant and finally drastically increases at the tail of the train set. The peak
frequencies of the pressure fluctuation which are recognized after the 3rd car
(50 ~ 75m) decrease from the 3rd car toward the 6th~ 8th cars (125~200m) and
remain at the same level to the tail of the train set.
Runn ing direction
I 4th oac
• • II • •
5th ca r
.-\ R (' I)
vo uu 00 u u
-: r
~
_... 0.1
~ 0 0. J\ .J\ - ...J'\.. "...r ,.._,._ 1\ f,
-~ lTv~vv ~V"
~20 -10 f 60
-
-- 0
"V'vv~-
\T \.1 v
M (\ ~ {\ D tJC:3. ,..
to :. :~o V:'>o 10 (>O
·0.1 f
:0.
1rr::u~~··~;~
- () YVVW"'J"
·O. I 10 :W :30 -10 . f GO
0. I
--
.r- 0
-·0. 1
f
Fig. 5. Time histories of pressure on the tunnel wall side of two consecutive cars (train speed:
296 km/h, t' indicates non-dimensional time based on train speed and train width) .
0.3
~0. 15 ~02
Q)
~ 0.1 _a.
(.) -o.1
~005
0 - '-=--'---- - - ' - - -.L_-...J 0

0 100 200 300 400 0 100 200 300 400
Distance from head (m) Distance from head (m)
(a) Rms value of pressure fluctuation. (b) Peak frequency of pressure fluctuation.
Fig. 6 . Development of pressure fluctuation on the whole set of train (f indicates non-
dimensional frequency based on train speed and train width).
From the above, the following are presumed. Some large organized pat-
terns exist in the space between the tunnel wall and the train. These flow pat-
terns develop from the head toward the 6th~8th cars and become steady there-
448 M. Suzuki
after to the tail of the train set. The flow separates at the tail with a large pres-
sure fluctuation.
3. Mechanism
In this section, some mechanisms of generating these aerodynamic forces are
explained.
3.1 Interaction between vehicle vibration & aerodynamic force

First of all, we investigated the interaction between vehicle vibrations and
aerodynamic force (Suzuki et al. 2001). There was some potential for self-
induced vibrations in which lateral movements of the train have an effect on
the flow field around the train. The flow field around a vehicle model, which
was forcibly vibrated in the yawing direction, was analyzed by a wind tunnel
experiment. The result showed that a pressure field that has the same proper-
ties as those of real trains is found even though the train model is not vibrated.
The effect of vibration on the flow field is small for vibration accelerations that
are normally observed in real trains. We concluded that the phenomenon is
considered as a forced vibration by the aerodynamic force. Therefore we do
not need to consider the car vibration when we investigate the flow field.
3.2 Flow separation around train tail
To clarifY the flow field around a train tail, a three-dimensional unsteady Na-
vier-Stokes simulation was carried out with a short train model that has a
length of 2.5 cars (Suzuki et al. 1996). The simulation successfully obtained
unsteady flow separation on the rear nose, which causes fluctuations of the
yawing moment of the tail car. In the tunnel section, the simulation proved
that the tunnel wall makes the flow separation asymmetric and that the expan-
sion of the effective flow area along the rear nose causes a greater pressure
fluctuation.
3.3 Coherent structure along middle cars

As described in section 2, aerodynamic force occurs not only at the train tail
but also along the middle cars. In general, flow structures such as vortices are
diffused and dissipated in the turbulent boundary layer. However, the coher-
ent patterns develop and remain along the train. Here, the numerical simula-
tion was performed (Suzuki 2001). The model has a length of six cars in the
computation. The computation revealed that there are vortices generating
around the floor of the train (fig. 7). These vortices develop from the head
toward the tail. They stay around the floor on the 1st car, while they cover the
whole side of the train after the 4th car. The unsteady aerodynamic force is
generated on the side of the train when the vortices pass.
Vertical plane
Honzontal plane
Tunnel wall
(a) z-directional vorticity distribution on the horizontal plane under the train .
c
(b) Vorticity magnitude distribution on the vertical plane on the side of train .
Fig. 7. Vortices developing around the train running in tunnel.
4. Countermeasures
Some of countermeasures to solve this problem are presented in this section.
4.1 Present countermeasures
Several countermeasures have been developed to improve the riding quality in

tunnels. First, a yaw damper between cars, which is proportional to the angu-
lar velocity between cars (Fujimoto et al. 1995), was introduced.
A semi-active suspension system has also been developed (Sasaki et al.
1996). The semi-active suspensions reduce the vibration by controlling
damping-coefficients, instead of using external energy.
Both systems have already been installed in new series Shinkansen trains,
the 500 and 700 series.
4.2 Aerodynamic countermeasures

The yaw damper between cars and the active suspension effectively improve
the riding quality. However, these are regarded as stopgap measures. To fur-
ther speed up improvement, we need to decrease the aerodynamic force itself.
Therefore we explored the optimal aerodynamic shape by using a moving
model test facility (Haga et al. 2001) and a wind tunnel (Suzuki et al. 2002).
450 M. Suzuki
(1) Nose shape
Since nose shapes are crucial to flow separation, nose shapes were tested first.
Five different types of nose shape were prepared (fig. 8). These are a two di-
mensional short shape, a rwo-dimensionallong nose, a three-dimensional short
nose, a three-dimensional long nose and square cornered nose. The two-
dimensional nose is a so-called wedge-shaped nose. Sides of the three-
dimensional noses are rounded. The result shows the three-dimensional short
nose is the worst. This is because the flow separates around the sides of nose
and reattaches again. These separation and reattachment points fluctuate.
Thus pressure around the nose vibrates and the yawing moment changes.
0 .20
0 .15
§"'
~ 0 .10
~
~ 0 .05
0 .00
Square Short Short Long
cornered 2-D 3-0 2-D
~
Fig. 8. Effects of nose shapes. (Cy,w is a coefficient of aerodynamic yawing moment.)
(2) Shape of lower section and fins
As described in section 3.3, there are vortices generating around the floor of
the train. The shapes of the train bottom were supposed to be critical for re-
ducing the aerodynamic force on middle cars. Here, rwo kinds of shapes were
prepared; a train with rounded bottom corners and one with fins under the
body. The effects of these shapes are illustrated in figure 9.
0.075
§ 0.050
J'"i 0.025
0.000
Norma I shape Rounded
lower caners Fins
rulS5J~
Fig. 9. Effects of rounding lower corners and installing fins. (Cy,w is a coefficient of aerody-
namic yawing moment.)
5. Conclusions
The flow-induced vibration of the high-speed trains in tunnels was investi-
gated by the running tests, wind tunnel experiments and numerical simula-
tions. The running test revealed the development of coherent flow patterns
along the whole set of the train. The wind tunnel experiment confirmed that
the train vibration in tunnels is a forced vibration by aerodynamic force. The
computation demonstrated the vortices on the train side and the sudden ex-
pansion of flow area at the tail generate the aerodynamic force. The wind tun-
nel experiment showed the long nose, rounding the lower section of the car,
and installing fins under the train, which decrease the aerodynamic force, are
effective countermeasures.
References
Fujimoto H, Miyamoto M (1987) The vibration of the tail car in a coupled

train (in Japanese). Transactions of the Japan Society of Mechanical Engi-
neers C, No 87-0359, pp 2110-2114
Fujimoto H, Miyamoto M, Shimamoto Y (1995) Lateral vibration of a
Shinkansen and its decreasing measure (in Japanese). RTRI Report, Vol 9-
1, pp 19-24
Haga A, Funaki T, Shimomura T (2001) Measurements of pressure pulse on
the sidewall by using moving model facility (in Japanese) . in: The institute
of electrical engineers in Japan (ed) Proceedings of J-RAIL2001 , pp 601-
604
Sasaki K, Kamoshita S, Shimomura T (1996) Development and field results of
semi-active suspension high speed train (in Japanese). RTRI Report, Vol
10-5, pp 25-30
452 M. Suzuki
Suzuki M (2000) Aerodynamic force acting on train in tunnel (in Japanese).

RTRI Report, Vol14-9, pp 37-42
Suzuki M (2001) Unsteady aerodynamic force acting on high speed trains in
tunnel. Quarterly Report ofRTRI, Vol42-2, pp 89-93
Suzuki M, Fujimoto H, Sakuma Y (2002) Measures to reduce aerodynamic
force acting on high-speed train in tunnel (in Japanese). in: the Japan soci-
ety of mechanical engineers (ed) Proceedings of the 11th transportation
and logistics conference, pp 277-278
Suzuki M, Maeda T, Arai N (1996) Numerical simulation of flow around a
train. in: Deville M, Gavrilakis S, Ryhming IL (eds) Notes in numerical
fluid mechanics, Vol 53. Vieweg, Braunschweig, pp 311-317
Suzuki M, Nakade K, Fujimoto H (2001) Study on interaction between vehi-
cle dynamics and aerodynamic force on high-speed train in tunnel (in
Japanese). RTRI Report, Vol15-5, pp 19-24
Takai, H (1989) Maintenance of long-wave track irregularity on Shinkansen
(in Japanese). RTRI Report, Vol3-4, pp 13-20
How to Reduce the Cross Wind Sensitivity of
Trains
Jean-Luc Peters
Siemens Transportation Systems, Krauss-Maffei Str. 2, 80997 Muenchen,

Germany
1. Introduction
Although trains may be considered the safest existing ground vehicles, there
has always been the occasional derailment due to strong side winds, mostly on
islands such as Japan or the British Isles [1]. According to meteorologists, the
current global warming leads to ever stronger winds meaning such accidents
are more likely to happen not only in coastal areas but even in the very heart of
larger continents. This is how a commuter train was blown over in Austria
recently (Figure 1), only 5 years after a similar accident happened in Belgium.
Figure I. Light train overturned by a 30 m/s wind gust, Uttendorf/Austria, November 17, 2002
454 J.-L. Peters
The present tendency of reducing the weight of trains obviously contributes
to their increased side wind sensitivity. The dramatic increase of the train
speeds that we have witnessed in Europe and Japan in the last decade further
exacerbates the problem, as shown in Figure 2. Finally, the long and slender
noses that are required for high speed trains are unfortunately particularly
sensitive to cross winds, as has been demonstrated by many wind-tunnel tests
[2]. This is due to the large areas of negative pressures on the leeside of such
long noses, as can be seen in Figure 3.
In view of these facts, and having been responsible for the aerodynamic
development of the soon to be introduced three fastest operational trains in
the world, the Chinese Transrapid maglev, the Spanish Talgo 350 and ICE
350 trains, Siemens Transportation Systems has started a comprehensive R&D
program to reduce the cross wind sensitivity of its trains.
1'-.
" ~
"
"' ""
DERAILMENT!
~
........
'- ............. ..........
SAFE
I I '--......!
.............
20 50 80 110 140 170 200 230 260 290 320 350
Vtr [km/h]
Figure 2. Typical HST leading car wind speed Vw vs. train speed Vtr overturning characteristic
How to Reduce the Cross Wind Sensitivity of Trains 455
WIND >
Figure 3 . Pressure distribution on slender nose shape (dark gray areas on the leeside = negative
pressures)
2. Research and development objectives

The first objective was to clearly reduce the cross wind sensitivity of high speed
trains leading cars, that are usually most at risk, especially in the case of
electrical multiple units (EMUs).
The second objective was to decisively improve the reliability of the
conventional wind tunnel test investigation method.
The third objective was to check the validity of numerical methods (CFD)
by systematic comparison with a large variety of wind tunnel test results, the
aim of which is to use CFD calculations in lieu of wind tunnel tests.
3. Selected results
3.1. Shape optimization in the wind tunnel
Wind tunnel and models

The experimental tests were carried out with 10 o/o scale models, mainly in the
S 10 wind tunnel of the lnstitut Aerotechnique de Saint-Cyr (IAT) near
Versailles, F ranee. It has a 15 m 2 test section (5 m wide, 3 m high, identical to
456 J.-L. Peters
the one described in [3]) with slotted walls, allowing for measurements
without any significant blockage, up to the maximum yaw angle of 90°. The
models included an EMU leading car and a power car, as well as half of the
respective following car with a tail fairing, so as to exclude any downstream
effects on the leading model. Figure 4 shows such a model configuration on
the turntable in the S 10 test section.
Figure 4. ICE3leading car with optimized nose shape in SIO wind tunnel at 30° yaw.
Following parameters were investigated:

• 6 different EMU leading car nose shapes
• 7 different power car nose shapes
• 4 different power car roof shapes or configurations
• 2 different power car underbelly configurations
• 2 different ground clearances
The 6 components (drag coefficient Cx, side force coefficient Cy, lift
coefficient Cz, rolling moment coefficient Cmx, pitching moment coefficient
Cmy and yawing moment coefficient Cmz) acting on the complete cars were
measured initially by means of the wind tunnel underfloor automobile
balance, and then by means of a Siemens owned, adapted internal balance
manufactured by Aerotech (UK), up to a yaw angle of 90°. Furthermore, the 6
components acting on the noses themselves were measured by means of an

internal IAT sting balance.
In addition, pressure distribution measurements and flow visualizations
were carried out on the cylindrical part of the cars, to help better understand
the effect of the different noses on the cross wind behavior of the models.
Shape optimization
The shape of the present Siemens high speed train (HST), the ICE3 (Figure
5), has been conceived more according to design than to aerodynamic criteria.
On the one hand, its extremely rounded cross section certainly has a positive
effect on its cross wind stability, as demonstrated by basic investigations of the
effect of roof corner radius carried out in the early eighties [2]. On the other
hand, its undoubtedly good looking nose shape is very far from being
optimized with regard to actual aerodynamic requirements about tunnel entry
phenomena, head pressure pulse and cross wind sensitiviry.
A maximum reduction of these last three aerodynamic effects had on the
contrary, the highest priority during the development phase of the power car
for the Spanish Talgo 350 HST, conceived and built by the Locomotives
division of Siemens Transportation Systems. To reduce cross wind sensitivity,
positive experience gained in the 1970s by experimenting with "duck bill" like
nose shapes on maglev trains (Figure 6) was used as a starting point. Adapting
that type of shape to a conventional power car while optimizing it with regard
to head pressure pulse and tunnel entry phenomena by means of CFD, led to
the present concave shape of the Talgo 350 nose (Figure 7).
Figure 5. ICE3leading car with convex, "Designer" nose shape.

458 J.-L. Peters
Figure 6. 1Oo/o scale wind tunnel model ofTransrapid maglev vehicle with "duck bill" nose.
Figure 7. TAV 350 power car with concave, "aerodynamic" nose shape.
How co Reduce the Cross Wind Sensitivity of Trains 459
Selected results
If we take the upper level of the leeside rail as the longitudinal axis in our
reference system, then the rolling moment coefficient Cmx contains all the
information we need to calculate an overturn characteristic as shown on Figure
2. Under these circumstances, the aerodynamic stability of a vehicle under
cross wind conditions will be adequately represented by its Cmx.
Figure 8 shows a comparison of the rolling moment coefficients as a
function of yaw angle of the original ICE3 leading car with its "design-nose"
and of the same car with an optimized "aero-nose" of the TAV 350 type. On
average, the rolling moment coefficient is reduced by some 10 %. This means
that a "duck bill" nose shape would allow the ICE3 leading car to sustain 2.5
m/s or 5 knots higher cross wind speeds. This aerodynamic improvement is
also the equivalent of 6 tons of ballast, the only other way of reducing cross
wind sensitivity.
The additional benefits of the "aero-nose" should also be mentioned [4]: A
20 % lower head pressure pulse and thanks to the reduction of the tunnel
entry pressure gradient, a 10 % lower sonic-boom, should the conditions for
its appearance be met [5].
10 20 30 40 50 60 70
6 [")
Figure 8. Leading car rolling moment coefficient Cmx as a function of yaw angle g and nose
shape.
As mentioned before, the beneficial effect of roof rounding on cross wind

stability had already been proven in the past. However, the corresponding
measurements were carried out only with intermediate cars. It was therefore
interesting to determine whether similar effects could be obtained by
460 J.-L. Peters
optimizing the roof shape of the cylindrical part of a HST leading car,
considering that the airflow around the roof is strongly influenced by the long
nose shape, and that the nose itself generates approximately half of the total
cross wind load [2]. The tests were carried out with the Talgo 350 power car
model, by comparing its original Cmx with the one measured after rounding
the roof (inner section or left model template in Figure 9). The results are
surprising: even in that case, a roof rounding is still very effective, as the rolling
moment coefficient could be reduced by approximately 10 o/o.
3.2. Effect of wind tunnel, balance and mounting

The aerodynamic optimization of a vehicle can certainly be carried out in any
wind tunnel as long as the Reynolds numbers are large enough for measured
improvements to be realistically applicable to full scale trains, and of course the
blockage ratio does not exceed some 10 o/o. When it comes to security aspects
however, the reliability of the absolute values themselves becomes particularly
vital. Measuring the same values in as many different wind tunnels as possible
is therefore a first important step in getting confidence in their validity. There
are of course other factors that may impair the validity of such tests. The main
one is the wrong simulation of the cross wind in a wind tunnel. But its
influence should remain small, and an affordable solution to avoid its effect is
not known anyway.
Consequently, and for the first time in the history of train aerodynamics,
the very same model has been measured in as many as 6 different wind
tunnels. This reference model was the mock up of the original ICE3 leading
car.
Figure 9. Standard Talgo 350 power car roof cross section (right model template) and rounded
roof section (left model template).
The first measurements were carried out by Siemens Transportation in 1996

in the FlowScience wind tunnel in Manchester, UK, which has a closed test
section of 5.07 m 2 cross sectional area. Because of the relatively small cross-
section, the maximum yaw angle was limited to 30°. The IC£3 model was
then tested in 2000 by Bombardier Transportation in the wind tunnels of the
Universities of Berlin and Dresden. Both facilities are quite similar to the
FlowScience wind tunnel, with closed test sections of approximately 5 m 2 cross
sectional area. According to Bombardier, the results were quasi identical to
those obtained in Manchester, so that they won't be mentioned any further
here.
In the same year, German Rail (DB) measured the model in the Porsche
wind tunnel with its 25 m 2 open test section. Siemens Transportation futher
tested the model of the original ICE3 several times in the years 2000 and 2002
in the S 10 wind tunnel described in the preceding section, as well as in the
CSTB (Centre Scientifique et Technique du Batiment) wind tunnel in
Nantes, France. The closed test section of this latter facility has a cross
sectional area of 35 m 2 • The ground clearance (to the bottom of the wheels) for
all the models tested by Siemens was 25 mm plus the displacement thickness
of the wind tunnel.
Figure 10. Effect of wind tunnel/balance on rolling moment coefficient Cmx vs. yaw angle~
(ICE3 leading car) .
An initial comparison of the rolling moments obtained in the 4 main wind

tunnels is shown in Figure 10. In the legend box, the second name after the
slash refers to the type of balance used: either the external (underfloor) wind
tunnel balance (same name as the wind tunnel) or our own internal Aerotech
balance. When the wind tunnels are equipped with their own 6 component
balances, their operators prefer to use their balance as a modification of their
software is not required, and the mounting is usually relatively simple. The
same reasons make it generally just as advantageous for the customer to go for
the wind tunnel balance, which is why at Porsche and at the lAT the wind
tunnel balances were used.
462 J.-L. Peters
Considering the much smaller size of the FlowScience wind tunnel, it was
to be expected that the Cmx values measured there became gradually larger
with the increasing yaw angle when compared to all other values. The
hierarchy between the other results is however inexplicable in terms of the
lower values being obtained in the smaller test section and vice versa. Actually,
considering that even in the smaller of these large wind tunnels, the maximum
blockage ratio remains under 8.5 o/o at the maximum yaw angle of 90°, there
should not be any effect of either test section size or type.
An effect of the balances or even the supports was suspected, and the models
were modified to incorporate the internal Aerotech balance, while the
mounting in the IAT S 10 wind tunnel was adapted accordingly and
aerodynamically improved. The results obtained in this wind tunnel with the
internal balance are compared with the previous results in Figure 11. The
differences are dramatic. They may be partly attributed to the effect of the
supports which were originally thought to be harmless as these are
comparatively small and practically at the level of the Cmx reference axis.
When using the underfloor balance, they were however measured with the
model and due to their aerodynamically very poor design, they may have had a
negative effect on the flow around the vehicle. Another even more probable
cause for the discrepancy was that the center of application of the forces was
far away from the center of the balance when using the wind tunnel balance,
while in the case of the internal balance, these two centers were very close.
For these reasons, there is absolutely no doubt that the measurements with
the internal balance are much more trustworthy. This is further confirmed by
a perfect repeatability, and by the fact that the asymmetry that was observed
with the external balance (between left and right of the wind tunnel axis
measured results) nearly totally disappeared with the internal balance.
The comparison made on Figure 10 is repeated with the new IAT results in
Figure 12. This time the IAT results are in perfect agreement with the CSTB
results, although these two wind tunnels are totally different (15 m 2 test
section vs. 30 m 2 , slotted walls vs. closed section). It is obvious that the
Porsche results are too optimistic because an underfloor balance was used, as
initially in the IAT wind tunnel. Furthermore and probably because of the
asymmetric mounting of the models (on the right hand side pads) in the
Porsche test section, too high Cmx values were measured at very low angles (at
g = 0° we must actually have Cmx = 0), which further discredit the credibility
of these results.
How to Reduce the Cross Wind Sensitivity ofT rains 463
7
- Aerotech balance, 912002
6
IAT balance, 10/2000
5
~
..'..... 4
X
E
0 3
Figure 11. Effect of balance and mounting on rolling moment coefficient Cmx vs. yaw angle
B measured in IAT wind tunnel (ICE3leading car).
7
~4~~~==~~~~~~~~~
0 3+f;;~~~~~~~==~====~--~--+-~
0 10 20 30 60 70 80 90
Figure 12. Effect of wind tunnel/balance on rolling moment coefficient Cmx vs. yaw angle B
with improved IAT tests (ICE3leading car).
3.3. Comparison between wind tunnel and CFD results

