CFD Analysis and

Drag Reduction in
HATCHBACK,
SEDAN & SUV
CARS

COURSE : AUCX09 -
AUTOMOTIVE AERODYNAMICS
ASSIGNMENT-1

This Photo by Unknown author is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND.

 Submitted by
MOHAMMED KHALIS M I
190121601008
B.TECH AUTOMOBILE
ENGINEERING (3RD YEAR)
B.S ABDUR RAHMAN CRESCENT
INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY
 CONTENT
1. INTRODUCTION
2. CFD ANALYSIS AND DRAG REDUCTION
• Hatchback model – Volkswagen Polo
• Sedan model – Toyota Corolla Altis
• SUV model – Audi Q7
• Aim
• Methodology
• Results & Conclusion
• Findings
 • INTRODUCTION
• Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) is the branch of fluid dynamics providing a
cost-effective mean of simulating real flows by the numerical solution of the
governing equation. The governing equations for Newtonian fluid dynamics,
namely the Navier-Stoke equation.
• The differential equation governing the system is converted to a set of
algebraic equation at discrete points, and then solved using digital computer.
For such a complex interaction, CFD analysis is probably the only efficient tool
in order to assess specific design parameterization of a generic car shape. With
the recent increase in threat to the environment considerably due to vehicular
pollution it has become a need of the hour to increase automobile efficiency. In
order to achieve this either change have to be brought about in engine
functioning, or supplementing presently used fuel by ecofriendly fuels or by
enhancing current automobile design. As far as engine optimization is
concerned we have reached a saturation point. Using eco-friendly fuels is an
area still under development and it will take a few more years for it to be
adopted worldwide. So it can be easily concluded that enhancing automobile
design is the easiest way to increase vehicle efficiency.
DESIGN AND MODAL ANALYSIS FOR AERODYNAMIC
DRAG REDUCTION ON SURFACE OF AUTOMOBILE
STRUCTURES
DESIGN AND MODEL ANALYSIS
Automotive design the process of implementing the
appearance and some extent of ergonomics of
automotive vehicles, including motorcycles,
automobiles, buses, vans, coaches and trucks. Primarily
this design is made by one section and tested by other
sections. Experimentally this can be performed on Wind
tunnels. A CFD tool is the cheapest and fastest tool for
performing the flow analysis on the passenger vehicle
Automobile specifications:

Ground
Model Length (mm) Width (mm) Height (mm) Clearance
(mm)

Volkswagen 3971 1682 1469 165

Polo
Toyota Corolla 4620 1775 1475 175
Altis

Audi Q7 5052 1968 1740 240

 CFD ANALYSIS AND DRAG
REDUCTION
➢ VOLKSWAGEN POLO (HATCHBACK MODEL)
• REAR DIFFUSERS
• As the velocity increases, the pressure is reduced at the throat area and the subsequent
reduction in pressure happens for the under floor as the diffuser sucks the car to the
ground.
• The velocity of the air decrease as it moves along the diffuser, which in turn increases the
pressure. This faster air helps in evacuating the diffuser more quickly, which helps drop
the pressure at the underbody.
• VORTEX GENERATORS
• The actual effectiveness of installing VGs is therefore deduced by subtracting
the amount of drag by itself from the amount of drag reduction that is yielded
by shifting the separation point downstream.
• Larger-sized VGs increase both the effect of delaying the flow separation and
the drag by itself. The effect of delaying the flow separation point, however,
saturates at a certain level, which suggests that there must be an optimum
size for VGs.
METHODOLOGY :

• Modeling of VW Polo with and without spoiler and ahmed

body is done using Creo 2.0 as modeling software.
• Validation of solver settings for Ansys fluent 15 by performing
simulation for drag analysis on Ahmed body.
• CFD analysis for drag, lift, velocity and pressure contours of
VW Polo without spoiler.
• CFD analysis for determining drag, lift, velocity and pressure
contours of VW Polo with spoiler.
• Comparison of results of both cases
Results & Conclusion :
Sr. No Parameter Without spoiler With spoiler % Change

