Near-to-Far Wake Characteristics of Road Vehicles Part 3: Influence of Multi-Vehicle Interactions

<div class="section abstract"><div class="htmlview paragraph">Fuel savings from truck platooning are generally attributed to an aerodynamic drag-reduction phenomena associated with close-proximity driving. The current paper is the third in a series of papers documenting track testing of a two-truck platoon with a Cooperative Adaptive Cruise Control (CACC) system where fuel savings and aerodynamics measurements were performed simultaneously. Constant-speed road-load measurements from instrumented driveshafts and on-board wind anemometry were combined with vehicle measurements to calculate the aerodynamic drag-area of the vehicles.</div><div class="htmlview paragraph">The drag-area results are presented for each vehicle in the two-truck platoon, and the corresponding drag-area reductions are shown for a variety of conditions: gap separation distances (9 m to 87 m), lateral offsets (up to 1.3 m), dry-van and flatbed trailers, and in the presence of surrounding traffic. For the standard aligned platoon, the results demonstrate up to 8% drag reduction for the lead vehicle, with drag reductions exceeding 20% for the trailing vehicle at some yaw angles. Wind-velocity measurements on the following truck suggest that the drag-area reductions are due to a combined effect of reduced apparent wind speed and reduced effective yaw angle in the wake of the lead truck. In the presence of a three-vehicle traffic pattern forward of a single truck, drag-area reductions on the order of 10% were observed relative to the same truck travelling in isolation. When platooning with this surrounding-traffic pattern, the trends and magnitudes of aerodynamic drag reduction are shown to be retained, relative to the platoon in the absence of other traffic, corroborating observed trends in of fuel-savings performed simultaneously.</div><div class="htmlview paragraph">As a supplement to the current study, a first-of-its-kind coast-down test was undertaken with the two-truck platoon where the CACC system was used to maintain a constant distance between the vehicles during each coast. The CACC system was used on the following vehicle when the lead vehicle was coasting and on the lead vehicle when the follower was coasting. Despite some scatter in the data from this proof-of-concept study, the results are consistent with those of the principal constant-speed measurement technique of this paper. This preliminary study demonstrates that the coast-down test method, which previously was only applied for single vehicles, is also applicable to vehicle platoons.</div></div>

Track-Based Aerodynamic Testing of a Two-Truck Platoon

McAuliffe¹,

Smith²,

Raeesi³

et al. 2021

Near-to-Far Wake Characteristics of Road Vehicles Part 2: Influence of Cross Winds and Free-Stream Turbulence

McAuliffe¹,

Sowmianarayanan²,

Barber³

2021

<div class="section abstract"><div class="htmlview paragraph">Conventional assessments of the aerodynamic performance of ground vehicles have, to date, been considered in the context of a vehicle that encounters a uniform wind field in the absence of surrounding traffic. Recent vehicle-platooning studies have revealed measurable fuel savings when following other vehicles at inter-vehicle distances experienced in every-day traffic. These energy savings have been attributed in large part to the air-wakes of the leading vehicles. This set of three papers documents a study to examine the near-to-far regions of ground-vehicle wakes (one to ten vehicle lengths), in the context of their potential influence on other vehicles.</div><div class="htmlview paragraph">Part two of this three-part paper documents the influence of the ambient winds on the development of the wake behind a vehicle. A series of scaled-model wind-tunnel measurements, supplemented by some high-fidelity numerical simulations, based on a Lattice-Boltzmann approach, are presented to examine the effects cross-wind magnitude, by means of changes in yaw angle, on the wakes behind four vehicle shapes: a sedan, an SUV, a pickup truck, a medium-duty vehicle and a heavy-duty vehicle. The influence of road-representative freestream turbulence is also examined.</div><div class="htmlview paragraph">The results of these investigations show that, under yaw conditions, the distinct differences between the wake structures of slant/step-back and square-back shapes, documented in Part 1, are eliminated. At yaw, the moderate-to-far wake region is dominated by a large vortex structure of similar size to the vehicle itself that generates significant sidewash, analogous to the downwash in the wake of a wing in pitch. All vehicle shapes studied demonstrate this vortex structure which increases in strength with yaw angle. For vehicles following in the wake, not only do they experience a wind-speed deficit associated with the wake, but they experience a twisted wind profile with reduced yaw angles near the ground. The introduction of freestream turbulence is shown to generate a large wake with reduced shear, but without changing the dominant flow characteristics.</div></div>

Near-to-Far Wake Characteristics of Road Vehicles Part 1: Influence of Ground Motion and Vehicle Shape

McAuliffe¹,

Sowmianarayanan²,

Barber³

2021

<div class="section abstract"><div class="htmlview paragraph">Conventional assessments of the aerodynamic performance of ground vehicles have, to date, been considered in the context of a vehicle that encounters a uniform wind field in the absence of surrounding traffic. Recent vehicle-platooning studies have revealed measurable fuel savings when following other vehicles at inter-vehicle distances experienced in every-day traffic. These energy savings have been attributed in large part to the air-wakes of the leading vehicles. This set of three papers documents a study to examine the near-to-far regions of ground-vehicle wakes (one to ten vehicle lengths), in the context of their potential influence on other vehicles.</div><div class="htmlview paragraph">Part one of this three-part paper documents principally the influence of vehicle shape on the development of its wake. A series of high-fidelity numerical simulations, based on a Lattice-Boltzmann approach, and a series of scaled-model wind-tunnel measurements are presented to examine the effects of four types of vehicles: a sedan, an SUV, a pickup truck, and a heavy-duty vehicle. The influence of using a stationary-ground-plane setup in the wind tunnel is examined using numerical simulations, to provide context for the wind-tunnel results.</div><div class="htmlview paragraph">The results of these investigations show that ground motion, or the lack thereof, has a greater influence on the wakes of the slant-back and step-back shapes than for a square-back shape due to an interaction of the wake vortex structures with a horseshoe vortex generated by the interaction of the vehicle pressure field with the oncoming boundary layer. The results also demonstrate two distinct types of wake regimes at low yaw angles for these different classes of vehicles shapes. Slant-back and step-back configurations like the car and pickup-truck models demonstrate the classic C-pillar vortex structure with central downwash, while the square-back shapes like the SUV model demonstrate a central upwash from a vortex pair of opposite sign. The mechanisms leading to these two opposing vortex pair orientations is examined. Drag reduction technologies applied to a heavy-duty-vehicle shape are shown to modify the wake structure such that slant-back and square-back wake characteristics can be generated.</div></div>