The 6 aerodynamic coefficients were calculated with FLUENT and compared
with the coefficients measured in the IAT wind tunnel with the internal
Aerotech balance for a power car model with a wedge shaped nose (Figures 14
and 15). With regard to the rolling moment Cmx, the results look
encouraging: the general tendency with the yaw angle is well reproduced and
the order of magnitude of the values is acceptable (Figure 13). However, the
differences are still too large and so dependent on the yaw angle that it would
be yet too hazardous to use FLUENT for an optimization process. A closer
464 J.-L. Peters
look at the other components shows that the discrepancies are mostly due to
far too low calculated lift values.
V"' I
v. /
X
E / I
/
() ~
/ v
~
v I
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
R [o)
Figure 13. Comparison of calculated (triangles) with measured (line) rolling mo ment
coefficients Cmx vs. yaw angle K
Figure 14. Power car wind tunnel model with wedge shaped nose.
How to Reduce the Cross Wind Sensitivity ofT rains 465
080
0.40
0.00
- 0.40
-0.80
- 1.20
- 1.60
- 2.00
Contours of Pressure Coefficient Oct 17,2002

FLUENT 6.0 (3d, segregated, rngke)
Figure 15. FLUENT model of power car with wedge shaped nose.
4. Efficiency considerations
A comparison of the efficiency of the experimental and the numerical methods
is made in Table 1. Computer costs were calculated on a 4 year amortization
period. As to the total time, the estimate takes into consideration the fact that
development engineers or scientists at Siemens (as in probably any other
similar company) can devote only a maximum of approximately 40 o/o of their
working time to research.
The result is surprising for two reasons. First of all, the overall costs are
comparable, essentially due to the very high time that has to be invested in
CFD modeling. More importantly, CFD that is meant to supersede wind
tunnel testing because it is not only supposed to be cheaper but also much
faster, is not yet competitive when time is considered.
466 J.-L. Peters
Wind tunnel CFD
Engineering 25,000 € 87,000 €
Models I Licences 72,000€ 30.000 €

Wind tunnel/ Computer 31,000 € 10.000 €
Total costs 128,000 € 127,000 €
Final results in 5 months 10 months
Table 1. Cost effectiveness of wind tunnel tests vs. CFD calculations

(13 configurations, 15 yaw angles).
5. Conclusion
It has been demonstrated that the cross wind sensitivity of train leading cars
can be noticeably reduced by optimizing their roof profile and their nose
shape.
If an internal 6 component balance is used, the wind tunnel and the
Reynolds-numbers are large enough, and a few additional precautions
particularly with regard to model mounting are taken, wind tunnels can
provide vety reliable results.
For this type of investigation, CFD calculations are not yet an alternative.
Firstly, they cannot to date represent the physical phenomena with sufficient
accuracy, secondly, they do not actually offer any financial advantage and
thirdly, they demand much more time than the experimental method, at least
in an industrial context.
References
[1] Hucho W. H., "Aerodynamik der stumpfen Korper", Vieweg Verlag,
September 2002.
[2] Peters J.L., "Aerodynamics of high-speed trains and maglev vehicles: State
of the art and future potential", Int. J. of Vehicle Design, SP3, 1983.
[3] Peters J.L., "Windkanal 54 im lnstitut Aerotechnique von Saint-Cyr",
ATZAutomobiltechnische Zeitschrift, 80, no.7/7, 1978.
[4] Peters J.L., "Tunnel optimized train nose shape", Proc. of IO'h Int. Symp.
on Aerodynamics and Ventilation of Vehicle Tunnels, Boston, USA,
October 2000.
[5] Maeda T., Matsumara T., Iida M., Nakatani K., Uchida K. "Effect of train
nose on compression wave generated by train entering tunnel", Int. Conf.
on Speedup Technology for Railway and Maglev Vehicles, JSME,
Yokohama, Japan, 22-26 Nov. 1993.
Acknowledgement
The author would like to thank A. Rueter of the Trains Division of Siemens
Transportation Systems for providing the CFD results.
CFD Study of Side Wind Effects on a High Speed
Train
Christian Fauchier, Huu-Thi Do, CD adapco France, France
Remi Gregoire, Alstom Transport, France
This paper deals with numerical studies in relation with cross-wind effects on
high-speed trains. 3-dimensional steady RANS simulations were performed for
the ALSTOM Transport company with the off-the-shelf STAR-CD software.
The purpose of the study was to investigate the aerodynamic performances of
three different designs of very high-speed trainsets with airflow yaw angles
ranging from 0 to 90 degrees. Each trainset was composed of five simplified
vehicles resting over a flat ground.
New meshing techniques were used in order to drastically cut down the
time required to prepare the CFD simulations. Moreover, a very careful
attention was given to the CAD preparation of the virtual aerodynamic train
models in order to create a straightforward and fully automatic meshing
process at reception of the CAD output. That led to unordinary fast meshing
times and accurate description of the boundary layer around the trains' surface.
The simulations were classically performed with the K-Epsilon RNG
turbulent model. The convergence was based on stabilization of both residuals
and aerodynamic global forces and moments on each vehicle.
Local aerodynamic coefficients and air velocities were automatically video-
like post-treated to allow fast and efficient examination of the large quantity of
results being produced. The sensitivity of the airflows and resulting forces and
moments for a given train was also investigated relatively to (i) different spatial
discretization scheme orders, (ii) different ground conditions, that is with and
without rails, with and without slip-wall conditions.
Finally, some useful conclusions could be drawn from the viewpoint of
trainset design. Moreover, important recommendations for further CFD
studies and complementary wind-tunnel reduced-scale tests were issued.
CFD Calculations by Various Methods (continued)
Commercial CFD Code Validation for Heavy-
Vehicle External Aerodynamics Simulation
W. David Pointer, Tanju Sofu, and David Weber
Argonne National Laboratory, Nuclear Engineering Division
The issue of energy economy in transportation has grown beyond traditional

concerns over environment, safety and health to include new concerns over
national security and energy self-sufficiency. As part of the U.S. Department
of Energy Office of FreedomCAR and Vehicle Technologies' Working Group
on Aerodynamic Drag of Heavy Vehicles, Argonne National Laboratory is in-
dependently investigating the accuracy of aerodynamic drag predictions gener-
ated by commercial Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) Software. In this
validation study, computational predictions from two commercial CFD codes,
Star-CD [1] and PowerFLOW [2], will be compared with detailed velocity,
pressure and force balance data from experiments completed in the 7 ft. by 10
ft. wind tunnel at NASA Ames [3,4] using a Generic Conventional Model
(GCM) that is representative of typical current-generation tractor-trailer geo-
metries. This paper highlights results from evaluations of drag coefficient pre-
dictions using standard two-equation steady RANS turbulence models and
logarithmic wall functions that were completed as part of the first phase of
these studies.
Introduction
The commercial CFD software validation effort undertaken by Argonne Na-

tional Laboratory is currently nearing the completion of the first phase of a
multi-stage project that will culminate in an evaluation of the capabilities of
selected commercial CFD software for the simulation of aerodynamic drag of
actual truck geometries. In the first phase, a roadmap is being developed for
the more rigorous validation efforts to be completed in the remaining compo-
nents of the study. This phase includes preliminary evaluations of solution
sensitivity to the computational mesh construction, selection of turbulence
model, and other simulation parameters. The evaluations completed in the
development of the roadmap use simulations of the standard configuration of
a Generic Conventional Model (GCM), which is a representative simplifica-
tion of current generation tractor-trailer geometries. These simulations will
use the commercial CFD software package Star-CD, which is a finite volume
474 W.D. Pointer, T. Sofu, and D. Weber
code using a predictor-corrector-type solver. Computational meshes for these

studies are developed using Star-CD's automatic meshing capabilities and
problem set up is completed using the aerodynamic problem definition tool,
ES-Aero. The software package provides a wide variety of turbulence model-
ing options as part of the standard commercial release and allows for the use of
alternative turbulence models through user-subroutine programming. Initial
studies completed in this phase have focused upon the applicability of standard
two-equation high Reynolds number steady-RANS (Reynolds-averaged Navier
Stokes) turbulence models using wall functions in the near wall region for the
prediction of aerodynamic drag. Future efforts may include evaluations of so-
called two-layer models, which use the standard two-equation high Reynolds
number models in the far field coupled with a low-Reynolds number model in
the near wall field, or transient simulation methodologies.
In the second phase, the agreement between simulations of the standard
configuration of the GCM using Star-CD and the commercial CFD software
package PowerFLOW will be evaluated. Since PowerFLOW is a lattice-
Boltzmann based code, the extensive modeling options available in a finite
volume code are neither available nor necessary. Standard PowerFLOW mod-
eling options will be employed in these evaluations.
In the final phase of the studies using the GCM geometry, computational
predictions of velocity fields, pressure fields, and drag coefficients will be com-
pared with experimental measurements for four different configurations of the
GCM. All wind tunnel tests considered in the study provide a Reynolds
number of 1.1 million. In each experiment, three-axis Particle Image V eloci-
metry (PIV) and 490 pressure sensors are employed to record the velocity and
pressure fields around the vehicle. A standard aerodynamic force balance is
employed to capture drag force data. All cases will be treated as "blind" vali-
dation studies with no prior knowledge of the details of the experimental re-
sults.
A set of best practice guidelines will be developed from the GCM studies for
application to the simulation of a real truck geometry complete with mirrors,
door handles and all standard decorative details. Through a cooperative re-
search and development agreement, PACCAR Technical Center will provide
detailed geometric data and experimental measurements of drag coefficient
and surface pressure distributions for a 1/S'h scale model of a commercial
tractor and generic trailer under a range of yaw angles. Blind validation stud-
ies will be completed using standard options available within selected commer-
cial CFD software.
Generic Conventional Model

The Generic Conventional Model (GCM) is a simplified representation of a
conventional U.S. tractor-trailer truck. The model is 1/S'h scale and can be
configured in four different geometries as illustrated in Fig. 1. The nominal
configuration is a representative model of a current-generation tractor-trailer
truck. Alternate configurations include the addition of a low-boy device under
Commercial CFD Code Validation 475
Standard truck
Low boy trailer
Faired truck
Faired truck with low boy trailer
Fig. 1. Generic Conventional Model (GCM) geometric configurations
the length of the trailer, a full fairing between the cab and the trailer, and the
combination of the fairing and low-boy device.
Computational Model
The computational model employed in these studies was developed using the
ES-Aero tool for aerodynamic drag simulation that is available as part of the
Star-CO software package. The mesh is developed using a semi-automated
process that progresses in seven stages:
1. A three-dimensional hexahedral mesh is created that completely fills the
volume of the wind tunnel.
2. The mesh is refined in successively smaller zones surrounding the vehicle
until the mesh in a small region surrounding the vehicle reaches the pro-
scribed near-vehicle cell size. The result is an unstructured mesh of hexahe-

dral cells which exhibit 2-to-1 matching at the unstructured interfaces.
3. The near-vehicle mesh is locally refined based upon features of the vehicle
surface definition. Local refinements are determined by both minimum
feature size limits and by user identification of feature zones of interest.
4. The surfaces that define the vehicle are "wrapped" by projecting the refined
hexahedral mesh onto the surface. In this manner, the multiple compo-
nents of the vehicle are merged into a single surface, and a quadrilateral
surface definition is created.
5. The quadrilateral surface definition is spatially expanded to create a sub-
surface.
6. The sub-surface is used to cut away the parts of the unstructured hexahedral
mesh that fall within the sub-surface.
7. A brick and prism extrusion layer is created to fill the gap between the sub-
surface and the quadrilateral surface definition. Thus, the polyhedral
trimmed cells are not in the critical boundary layer region of the problem.
8. Upon completion of the basic mesh, the wake and ground layer regions are
automatically further refined to better capture important flow features.
In this study, the generated mesh has a near-wall cell size of 8.0 mm. The
minimum cell size used in local refinements is 0.5 mm, and a minimum of 16
points are required to define any full circle. In addition to automatic refine-
ments, cells adjacent to the surface are refined to a size of 2.0 mm in order to
preserve the quality of the surface in the wrapping stage and improve the qual-
ity of the trimmed cells. The extrusion layer consists of two layers of brick and
prism cells where the outer layer has a thickness of 1.0 mm and the inner layer
has a thickness of 0.5 mm. A sample computational mesh is illustrated in Fig.
2. In order to reduce computational cost for these preliminary studies, only
half of the GCM is included in the model and a symmetric boundary condi-
tion is employed at the centerline.
In all simulations discussed herein, the GCM is centered at zero yaw on the
floor of a wind tunnel test section that is 2.133 m (7 ft.) tall by 3.048 m (1 0
ft.) wide. Since the GCM is approximately 2.5 m long, a total test section
length of 10.0 m is assumed, where one model length is included upstream of
the model and two model lengths are included downstream of the model.
Based upon a Reynolds number of 1.1 million, a uniform velocity of 51.5 m/s
is enforced at the inlet boundary. A uniform pressure condition is applied at
the outlet boundary. In these studies, the surface of the standard configuration
GCM is defined using approximately 500,000 triangular surface elements that
are based upon CAD data representations taken from optical scans of the ac-
tual model.
Fig. 2. Two-dimensional projection of the near-vehicle region of the computational

mesh employed in these studies.
Turbulence Modeling
While commercial CFD technology relies heavily upon traditional steady

RANS turbulence modeling in combination with logarithmic wall functions
for most flow field simulation applications, the applicability of these models to
aerodynamic drag simulations is often questioned. Numerous studies have
demonstrated mediocre predictions of separation regions under adverse pres-
sure gradients such as those seen in backward facing steps or bluff bodies in
cross flow when using these models. However, as with any problem, the ap-
plicability of these models to the heavy vehicle problem should be independ-
ently considered. These studies evaluate three formulations of this type of tur-
bulence model:
1. the standard high Reynolds number k-E model,
2. the Menter k-E SST model [5], and
3. the renormalization group (RNG) formulation of the k-E model [6].
The standard high Reynolds number k-E model and the k-E SST model are
identical in the far field, but the SST model uses a blending function that is
dependent on the distance from the surface to incorporate the additional detail
of the Wilcox k-E model in separation regions and near the walls. For the high
Reynolds number k-E model, the near wall turbulence parameters are specified
using the logarithmic "law of the wall" function. For the k-E SST, the OJ of
the near wall cell is also fixed using a wall function dependent on the coeffi-
cients of the turbulence model. The SST model may be more sensitive to
separation than the standard k-E model, but the two should show reasonable
agreement. The RNG model is also similar to the standard k-E model, but the
RNG model contains an additional term to account for the mean flow distor-
tion of the dissipation. It is expected that a larger discrepancy will be seen
between the standard k-E model and the RNG model.
478 W.O. Pointer, T. Sofu, and D. Weber
High Reynolds Number k- Model 50.00

47.50
45.00
42.50
40.00
37.50
35.00
32.50
30.00
27.50
25.00
Menter k- SST Model 22.50
20.00
17.50
15.00
12.50
10.00
7.500
5.000
2.500
0.0000
Renormalization Group (RNG) Model
Fig. 3. Velocity magnitude profiles along the centerline of the GCM for computational
cases using the standard high-Reynolds number k-_ model, the Menter k-_ SST model, and
the renormalization group (RNG) model. Wall functions are used in the near wall region
for all cases.
Simulation Results
For each turbulence model considered, a steady-state simulation consisting of

3000 iterations was completed. Convergence parameters that define the de-
sired limits of the velocity, mass and pressure residuals were set to small values
to allow the simulation to continue to the 3000'h iteration before the standard
flow parameter convergence criteria were satisfied. In addition to the standard
flow parameter residuals, the convergence of the vehicle drag coefficient was
monitored interactively. Although the drag coefficient shows slight oscillatory
behavior in each simulation, near-constant drag-coefficients were obtained by
the 1800'h iteration in all three cases. At the 3000'h iteration, the normalized
global residual of each of the individual flow parameters have converged to less
than lxl0-4 • The normalized change in the drag coefficient has also con-
verged to less than lxl0-4 by the 3000'h iteration. Since velocity and pressure
data from the wind tunnel experiments will not be available for comparison
with the computational studies until the "blind" validation phase of the pro-
jects, comparisons with the measured experimental pressure and velocity data
have not yet been made. Only comparisons between the three computational
cases can be made for the pressure and velocity distributions at this time.
However, comparisons with experimental drag coefficient measurements are
made herein since this data provides little information that could potentially
be used to produce "tuned" solutions.
Velocity Distribution Predictions

Since the current simulations have employed a steady-state methodology, the
predicted flow fields cannot be expected to capture such temporal behaviors as
vortex shedding in the wake behind the trailer. However, such steady-state
simulations may still provide useful insights about the general character of the
flow field. Velocity magnitude profiles at the centerline of the GCM are
shown in Fig. 3. In these figures, recirculation zones are clearly outlined by
the regions of near-zero velocity magnitude, which are shown in violet. The
simulations all show a large recirculation zone downstream of the trailer which
in reality is a large unsteady wake. While a steady-state simulation cannot
capture such a wake, these phenomena are characterized as steady recirculation
zones which provide some insight into the location and distribution of vortex
shedding and other wake field phenomena within the flow field.
As one should expect, the predictions of the simulations using the standard
k-e model and the SST model are very similar. However, the length of there-
circulation zone following the trailer is somewhat reduced by the SST model,
and the length of the recirculation under the trailer is extended by the SST
model. The application of the RNG model leads to a more significant devia-
tion from the case using the standard k-£ model. The length of the recircula-
tion zone at the base of the trailer is significantly increased and the interaction
of the underbody flow with both the wake flow and the ground plane is much
more significant.
Pressure Distribution Predictions

The accurate prediction of surface pressure distributions is critical for the pre-
diction of drag forces acting on the vehicle. While comparisons will not be
made with experimental measurements of surface pressure distributions, the
surface pressure distributions should be consistent with flow field predictions.
Furthermore, the predictions from the simulations using different turbulence
models should show reasonable consistency since the differences between the
selected models are not large.
A sample surface pressure distribution taken from the simulation using the
standard k-£ model is shown in Fig. 4. Data shown in the contour plot of sur-
face pressure was generated by reflecting the calculated values across the sym-
metric boundary plane of the half-vehicle model. The surface pressure data
clearly captures that stagnation of flow in front of the vehicle. Also seen are
the regions of separated flow along the A-pillar, along the top of the cab fair-
ing, along the sides of the cylindrical wheels, and along the expansion feature
that would be located just downstream of the cab doors. Consistent with ex-
pectations, negative pressures are predicted along the rear surface of the cab
and the trailer, but no large pressure gradients are seen observed within those
regions. The largest pressure gradients are observed along the leading edge of
the sides of the tires and along the recirculation region just under the front
bumper. Significant stagnation and negative base pressure regions are ob-
served on all tires and axels in this simulation. This is consistent with the
static nature of the GCM model, but this distribution would be altered for real
.....
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04000 -01300
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Fig. 4. Predicted pressure distributions on the surface of the GCM model as seen in isomet-
ric, front, side and back views. Data is taken from simulations using the k-E model and
data has been reflected across the symmetric centerline boundary to generate a data set rep-
resenting the full vehicle.
tractor-trailer vehicles while in service as a result of the rotation of these ele-
ments.
Pressure distributions along the front of the tractor and the base of the
trailer at the model centerline are shown in Fig. 5 for each of the turbulence
models employed. As expected, there is very little deviation between the stan-
dard k-E model and the SST model. In a manner consistent with the devia-
tions observed in the velocity field between the simulations using the standard
k-E model and the RNG model, the pressure profiles from the RNG case show
larger negative pressures in the separation zones. While a small difference is
seen between the RNG model and the other models in the predictions along
the trailer base, larger contributions to the difference in total body drag are
found along the components in the under body flow.
Drag Coefficient Predictions