1 Cd 0.36 0.39 + 8.33

2 Cl 0.44 0.18 - 59.09

The car models were modeled in SolidWorks considering only its

exterior geometry. Then, the models were brought to the ANSYS
workbench as a 2D sketch to perform the exterior flow analysis on
to the model. The exterior flow for the car was made assuming
that the car moves at a speed of 30m/s, 50m/d and 75m/s.
From the analysis the aerodynamic characteristics has been
studied in vibrant.
CONCLUSION :
Based on the above analysis conducted on VW Polo with and
without spoiler it is evident that the spoiler has a major impact on
performance of a hatchback. It is found that the coefficient of
drag, coefficient of lift, wake region is affected with the addition of
spoiler. Following conclusions can be drawn from the above
analysis,
➢ Coefficient drag was increased by 8.33% with the addition of
spoiler.
➢ Coefficient of lift was reduced by 59.09% with the addition of
spoiler.
➢ It is found that the flow was attached for a longer length of
rear end of car without spoiler due to which wake region was
smaller. With the introduction of spoiler the flow was separated
at the spoiler which resulted in increased wake region.
 CFD ANALYSIS AND DRAG REDUCTION
➢ TOYOTA COROLLA ALTIS (SEDAN MODEL)
DIFFUSER
It works by providing a space for the under body airflow to decelerate and expand (in area,
density remains constant at the speeds that cars travel) so that it does not cause excessive flow
separation and drag, by providing a degree of "wake infill" or more accurately, pressure recovery.
The diffuser itself accelerates the flow in front of it, which helps generate down force.

VORTEX GENERATOR
The actual effectiveness of installing VGs is therefore deduced by subtracting the amount of
drag by itself from the amount of drag reduction that is yielded by shifting the separation point
downstream. Larger-sized VGs increase both the effect of delaying the flow separation and the
drag by itself. The effect of delaying the flow separation point, however, saturates at a certain
level, which suggests that there must be an optimum size for VGs.

SPOILER
Adding a rear spoiler could be considered to make the air "see" a longer, gentler slope from the
roof to the spoiler, which helps to delay flow separation and the higher pressure in front of the
spoiler can help reduce the lift on the car by creating downforce. This may reduce drag in certain
instances and will generally increase high speed stability due to the reduced rear lift.
TYRE COVER
The flow that originates from the rear wheel has a major impact on
the air flow in the diffuser and by restricting this flow some
interesting results can be obtained. This case simply be performed by
covering the rear tyre and restricting the air flow on the rear tyre
zone. It should be pointed out that this has the major influence on the
cooling of the brake and therefore air ducts are provided on the both
side of the rear end.
AIR DUCT
While you control your vehicle, the Air Ducts controls the airstream.
This is because it reduces the air resistance of the body in an
astonishingly simple, yet highly effective way. Its narrowing channels
speed up the airstream and guide it past the wheels. This reduces the
air turbulence in the wheel housings and decreases the drag due to
the body as well as the fuel consumption. You’re moving faster and
faster. But you still cannot detect any air resistance. This is because
the air ducts channel the air on the rear wheels. It reduces turbulence
on the wheel housings and breaks down the air swirls. Fuel
consumption is decreased. Air ducts are primarily seen on race cars
for two reasons, because brake and engine cooling. They are found
behind front or rear wheel.
 METHODOLOGY :
A brief description of the methodology is as follows. Initially, the
identification and definition of Problem is the first step of methodology
then according to the problem definition approximate model is created
using UNIGRAPHICS modeling software. The created model is to be
meshed using for that it was imported into the meshing software ICEM-
CFD in the required format. The model which represents a single volume is
being segregated into two volumes, fluid and solid. Then the two volumes
where meshed separately with Quad elements and the necessary cell
zones were specified. In the next step, model in the required format is to
be imported into the analysis software then required boundary conditions
are to be applied. Finally, the problem is being initialized and an efficient,
iterative scheme with solution algorithm was used to solve the problem.
The analysis is to be carried out repeatedly until the optimal result is
obtained (i.e.) the efficient yaw angle of the vortex generator. In order to
reduce lift and drag coefficient of selected car model.
 Results & Conclusion :
The analysis reports of created sedan model by using CFD in k-ε model is carried out
based on two configurations without and with aerodynamic add-on devices mounted on
the rear end of vehicle body, the boundary conditions are assumed as for inlet zone
velocity of 100 km/hr and outlet zone pressure is set to zero Pascal. The graphical
representation of total pressure occurs in different portions of without VG car body. The
total pressure contour plot of sedan model with aerodynamic add-on device called VG
over the roof of the body. The results clearly shows that pressure occurs in roof of car
model without VG is higher than at model having VG over the body in roof portion so it is
confirmed that drag and lift force is reduced to some extent due to vortex layer formed at
rear portion of car body by vortex generator. Flow pattern at rear portion of sedan model
without and with VG as shown in figure1.7 and figure 1.8.From the figure the flow
separation is delayed due to the addition of VG. This causes for drag force reduced to 6%
compare with model without VG.

