The Effects of Wheel Design on the Aerodynamic Drag of Passenger Vehicles

Brandt, Adam C; Berg, Henrik; Bolzon, Micheal; Josefsson, Linda

doi:10.4271/2019-01-0662

Cited by 18 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…The results showed that the pressure distribution measured on the wheel surface highlighted two main specificities of the flow: the wheel rotation moved the forward stagnation point approximately 15°d own towards the front contact patch on the ground, and jetting-vortex effects appeared on either side of the contact patch. Brandt et al [10] designed several different types of wheels and studied the effects of certain rim parameters on the flow field and drag using computational fluid dynamics (CFD). The study concluded that drag has a linear relationship with the coverage area of the wheel spoke.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Parametric Optimization of Wheel Spoke Structure for Drag Reduction of an Ahmed Body

Zhai,

Jiao,

Zhou

2024

CMES

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The wheels have a considerable influence on the aerodynamic properties and can contribute up to 25% of the total drag on modern vehicles. In this study, the effect of the wheel spoke structure on the aerodynamic performance of the isolated wheel is investigated. Subsequently, the 35°Ahmed body with an optimized spoke structure is used to analyze the flow behavior and the mechanism of drag reduction. The Fluent software is employed for this investigation, with an inlet velocity of 40 m/s. The accuracy of the numerical study is validated by comparing it with experimental results obtained from the classical Ahmed model. To gain a clearer understanding of the effects of the wheel spoke parameters on the aerodynamics of both the wheel and Ahmed model, and five design variables are proposed: the fillet angle α, the inside arc radius R 1 , the outside radius R 2 , and the same length of the chord L 1 and L 2 . These variables characterize the wheel spoke structure. The Optimal Latin Hypercube design method is utilized to conduct the experimental design. Based on the simulation results of various wheel spoke designs, the Kriging model and the adaptive simulated annealing algorithm is selected to optimize the design parameters. The objective is to achieve the best combination for maximum drag reduction. It is indicated that the optimized spoke structure resulted in a maximum drag reduction of 5.7% and 4.7% for the drag coefficient of the isolated wheel and Ahmed body, respectively. The drag reduction is primarily attributed to changes in the flow state around the wheel, which suppressed separation bubbles. Additionally, it influenced the boundary layer thickness around the car body and reduced the turbulent kinetic energy in the wake flow. These effects collectively contributed to the observed drag reduction.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Parametric Optimization of Wheel Spoke Structure for Drag Reduction of an Ahmed Body

Zhai,

Jiao,

Zhou

2024

CMES

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The effect of the coverage area on drag coefficient is greatest and increasing the coverage area typically reduced the flow through the rim and the drag caused by the jetting vortex. 11 The increase in spoke curvature will increase the vehicle drag coefficient, while smaller spoke offset distance is beneficial to the drag reduction. 12 The difference of spokes affects the flow separation and field characteristics of the wheel region, resulting in the change of the vortex system and the aerodynamic resistance of the wheel.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparative analysis of the aerodynamic behavior on Ahmed body mounted with different wheel configurations

Zhou

Qin

Wang

et al. 2022

Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part D:

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Wheel configuration is the great significance for vehicle aerodynamics, and understanding the influences of wheel configuration on the aerodynamic behaviors of vehicle is a good choice to effectively decrease aerodynamic drag and optimize aerodynamic efficiency. In this study, the aerodynamic characteristics of Ahmed body mounted with different wheels configurations were evaluated by Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) using the lattice Boltzmann method. The simulation results were compared with published research data to study resolutions independence and verify the accuracy of the numerical method. The four opening areas of the rim were used to form different wheel configurations. The result showed that the drag of the front and rear wheels increases linearly with the increase of the rim opening area, while the drag of the bodywork decreases linearly. Downstream the body region, the structures of vortex shedding and surface pressure presented differences for each wheel configuration, which further resulted in different fluctuation intensities in wake vortices. The order of the width of the wake vortices in wheel region was as follows: W4 > W3 > W2 > W1. The front wheel had a mainly affect on the time-averaged slipstream peak around the outside of vehicle body.

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“…The effects of rim coverage area, fan spokes, spoke sharpness on the flow field, and drag coefficient of a passenger vehicle were investigated by Bolzon et al [13], and the results indicate that, rounded spoke edges can reduce the drag coefficient. Brandt et al [14] developed a numerical model for a vehicle with various rim geometries, and elucidated the effects of certain geometric parameters of rim on the flow field and aerodynamic drag.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Aerodynamic Characteristics of Isolated Loaded Tires with Different Tread Patterns: Experiment and Simulation

Zhou

Jiang

Wang

et al. 2021

Chin. J. Mech. Eng.

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The current research of tire aerodynamics mainly focus on the isolated and simplified tread tire. Compared with the real complex pattern tire, the tread pattern structure and deformed profile of a loaded tire has a greatly influence on tire aerodynamic drag. However, the mechanisms of the isolated loaded tires with different tread patterns effects on the aerodynamic drag are subjects worthy of discussion. The purpose of this study is to experimentally and computationally investigate the aerodynamic characteristics of three tires 185/65 R14 with different patterns under loaded. A wind tunnel test model was first established using three-dimensional (3D) printing with a ratio of 1:1, and the pressure coefficients Cp of the three tires with different patterns are measured. The paper then conducted computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations for analyzing the pressure and flow characteristics. The accuracy of CFD simulation is verified by comparing the simulation results with the test results of pressure coefficients Cp, and they are of good consistency. While, the general analysis of pressure coefficients Cp results of the three tires indicates high-pressure area on the windward surface, and occurrence of low-pressure area on the leeward surface, the pressure coefficients Cp of all three tires decreased firstly and then increased along in the air flow direction. The authors finally analyzed the effect of tread patterns on the flow field around the tire and revealed the differences between flow characteristics and aerodynamic drag. The results show that, angle of tire lateral groove has great effect on the flow field characteristics such that; the more the angle of lateral groove agrees with the air flow direction, the less the flow separation and flow vortices, and a minimum observable aerodynamic drag. The research provides a guidance for the design of low aerodynamic drag tires, and helps to illustrate the impact of tire aerodynamics on the car body in the future.

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The Effects of Wheel Design on the Aerodynamic Drag of Passenger Vehicles

Cited by 18 publications

References 15 publications

Parametric Optimization of Wheel Spoke Structure for Drag Reduction of an Ahmed Body

Parametric Optimization of Wheel Spoke Structure for Drag Reduction of an Ahmed Body

Comparative analysis of the aerodynamic behavior on Ahmed body mounted with different wheel configurations

Aerodynamic Characteristics of Isolated Loaded Tires with Different Tread Patterns: Experiment and Simulation

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