For each simulation, the vehicle drag coefficient was calculated using a
frontal surface area of 0.158 m 2 • The experimental drag coefficient is reported
as 0.4076 where a frontal area of 0.1544 m 2 was assumed. However, the value
frontal area used in the calculation of the experimental coefficient does not ac-
count for the area of the tires. When this area is accounted for, as in the cal-
culation of the drag coefficient for the numerical predictions, the experimental
drag coefficient becomes 0.398. As shown in Table 1, excellent agreement
with the experimental result is obtained for all of the turbulence models em-
ployed. The best agreement is seen in the simulation using the k-E SST
model, where the error in the prediction is 0.75 percent. Efforts are currently
underway to establish the sensitivity of these results to the computational mesh
structure and refinement.
Table 1. Summary of drag coefficient predictions for each of the turbulence

models employed.
Predicted Drag Percent Error in

Turbulence Model
Coefficient Prediction
Experiment 0.398
High-Reynolds number
0.402 1.00
k-epsilon model
Menter k-E SST model 0.401 0.75
RNG model 0.389 2.29

482 W.O. Pointer, T. Sofu, and D. Weber
1.5
1.25
•• • ...
I •• •
• • ••
• • ·--- .... ••
.......
··~
.... -:. -:.-,.,. r
{ 0.75
~
0.5
I ...."
0.25 r--- . High-Reynolds Number k-epsilon Model
~ Menter's k-omega SST Model
0
• Renormalization Group (RNG) Model
Cp
(a) Front of Tractor
1.5 ~ ....
~· ?• •
••
1.25 • ••
• • ••• . ,._i
••• ~ .f •
.
{ 0.75
• ••
...
\. • • ••
••
0.5
t .. (
•• ••••
• • ·:.. ·~
0.25
. High-Reynolds Number k-epsilon Model
-
~ Menter's k-omega SST Model
• Rinormalization Group (RNG) Model
i . I
....~
$:) ·
Cp
(b) Base of Trailer
Fig. 5. Predicted pressure distributions along the centerline of the tractor front and trailer base
surfaces of the GCM for each turbulence model considered.
Summary and Conclusion
Argonne National Laboratory is currently investigating the accuracy of com-

mercial CFD software for the prediction of the aerodynamic drag coefficient of
heavy vehicles. Initial studies have examined drag coefficient prediction using
standard two-equation steady-state RANS turbulence models in conjunction
with wall functions in the commercial CFD software package Star-CD. These
initial studies appear to indicate that these basic models can be used in con-
junction with the computational mesh generated by Star-CD's automatic
meshing tools to make accurate predictions of the vehicle drag coefficient. In-
deed, predicted drag coefficients are within as little as 0. 75 percent of the
measured wind tunnel value. Extensive mesh sensitiviry analyses are currently
underway to further establish the validity of these results. At the conclusion of
"blind" numerical simulation activities using the GCM standard truck ge-
ometry, pressure and velocity field predictions will be compared with detailed
pressure and velocity data from wind tunnel experiments. These results will be
used to develop a set of best practice guidelines that will be employed in the
simulation of a real tractor-trailer truck geometry for comparison with wind
tunnel data collected for that system.
References
1. Star-CD, version 3.150A, CD-Adapco Group, Melville, NY.

2. PowerFLOW, version 3.4, Exa Corporation, Lexington, MA.
3. Dale Satran, " An Experimental Study of the Generic Conventional Model
(GCM) in the NASA Ames 7-by-10-Foot Wind Tunnel," United Engi-
neering Foundation Conference on The Aerodynamics of Heavy Vehicles:
Trucks, Buses, and Trains, Monterey, CA, Dec 2-6, 2002.
4. ]. T. Heineck, Stephen Walker, Dale Satran, "The Measurement of Wake
and Gap Flows of a 1/8'h Scale Generic Truck Using Three-Component
Particle Image Velocimetry," United Engineering Foundation Conference
on The Aerodynamics of Heavy Vehicles: Trucks, Buses, and Trains,
Monterey, CA, Dec 2-6, 2002.
5. Yakhot, V., Orszag, S.A., Thangam, S., Gatski, T.B., and Speziale, C.G.
"Development of turbulence models for shear flows by a double expansion
technique", Phys. Fluids, A4, No.7, pp. 1510-1520, 1992
6. F. R. Menter, "Zonal Two Equation k-_Turbulence Models for Aerody-
namic Flows" in 24th Fluid Dynamics Conference (Orlando), AIAA paper
93-2906, July 1993.
Computational Parametric Study on External
Aerodynamics of Heavy Trucks
Ilhan Bayraktar+, Oktay Baysal*, and Tuba Bayraktar*
Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA 23529
Abstract
Aerodynamic characteristics of a ground vehicle affect vehicle operation in many
ways. Aerodynamic drag, lift and side forces have influence on fuel efficiency, ve-
hicle top speed and acceleration performance. In addition, engine cooling, air con-
ditioning, wind noise, visibility, stability and crosswind sensitivity are some other
tasks for vehicle aerodynamics. All of these areas benefit from drag reduction and
changing the lift force in favor of the operating conditions. This can be achieved
by optimization of external body geometry and flow modification devices. Consid-
ering the latter, a thorough understanding of the airflow is a prerequisite.
The present study aims to simulate the external flow field around a ground vehi-
cle using a computational method. The model and the method are selected to be
three dimensional and time-dependent. The Reynolds-averaged Navier Stokes
equations are solved using a finite volume method. The Renormalization Group
(RNG) k-£ model was elected for closure of the turbulent quantities.
The external aerodynamics of a heavy truck is simulated using a validated com-
putational fluid dynamics method, and the external flow is presented by computer
visualization. Then, to help the estimation of the error due to two commonly prac-
ticed engineering simplifications, a parametric study on the tires and the moving
ground effect are conducted on full-scale tractor-trailer configuration. Force and
pressure coefficients and velocity distribution around tractor-trailer assembly are
computed for each case and the results compared with each other.
Introduction
The fluid flow in and around a ground vehicle in motion may be grouped into the
following two major categories. The external flow includes the undercarriage flow,
the flow in the gap between the tractor and the trailer(s) and the wake behind the
truck. It generates the wake that the nearby road vehicles experience and carries
t Research Engineer, The Langley Full Scale Tunnel.

*Interim Dean, College of Engineering and Technology.
• Graduate Student, Mechanical Engineering Department.
486 I. Bayraktar, 0. Baysal, and T. Bayraktar
the splashed water or mud to the truck's immediate vicinity. The internal flows in-
clude the under-the-hood flow and the flow inside the cabin. The airflow that en-
ters through the front grill starts the under-the-hood flow; after it cools the engine
block, it is diverted by the bulkhead to the wheel wells.
Both the external and the internal flows are highly turbulent, dominated by large
separation regions, large and small vortices and complex recirculation regions (Hu-
cho 1998). Due to one or more of the aforementioned factors, some of these flows
are also unsteady. Therefore, they require time-accurate solutions of the viscous-
flow equations on computational domains.
The flowfield around a ground vehicle, which is being investigated in this study,
is a three dimensional, turbulent and unsteady phenomenon. Typical tractor-trailer
configurations produce several stagnation points, separations, secondary flow re-
gions and large wakes. In addition, under-the-hood and underbody flows make the
external flowfield even more difficult to handle. These all increase the total vehicle
drag coefficient and eventually influence the fuel consumption unfavorably.
It has been reported that heavy trucks consume approximately 68% of all com-
mercial truck fuel used in United States, even though they comprise less than 17%
of the commercial vehicle fleet. Nearly 70% of the fuel consumption of these
heavy trucks occurs during trips longer than 100 miles (Bradley 2000). Therefore,
the heavy trucks stand to benefit most from any technology that will improve fuel
efficiency.
Fuel consumption for heavy trucks can be reduced by external shape modifica-
tion. Aerodynamically improved external geometry decreases the drag force on the
vehicle in motion. Characteristics of such vehicle aerodynamics can be itemized as
follows; (i) Heavy trucks have a relatively high drag coefficient, which is usually
greater than 0.5 (Bradley 2000), (ii) they have large frontal areas (iii) and they are
operated mostly at highway speeds. Detailed research in these areas could lead to
drag reduction and considerable fuel savings.
There are numerous studies that have been conducted either with entire trucks or
local geometries and their resulting flow characteristics. Until recently, most of
these studies have been based upon wind tunnel experiments. This is mainly be-
cause there was no better method available for a long time. Therefore, most of the
design improvements were achieved from these limited quantitative data from tra-
ditional methods. Recent improvements on computer speed and architecture pro-
vide a new opportunity for the aerodynamic development of ground vehicles.
However, most computational methods have yet to be proven on ground vehicle
aerodynamics.
Method
The set of equations solved for the present study are the time-dependent, Reynolds-
averaged Navier-Stokes equations in their conservation form. Reynolds-averaged
quantities are obtained through a time-averaging process as follows. For example,
a velocity U may be divided into an average component, U, and a time varying
component, u,
Computational Parametric Study on External Aerodynamics of Heavy Trucks 487
- - 1
U=U+u where U=-JUdt (1)
At/
where L1t is a time scale, which is large relative to the turbulent fluctuations, but
small relative to the time scale to which the equations are solved. In the following
equations, the bar will be dropped for time-averaged quantities, except for the
products of the fluctuating quantities. By substituting the time-averaged quantities,
the Reynolds averaged equations then become:
ap +V•{pU)=O (2)
at
apu +V•(pU®U)=V·~-u®u)+sM (3)
at
apE +V•(pUE)=V•~VE-puE)+SE (4)
at
The continuity equation has not been altered but the momentum and scalar
transport equations contain turbulent flux terms in addition to the molecular diffu-
---- --
sive fluxes. These are the Reynolds stress, pu ® u , and the Reynolds flux, pu¢ .
These terms arise from the non-linear convective term in the non-averaged equa-
tions. They reflect the fact that convective transport due to turbulent velocity fluc-
tuations act to enhance the mixing over and above that caused by the thermal fluc-
tuations at the molecular level. At high Reynolds numbers, turbulent velocity
fluctuations occur over a length scale much larger than the mean free path of ther-
mal fluctuations, so that the turbulent fluxes are much larger than the molecular
fluxes. Therefore, to achieve these aerodynamic simulations within the currently
available computer resources and the project milestones, the effects of turbulence
needed to be "modeled." It was realized, however, that none of the existing turbu-
lence models was developed for unsteady flows. Therefore, the present time-
accurate, finite-volume CFD methodology with its RNG k-£ turbulence model was
previously benchmarked using a series of well-documented flows (Han 1989,
Baysal and Bayraktar 2001).
The RNG k-£ model uses an eddy viscosity hypothesis for the turbulence and in-
troduces two new variables into the system of equations, k and £.The effective vis-
cosity, !Leff' is taken as the sum of molecular and turbulent viscosities. Then, for ex-
ample, the momentum equation is written as,
a~~+ V • (pu ®U)- V • (ueff VU )= Vp' + V • (ueff VU )r (5)

where the modified pressure is denoted by p' . The k-£ model assumes that the tur-
bulence viscosity is linked to the turbulence kinetic energy and dissipation via the
relation where C!' is a constant. The values of k and £come directly from the dif-
ferential transport equations for the turbulence kinetic energy and turbulence dissi-
pation rate:
apk + V• {puk)- V • (fleff Vk) = P- pc (6)

at ak
(7)
P is the shear production due to turbulence, which for incompressible flows is
given by, 2
P = f-t,VU • {vu + vur }--v • U{p,,V • U + pk)
3 (8)
Equations (2)-(4) and (6)-(7) are solved by a finite volume method. This ap-
proach involves discretization of the integral form of the governing equations,
which are solved over a number of (finite) volumes within the fluid domain. Each
node is surrounded by a set of surfaces, which comprise the finite volume. All the
solution variables and fluid properties are stored at the element nodes.
Iterative solvers, such as, the incomplete lower upper (ILU) factorization tech-
nique used herein, by themselves tend to rapidly decrease in performance as the
number of computational mesh elements increases, or if there are large element as-
pect ratios present. Therefore, the performance of the solver was greatly improved
by employing a multigrid technique. The further details of the computer code are
given in (AEA Tech 1999), and its implementation for ground vehicle aerodynam-
ics is given in (Bayraktar et al. 2002, Baysal and Bayraktar 2000, Baysal and Bay-
raktar 2001).
Computational Procedure
Tractor-trailer geometry was modeled at true scale with the dimensions of 19.5m x
2.5m x 3.9m. The size of the computational domain is shown in Fig. 1. Computa-
tional domain for tractor-trailer simulation was selected with the dimensions of
71.0m x 1l.Om x 12.5m. The distances between the model and farfield domain
boundaries are carefully chosen to minimize the spurious boundary effects. Thor-
ough investigation of farfield boundary and mesh size influence on drag coefficient
was given in (Bayraktar 2002 and Baysal and Bayraktar 2001).
A computer-aided-design (CAD) model of the truck is developed with the afore-
mentioned dimensions, and then a domain mesh is generated (Sorrells 1999). After
importing these solid surfaces into a mesh generator, the volume between the sur-
faces and the outer boundaries is discretized using 16 million cells of hybrid shapes
containing tetrahedra, prisms and hexahedra, and the surface mesh size is kept un-
der 1.8 em. A view of the surface mesh is presented in Fig. 2. Because of the
boundary layer growth on the solid surfaces, this hybrid mesh has stretched pris-
matic elements close to the body, which are, in turn, connected to the tetrahedral
cells off the surfaces. Far from the body, hexahedral elements have been used all
the way to the outer boundaries.
As this is a simulation of the external flows, the size of the computational do-
main, shown in Fig. 1, delineated by its outer boundaries, is a compromise between
accuracy and computational efficiency. Fig. 3 shows boundary conditions in the
computational domain. The domain is bounded by the ground plane, the flow inlet
boundary, the flow outlet boundary and three free-slip wall boundaries (two sides
and the top). The conditions imposed at these boundaries are required to represent
the effect of the events outside of the domain. The surface of the tractor and the
trailer provides the internal boundaries (walls).
The inlet plane is located at about one-half body length ahead of the model and
be normal to this boundary (as in a wind tunnel). Here, a uniform velocity profile
is prescribed, that is, the boundary layer thickness is assumed to be zero. The pre-
scribed condition at an open boundary allows for the fluid to cross the boundary
surface in either direction. For example, all of the fluid might flow into the domain
at the opening, or all of the fluid might flow out of the domain, or a mixture of the
two might occur. The velocity of the fluid on the surface of the tractor and the
trailer is set to zero to satisfy the no-slip condition. Also, scaleable wall junction is
used for turbulence model wall treatment (Grotjans and Menter 1998 and Launder
and Spalding 1974).
On the ground boundary, the velocity of the flow is set to be equal to the flow at
the inlet boundary. This emulates the ground moving with respect to the truck, as
is the case on the road. In the case of wind tunnel testing, it emulates a moving
conveyor belt floor. Although the rotating tires influence on the local flowfield, in
order to simulate common wind tunnel testing conditions, tires on the tractor-trailer
configuration is not rotated.
Results
In the aerodynamic simulation of tractor-trailer assembly, two commonly practiced
engineering simplifications, tire and moving ground affects, were investigated.
First, the external flow past the tractor-trailer assembly was computed with tires
and moving ground boundary condition. Then, stationary ground relative to the
truck (Case 2) (see, e.g., Bayraktar and Landman 2003, Summa 1992, Fukuda et al.
1995, Horinouchi et al. 1995) and other results from wind tunnels without moving
belts) and truck without the tires (Case 3) (see, e.g., Perzon et al. 1999 for this sim-
plification) were simulated. Table 1 shows case descriptions for each tractor-trailer
configuration.
Sample results are presented in Fig.s 4 and 5, which can be contrasted to observe
the effects of tires and the moving ground. As expected, the undercarriage flow is
significantly different when the tires are removed. Interestingly, the flow in the gap
between the tractor and the trailer is also dramatically altered. Because of the gap,
there is a significant pressure loss in that region. Even more significant differences
are clearly observed in the regions, where tires are located (Fig. 5). Different pres-
sure coefficient distributions in between Case 1 and Case 3 present that tire effect
on undercarriage flow even effective on longitudinal symmetry plane. In addition,
undercarriage flow is also getting affected from ground motion. When the ground
is stationary with respect to the truck (Case 2), the boundary layer on the ground
thickens to alter the entire undercarriage flow. The velocities in this region are less
than 10% of the freestream. The trailer wake is now skewed and driven towards
the ground.
Pressure coefficient distributions on the longitudinal symmetry plane of compu-
tational domain in Fig. 4 are reduced on tractor-trailer assembly symmetry surface
and plotted in Fig. 5. Although the values for different configurations collapse on
each other, the values for Case 3 are slightly differs on lower surface because of the
tire effect. The biggest pressure jump in the symmetry plane occurs at the tractor-
trailer gap region causing huge expansion and recompression on pressure coeffi-
cient values.
After summation of the force data on the surfaces of the tractor-trailer assembly,
time averaged drag coefficient values are presented in Fig. 6. The results show that
the computed drag value at Case 3 is about 13.3% less as a result of removing the
tires. Drag difference occurs in Case 2 because of the stationary ground (simulates
wind tunnel without a moving belt), thus, the total computed drag value reduces by
4.8%. In addition, total drag coefficient is split up to its components to analyze the
local drag force on the body, the tires and the mirrors (Fig. 6). As expected, most
of the drag (82.9%) comes from tractor-trailer body. Tires and mirrors contribute
12.5% and 4.6% respectively, of the total drag coefficient. Although the effect of
the local components on drag coefficient depends on the overall vehicle design,
present study shows that presence of tires and moving ground increase the drag co-
efficient. The similar results were also obtained in the literature (Hucho 1998).
The wake flow, which is one of the most important features of bluff body aero-
dynamics, is presented in Fig. 7 and Fig. 8. Superimposed in Fig. 7 are the instan-
taneous velocity streamlines in the computational domain and the pressure coeffi-
cient contours on the model surface and the floor. When steady ground (Case 2)
and moving ground (Case 1) cases are compared, it is observed that moving ground
generates a larger wake region while the other wake vanishes on the steady ground.
On the other hand, because of the relatively higher undercarriage velocities, the
wake region is more off the ground in the case without the tires (Case 3) than it is
with the tires (Case 1). This phenomenon is also clearly seen in Fig. 8.
In order to visualize complex wake flow behind the tractor-trailer assembly, ve-
locity vectors in the wake region are plotted on cross-section planes. The first at
cross-section (x=21 m) is taken just before the rear end of the trailer, and all of the
others follow at one-meter intervals. A total of six cross-section planes are plotted
for each case, and each raw in Fig. 8 represents a different case.
The first thing that attracts attention is the wake structure, which is completely
three-dimensional in all cases. Even the formation and dissipation of side vortices
are clearly seen, especially in Case 1 and Case 3. Because of the sudden expansion,
the secondary circulations regions are remarkably noticeable. In addition, the
steady ground boundary condition unveils itself when closer to the ground in Case
2. Case 1 shows no boundary layer region on the ground, while the lower veloci-
ties exist in Case 2 and 3. Another interesting feature is noticed in Case 3. After 10
meters behind the rear end of the model, the wake regions in Case 1 and Case 2
start to dissipate onto the ground. However, wake flow in Case 3 holds off ground
with the help of stronger undercarriage flow.
Concluding Remarks
In the computations of external aerodynamics of heavy trucks, two commonly
practiced engineering simplifications, removal of tires and moving ground effects,
were investigated. In order to compare their influence on drag coefficient, the ex-
ternal flow of the tractor-trailer assembly was computed with and without the tires,
then with or without ground motion. It was concluded that differences were -8.5%
for the tires and --4.8% for steady ground. From the surface pressure distributions,
it was noted that tractor-trailer gap caused big pressure losses, and even tires on the
side of the body had significant affect on the pressure in the longitudinal symmetry
plane. When drag values were investigated, it was shown that most of the drag
force (82.9%) come from tractor-trailer body. Tires and mirrors contributed 12.5%
and 4.6%, respectively, of total drag.
References
AEA Tech (1999) CFX-5 Solver and Solver Manager. AEA Technologies, Pittsburgh, PA
Bayraktar I, Landman D, Baysal 0 (2002) Experimental and Computational Investigation of
Ahmed Body for Ground Vehicle Aerodynamics. SAE Transactions: J of Commercial
Vehicles 110:2:613-626
Bayraktar I, Landman D (2003) Ground Influence on External Ground Vehicle Aerodynam-
ics. IMECE2003-41224, 2003 ASME International Mechanical Engineering Congress
and R&D Exposition, Washington, DC
Bayraktar, I (2002) External Aerodynamics of Heavy Ground Vehicles: Computations and
Wind Tunnel Testing. Ph.D. thesis, Old Dominion University
Baysal 0, Bayraktar I (2001) Unsteady Wake Behind a Bluff Body in Ground Proximity.
FEDSM2001-18208, ASME Fluids Engineering Division Summer Meeting, New Or-
leans, LA
Baysal 0, Bayraktar I (2000) Computational Simulations for the External Aerodynamics of
Heavy Trucks. SAE Paper 2000-01-3501, International Truck and Bus Meeting& Expo-
sition, Portland, OR
Bradley R (2000) Technology Roadmap for the 21" Century Truck Program, A Government-
Industry Research Partnership. DOE Technical Report 21CT-001
Fukuda H, Yanagimoto K, China H, Nakagawa K, (1995) Improvement of vehicle aerody-
namics by wake control. JSAE Review 16:151-155
Grotjans H and Menter FR (1998) Wall functions for general application CFD codes.
ECCOMAS 98 Proceedings of the Fourth European Computational Fluid Dynamics
Conference, 1112-1117, John Wiley & Sons
Han T (1989) Computational Analysis of Three-Dimensional Turbulent Flow Around a
Bluff Body in Ground Proximity. AIAA J 27:9-1213-1219
Horinouchi N, Kato Y, Shinano S, Kondoh T, Tagayashi Y (1995) Numerical Investigation
of Vehicle Aerodynamics with Overlaid Grid System. SAE Paper 950628, SAE Inter-
national Congress, Detroit; MI
Hucho WH (1998) Aerodynamics of Road Vehicles. SAE Publishing, Warrendale, PA
Launder BE and Spalding DB (1974) The numerical computation of turbulent flows. Comp
Meth Appl Mech Eng, 3:269-289
Perzon S, Janson J, Hoglin L (1999) On Comparisons Between CFD Methods and Wind
Tunnel Tests on a Bluff Body. SAE Paper 1999-01-0805, International Congress and
Exposition, Detroit, MI
Sorrells MC (1999) Private communications. Volvo Trucks of North America, Greensboro,
NC
Summa JM (1992) Steady and Unsteady Computational Aerodynamics Simulations of the
Corvette ZR-1. SAE Paper 921092, SAE International Congress, Detroit; MI
Contact
Ilhan Bayraktar, PhD
Research Engineer
Langley Full-Scale Tunnel

