Aerodynamic Analysis of a Passenger Car to Reduce Drag Using Active Grill Shutter and Active Air Dam

Tandon, Raghav; Agrewale, Mohammad Rafiq; Vora, K. C.

doi:10.4271/2019-28-2408

Cited by 6 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…Flow-control devices, which can either be passive or active, are generally implemented on production and performance vehicles to reduce drag or to increase downforce [9][10][11][12]. Aerodynamic drag is the dominant resistive force for passenger cars traveling on the highway, and about 50% of the engine power is used to overcome this force [13].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessment of conventional and air-jet wheel deflectors for drag reduction of the DrivAer model

Nabutola

Boetcher

2021

Adv. Aerodyn.

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Aerodynamic drag is a large resistance force to vehicle motion, particularly at highway speeds. Conventional wheel deflectors were designed to reduce the wheel drag and, consequently, the overall vehicle drag; however, they may actually be detrimental to vehicle aerodynamics in modern designs. In the present study, computational fluid dynamics simulations were conducted on the notchback DrivAer model—a simplified, yet realistic, open-source vehicle model that incorporates features of a modern passenger vehicle. Conventional and air-jet wheel deflectors upstream of the front wheels were introduced to assess the effect of underbody-flow deflection on the vehicle drag. Conventional wheel-deflector designs with varying heights were observed and compared to 45∘ and 90∘ air-jet wheel deflectors. The conventional wheel deflectors reduced wheel drag but resulted in an overall drag increase of up to 10%. For the cases studied, the 90∘ air jet did not reduce the overall drag compared to the baseline case; the 45∘ air jet presented drag benefits of up to 1.5% at 35 m/s and above. Compared to conventional wheel deflectors, air-jet wheel deflectors have the potential to reduce vehicle drag to a greater extent and present the benefit of being turned off at lower speeds when flow deflection is undesirable, thus improving efficiency and reducing emissions.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%