Sr. No VG Yaw angle in degree Coefficient of drag Coefficient of lift (CL)

(CD)

1 Base model 0.3120 -0.2267

2 0º 0.2934 -0.2790
CONCLUSION :
This project is mainly concentrating on without changing the outer
profile of the car body by the adoption of vortex generator as add on
device to reduce the drag and lift force of the sedan type car body.
The approximate outer profile of the sedan type car body (Toyota
Corolla Altis) is generated by using 3D modelling software. Then it is
imported for meshing and analysed for aerodynamic forces with and
without vortex generator. Therefore without modifying the car profile
the reduction of 6% of drag and negative lift force can be attained by
adopting vortex generator as an aerodynamic add on device. The
data analysis provides the basis and justification for conclusion
drawn in this work. Comparison between two types of models were
carried out, one with spoiler and another without spoiler and their
respective coefficient of drags are compared. the flow regime of
SEDAN model passenger car is determined. And, the coefficient of
drag and drag force for the model is analyzed for the velocity of
40kmph.Further, adding spoiler reduces drag force by 5% compared
with the model without spoiler.
CFD ANALYSIS AND DRAG REDUCTION
➢ Audi Q7 (SUV model)

• The main aim of the current study is to

carry out a numerical study for
investigating the aerodynamic drag and
flow characteristics around vehicles such
as Sport Utility Vehicle (especially known
as ‘SUV’).
• The study also aims to improve the
understanding of the flow physics such as
flow separation over the body which can be
used to investigate design
improvements.The simulation will present
important information like how velocity
field varies over the body and flow
characteristics in the wake region of car
body.
Methodology :
• Numerical Study conducted.
• Simulation based on RANS modelling approach.
• Validation study against simplified car body known as Ahmed
Body.
• Mesh independence study conducted. Cell count varied between
1.5 to 4.5 million. Optimal mesh cell count at 2.9 million.
• Geometrical and Boundary condition.
• Simulations are carried out on 1/5thscale model.
• Fixed inlet velocity at 50km/hr(Re = 3.86 x 106)
• 3 cases of passive devices are investigated by numerical
simulation in which case I, case II and case III includes airfoil
shaped tail plate, roof extension tail plate and
• turning vane respectively.
Results & Conclusion :
MODEL Base Model Case-I Case-II Case –III
(Airfoil tail plate) (Extension plate) (Turning vane)

Drag Drag Drag Drag Drag Drag Drag

Drag
Coeff.(C Force Coeff.( Force Coeff.( Force Coeff.(C
Force (N)
d) (N) Cd) (N) Cd) (N) d)

SST k-w 46.9770 0.3437 50.5675 0.3699 46.0886 0.3372 0.3372 0.33003

FINDINGS :
It is found that all the three passive devices affect the wake region
behind the car including changes in drag coefficient. Closer look at figure
clearly highlights the difference in the wake region. For case III, 3.98%
reduction in drag coefficient value is recorded due to reduction in wake
size.
 CONCLUSION :
After reading the above research papers it can be judged that aerodynamic drag is the
most important factor which is responsible for Fuel consumption, power loss and top
speed in a vehicle. It is also concluded that the external design features of a vehicle
account highest in reducing the effects of drag in a vehicle. Every researcher above has
followed the same idea of modification of external design features. Addition of vortex
generators, rear screen, rear fairing, fenders, etc. are some of the remedies followed. A
few of them worked on varying the rear taper angle, rear underbody angle, etc. All the
above modifications have mostly been done Race cars. A few in passengers cars and high
load vehicles too. But none of the above people have tries adding front and rear spoilers in
a “passenger vehicle” to reduce drag effect. Hence, there is a scope of work in this
direction as well. These additions can be proved fruitful in high end passenger vehicles
where cost is not a very significant factor for the buyers.
The performance of the car changes due to the aerodynamics. Relative study has been
performed on five models by carrying out CFD simulations using ANSYS Fluent.
Computational analysis of the Sedan, SUV and Hatchback models suggests that the
sedan models have less resistance over the full range of speed and pressure than the
Hatch Back and SUV models. Therefore, it can be resolved that the sedan car model is
more agile and aerodynamically effective than the Hatch Back and SUV vehicle models.
For the Sedan, SUV and Hatchback models, the strength of resistance increases with
increasing speed, while the resistance coefficient decreases slightly as the Reynolds
number increases.
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