P.O. Box 65309
Langley AFB, VA 23665-5309
Phone: (757) 766 2266 ext. 113 Fax: (757) 766 3104
e-mail: ibayrakt@lfst.com
web: www.koskom.com/ilhan
Table 1. Descriptions of truck simulation cases.
Case 1 2 3
Tires Yes Yes No
Movin2 2round Yes No No
Fig. 1. Computational domain for the tractor-trailer simulations (all units are meters).
Fig. 2. A partial view of the computational mesh.
- Floor L'.... U_.i •V-J .. W- 4:

- Body t•. ·0
OJtlet UP en• o
Inlet U,_. c.•._, .. ,.~_J· II'_.l
O!..derwaih!i l',..., a Ot '• II
Fig. 3. Boundary conditions for tractor-trailer configuration.

cp
.:.... ;..., 0 0
"'0 "'
00
....,
"' ...
00 0
00
0
0
Fig. 4. Isometric view of instantaneous pressure coefficient contours on longitudinal sym-

metry plane and on surface oftractor-trailer assembly. (a) Case I, (b) Case 2, (c) Case 3.
1
10
1
(a)
1 20
X(m)
10
..
9
7
0
6 rv k S ur"fOCO
Co s e 1
5 -1 C s a 2
0 0 3
4
3
-2
2
(b)
0 -3
0 5 10 15 20
X(m)
Fig. 5. Pressure coefficients on the longitudinal symmetry plane of tractor-trailer configura-

tion. (a) lower surface, (b) upper surface.
Case 1 Case 2 Case3
Fig. 6. Drag coefficients and their components for each tractor-trailer configuration case.
cp Velocity [m sA · 11
:.., .,.. ...

"' ~ ...
w
....
0 0 ~
"' 0
"'
0 "'"' "' ..."' 0
"'
0
0
0
0
0
0 g 0
0
0
0
(a)
cp Velocity lm sA · 11
w N 0 0 0 .,.. ....
"' ~
...
0
g g
"' "'"' "'"'
0 0 0
0 0 0
"'
0 0 0
0
(b)
cp Velocity [m S"" - 1]
.,.. ... .....
.
0 "'
w N 0 ~ !'" 0
.... 00 g g g g
"'0 "'"' "' 0 0 0
0 0
"' ""
(c)
Fig. 7. Instantaneous pressure coefficient contours on the surface of tractor-trailer assembly

and instantaneous velocity streamlines. (a) Case 1, (b) Case 2, (c) Case 3.
x=19m
x=19m
x=19m
Fig. 8. Instantaneous velocity vectors in the wake region of tractor-trailer assembly at differ-
ent distances from the model base. First row: Case I, Second row: Case 2, Third row: Case
3 (continued).
x=21 m
x=21 m
x=21 m
3 (continued).
x=23 m
x=23m
x=23 m
ent distances from the model base. First row: Case I, Second row : Case 2, Third row: Case
3 (continued).
x=25 m
x=25 m
x=25 m
3 (continued).
x=27m
x=27m
x=27 m
ent distances from the model base. First row: Case 1, Second row : Case 2, Third row: Case
3 (continued).
x=29m
x=29m
x=29m
ent distances from the model base. First row: Case I, Second row : Case 2, Third row: Case
3 (concluded).
Applicability of the Vortex Methods for
Aerodynamics of Heavy Vehicles
Kyoji Kamemoto and Akira OJima
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Yokohama National University

79-5 Tokiwadai, Hodogaya-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa, 240-8501, Japan
T: +81-45-339-3881 F: +81-45-331-6593 E-mail: kame@post.me.ynu.ac.jp
College Master Hands Inc.

2-1-31 Midorigaoka, Zama, Kanagawa, 228-0021, Japan
T: +81-46-228-9519 F: +81-46-228-9519 E-mail: ojima@cmhands.com
Abstract.
This paper describes recent works of practical applications of vortex element
methods to study of aerodynamics of heavy vehicles, carried by the authors'
group, explaining the mathematical basis of the method based on the Biot-
Savart law. It is pointed as one of the most attractive features of the vortex
method that the numerical simulation using the method is considered to be a
new and simple technique of large eddy simulation, because they consist of
simple algorithm based on physics of flow and it provides a completely grid-
free Lagrangian calculation. As typical results of aerodynamics of heavy vehi-
cles, unsteady flows around a heavy vehicle model such as a tractor-trailer with
different gap lengths and unsteady aerodynamic characteristics of a tractor-
trailer with meandering motion are explained.
1 Introduction
The aerodynamic force and noise on road vehicles are the result of complex
interactions between the flow separation and the dynamic behavior of the vor-
tical wake. In order to design suitable shapes of vehicles, it is necessary to pre-
dict a physical mechanism of a flow separation and an interaction with vortical
wake. Recently, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is becoming an indis-
pensable tool for vehicle design because of the advances in numerical methods
and the remarkable progress in the computer performance. A variety of nu-
merical methods have been applied to simulate the flows around a vehicle.
However, the numerical simulation of automotive flows still is not so easy
504 K. Kamemoto and A. OJima
from the view of engineering applications. The flow around a vehicle is an es-
sentially unsteady flow originated from the large scale separations of the
boundary layer. The applicability of the conventional turbulence models of
time-mean type seems questionable, as far as unsteady separated flows are con-
cerned. And the large eddy simulation (LES) of Eulerian type inevitably meets
crucial difficulties in its application to flows of higher Reynolds numbers, be-
cause the scheme essentially needs fine grids to obtain reasonable resolution of
turbulence structures.
On the other hand, the vortex methods have been developed and applied
for analysis of complex, unsteady and vortical flows in relation to problems in
a wide range of industries, because they consist of simple algorithm based on
physics of flow. Therefore, the vortex methods may be the means to provide
one of the most suitable techniques for the prediction of unsteady aerody-
namic characteristics of heavy vehicles.
Leonard (1980) summarized the basic algorithm and examples of its appli-
cations. Sarpkaya (1989) presented a comprehensive review of various vortex
methods based on Lagrangian or mixed Lagrangian-Eulerian schemes, the
Biot-Savart law or the vortex in cell methods. Kamemoto (1995) summarized
the mathematical basis of the Biot-Savart law methods. Various studies related
to the simulation of three dimensional unsteady flows around a bluff body
with vortex methods have been reported. Gharakhani et al. (1996) applied a
three-dimensional vortex-boundary method to the simulation of the flow
around tractor-trailer. Bernard et al. (1999) applied a vortex tube and sheet
method to the simulation of higher Reynolds number flows around a prolate
spheroid. Ojima and Kamemoto (2000) simulated unsteady vortical wakes
behind a sphere and a prolate spheroid by using an advanced vortex method.
Cottet and Poncet (2002) calculated the unsteady vortex features shedding
from a circular cylinder by using a vortex-in-cell method. Ploumhans et al.
(2002) applied a vortex method with parallel tree codes to the simulation of
unsteady flows past a sphere.
As well as many finite difference methods, it is a crucial point in vortex
methods that the number of vortex elements should be increased when higher
resolution of turbulence structures is required, and then the computational
time increase rapidly. In order to reduce the operation count of evaluating the
velocity at each particle through a Biot-Savart law, fast N-body solvers that re-
duce the operation count from O(N2) to 0 (N log N) are proposed (Green-
gard et al. 1987).
This paper describes the governing equation and the numerical method of
the Biot-Savart law vortex methods developed and examined up to this time by
the group of the present authors. As application examples, the numerical
simulation of unsteady flows around heavy vehicles; a simplified heavy vehicle
model such as a tractor-trailer with a gap length and a tractor-trailer with me-
andering motion, are explained.
Applicability of the Vortex Methods for Aerodynamics of Heavy Vehicles 505
2 Algorithms ofVortex Methods
2.1 Mathematical Basis

The governing equations of viscous and incompressible flow are described by
the vorticity transport equation and the pressure Poisson equation which can
be derived by taking the rotation and the divergence of Navier-Stokes equa-
tions, respectively.
-am + ( u · grad ) m = ( m · grad) u + vV 2m (2.1)

at
V 2 p = -p di11(u ·grad u) (2.2)
Where u is a velocity vector and a vorticity w is defined as follows.
m= rot u (2.3)
As explained by Wu and Thompson (1973), the Biot-Savart law can be de-
rived from the definition equation of vorticity as follows.
u = fv ~ X V0G dv (2.4)
+fst<no · uo) · VoG- (no x UtJ) x V0GJ ds

Here, subscript "0" denotes variable, differentiation and integration at a lo-
cation r0 , and no denotes the normal unit vector at a point on a boundary sur-
face S. And G is the fundamental solution of the scalar Laplace equation with
the delta function 0 ( r - r0 ) in the right hand side, which is written for a
three-dimensional field as follows.
)
G=- (2.5)
4~rR
Here, R= r- fo, R=IRI=I r- fo I· In Eq. (2.4), the inner product no . Uo
and the outer product n 0 xu 0 stand for normal velocity component and tan-
gential velocity vector on the boundary surface, and they correspond to the
source distribution on the surface and the vortex distribution that has the ro-
tating axis in parallel to the surface, respectively. Therefore, it is mathemati-
cally understood that velocity fields of viscous and incompressible flow are
obtained from the field integration concerning vorticity distributions in the
flow field and the surface integration concerning source and vortex distribu-
tions around the boundary surface. In this study, a boundary surface is repre-
sented by the panel method. The source and vortex corresponding to the sec-
ond and third terms of right hand side of Eq. (2.4) are distributed on the
boundary surface. The strengths of source and vortex are obtained by using
the following two conditions; zero normal component of relative velocity to
the boundary surface u · n = 0 and the relation of the conservation of the vor-
tex strength, respectively.
The pressure in the field is obtained from the integration equation (Uhl-
man 1992), instead of the finite difference calculation of the Eq. (2.2) as fol-
lows.
(3H + J 9 H ~~ ds = -[JvVG<u x (l))dv (2.6)
+ fsc n · ~7 ds + v Jn ·
8 (VG x (l))dsj
Here, 13 =1 in the flow field and 13 =112 on the boundary S. G is the fun-
damental solution given by Eq.(5). H is the Bernoulli function defined as
follows.
p 112
11=-+- (2.7)
p 2
The values of H on the boundary surface are calculated from Eq. (2.6) by
using the panel method. Mter the pressure distribution around the boundary
surface is calculated from Eqs. (2.6, 2.7), integration of the pressure acting on
the body surface yields the force acting on the body.
2.2 Introduction of Nascent Vortex Elements

The simulation of the flow past a body must involve a voructty creation
around its surface accompanied by the processes of the viscous diffusion and
the convection. In the advanced method developed by the group of the present
authors, a thin vorticity layer is considered along the solid surface, and a vortex
element is introduced into the surrounding flow field considering diffusion
and convection of vorticity from the thin vorticity layer as shown in Fig.1. If a
linear distribution of velocity in the thin vorticity layer is assumed, the normal
velocity vn on a panel can be expressed using the relation of continuity of flow
and non-slip condition on the solid surface for the element of the vorticity
layer
I 4
vn == 1).,5' 2: L.~. us;
p 1=1
ds (2.8)
Here, u,i=ui · n,i and ~Si=h · ~li. Where, ~SP , ui and n,i denote the panel
area, the velocity vector and the normal unit vector on a side sectional plane of
an element of the vorticity layer, respectively. On the other hand, the vorticity
of the thin layer diffuses through the panel into the outer flow field with a
diffusion velocity. In order to consider this vorticity diffusion, the diffusion
velocity is employed in the same manner as the Vorticity Layer Spreading
Method (Kamemoto 1994), which is expressed as the following equation.
c2v
vd =--:;;;·
(c=I.I36) {2.9)
Here, v is kinematic viscosity of the fluid. If Vn+ Vd becomes positive, a

nascent vortex element is introduced into the flow field, where the thickness
and vorticity of the element are given from the relation of the strength of vor-
ticity conservation as follows.
{I) =
f I'
lO dv
(2.10)
"'' V + I/ V<JT
l' ~=iJSP·h..,. (2 .12)

Here, w is the vorticity originally involved in the element of the vorticity
layer, V and Vvor are the volume of the vorticity element and the nascent vortex
element. Every vortex element is introduced at the distance of 0.5hvor from the
panel as a vortex plate. Every vortex plate element, which moves beyond a
boundary at the distance of four times h from the solid surface, is replaced with
a vortex blob of the core-spreading model (Nakanishi and Kamemoto 1992).
In this scheme, by the assumption of a linear distribution of velocity in the
thin vorticity layer, shearing stress on the wall surface is evaluated from the
following equation.
au (2. 13)
r •. = J.l-::;- ""' - J.IN
(::v
Fig. 1. Introduction of a nascent vortex element

Every nascent vortex element which is far from the solid surface can be re-
placed with an equivalent discrete vortex element. The discrete vortex element
is modeled by a vortex blob which is a spherical model with a radially symmet-
ric vorticity distribution. The i-th vortex blob is defined by the position ri=(r.,
ry, rz), its vorticity Wi=(W,, Wy, w.) and its core radius Ei. The vorticity distri-
bution around the vortex blob is represented by the following equations.
m,(r)=m1 p(lr-t; 11&1 ) &1- 3dv, (2.14)
(2.15)
p(~) is smoothing function (Winckelmans and Leonard 1988).
The motion of the discrete vortex element is represented by Lagrangian
form of a simple differential equation iJr/iJt = u. Then, the trajectory of the
discrete vortex element over a time step is approximately computed from the
second-order Adams-Bashforth method. On the other hand, the evolution of
vorticity is calculated by Eq. (2.1) with the three-dimensional core spreading
method, in which the core radius increases with time. In this study, stretch
and diffusion terms in Eq. (2.1) are separately considered. The change of core
radius due to the stretch is calculated from the following equations.
-dtiJ = (ltJ· grad') u (2.16)

dt
'· I"Q)I
"'dt =rw:r dt
(2.17)
( th:) = __l::_, dl (2.18)

dt SlrtJ/c/t 2 ·11 dJ
Here, E and 1 are the core radius and the length of the vortex blob model,
respectively. The viscous term in Eq. (2.1) is expressed by the core spreading
method. The core spreading method is based on Navier-Stokes equation for
the viscous diffusion of an isolated two-dimensional vortex filament in a rest
fluid, and the rate of core spread is represented as follows.
(-dE)
(2.19)
=c -v , (c=2.242)
2
dt diffusion 2E t
Taking two factors into account, each value of a new element is obtained
l
from the following equations.
(2.20)
E
t+!u
=E
t
+ [( -dE)
dt stretch
+-
dt
(dE) diffusion
·M
dl (2.21)
lt+l!.t = l, + - ·11t
dt
Here, Eq. (2.22) is based on the conservation of circulation.

It should be noted here that in order to keep higher accuracy in expression
of a local vorticity distribution, a couple of additional schemes of re-
distribution of vortex blobs are introduced in our advanced vortex method.
When the vortex core of a blob becomes larger than the minimum width of lo-
cal flow section, the vortex blob is discretized into a couple of smaller blobs.
On the other hand, if the rate of three-dimensional elongation becomes large
to some extent, the vortex blob is discretized into multiple blobs to approxi-
mate the elongated vorticity distribution much more properly.
3 Calculation Results and Discussions

The vortex method explained above is applied to the simulation of unsteady
flows around a heavy vehicle such as a simplified tractor-trailer model. The
effect of the gap length between the tractor and the trailer on drag forces was
investigated numerically. And, the simulation of the flow around the tractor-
trailer during its meandering was performed.
As the tractor-trailer model, the Ground Transportation System model
(SNL model) used to the experimental investigation by the group of Sandia
National Laboratories (Gutierrez et al. 1996) was employed in this study.
Here, it should be noted that wheels were not considered and the side corner
of the tractor was beveled in this calculation. In order to investigate the effect
of the gap length between the tractor and the trailer on dra§ forces, unsteady
flows around tractor-trailer with two gap length cases (GIS 1 2 =0.25 and 0.65)
were calculated. Here, S is a frontal area of the tractor. Reynolds number was
set as Re=U0S112Iv =3.0x1Q 6 •
Figure 2 shows the flow patterns represented by discrete vortex elements
and pressure distributions on the body surface. Here, the maximum number
of vortex element is 190,850. For each gap length, two kinds of vortex struc-
tures are formed on the side wall of the trailer. One of them is the vortex
structure formed from the front pillar of the tractor, and another is formed
from lower part of the gap and is rolled up from the under-hood of the trailer.
For large gap length (GIS 112 =0.65), the wake formed behind the tractor flows
into the gap between the tractor and the trailer. Figure 3 shows the instanta-
neous velocity vectors and vorticity distributions within the gap at mid height.
The sxmmetric vortex structure is formed within the gap at short gap length
(GIS 1 2 =0.25). However, for large gap length (GI S 112 =0.65), the vortex flow
within the gap becomes strongly asymmetric flow. Figure 4 provides the drag
force coefficient versus time, C 0 =F.f(0.5pU02S), computed by using the pre-
sent method. For both gap lengths, the drag coefficient acting on the tractor is
almost constant. However, the drag coefficient acting on the trailer at the large
gap length (GIS 112 =0.65) is larger than that at the short gap length
(GIS 112 =0.25). Figure 5 shows the comparison of drag coefficient acting on
tractor and trailer with the experimental results. In Fig.5, "2-00 Cab Exp."
shown by broken lines indicates that the side corner radius is twice the length
of that of SNL model. It can be observed that the calculated results are closer
to the experimental results of 2-00 Cab indicated by broken lines. It is consid-
ered that these results were caused by the beveled shape of the side corners of
the tractor used in this calculation.
Furthermore, the aerodynamic features of a model of tractor-trailer with
meandering motion were investigated. Tractor and trailer are connected by a
pin joint at the position of x/S 112 =0.382 away from the front of the trailer.
The tractor turns to the left after turning 90 degrees to the right in the turning
radius R/ S112 =6.4. As a typical flow field, Fig.6 shows instantaneous flow
patterns represented by discrete vortex elements. Here, the maximum number
of vortex element is 331,321. The complex and unsteady vortex structure is
formed behind the tractor-trailer according to the meandering motion. Figure
7 shows the time history of drag force and side force coefficients acting on the
tractor and the trailer during meandering motion. In Fig.7, it is shown that
the drag acting on the meandering trailer becomes negative intermittently. It
is revealed from the calculation that considerable fluctuations of aerodynamic
forces inevitably act on both the tractor and the trailer as a result of unsteady
interaction of the flow separated from the tractor with the trailer. Although
the detail of the flow characteristics are left as study in the future, the present
method can be useful for the investigation of the unsteady and complex vorti-
cal flow around the tractor-trailer and for the effect of the deformation of the
gap on the characteristics of the drag acting on the tractor-trailer.
4 Conclusions
In this paper, recent works concerning the development of the methods were
overviewed, and the mathematical background and numerical treatment of a
vortex method developed by the group of the present authors were explained.
And it became dear that the vortex methods have so much interesting features
that they consist of simple algorithm based on physics of flow and provide
easy-to-handle and completely grid-free Lagrangian calculation of unsteady
and vortical flows without use of any RANS type turbulence models.
From the results of recent works of application, it has been confirmed that
the vortex method is available and useful for research and development of
aerodynamics of heavy vehicles. Finally, the present authors would like to
state that the advanced vortex method is one of the most capable methods to
contribute to the new generation of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and
it yields a promising way to a grid-free Lagrangian large eddy simulation of un-
steady and complex flows of higher Reynolds numbers.
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Fast, Parallel, Vortex Tube and Sheet Method. ESAIM Vol?, pp 46-55
Cottet GH, Poncet P (2002) Particle Methods for Direct Numerical Simula-
tion of Three-dimensional Wakes J Turbulence 3-038
Gharakhani A, Ghoniem AF (1996) Massively Parallel Implementation of a
3D Vortex-Boundary Element Method. ESAIM Vol I, pp 213-223
Greengard L, Rohklin V (1987) A Fast Algorithm for Particle Simulations. J
Comp Phys 73, pp 325
Gutierrez WT, Hassan B, Croll RH, Rutledge WH (1996) Aerodynamics
Overview of the Ground Transportation System (GTS) Project for Heavy
Vehicle Drag Reduction. SAE 960906, pp 219-236
Kamemoto K (1994) Development of the Vortex Methods for Grid-free La-
grangian Direct Numerical Simulation. 3rd JSME/KSME, Sendai, pp
542-547
Kamemoto K (1995) On Attractive Features of the Vortex Methods. In: M
Hafez and K Oshima (eds) Computational Fluid Dynamics Review,
JOHN WILEY & SONS, pp 334-353
Leonard A (1980) Vortex Methods for Flow Simulations. J Comp Phys 37, pp
289-335
Nakanishi Y, Kamemoto K (1992) Numerical Simulation of Flow around a
Sphere with Vortex Blobs. J Wind Eng and lnd Aero Vol 46 & 47, pp
363-369
Ojima A, Kamemoto K (2000) Numerical Simulation of Unsteady Flow
around Three Dimensional Bluff Bodies by an Advanced Vortex Method.
JSME International} B43-2, pp 127-135
Ploimhans P, Winckelmans GS, Salmon JK, Leonard A, Warren MS (2002)
Vortex Methods for Direct Numerical Simulation of Three-Dimensional
Bluff Bodies Flows. J Comp Phys 178, pp 427-463
Sarpkaya T (1989) Computational Methods with Vortices- the 1988 Freeman
scholar lecture. J Fluids Engng 111, pp 5-52
Uhlman JS (1992) An Integral Equation Formulation of the Equation of Mo-
tion of an Incompressible Fluid. Naval Undersea Warfare Center T.R., 10,
086
Wu JC, Thompson JF (1973) Numerical Solutions of Time-Dependent In-
compressible Navier-Stokes Equations using an Integra-Differential For-
mulation. Computers & Fluids Vol1, pp 197-215
Winkelmans G, Leonard A (1988) Improved Vortex Methods for Three-
Dimensional Flows. Proc. Workshop on Mathematical Aspects of Vortex
Dynamics, Leeburg, Virginia, pp 25-35.
(b) G/5 112 =0.65

Fig. 2. Instantaneous flow patterns represented by discrete vortex elements
Fig. 3. Vorticity and velocity distributions within the gap

I r .tCI+•I 1t ..,,l
T~ot( l ••l ••·. ,t
Tt.uk••r',lll T I . H.I~! I' ". d I
T•'l.tlat ',-.J ~ T+•l.dn",t.l •
1)4LI~~~~~~.....,.
l ie-)~~-'--:1'-;-~~~~111
ll 1, S 1 ~
{a) G/5 =0.25

112
Fig. 4. Time histories of fluid forces acting on the tractor-trailer
0
6
0
...!----.-.-------. -----.. -----------. -

0
(l"'i
---------- ~ --------- - -·
(l ..J l 2 I -1
Fig. 5. Comparison of experimental results
Fig. 6. Instantaneous flow pattern around a tractor-trailer with meandering

T1 . ~~~ ~~ H '.II l Tt .tCII)t ' ;\I J

0 .8 Tt .lll<t ((';II I
Too.tl ot'ol 1
OS Tta~eo tCal t
T'"'1.1l tr.ll J
0()
06
OA
-0 ..j
-0 6
-0 ~ -0.8
0 II) 15 20 25
til., s' ~
(a) Drag coefficient (b) Side force coefficient
Fig. 7. Force coefficients versus time

Aerodynamic Experiments
Development of a Wind Tunnel Model Mounting
Configuration for Heavy Duty Trucks
Jorge Martinez, Texas A&M University, USA
Sunil Jain, International Trucks and Engine Corporation, USA
The development of a suitable mounting system to test a heavy duty truck

model in a wind tunnel is an evolutionary process. The mounting system is
usually designed at the beginning of a test program based on the wind tunnel
current layout, past experiences and the initial objectives of the program. If the
test program becomes a regular event, periodic modifications to the mounting
system may become necessary in order to refine and reduce its tare and
interference. International and the Oran W. Nicks Low Speed Wind Tunnel
at Texas A&M have more than 20 year history in the development of such a
mounting system. The history starts with a single strut mount system with a
ground board follows through a change to a two strut system without the
ground board, a change to a four-point mounting system and ends with a six-
point system. The development also required modifications to the wind tunnel
test section, which helped increased model strength with minimum changes.
The results clearly show significant reduction in tare and interference of the
six-point mounting system over its predecessors.
A Ground-Based Research Vehicle for Base Drag
Studies at Subsonic Speeds*
Corey Diebler and Mark Smith
NASA Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California
1 Abstract
Existing models suggest base drag is dependent upon forebody drag, however,
these models do not provide accurate predictions when applied to large-scale
vehicles. This paper describes preliminary investigations into a new base drag
model and the feasibility of minimizing total drag by optimizing the forebody-
drag to base-drag relationship.
2 Nomenclature
axial acceleration (positive in the direction the vehicle is moving)
Aref reference area (vehicle base area)

CD aerodynamic drag coefficient
CD base base drag coefficient
c Dfore forebody drag coefficient
(C
D,otal
-C
Dba"
)
drag coefficient caused by pressure forces forward of the base area

c Dlotal total aerodynamic drag coefficient, C Dba" + CD Jw
c Dvisc drag coefficient caused by viscous losses (includes skin friction and
forebody separation vortices)
p- Poo
pressure coefficient, q
mechanical drag
'This work was prepared as part of the author's official duties as an employee of the U.S. Govern-
ment and in accordance with 17 U.S.C. 105, is not available for copyright protection in the United
States. NASA is the owner of any foreign copyright that can be asserted for the work.
520 C. Diebler and M. Smith
GPS global positioning system

GRV ground research vehicle
m vehicle mass
p pressure
Poo free-stream static pressure
R radius
v true airspeed
vind indicated airspeed, ft/ sec
w GRVweight
x,y cartesian coordinates
(} runway slope
p air density
3 Introduction
Experiments are currently underway at NASA Dryden Flight Research Center
(Edwards, California) to investigate a method of reducing vehicle base drag,
and thus total aerodynamic drag, by increasing forebody drag. Several types of
vehicles are designed with truncated base areas. Trucks, buses, and motor
homes are designed such because of their need for large internal volumes. Be-
cause of the necessity of the rocket engine at the base, most proposed reusable
launch vehicles also have truncated base areas. For all these vehicle types, base
drag comprises a major part of the vehicle total drag. The large drag forces that
arise decrease the fuel efficiency of ground vehicles or result in steep glide
slopes that limit the crossrange and downrange of reentry vehicles. Any reduc-
tion in drag is desired because it could greatly increase the overall performance
of the vehicle. Drag reductions can reduce the fuel consumption of trucks,
buses, and motor homes and lower the required glide slopes for reentry vehi-
cles, making the energy management task considerably easier. Because base
drag is such a large element of vehicle total drag, some of the greatest savings
could be made in that area.
Hoerner developed an equation [1] to predict base drag based on the
fore body drag coefficient, CD for•, for an object. Such a relationship shows that
vehicle base drag can be varied by manipulating forebody drag. Hoerner's
equation also suggests that for certain vehicle configurations, the total vehicle
drag can be reduced by increasing its forebody drag. This report discusses the
ongoing research into Hoerner's equation at Reynolds numbers to a maximum
of 3 X 10 7 • Results from initial tests and future plans also are discussed.
A Ground-Based Research Vehicle for Base Drag Studies at Subsonic Speeds 521
4 Background
Base drag originates at the aft end of an object with a blunt base, or at the
trailing edge where the flow separates from the object and a region of low pres-
sure is created. The fast-moving air going past the base acts as a jet pump,
pulling air away from the base region, resulting in pressure over the base sur-
face of the object to be reduced [1].
The boundary layer originating along the surface of a vehicle, or along
any object with a blunt trailing edge, has been demonstrated to act as an insu-
lator from the jet pump effect [1] This insulating effect reduces the effective
dynamic pressure of the outer flow, thereby weakening the jet pump effect and
resulting in reduced base drag. The thicker the boundary layer, the greater the
insulating effect. Because the boundary-layer thickness is dependant on the
flow upstream of the base, Hoerner quantifies this effect on two- and three-
dimensional objects by relating base drag to forebody drag [1]:
Two-dimensional equation:
0.135
c Dbase
(4.1)
= ;JcDJ""
Three-dimensional equation:
c = 0.029
Dba>e rc;-- (4.2)
~ '-' D fore
Hoerner's relationship was derived by compiling data from rather

small cones, cylinders, fuselage bodies, and projectile shapes. Figure 1 shows
Hoerner's two- and three-dimensional base drag relations. When the total
aerodynamic drag coefficient, CD'"'"{, is plotted against CD!"'' (Fig. 2), a
minimum total drag point where the relationship between forebody and base
drag can be optimized clearly can be seen to exist. A vehicle whose CD Jo" is less
than this optimal point can have its total drag reduced by increasing its fore-
body drag.
When compared with data from large-scale vehicles, however, Ho-
erner's base drag relationship appears to underestimate base drag [2,3,4,5], in-
dicating that equation (2) does not provide the most accurate representation of
base drag for such vehicles. Reference 3 proposes that this constant could be
on the order of 0.09-0.1. Reference 4 states that for many large lifting-body-
type vehicles, the local flow at the base region is two-dimensional in nature,
indicating that Hoerner's two-dimensional equation should be used.
.25
.20
'j !1 :
Cobase .15 1--'\--~r-'"··-·-+--~·'"+ ····-+-~-··

i i
! I '
.10 , ........... "+························+························1 .... j J 1 ,
y-
1 1
c0
Three-dim. ensional: =
-reo 0.029
1 !.
1 1 : base
1 ' ' ' "'V -ufore
.5 ................... 1··················-i ·········"""•••"··f··················+·····..'"'··············-········
' I
0 .1 .2 .3 .4 .6 .7 .8 .9 1.0
020541
Fig. 1. Hoerner's base drag relationship [1]

1.0 . - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - " " ' ? 1
.8 ------------------------------------------------------- --
.6 ---·-·---------·-·---·-----------------------·-----
Co =Co +Co
total fore base ~
0 ~--------------------~----------------------~
.01 1.00
020542
Fig. 2. Base and total drag compared with forebody drag (theory)
To better understand the relationship between fore body drag and base drag, a
ground research vehicle (GRV) has been constructed. The following sections
describe the vehicle, its instrumentation, and the test approach.
5 Vehicle Description
The GRV has been designed as a facility to study the relationship between
forebody and base drag. The vehicle has been built to a scale that can ap-
proximately duplicate the Reynolds numbers experienced by reentry vehicles
along their glidepath and by trucks, buses, and motor homes. The GRV is 40-
ft long, 9-ft tall, 83-in. wide, and weighs 10,440 lb. The aft end of the under-
body has been tapered upwards, giving the GRV a square base area of 83 X 83
in 2 (47.84 ft \The base-to-wetted area ratio is approximately 3.8 percent.
The GRV has square leading-edge corners and longitudinal edges
along the top, giving the vehicle a box-like geometry. The GRV is capable of
speeds exceeding
Fig. 3. GRV configuration 1
80 mi/h, providing Reynolds numbers in excess of 3 X 10 7 . Tire pressure is

kept nearly constant by inflating the tires with nitrogen to reduce temperature
effects. The vehicle also has been modified with a driveline disengage to sepa-
rate the rear axle from the rest of the drive train for coast-down testing to re-
duce the mechanical drag caused by turning the engine and transmission.
Two GRV configurations have been tested. Configuration 1 (Fig. 3)
has an exposed underbody. Airflow under the vehicle circulates among the ax-
les, transmission, mufflers, and exhaust pipes to create additional drag like that
on trucks, buses, and motor homes. Configuration 2 has the same outer mold
line with the exception of an enclosed underbody, which allows for smoother
airflow beneath the vehicle and eliminates any additional pressure drag from
the underbody.
6 Instrumentation
To measure the pressures acting on all of the vehicle surfaces, 125 pressure
ports have been installed on the GRV. Two boundary-layer rakes have been
mounted on the top aft end of the vehicle to collect boundary-layer informa-
tion. The smaller of the two rakes (Fig. 4) has a dense grouping of pressure
probes near the GRV surface to provide an excellent profile of the lower
boundary layer [6]. The larger of the two rakes (Fig. 5) extends 12 in. from the
surface to capture the outer portion of the boundary layer. The GRV has been
outfitted with a noseboom to provide free-stream static and total pressure.
Four pressure modules have been installed inside the vehicle, each
with 16 individual differential pressure transducers, allowing 64 differential
pressures to be simultaneously measured. The pressure transducers are capable
of providing differential pressure measurements accurate to within ±0.004
lbf/in 2 • An absolute pressure transducer has also been installed to measure the
differential reference pressure to within ± 0.015 lbf/in 2 •
A Ground-Based Research Vehicle for Base Drag Srudies at Subsonic Speeds 525
l
2.940 ln.
0.188 in.
_L ,..,..-----=:b~~~
T
Fig. 4. The small boundary-layer rake
Fig. 5. The 12-in. boundary-layer rake mounted on the GRV
All pressures are recorded onto a laptop computer. A differential global posi-
tioning system (GPS) receiver internally records data during testing. The data
are later downloaded to obtain groundspeed (accurate to within 0.5 ft/sec), al-
titude (accurate to within 6 in.), and time. A handheld GPS unit serves as the
speedometer and is used as a time stamp to synchronize the differential GPS
data with the pressure data.
7 Test approach
The vehicle C D,o,at is composed of several drag coefficients, including base

drag, C Db"", and those caused by viscous losses, CD""' , and pressure forces
forward of the base area, C Dp. The C Dp includes the pressure forces acting on
the front face of the GRV as well as pressure drag originating from wheel wells
and the exposed underbody. The CD,;" includes skin friction as well as drag
caused by forebody separation. The CDb"" is defined as drag resulting from the
low-pressure region at the base of the vehicle.
Two types of tests were devised to obtain the drag components for the
GRV. A coast-down method was used to obtain the CD,owt, and constant
speed tests were conducted to break the C Dw,at into its constituent parts. A
portable weather tower measured ambient temperature and windspeed. Test-
ing was not conducted in winds greater than 5 kn.
Indicated airspeed was obtained from noseboom total and static pres-
sure measurements. Noseboom static pressure measurements were corrected
for position errors using a calibration curve that was generated using the GPS
altitude and ambient pressure data. The position error calibration (Fig. 6) cor-
rects the measured static pressure as a function of indicated airspeed. True air-
speed then was calculated using calibrated static pressure, total pressure, and
ambient temperature. All tests were conducted on the north base runway,
which is approximately 1-mi long, at Edwards Air Force Base (California) .
.05r---~----~----~--~----~--~~--~----~---.
I I I I I I : :._ .( • I
·04 -----------r--------··t··---------r-----------r-----------r-----------r-----------r-:·-~·,a, ~----------
i- (ax 1o-S·)v. d + ~ x1o-s i .·· ."f · _~;-:: i

• I I I I 0 I~~ I
~P =(7 x1o-6)v.
.03 -----------~-----------i---1-~-------~-----------~--~~------~-----------~--:-~=-·~_i.-;:.... ~----------
: : : : : : : ..=>t- .. :
~p• .02
lbflin 2 -I· T T~~~~:;0~'~:+_: ~-
.01 -----------r----------+---------::r-- >I --~ r----------+----------+----------~----------
.......
:
I
: ..... ;;.
0
: I
:
o
:I
I I I 0
1 t I 0
I I I I
I I I I
0 +-----+--"""":!~
-.01 -'-----------------~---------------..i-.-....J
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
Vind• ft/sec 020546
Fig. 6. GRV noseboom position error calibration

8 Coast-Down Tests
In one dimension, the equation of motion for the GRV during a coast-down
test is as follows:
(8.1)
where m is vehicle mass, ax is axial acceleration, Aref is the vehicle base area
used as the reference area for these tests, W is the GRV weight, P is air den-
sity, Vis the true airspeed, and (} is the runway slope. The runway slope was
reconstructed using altitude data from the differential GPS unit so (} could be
computed at each point along the runway. Mechanical drag, Fmech, encom-
passes all of the nonaerodynamic losses of the vehicle, including rolling fric-
tion, wheel inertia, and mechanical losses. Mechanical losses were significantly
reduced by disengaging the drive train before the coasting portion of the test,
allowing the wheels to rotate freely without any drag caused by turning the en-
gine or transmission.
Using equation (3), the CD'"'"' of the GRV can be estimated by meas-
uring its deceleration while it coasts. Coast-down tests were performed by ac-
celerating the GRV to a target speed, such as 65 mi/h; disengaging the drive
train; and allowing the vehicle to coast to a stop. This technique is commonly
used to obtain the aerodynamic drag of vehicles [7,8,9]. Tests were conducted
in both directions along the runway. Ten or more coast-down tests were per-
formed for each configuration.
9 Constant Speed Tests

Constant speed tests were conducted at speeds ranging from 20 to 70 mi/h to
obtain data to divide the Cv,.,., into CDP, Cv,,,c, and CDba,., To provide the
pressure profile acting on the face of the vehicle, 23 surface pressures were
measured on the front surface of the GRV. Thirty-two pressures were meas-
ured on the base. Figure 7 shows pressure port locations. Using pressures re-
corded at these locations, least-squares regressions were performed to create
polynomial surface fits to the data. Figure 8 shows a typical pressure fit over
the front surface. The polynomial surfaces then were integrated over the front
and base areas to obtain CDp and CDba,..
The box-like shape of the two configurations causes a massive flow
separation on the front of the GRV. Evidence of this flow separation can be
seen in the flow visualization test (Fig. 9) and in pressure data collected along
the top surface (Fig. 10). Because of this flow separation, full boundary-layer
analyses were not performed. The CD,," for these configurations was calculated
by subtracting the C DP and the C D~x,_ from the estimated CD'""'' from the
coast-down tests:
(9.1)
L
•
.,
L-.. :1: •
:.::
G:lll4t IXQ;48
(a) Front locations (b) Ra e locarions
Fig. 7. Pressure port locations
.I I
I
0
;
l
•
-..1 •
•
Fig. 8. Surface fit to front pressures
Fig. 9. Flow visualization test of GRV configuration 2
.1
Separated
0 region
-.1
-.2
-.3
cP
- .4
-.5
-.6
-.7
-.8
0 .1 .2 .3 .4 .5 .6 .7 .8 .9 1.0
Length , percent
020551
Fig. 10. Centerline pressure profile along top of GRV showing flow separation
over approximately forward 30 percent of vehicle.
10 Results and Discussion

Figure 11 shows the results from these two configurations plotted with Ho-
erner's two-dimensional base drag curves. Table 1 shows averaged results. Fig-
ure 11 shows that the GRV total drag data agree well with the predicted value
given by Hoerner's two-dimensional equation. Total drag values show a

maximum 4-percent error when compared with the predicted value. Base drag
values, however, show errors of as much as 70 percent when compared with
Hoerner's two-dimensional base drag model. When the numerator in equation
(2) is changed to 0.1 as suggested in reference 3, errors of 120 percent are
reached. When compared with Hoerner's three-dimensional model, the errors
are greater than 600 percent.
Table 1.10 Averaged drag results for the GRV.
c Dtotal
CD p
c Dvisc
c Dfore
c Dbase
Configuration 1 1.26 0.75 0.32 1.08 0.18
Configuration 2 1.16 0.75 0.25 1.00 0.16
1.8
1.6 .W:. Configurationlil'.

W'lll • • ·;·~ ~ W lW! • • II'W _. .. te W lW! . . . . . . . "'W. W .. W -« • • ~,.!I! We w• W'!l! • • !1: • • • lW! . . . . . . . lll1
1.4
A 2
1.2
Total aerodynamic drag
1.0 .. ~ • • • • • • !Jc,• • • " . ·-~ (J-! c;.>~r:ll~r:~ t~~;'!i!I2~1::!~L0!1.al. •,., •• ·-~ •••••.•• "' •• ,., .•.•
------------ ----~:~::~~~ -- -------------------------

co
.8
.6
.4
.2
.10 1.00 10.00

020552
Fig. 11. GRV drag study results
The chaotic forebody flow of the current configurations is believed to cause

the large errors encountered in predicting the C Dba". A future GRV configu-
ration will have rounded leading-edge corners to keep the flow attached over
the length of the vehicle. Tests using the future configuration will provide ad-
ditional data to determine if Hoerner's two-dimensional base drag equation
provides the most accurate model for predicting base drag on large-scale vehi-
cles, or if a new model is needed.
11 Concluding Remarks
Preliminary tests conducted at NASA Dryden Flight Research Center on two
configurations of a ground research vehicle (GRV) provide support for the hy-
pothesis that a new base drag prediction model is needed for large-scale vehi-
cles. Plans currently are underway to begin testing on a third GRV configura-
tion that will include rounded leading-edge corners. This new configuration
will allow the boundary layer to remain attached over the entire length of the
vehicle and is expected to provide data near the minimum total aerodynamic
drag point. Subsequent GRV configurations will increase the surface rough-
ness by adding various-sized boundary-layer trip strips to control the bound-
ary-layer thickness. These future configurations will provide additional data
and further studies of effects of forebody drag on base drag. Such test results
will either confirm or refute the need for a modified version of Hoerner's base
drag equations that applies to large-scale vehicles. Upcoming tests will also
provide insight into the feasibility of reducing drag by manipulating the
boundary layer.
References
1. Hoerner SF (1965) Fluid-dynamic drag: practical information on aerody-
namic drag and hydrodynamic resistance. Self-published work, Library of
Congress Card Number 64-19666, Washington, DC
2. Saltzman EJ, Wang KC, Iliff KW (1999) Flight-determined subsonic lift
and drag characteristics of seven lifting-body and wing-body reentry vehi-
cle configurations with truncated bases. AIAA 99-0383 (Also published as
NASA TP-1999-206573)
3. Saltzman EJ and Meyer RR Jr (1999) A reassessment of heavy-duty truck
aerodynamic design features and priorities. NASA TP-1999-206574
4. Whitmore SA and Moes TR (1999) A base drag reduction experiment on
the X-33 linear aerospike SR-71 experiment (LASRE) flight program.
NASA TM-1999-206575
5. Whitmore SA, Hurtado M, Rivera J, Naughton JW (2000) A real-time
method for estimating viscous forebody drag coefficients. NASA TM-
2000-209015
6. Bui TT, Oates DL, and Gonsalez JC (2000) Design and evaluation of a
new boundary-layer rake for flight testing. NASA TM-2000-209014
7. Lynn OK et al. (1979) Determination of vehicle rolling resistance and
aerodynamic drag. Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory, LA-UR-78-3229
8. Montoya LC and Steers LL (1974) Aerodynamic drag reduction tests on a
full-scale tractor-trailer combination with several add-on devices. NASA
TM X-56028
9. Saltzman EJ, Meyer RR Jr, Lux DP (1974) Drag reductions obtained by
modifying a box-shaped ground vehicle. NASA TM X-56027
Splash and Spray Measurement and Control:
Recent Progress in Quebec
G. Dumas and J. Lemay
Department of mechanical engineering, Laval University, Quebec City, Canada
Summary. This paper presents results of a series of road tests measuring the spray
clouds generated by a truck/trailer traveling on a watered roadway with and with-
out specifically-configured splash guards covering all the wheels. The tests were
conducted with a carefully-arranged set of laser transmissometers, and data show
significant reductions in spray density at some fixed positions from the truck-trailer
and the roadway. Data is also given showing the effect of adding a drag-reducing
air shield on the truck. Emphasis is put on the full-scale test procedures and on the
reliability /repeatability of the measurements.
1 Introduction
Every motorist driving regularly on highways has experienced situations of

significantly reduced visibility in rainy conditions while following, crossing or
passing a heavy truck. There is no doubt that such encounters can increase
the anxiety level of the drivers (cars as well as trucks) and may represent a
serious road safety hazard.
Although one usually refers to the "splash and spray" as the generic phe-
nomenon responsible for this adverse effect on visibility, it should be pointed
out that it is more the spray clouds surrounding the heavy vehicle than the
splash itself that represents the main perturbation and inconvenience. Indeed,
the splash being the part associated with the large droplets of water raised
by the tires, it tends to follow ballistic trajectory and to stay relatively close
to the ground on smooth road surfaces. Interference with motorist's visibility
is thus minimal. On the other hand, the spray which consists of very small
droplets of water can remain airborne for a long time and be transported
along in the turbulent air flow. It typically produces fog clouds on each side of
the vehicle and behind it (Fig. 1). According to previous studies such as the
extensive work of Weir et al. in the 1970's [1], the spray is formed when some
water is being atomized after impacting a hard surface under the vehicle. If
there is a sufficiently large air flowrate in that area, the mist being produced
534 G . Dumas and J . Lemay
Fig. 1. A mild case of reduced visibility due to the splash and spray of a typical
heavy truck.
is evacuated away before it gets a chance to reform large droplets that would
quickly fall back to the ground.
It should be emphasized here that the formation mechanism of spray and
its later dispersion involves quite complex physics and aerodynamics as well
as a large variety of parameters which can be classified as "truck-centered" or
"situational" [2]. For example, in the former category, one would include the
tires treads, the speed and load of the truck, its general shape and underbody
details, while in the latter category, one would list the pavement texture, the
thickness of the water film on the road, and the magnitude and direction of
the ambient wind.
Strangely, the important progress made in the 1970's and 1980's on several
of these aspects has not brought us much closer to practical, real life solutions
of the splash and spray problem in the 1990's and up to now. In our view ,
the main reason for that is twofold: first, no system or devices tested so far
seem to provide the desired overall level of effectiveness at a minimum cost
and with minimal adverse effects (on the drag, the brakes, the maintenance,
etc.), and second, perhaps more importantly, the lack of recent development
turns out to be fundamentally linked to the difficulties associated with the
measurement of the phenomenon itself.
Indeed, virtually all large scale efforts in this area of research were aban-
doned when in 1988, the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration
(NHTSA) announced [3] that it was terminating its pending rulemaking (or-
dered in 1982) to require splash and spray suppression devices on a ll new
truck tractors, trailers and semitrailers because it determined that no avail-
able technology had been demonstrated to
" ... significantly reduce splash and spray from truck tractors, semitrailers and trail-
ers, and significantly improve visibility of drivers, as demonstrated during testing
on highways, at test facilities , and in laboratories to take into account possible
wind and rain conditions." [3]
The major problem for the NHTSA was a lack of consistency and too much
variability in the full-scale road test data that had been produced to establish
the effectiveness of a wide variety of splash and spray suppression devices and
Splash and Spray Measurement and Control 535
concepts. NHTSA's position has remained unchanged since then as reported

in updates to Congress in 1994 [4] and 2000 [5].
All the same, the splash and spray problem has continued to bother high-
way users despite the very few actual crashes that have been officially linked
to it [4]. The general public interest has nonetheless remained high as well
as the interest of the transport industry. Several national and local govern-
ments in America and in Europe have thus proposed, or have been considering
proposing, some form of legislation on the question [5]. In that spirit, the De-
partment of Transportation of the province of Quebec (Canada) in 1997 gave
the present authors the mandate to develop a local expertise on the splash and
spray issue that could be used to carry out rigorous, repeatable comparisons
between existing and future anti-spray systems or devices.
Since then, two campaigns of full-scale road tests [6] [7] have been realized
by the authors to develop a proper measuring technique and to compare a
few basic spray suppression devices. A third experimental campaign was also
undertaken in a small-scale wind tunnel to investigate the laboratory model-
ing of spray clouds and to contribute towards a better understanding of the
aerodynamic aspects of the problem [8]. This last campaign is not discussed in
this paper so as to emphasize the test procedures put forward in our two road
campaigns, and the lessons that have been learned for better, future tests.
2 Road Test Measurements
The challenges associated with the quantitative measurement of the spray

clouds characteristics in typical highway situations are not conceptual or the-
oretical issues. They are rather of a very basic, practical/economical and tech-
nical nature. Repeatable conditions of crosswind and water film for instance
may be quite demanding to provide, even on a dedicated test track. So are
the parameters of speed and precise positioning of the test vehicle on the wet
track. Many passages of the test vehicle may thus be required to reduce un-
certainty in the mean data, but testing budget and track schedule are often
quite restrictive. Some compromises and optimization of the procedure have
to be devised and validated.
A valiant effort to do so and to propose a rigorous road test protocol was
initiated in the early 1990's by Johnson and Weir under the auspices of the
Society of Automotive Engineers. It yielded in 1994 the SAE Recommended
Practice 12245 for splash and spray evaluation [9] which synthesized almost
two decades of R&D in the United States. To the authors' knowledge, however,
there was no report available in 1997 of its formal application in an actual
road test campaign, nor has there been since then. Some key aspects of the
recommended procedure are briefly reviewed below.
536 G. Dumas and J. Lemay
2.1 SAE Recommended Practice J2245
In the SAE recommended procedure [9], two types of approach are proposed.
Both of them involves stationary test setups, meaning that the test-truck is
driven through a wet test section with the measuring instruments installed
on both sides of the track. An alternative setup attached to the truck has
been proposed in Europe [10], but it seems more appropriate for local splash
measurements than for global spray clouds characterization that is of interest
here.
The first technique recommended in the SAE standard is called the "video
digitizing method", and it uses large checkerboards (see Fig. 2a) and image
processing techniques to measure the loss of contrast when the spray cloud
happens to be between the camera and the target board. Although interesting
in principle in terms of providing some discrete spatial information over entire
planes, this approach was not selected here due to the post-processing delays
involved and the significant crosswind sensitivity expected.
The second, and more attractive method in our opinion, is called the
"laser transmissometers method" and it measures the loss of light transmis-
sion through the mist, i.e., the opacity of the spray cloud. According to the
standard, two lasers are used on each side of the track (see Fig. 2) and are set
at a height above the road corresponding to a typical car driver's line of sight.
The four corresponding photometers are positioned in front of the lasers at
least 15 m (50 ft) away. The signal from each of the photocell is continuously
recorded during the passage of the test vehicle.
Assuming here the "SAE low crosswind scenario", i.e., crosswind compo-
nent less than 5 km/hr (3 mph) during the run of a given test truck config-
uration on the wet track, the procedure J2245 defines the "measurement for
that run" as being the arithmetic average of the four photocell values. Each
of the sensor measurement is expressed as a percentage of light transmittance
reduction (% obscured) called "Figure of Merit" (FOM) which is calculated
as
FOM = 100 x (1- Vmin- Vo) (1)

Vmax- Vo
Midpoint of Test Section

60.96 m (200ft) to end (type)
Laserc::> I a Photocell
) 15.24 m (50ft) min : VEHICLE PATH }
(
c:>
~,66m(12ft)
D
c:> D
(b) Anemometer
Fig. 2. SAE's recommended practice J2245. (a) View from behind showing the 4
lasers and the checkerboards; (b) Plan view of the test section. Adapted from [9].
where Vmax is the voltage before the passage of the vehicle (unimpeded beam),
Vmin is the minimum voltage recorded during the run, and Vo is the "zero
voltage" (offset) measured when the beam is occluded. A 100% means to-
tal opacity of the spray cloud while 0% means total transmittance, i.e., no
visibility impairment.
In the present work, the authors have preferred to use the terminology
"Opacity Index" (OJ) in place of Figure of Merit to facilitate interpretation
and to emphasize the difference put forward with respect to Vmin as is dis-
cussed further. However, one should note for the moment that the SAE's FOM
will correspond to the maximum instantaneous value (peak value) of the OJ
proposed in this work.
The overall FOM of a test truck configuration, equipped or not with an
anti-spray device or system, is finally obtained according to the SAE's stan-
dard by ensemble averaging over a minimum of 8 different runs at a given
wind condition such as, for example, low head wind or low left crosswind [9].
The lower the score, the better the given configuration is classified in t erms
of visibility impairment and safety hazard.
2.2 First Road Test Campaign
For our first road test campaign in 1997, an original technique inspired of
the SAE's laser method was conceived with a particular aim to provide a
richer information about the lateral distribution of opacity through the spray
cloud. Monotonic decay of cloud opacity with respect to lateral distance from
the truck seemed to be taken for granted in previous works [2]leading to the
SAE's standard. It was believed by the present authors that, for the purpose of
comparing or developing spray suppression devices, more detailed data about
the spatial distribution of the mist was important. Information closer to the
side of the vehicle (sensors are at 1.22 and 2.13 m in SAE's J2245; Fig. 2)
was also desired since it represents a crucial visibility region for a following
motorist in the process of deciding or not to overtake the heavy vehicle in
front of him on a two-way road.
(a) (b)
Fig. 3. First road campaign in 1997. (a) Ramp of 15 sensors within their protective
tubes inside the photometers housing; (b) Laser and oscillating mirror.
The approach that was developed and successfully implemented involved

a 4 m ramp of 15 sensors distributed along its length (Fig. 3) yielding final
sensors positions from 0.76 to 4.78 m. A single laser with an oscillating mirror
was used to produce a sweeping laser beam that illuminated at least 3 times
each photocell while the test vehicle was moving through the central 30 m of
the 61 m test section (200 ft between laser and sensors) at a nominal speed
of 77 km/hr. A general view and sketch of this setup are provided in Fig. 4.
Note that for the purpose of this paper, most details are omitted here. For all
the information concerning these tests and the results of some comparisons
carried out between a few spray suppression approaches, the reader is referred
to the original technical report [6].
Typical raw signal for a given sensor is shown in Fig. 5. An "analyzing
window" is defined so that only the part of the signals measured while the
truck is passing in the central region of the test section, away from the pertur-
bation of the two protective housings, is considered to calculate the Opacity
Index denoted here 01 1 . In that central region, it is assumed that the spray
cloud carried by the test vehicle is, statistically, in its stationary state. One
thus defines the 01 1 measured by each of the 15 photocells as
5-axle tractor-trailer
truck {20 m, 65 ft)
Photocell
housing
Laser housing
(a)
Spnnklers
/?,
61 m(200 II) Wet
sectoon
Trigger
""=II
=
Anemometer Rampof7 -
(b) 15 pholocells
Fig. 4. Test track of the first road campaign in Blainville, Quebec. (a) General view
of the site prior to the tests; (b) Sketch of the setup about the wet track.
Origma l signal (sensor #4)

V-V0
1
Extracted signals
Vnm·V: : No m1sl s1~nal 1
0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0 04 0 05 0.06 0.07
Time (s)
~lth m1SI Sl~nal 1

0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06 O.D7
Time (s)
Fig. 5. Typical sensor signal among 15 recorded during a run. The time interval
between t2 and t3 is the data analyzing window which corresponds to the truck
entering and exiting the central 30m between laser and sensors. The non-vanishing
signals in the unimpeded portion and in the analyzing window (clean and perturbed
gaussian responses of the swept-by sensor) are then regrouped for processing.
OJ! = lOO X Vnm - Vwm (2)

Vnm- Vo
where Vnm is the maximum voltage recorded with "no mist" before the passage
of the test vehicle, Vwm is the maximum voltage "with mist" in the analyzing
window (Fig. 5), and V0 is the regularly measured offset voltage. Therefore,
similarly to the SAE's FOM, a 100% value of OJ 1 means total opacity while
a 0% value implies that there is no visibility impairment whatsoever.
(a) (b)
Fig. 6. Two of the truck configurations tested in the first campaign. (a) The
"base configuration" (Base) of the 5-axle tractor-trailer test vehicle with its stan-
dard European-type fenders; (b) The "reddaway configuration" (RW) of the truck
equipped with some homemade Reddaway-type of fenders [1][2].
0 /1 (%) 100
I
--- RW
..... :-, -- Base -
- .....
80
60
- ~ ..._
-,
' ~
40
'
SAE Laser #1J
~ ''
20 ....
l SAE Laser ~r---. .... .....
2 3 4 5
Position (m)
Fig. 7. Example of results from the first campaign: Lateral distribution of opacity
index OJ 1(y) at a height of 1.14 m for the base and reddaway configurations. The
lateral position y is defined from the side of the truck's trailer. The curves plotted
here represent ensemble averages over 8 runs in each case, all under SAE's condition
of low wind.
Plotting the opacity index data of all sensors on the ramp against the
lateral position Yi of each sensor - measured with respect to the actual po-
sition of the test vehicle on the track for that particular run - , one obtains
the "Lateral Distribution of Opacity" OI 1 (y) for that given run and truck
configuration. The distributions obtained during this first campaign for the
case of the "base truck" and for the "reddaway" configuration (Fig. 6) are
shown on Fig. 7.
These results clearly suggest that simple systems such as reddaway fenders
can have measurable and positive impact on spray clouds in terms of both,
their peak opacity and their spatial extent. From previous studies [1] [2], one
can infer that opacity levels of 70% and above are perceived by human eyes as
"very bad" (no useful visibility). One would therefore require that an efficient
anti-spray device yields much lower levels (still to be determined) across the
whole width of the cloud, and in particular in the first 2 m from the side of the
truck. It is also noted from Fig. 7 (and other results of this campaign) that in-
deed opacity distributions appear to be reasonably monotonic and decreasing
functions, except perhaps very close to the vehicle.
Repeatability of the results provided by full-scale road tests being at the
heart of the problem in splash and spray research, dispersion in the raw data
and statistical convergence of the final results have to be considered. First, it
was noted that the dispersion in the OI 1 data was larger than expected: for
the base configuration, about ±12 for the inner part of the cloud (first 2 m)
and up to ±20 in the outer part (last 2 m). Large external flow intermittence
may explain in part the difference between the two regions, but it is most
likely attributable to what has been termed the "triangle effect", and that is
described on the sketch of Fig. 8. The phenomenon tends to add more noise
to the calculated indices in the outer portion of the cloud which makes it
more challenging to reach good statistical convergence, and is therefore an
undesirable weakness of this approach.
In any case, significant dispersion in the 01 1 data calculated by (2) is to
be expected due to intrinsic aerodynamics unsteady effects (air turbulence
and large-scale eddies) to which one must add the effects of varying winds
(intensity and direction) between runs. Even for "low wind" conditions (Uw <
5 km/hr) considered here, important impact of the wind is expected as will
be addressed further. Furthermore, non-repeatability and non-uniformity in
the water film are important issues to be minimized, which was not rigorously
the case in this first campaign where watering was provided by distributed
sprinklers along the track.
Most importantly, one must realize that in this approach as well as in the
SAE's recommended procedure, the only way to improve statistical conver-
gence of the final results , and thus repeatability, is by doing more runs in
the same - as much as possible - conditions. Indeed, the only averaging used
is ensemble averaging which, according to us , requires many more than the
8 runs (per truck configuration) recommended and that were realized here.
Four times as many runs would reduce uncertainty of the mean distributions
by a factor of two which may be viewed as a minimum. Considering different
wind conditions - as many as 8 according to the SAE's classification - as well
as different speeds of the test vehicle and different depths of the water film,
would add up quickly to prohibitive proportions in terms of both time and
testing cost.
~Approximate
/ spray cloud
p----'_...1111(.
Laser sweeping
Ramp of
laser beam photocells
(Length= 61 m)
(Width= 4 m)
Fig. 8. Exaggerated sketch showing the "triangle effect" that contributes to add
noise in the readings of the sensors which are not directly in front of the laser
source. While the truck moves through the central part of the test section (analyzing
window, 31 m), and considering a given photocell on the ramp, this effect yields
varying optical paths of the laser beam with respect to the cloud.
A procedure that could offer faster statistical convergence was imposing

itself as a necessity to achieve dependable and repeatable full-scale road test
results. Including some temporal averaging in t he process, in addition to the
existing ensemble averaging, appeared as the only practical option available to
increase convergence, and thus repeatability of the results while maintaining
the number of runs at a reasonable level. This idea as well as some significant
improvement as far as the water film is concerned were implemented in the
procedure developed for our second road test campaign.
2.3 Second Road Test Campaign
For our second campaign in 1999 (see [7] for a detailed report) , we used a
small t est track in the region of Quebec City. The track had a fairly uniform
1% slope across the pavement which allowed us to produce a quite uniform
and repeatable film of water (Fig. 9a), 1.5 mm t hick, over the entire 61 rn
(200 ft) of the test section. A 4-inch perforated pipe running along t he t rack
(a)
Downstream tngger Upstream tngger
Lasers
Wet pavement
61 m (200 fl)
F ig . 9. Second road campaign. (a) Upstream view of the t est t rack and of the
continuously fed water film; (b) Sketch of the setup about the wet track.
(a) (b)
Fig. 10. Second road campaign setup at run time. (a) Upstream view showing the
3 lasers at the forefront; (b) Downstream view with the 3 photocells at the forefront.
and fed by a regulated fire hydrant was used to that end. For all practical
purposes, contribution of the water film to the final dispersion of the data
was reduced to negligible proportion.
In this campaign, in order to eliminate the undesirable "triangle effect"
and to provide for some temporal averaging of the signals, each photocell
used had to have its own dedicated laser aligned with it, in much the same
way as in the SAE's recommended practice J2245 discussed previously. The
continuous signal recorded for each sensor while the test vehicle is passing
through the "analyzing window" would permit the temporal averaging needed,
which departs in a fundamental way from the standard J2245. Based on the
results of the first campaign - relatively monotonic decay of lateral opacity
distributions - it appeared that three sensors (Fig. 9b) would be sufficient
to properly characterize the opacity distribution. The positions retained were
selected as: 0.61, 1.22 and 2.44 m (2, 4 and 8 ft; nominal values wjr to the
side of the vehicle's trailer). This reduc~d number of photocells allowed to get
rid of the large and perturbing protecting housings of the first campaign as
can be seen on the pictures of Fig. 10.
Typical signals recorded at run time by the three photocells are shown
on Fig. 11. Note that sensor #1 is the inner one, closest to the truck, while
#3 is the outer one at 2.44 m (8 ft) which would correspond to the middle
of the neighbor lane next to the truck's lane. The data indicates that the
outer part of the spray cloud takes about just under 59 m (193 ft) to build
up from zero and stabilizes. Of course, wetting of the track upstream of the
test section would easily fix this problem. This is unfortunate in the spirit of
the present method since it severely limits the time window over which one
can average the signals (assuming a common window for the 3 sensors). The
last 0.10 second (last 2 m) before the vehicle started exiting the test section
has usually been selected in this campaign.
Nonetheless, this modest temporal averaging, combined with the usual
ensemble averaging, can significantly improve convergence of the mean results,
v
0.5
0.5
0.5
;! Rh ,,m~'="''-+----1.tjj
0 o~~~~~~1~~----~2~--------3~~--~~~4~~~--~5
Time (s)
Fig. 11. Signals recorded for each of the 3 sensors and the triggers during a typical
run of the second road campaign.
even though dispersion itself may still remain important, as can be seen in
Fig. 12. In this campaign, one now defines the OJ measured by each of the 3
photocells in a given run as
OJ= 100 X Vbe- Vss (3)

Vbe- Vo
where V be is the mean voltage recorded "before entering" the wet test sec-
tion (with no mist), and V ss is the mean voltage in the "stationary signal"
zone (averaging time window; see Fig. 11). The results obtained for the base
truck configuration (same tractor and similar trailer as in campaign one) are
presented in Fig. 12.
The uncertainty bars shown in Fig. 12 suggest an accuracy of about ±5
points on the mean opacity indices which is already a significant improvement
with respect to our first campaign, and previous works in general in this field.
Only 14 runs have been necessary to achieve this level of confidence thanks
mainly to the temporal averaging added to the process here - admittedly
quite modest in this instance. Longer time windows exhibiting statistically
stationary signals (Fig. 11) would allow for better temporal means which
would tend to reduce even more the dispersion in the OJ data, thus improving
further the confidence level of the final values. Of course, complete elimination
of dispersion in the OJ from run to run is not possible due mainly to the wind's
effects. Note finally that by eliminating the "triangle effect" present in the first
campaign, the level of dispersion in the data is now much more uniform across
the width of the cloud.
01 (%) 100 r - - - - -.--- - -.----------,

o 0/Eq . (3)
e Mean 0/
0 o~~~_L~~~~~~2~~~~J3
Position (m)
Fig. 12. Raw results of the Opacity Index OJ according to (3) for the base truck
configuration in the second road campaign ("low crosswind" runs). The 95% con-
fidence bands of the three mean values are also shown. The line connecting these
values is only suggestive of the actual distribution of opacity.
Our second road campaign also provided the opportunity to test the effect
of a simple drag shield installed on the tractor cab. As expected, such air
shield tends to keep the mist closer to the truck thus increasing opacity in
that area. However, combined with conventional anti-spray systems such as
reddaway fenders, it tends to improve their performances in the mid and outer
portion of the cloud as can be inferred from the results presented in Fig. 13.
·-
100~~~~---------------,
0/ (%)
..... RW meanOI
·~
A ~.mean()j
a
s
c
-: (b)
0 o~----~------~2------~3
(a) Position (m)
Fig. 13. (a) Mean opacity results from the second campaign for the RW (reddaway)
versus the AS-RW (air shield + RW) configuration- low wind condition, V = 70
km/hr; (b) Test vehicle equipped with a basic air shield on the tractor cab and
reddaway-type of fenders on the trailer.
3 Recommendations for Future Road Test Campaigns
The experience gained from our two road campaigns can be summarized by
the following recommendations:
1. The general guidelines provided in the SAE Recommended Practice J2245

[9] should be followed, granted the modifications outlined below.
2. Three laser transmissometers should be used on each side of the track with
2 of them within the first 1.2 m (4 ft) from the side of the test vehicle (see
Fig. 14).
3. The distance between lasers and sensors (test section) should be of about
3 truck lengths, 61m (200 ft) in this case, to allow for proper temporal
averaging of the signals.
4. An extra 60 m or so of wet pavement should be provided upstream of the
test section to assure that statistically stationary conditions (stationary
clouds) are reached at the entrance of the test section.
Assuming, conservatively, a total span of the clouds of about 2 truck

lengths, as suggested on Fig. 14, the above recommendations would allow
for temporal averaging of the signals for at least one full "truck time scale"
(T = L/V), i.e., over the last truck length of the test section. This trans-
lates in this case as about 1 second of time-averaging window - ten times
as much as was permitted in the second road campaign of this work. It is
expected that such an approach, coupled with ensemble averaging over about
15 "similar runs" (in terms of wind conditions, truck speed and water depth),
should yield spray measurements confidence within a few percent, and thus
circumvent the basic criticism ra ised by the NHTSA since 1988.
Fig. 14. Sketches of approximate spray cloud envelopes under no wind condition
(left), and under some "low crosswind" condition, e.g., Uw ~ 4 km/hr (right).
There remains the challenge of how to properly take into account the effect
of crosswinds in the overall evaluation of spray suppression devices. It seems
to these authors that a finer grading system than the one proposed in the
SAE's procedure is required. As suggested in Fig. 14b, it takes very little
crosswind to significantly alter the distribution of spray around the vehicle.
This represents a critical issue which still needs to be addressed.
Acknowledgement
The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support of the Min-
istere des Transports du Quebec, contracts MTQ/1220-97-RGOl and 1220-
98-RG02. Help and encouragement from the project manager at DoT, M.
Mario Bussieres, is also gratefully acknowledged. Special thanks to the wel-
coming and professional staff of the CFTC (Centre de Formation en Transport
de Charles bourg; www. cftc. qc. ca) where our second road campaign was re-
alized.
References
1. Weir DH, Strange JF, Heffley RK (1978) Reduction of Adverse Aerodynamic
Effects of Large Trucks. Technical Report FHWA-RD-79-84, Federal Highway
Administration, USA
2. Weir DH (1980) Truck Splash and Spray - Full Scale Tests and Alleviation
Devices. AIAA Paper 80-0203, 18th Aerospace Sciences Meeting, Pasadena,
CA, 14-16 January, 1980
3. NHTSA (1988) Splash and Spray Suppression Devices - 49 CFR Part 584:
Termination of rulemaking. May 25, 1988. U.S. Federal Register, Vol. 53, No.
101: 18861-18868
4. NHTSA (1994) Splash and Spray Suppression: Technological Developments in
the Design and Testing of Spray Reduction Devices for Heavy Trucks. Report
to Congress March 1994, National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration,
U.S. Dept. of Transportation
5. NHTSA (2000) Update on the Status of Splash and Spray Suppression Tech-
nology for Large Trucks. Report to Congress March 2000, National Highway
Traffic and Safety Administration, U.S. Dept. of Transportation
6. Dumas G, Lemay J, et. a!. (1998) Comparative evaluation of splash guard
systems for heavy vehicles (in French; English translation also available). Con-
tract report MTQ 1220-97-RGOl for the Quebec Dept. of Transport, Aprill998,
Fluid Mechanics Laboratory, Laval University, Quebec City
7. Dumas G, Lemay J (2000) Study of spray cloud reduction on heavy trucks by
aerodynamic control: Part I- Full-scale road tests (in French). Contract report
MTQ 1220-98-RG02 for the Quebec Dept. of Transport, March 2000, Fluid
Mechanics Laboratory, Laval University, Quebec City
8. Dumas G, Lemay J (2002) Study of spray cloud reduction on heavy trucks by
aerodynamic control: Part II- Wind tunnel tests (in French). Contract report
MTQ 1220-98-RG02 for the Quebec Dept. of Transport, January 2002, Fluid
Mechanics Laboratory, Laval University, Quebec City
9. Johnson WA, Weir DH (1994) Recommended Practice for Splash and Spray
Evaluation. 1996 SAE Handbook, Vol. 3, SAE Recommended Practice J2245
10. Hucho WH (1998) Aerodynamics of Road Vehicles, 4th ed., Section 9.7.4, SAE
International, Warrendale, Pennsylvania
Wind-Tunnel Evaluation of an Aerodynamic Heat
Exchanger
R.]. Gaeta, R.J. Englar, and G. Blaylock
Aerospace and Acoustics Technology Branch I ATAS Laboratory

Georgia Institute ofTechnology
Atlanta, Georgia 30332
Abstract
GTRI has recently been developing pneumatic aerodynamic concepts for ap-
plication to Heavy Vehicles under a Department of Energy contract through
the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). A related application under de-
velopment is a novel heat exchanger known as the Aerodynamic Heat Ex-
changer (AHE). This patented device employs airfoil/wing aerodynamic pres-
sure differences to induce large mass flows across a radiator installed inside a
wing. GTRI has recently completed an in-house wind tunnel test of this con-
cept. The objective of this proposed effort was to perform a wind-tunnel
evaluation of the AHE and establish the feasibility of the concept. A 2D wing
was fabricated with a removable center section. A radiator core was integrated
into this section of the wing. A conventional radiator core (based on a Visteon
design) and two cores made from carbon foam were tested. The carbon foam
cores were designed and provided to GTRI by ORNL. Hot water was allowed
to pass through the inside of the wing while freestream, wind tunnel air passed
over (and through) the wing. Heat rejected by the radiator was measured as
well as lift and drag. Results indicated that the concept is feasible and can pro-
vide an effective means to reduce vehicle drag by reducing the drag due to
conventional radiators.
Introduction
Motivation
Current engine heat exchangers for heavy vehicles and automobiles are neither
aerodynamic nor fuel efficient. This is evident visually as the radiator grill is
550 R.J. Gaeta, R.J . Englar, and G. Blaylock
usually the most distinctive feature on a tractor rig as seen from the front end.
Passenger automobiles get their distinctive look from the radiator grill design.
Furthermore, ram scoops on high performance race cars are necessarily evils:
they are needed for cooling air flow, but are drag generators. A common fea-
ture in radiator design is the need for large amounts of air to flow through the
heat exchanger. The solution for over a century has been to place this heat ex-
changer normal to the oncoming air stream. This is a very effective means of
producing heat transfer but it is also an effective means of creating drag [see
Figure I]. A novel approach to an alternate cooling solution is embodied in
the notion of housing the heat exchanger in a low drag envelope, namely, a
wmg.
Figure 1 Large Heavy Vehicle and passenger car: radiator presents large frontal area to
flow. thus significant drag. Fl & Indy cars: pods or ram scoops are necessary evils- speed
draining drag sources
The Aerodynamic Heat Exchanger (AHE)

A conventional automotive heat exchanger uses the stagnation pressure drop
across a flat plate that is porous. Air flow from the freestream is directed either
through a duct or through louvers to reach the face of the heat exchanger.
This pressure difference is large, but it occurs at the price of a large drag force .
A wing is a device that naturally produces a pressure difference but in a way
that produces a low drag force (see Figure 2). It is true that the pressure differ-
ence is not nearly as high as the conventional flat plate approach. But by using
established pneumatic flow control techniques, the wing lift (or pressure dif-
ference) can be radically augmented. Figure 3 shows the AHE concept in
conjunction with pneumatically augmented lift system. The lift augmentation
concept here has received significant research and development attention in
the literature (see Englar, ref. 1). The AHE concept is embodied in a patent
that was granted to GTRI and Novatek, lnc. 2 Even at zero angle of attack on
a symmetric airfoil, large pressure differences can be realized by increasing the
wings circulation through trailing edge blowing. This process leverages the
Coanda effect and can produce phenomenal increases in lift. Figure 4 shows
how the lift on a symmetric airfoil can be controlled by changing the mo-
mentum of air blown through a thin slot at the trailing edge of the wing. The
Wind-Tunnel Evaluation of an Aerodynamic Heat Exchanger 551
design challenge for the AHE is to provide enough flow though the wing (via
porosity), but still retain a high enough pressure difference to create aerody-
namic force, if needed.
Flat 6.P at
Plate expense of
high drag
... .n
Wing
~P with
·. low drag
Figure 2. A wing has an order of magnitude lower drag coefficient than a nat plate AND has
a mechanism to produce a pressure differential needed for heat transfer.
A proof-of-concept model was built and tested in a low speed wind tunnel at
GTRI to see if this concept was a feasible solution. Several radiator core con-
figurations were tested and the heat removal was measured. The remainder of
this paper presents the testing approach and set-up along with results and dis-
cussiOn.
..
Pomu' Hro:ll Conductmg Materia l
Figure 3. AHE concept with pneumatic lift augmentation control : Pressure

difference arising from lift provides air to the heat exchanger in low drag envelope.
552 R.J. Gaeta, R.J. Englar, and G. Blaylock
High Velocity
Jet Sheet
,.Increasing Momentum Ratio, Cf.l,

Increases Velocity on upper surface,
thus lncrea es lift (see Coanda Effect,
Circulation)
• l
: I ,circulation Control produces up to
!: 8000% lncr aso In ~CL relative to
l.:. momontum force Input
- - - Phenomenal
Increase in AP
Figure 4. Controllable lift, thus controllable heat transfer with pneumatic flow
control.
Technical Approach and Experimental Set-up

The testing of the AHE model was performed in GTRI's Model Test Facility.
This facility is a dosed-return wind tunnel with an operating dynamic pressure
range of 5 to 50 psf. The test section is 30 by 30 inches and has a 6 compo-
nent balance attached to a turntable for easy model angle changes.
AHE Configurations
The airfoil shape chosen for the model AHE concept was elliptical with a
round trailing edge, similar to that shown in Figure 4. The aerodynamic refer-
ence configuration was a non-porous center section. Three porous center sec-
tions were fabricated which represented three different types of radiator cores.
Conventional Visteon Aluminum Fin Core

This core was a conventional aluminum finned radiator used in a SAE Student
Formula car operated by the Georgia Tech Motorsports Club. It had relatively
low pressure drop or a high porosity and was produced by the Visteon Com-
pany.
ORNL Very Dense Graphite Foam Core
ORNL supplied a radiator that had the same external dimensions as the Vis-
teon radiator, but was made from solid pieces of carbon-graphite foam mate-
rial. This material has phenomenal heat conductivity properties. Although it
is porous, the bulk density is such that it has a significant pressure drop. Brass
tubes were press fit into the foam to carry the coolant through the material for
heat exchange.
ORNL Porous/Serpentine Graphite Foam Core
A second ORNL supplied core consisted of smaller carbon-graphite foam fins

arranged in such a way that flow could serpentine around them. These were
brazed to narrow water channels in a matter similar to the aluminum radiator.
The manufacturing of this core was such that some of the coolant passages
were blocked off, so its full heat rejection potential was not realized. Further-
more, it was made about a half an inch thinner than the thickness of the wing,
so a perforated sheet had to cover the wing to maintain smooth flow.
Figure 5 shows all three configurations.
C.onvemloha1·· Radiator -
V/1toon
" Dense" Carbon Graphite Core
- ORNL
" Porous" Carbon Graphite Core -

ORNL
Figure 5. Radiator core configurations used for small scale wind tunnel model.
Experimental Set-up
The elliptical wing with the radiator core was installed vertically in the wind
tunnel and was attached to the force balance. The airfoil was connected via
flexible hoses to a 3-phase electric 3600W water heater. Water was heated and
pumped into one side of the radiator. It was allowed to settle in the inlet res-
ervoir before moving through core and settling in the outlet reservoir. The
outlet water was then allowed to return to the water heater closing the coolant
loop. Coolant mass flow was measured with a water flow meter. Thermocou-
pies were placed in both inlet and exit reservoirs to monitor the temperature
drop across the core. All fluid measurements were fed into a Labview program
running on a Windows platform, which stored mass flow and temperatures.
Figure 6 shows the wing installed in the wind tunnel with the radiator core
Figure 6. AHE installed in wind tunnel with radiator core removed.
removed. Piping and thermocouples are visible. Figure 7 shows the Visteon
radiator configuration and the dense carbon-graphite radiator installed in the
wind tunnel.
Blowing
Slot
Tufts
Pressure
Taps
Conventional Visteon Radiator

Dense Graphite Foam Core
Figure 7. Two radiator core configurations for the AHE installed in wind tunnel.
A typical run for a given radiator configuration would include a "sweep" of slot
blowing pressure at constant angle of attack (a) and tunnel speed (dynamic
pressure) , to record and evaluate aerodynamic characteristics. Then, for each
radiator core, the coolant lines were added (these would have caused balance
tares during the aero runs) and temperature data were taken at constant cool-
ant flow rates for variable blowing pressures. Variation in tunnel speeds was
also conducted for the radiator airfoils at constant flow rates while varying
blowing pressures. For reference, the conventional Visteon radiator was evalu-
ated without blowing or airfoil frame but perpendicular to the freestream flow
so as to simulate a standard radiator's cooling characteristics.
In the results presented below , all aerodynamic characteristics are based on a

wing planform area of S = 2.871 ft2 , and the blowing momentum coefficient
is defined as :
c mV·
=--} (1)
t-t qS
Where m =blowing mass flow from jet, measured by flowmeter, slug/sec

vi = isentropic jet velocity, from measured pressure and temperature,
ft/sec
q = freestream dynamic pressure= 0.5 r V 2 , lb/ft 2 , r=air density
S = wing planform area = span x chord, ft 2
It should be noted that it is assumed that the AHE radiator airfoil was to be
mounted on race car (a GT Motorsports SAE car), intended also to give down
force for cornering and traction. Thus the model airfoil is mounted inverted
in the tunnel, with negative lift (positive downforce) towards the ground as the
lifting side of the airfoil is towards the road, and negative angle of attack a is
leading edge downward.
A simple heat balance was used to quantify heat rejection of the coolant to the
air passing through the airfoil into the tunnel. The heat transferred from the
coolant can be expressed as:
(2)
A schematic of the test set-up and measured quantities is shown in Figure 8.

Measurements were made for each configuration at several freestream veloci-
ties, coolant flow rates, and blowing rates.
Aerodynamic Results
l nlet R esen•olr Outlet Resenoolr
20 AlrfoU
r---+--11 Radiator ore
TE Blowing
The aerodynamic portion of the tests (i.e., the radiator installed and blowing
applied, but no coolant hoses connected and no coolant flowing) was con-
ducted first to evaluate the effects of porous sections in the center of the lifting
airfoil.
Figure 9 shows pressure coefficients plotted as functions of blowing, all at a

=0°. Increasing blowing (Cm) dramatically increases the static pressure differ-
ential (-DCp avg) implying suction on the lifting (downforce) side. Here the
pressure coefficients (defined in Fig 9) are averaged between the pressure and
MTF059 Pressure Incre ment Across Airfoil Radiator,
q=5 psf, a=O"
U5 1.1 I.U U US IU t..U 1,.1 tA IJ

Cmn
Figure 9. Effect of trailing edge blowing on average pressure difference across AHE.
suction side of the radiator, and the suction rise is equal to the pressure drop.
As the radiator gets more porous, the DCp is reduced. For reference, the pres-
sure drop of the conventional radiator at 90° is shown (DCp = +0.4 to +0.5)
and blowing is a factor of up to 7 times that. Note that the ORNL dense
foam radiator performs almost exactly as the baseline blown airfoil with no ra-
diator installed. The implication is that this foam is so dense as to allow little
if any air to pass through the radiator core.
Figure 10 shows how blowing and porosity affect the lift and drag. These re-
sults conform directly to the pressure differences in Figure 9. As porosity in-
creases, lift decreases and drag increases, but still increased blowing is very ef-
fective. As downforce (-CL ) increase due to blowing, the high circulation
·10
••
•
-15 • •• a CJn"oornt.oni
bd'
.....
• • \1 • ton
••
•.l .O
•
-45
•• • a
I De...
1 tU
-5CI
0.20
Co
Figure 10. Drag polar for AHE with several configurations.
around the airfoil causes the leading edge to separate (or a bubble to form
there), and thus the discontinuity in the lift curves to occur. This can be cor-
rected by improving the leading edge shape. There is still improvement to be
had: the 20% Elliptic AirfoiP is a thicker airfoil (i.e. has a greater LE radius)
version of the current baseline blown ellipse airfoil, and it shows no sign of
separation, continuing on as CL reaches -8 or more. Thus great downforce
potential is confirmed with blowing (no increase in airfoil angle of attack is
necessary here) and this carries over into the heat transfer evaluations con-
ducted with coolant flowing through the blown radiators.
558 R.]. Gaeta, R.J. Englar, and G. Blaylock
Heat Transfer Results
Results for the conventional or Visteon radiator core indicated that a maxi-
mum coolant temperature drop of about 5 degrees Fahrenheit was achieved for
a flow rate of 5 gallons/min with a 64 mph freestream velocity. Figure 11
shows coolant temperature drop for the Visteon core as a function of blowing
coefficient, Cm, and coolant mass flow. Note that for the smaller coolant mass
onHrllinna l Radialor ore ]\'istcon]
\ '" = 64 mph
]Tc ·t: :\ITF059]

0.0
--<>- ( ool:anc l-Ion Ra1f' - ~.6 ~a I min r---
- • • ( flht.un I lim Hah_ II I 1::.11 min
·10
. . -.--.-.._• ........
• • ..,.. · ( fHtlilnl llu" Katr • I-t~ ~wlmm
·20
.:.:'"':.: :.!.: :..:.... .. • -.
t. ·30 ...\
~ .• -4.0 r----:::---..::
0
o:___~e
u
0
·50 0
0 0
·60
·7 0
(
.
Figure II . Effect of radiator temperature drop with respect to blowing coefficient.
oolan1 Flo" Rate - 5.5 gal/ min: \ ' 0 = 2 mph

!Tc ·t: .\ITF059]
90 0 Graphho Rodlowr •• llll~b Den II\ I

• <.nphih: lbdhtlftr ! 1 , qu:nltm Puru ... ll\ 1
80
• \'"'hun"( Hll\lllllun.tl" llauJu1ur
70
kW so
6.0
...,.• ...... .
40
30
. .. ·:- ·-·
..........•...- .
·
_,_ -·-- --I
...
20 0 .... ""-_ ...
10 ~ ...... - 'V' ..rr--
('
Figure 12. Low coolant flow rate results of AHE; note effect of heat removal with
respect to blowing coefficient.
flows, larger temperature drops are realized. This is due to the longer exposure
of the coolant to the heat exchanger (longer residence times). It should be
stated that due to fabrication anomalies, some (42%) of the coolant flow tubes
were blocked off so the Visteon radiator was not flowing in a evenly distrib-
uted manner and it is quite likely that its performance was inhibited to some
degree. Figure 12 shows the corresponding heat removal as a function of Cm
and coolant mass flow for the various radiator configurations of the AHE. A
low coolant flow rate is shown. Note that the effect of the pneumatic lift
augmentation (the increasing Cm) is to increase the heat removal rate.
Figure 13 shows a comparison of heat removal for the carbon-graphite foam

configurations along with the more conventional Visteon core for a coolant
flow rate of about 15 gallons/ min and a velocity of 64 mph. These are more
realistic flow rates and freestream velocities which are encountered while
Coolant Flow Rate -15.5 gal/min; v. = 64 mph

[Test: MTF059)
15a
14.a
-<>-Grnphi1e Rodi010< # I Jllieh D<•n,i1)J
13.a
- • · ( .raphite H~dhuor ;;~ z l' ert>cmin JJ'oro~il' )
12 a • • ,.. • \ l~rC"on "( ·onH·ntional" Racllucor
110
1aa
ga
,_._.. ___ .
aa
kW ~
.· ... . ,. . . -
?a
~ .:':"'········ ~-
v ~ ...
6.0
5.0
4a
3.0
2a
1a
a.a
a oas 0 1 a.15 02 0.25 03
c
•
Figure 13. Heat rejection from AHE for high coolant flow rate; note independence of heat
removal with respect to blowing coefficient for high density foam core.
cruising at highway speeds. Note that the high density graphite core performs
as well as the Visteon core which is somewhat surprising since it has little or no
airflow through the core. Due to the superior conductive performance of the
foam, almost all of the heat transfer takes place in the form of forced convec-
tion along the surface of the airfoil (both upper and lower) . This result was
intriguing and suggests that the heat removal can be varied by simply varying
the turbulence level of the flow over the wing surface. There are many meth-
ods (active and passive) which can accomplish this. This configuration (high
density graphite) also was the best performer in relation to the aerodynamics of
the device.
For comparison, a typical automobile radiator removes about 15 kW in nor-

mal operation for a full-sized car engine. This model AHE produced roughly
half this heat rejection but with a radiator core of less than half the typical
area. And with substantially less drag [CD of about 0.3 versus close to 1) than
a conventional, normal to the flow, heat exchanger.
Figure 14. AHE preparing for installation in GT Motorsports SAE Formula car.
Conclusions
Initial wind tunnel evaluations of the Aerodynamic Heat Exchanger concept

employing both conventional and ORNL graphite foam radiator cores have
been performed. This new concept has been shown to adequately transfer heat
at the same or similar rates as convectional radiators at 90° to the flow, but at
much lower drag coefficients when enclosed in a lifting surface parallel to the
flowfield. The dense graphite foam core of ORNL has been shown to be both
an effective heat transfer medium employing forced convection and an excel-
lent core surface allowing almost no air to pass through the wing.
The following conclusions can be drawn from this proof-of-concept test of

theAHE:
• An Aerodynamic Heat Exchanger with pneumatic lift control was success-
fully tested in a wind tunnel and basic concept was confirmed.
• Lift and drag are dramatically affected by the porosity of the radiator core
section, but pneumatic augmentation is still a powerful control.
• Wind tunnel model demonstrated non-optimized heat rejection perform-
ance, but optimized sizing should further improve results.
• AHE has great potential for exhibiting both controllable aerodynamic force
and low drag penalty for engine cooling.
• Carbon-Graphite foam enables optimal performance of the radiator core
within the AHE concept.
It is important to note that system integration issues will pose a (surmount-

able) challenge to designers of cooling systems. Two important issues that
need to be addressed are the production of steady high pressure air for the
pneumatic system and coolant pump size and ducting for the AHE. It is the
plan of GTRI to demonstrate this technology on the GT Motorsports SAE
race car as a technology demonstrator. Initial work has highlighted the need
for good system integration design. Figure 14 shows the one of the SAE Stu-
dent Formula Cars with the AHE model being prepared for installation.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to acknowledge James Klett and April McMillan of ORNL for
being receptive to the concept of the AHE and providing funds and material for a part
of this work.
References
1. Englar, R. J. Circulation Control Pneumatic Aerodynamics: Blow Force and Moment
Augmentation and Modification; Past, Present, and Future. AlAA2000-2541 presented at
the A1AA Fluids 2000 Conference, Denver, Co., 19-22 June 2000
2. Burdges, Kenneth P. and Englar, Robert J. Vehicle Heat Exchanger System and Method for
a Vehicle that Augments and Modifies Aerodynamic Forces US Patent number 6179077,
January 30, 2001..
3. Englar, Robert J., Experimental Investigation of the High Velocity Coanda Wall Jet Applied
to Bluff Trailing Edge Circulation Control Airfoils, published as M.S. Thesis, University of
Maryland, Department of Aerospace Engineering Oune 1973).
Automated Driving ofTrucks and Buses:
Opportunities for Increasing Productivity and Safety
While Reducing Fuel Use and Emissions
Steven Shladover
PATH Program, University of California Berkeley, USA
Automation technology can expand the performance envelope for heavy vehicles by
eliminating the limitations imposed by driver performance. Accurate automatic
steering control makes it possible for the vehicles to operate safely, and over a full
speed range, within lanes only slightly wider than the vehicles themselves.
Accurate control of vehicle speed and spacing makes it possible for the
vehicles to operate closer together than they can today, without increasing the risk of
crashes. The sensor and control technologies can respond to disturbances more quickly
and accurately than drivers can, they are not vulnerable to fatigue or other
impairments, and they can incorporate continuous fault diagnostics as well. These
features enable the operation of heavy trucks or buses in electronically coupled 'virtual
trains', with significantly lower aerodynamic drag than if the vehicles were operated in
the conventional, uncoupled manner.
This presentation reviews the progress that has been made toward automated
driving of heavy vehicles within the past decade and shows results of some of the
experiments that have been conducted to demonstrate the performance of the vehicle
control systems.
Author Index
Page Nos.
Al-Garni, A.M. . ......... . .. 129

Areas, D. R.. ....... . ... . ... . .......... 237- 248
Barakat, S. .. .. . ....... 329 - 338
Basara, B... ........ . . ....... ..107-117
Bayraktar, L. . . ....... . 485- 501
Bayraktar, T. ........ . ...... 485- 501
Baysal, 0. . . ....... 485- 501
Beguin, C. . ... ....... . . . . . . .. . . . 431 - 441
Bernal, L .. .......... .................. ... .129
Blaylock, G.. .... . .. . ............... . .. .549- 561
Bommels, R. ... .... .................... . .. .157- 167
Bourquin, V. . . . . . ..................... . .. .431 - 441
Browand, F...... ..................... . .. .185- 205, 303-316
Chang, F. C. .... ..................... .... 373- 383
Chatelain, P. .. ..................... ..353- 366
Chen, H....... ................ 123
Coon,]. D...... .......... ........ . 249-265
Cooper, K. R. .. . ........... ......... 9 - 28
Daeninck, G.... ........... ......... 353-366
Dalley, S...... . . ....... .... ......... 415 - 430
Davidson, L. . ..... ... ... .... ..... 49 - 64
de Maio, B.. . ........... ......... 267 - 275
Diebler, C. . ........ .519-531
Do, H. T. ......... . ........ 469
Dumas, G. . ........ 533- 547
Dunn, T.... .. . .... 219- 233
Dupree, R.... ........... . .... 371, 373- 383
Durbin, P. . .................... ...... 65- 74
Englar, R. ]. . . ......... .... 277-302, 549- 561
Fauchier, C.. . ..... ..... 469
Forsythe, J. R. ... ... 89- 104
Gaeta, R. J...... ... .. . . .. ...... ... .549- 561
Garcia-Villalba, M. .. . ... ......... . ..... 77-87
Gharib, M.. .. . 131- 141
Gielda, T. .. 369
Goh, A. C. . .. 143- 155
Gosman, D. .. .... .... ..... 125
Graff, E. C. ... . ... ... ................ 131- 141
Gregoire, R.. ......... ..... . .... 413, 469
Hammache, M.... .. ... ....... 185-205, 303-316
Heineck, J. T. . . . . ... .... . . . . . . . . . .. .173 - 184
566 Author Index
Hinterberger, C.____ __ _________ __ _____ ___ 77- 87
Hsu, T. Y. _____ _______ ________ ____ _____________ ______ 303-316
laccarino, G. _______ ____ ____________________________ _ 65- 74, 267- 275
Jain, S. ____ _ ______ ______________ ______ _____________ _ 517
Johnson, T.___________________________________________________ 415 - 430
Kamemoto, K____________________ ______ _____ ________ 503-514
Khalighi, B.___ _____ ______ __ ___ ____________ 267- 275
Kim, S. E. _____ _____ ______ ____________ 119
Koochesfahani, M. M. _____________________________________ 143- 155
Krajnovic, S. _____ ------------------------------------ ____ __49- 64
Kuntz, M._____ ______________ __ ___________ 339- 352
Kunz, R. F.___________ _____ _____ ___ _ ___________ 385- 409
Landolt, A____ _ _____________________________ ___________________ 157- 167
Lemay, J.__ _______ ______ ____________ _______ _____ __533- 547
Leonard, A.___ ______________ ____ _____ ________ ___ _______ 353- 366
MacCready, P. B.__ ___ _____ _ 3-8
Machacek, M. _____ ____ ___ ___________________ _157- 167
Maddox, S. ___ _______ ______ ____ ____ ________________ 89- 104
Malipeddi, S. ----------------------------------- ___ __ 373- 383
Martinez, J .__________________ ______ ______ ___________ ___________ 517
McCallen, R. _ ____ ___ __ ____________________ 219- 233
McWherter-Payne, M _____ ___ ___ ________ _____ __207- 218
Menter, F. R. _____ ______ ______ _____ _______ ____ 339- 352
Monkewitz, P. A._______________________ ______ ____ _____ 431 - 441
OJima, A.____________ ____ _____ _____ __________________ 503- 514
Ortega, J. M.__ _______ ______ __219- 233
Payne, J. __ ____ _____ ____ ___ ______________ 207-218
Pereira, F.___ ____________________ ______ _______ _______ 131- 141
Peter, J. L ____ ----------------------------------- ____________ 453- 467
Pointer, W. D.______ _____ _____________ ____________________ 473- 483
Redekopp, L. G. __ _ _______ _____ 237- 248
Rodi, W. ___ _____________ ______ ____ ______ _______ 77- 87
Rosgen, T. _________________________________________________________ 157- 167
Roy, C.________________ _____ ______ _____ ______ ____________ 207- 218
Rubel, M.______ _____ ___ _____ _____ ______ ________ __353- 366
Salari, K______ _ __ ______ __________ 207-218, 219-233
Salman, N.__ ____ ____ ___ _______ 385-409
Satran, D.___ ____ ____ ____ _____ _______ ____ 171, 173-184
Schock, H. J. _____ ______ _____________________ 143- 155
Schwamborn, D. __ ------------------------------------- 329- 338
Shapiro, S._________ _ ______ ______________ ______ _ 373- 383
Shladover, S.__ __ _ ______________ ______ 563
Smith, M. ___ __ _ _____________________ 519- 531
Sofu, T. _ _______ ______ ___ _________________________________ 373- 383, 473 - 483
Spalart, P. R.__ ____ ______ ___ _________________________________ 29- 45
Squires, K. D.___ _________ ___ ______________ _______ 29- 45, 89 - 104
Suzuki, M. _______ _____________ ____ ______ _______ ______ 443- 452
Author Index 567
Talley,$. ___________________________________________________________ 65 -74
Temple, ].___________________________________________________________ _415- 430
Tibaut, P. ______ __________________________ ______________________ _107- 117
Uppuluri, S.______________ __________ _ ___________ 373- 383
Urban,].___________________________ _ __________ 319- 328
Verzicco, R. ____ _____________ _ _____________________ 267-275
Visser, K. D._ __ ________ _______________ __ _ __ ________ 249- 265
Walker, S.M.-------------------------------- _________ 173- 184
Weber, D._____________________________________________________ __ 473- 483
Winckelmans, G.-------------------------------------------- _353- 366
Wong, A. _____________________________________________________________ 121
Wurtzler, K. £. ________________________________________________ 75, 89- 104

(Lecture Notes in Applied and Computational Mechanics 19) Paul B. MacCready (Auth.), Rose McCallen PH.D., Fred Browand PH.D., Dr. James Ross Ph.D. (Eds.) - The Aerodynamics of Heavy Vehicles - Trucks

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(Lecture Notes in Applied and Computational Mechanics 19) Paul B. MacCready (Auth.), Rose McCallen PH.D., Fred Browand PH.D., Dr. James Ross Ph.D. (Eds.) - The Aerodynamics of Heavy Vehicles - Trucks

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Lecture Notes in Applied

and Computational Mechanics

FRED BROWAND, PH.D.

DR. }AMES Ross, PH.D.

With 378 Figures

Library of Congress Control Number: 2004105980

ISBN 978-3-642-53586-4 ISBN 978-3-540-44419-0 (eBook)

The Engineering Conferences International is a follow up

It is our pleasure to present these proceedings from the United Engineering

LES and Hybrid RANS-LES Approaches

CFD: Software Methods and Applications

Aerodynamics Experiments & CFD

Passive/ Active Flow Modification for Drag Reduction

CFD Calculations by Various Methods

Heavy Vehicle Thermal Management

Aerodynamics of High Speed Trains

CFD Calculations by Various Methods (continued)

Author Index ___________ 565

Paul B. MacCready, Key Note Speaker

AeroVironment Inc., Monrovia, CA

The Present Challenge

18!0 1875 11100 192S 1850 1!175 2000 202S 2050

llatu.. v.. Hu...,.

1850 1900 1950

This sort of thinking, stemming to a considerable extent from thoughts in 1977-78

Some of Our Present Activities

,., •• ; ·.• . ·."* ~;.,

' '' ~... ,.."". ....

Fig. 3. Aviation Developments With Strong Emphasis on Energy Efficiency

We Have the Responsibility

The real challenge for humanity can be summarized as follows:

Suddenly we humans (a recently arrived species no longer subject to the

National Research Council of Canada

Fig. 1: 1947 Labatt Streamliner

The opportunity offered by aerodynamic drag reduction was successfully

important impact on the implementation of fuel-saving aerodynamics. The

r;mdarJ rraighr truck Equipped wirh o c Co ne

Fig. 3: SAE/DOT Demonstration Trucks

The study was multi-faceted, developing test technology for the

Early Aerodynamic Development

The University of Maryland Study

Case 6 - CO +314 kirt , gap F..iring

Case I 0 - Fuii)'·Streamlined and ski rred

Fig. 4: Trailmobile models

Table 1: Summary of the Trailmobile Study

COE tractor, van trailer, square 1.017 1.503 1.169 -

3 COE tractor, deluxe front on trailer 0.828 1.118 0.994 0.062

COE, deluxe front, height trailer 0.803 1.052 0.944 0.050

5 COE, _ skirts, rooffairing 0.641 1.007 0.842 0.102

COE, _ skirts, faired gap fr.om 0.558 0.825 0.689 0.153

Streamlined tractor closing gaQ, _ 0.555 0.653 0.624 0.065

Streamlined tractor, _ skirts, boat 0.460 0.520 0.503 0.121

Fully_-skirted streamlined tractor 0.317 0.329 0.351 0.152

Fully-skirted streamlined tractor 0.184 0.160 0.189 0.169

X faired COE tractor-trailer

·20 -15 ·10 0 5 10

Fig. 5: University of Maryland Aerodynamic Development

The DOE Study

The chosen technical approach appears to be founded on the following

Fig. 6: Wind-tunnel-derived Optimization Chart for a Cab-mounted Air Deflector

As has been suggested by the Trailmobile study, many of the needed

every tractor. The marginal economic advantage is then divided by a factor of

A Case Study- the Future Truck