TY - JOUR
T1 - Assessment of Conventional and Air-Jet Wheel Deflectors for Drag Reduction of The DrivAer Model
AU - Boetcher, Sandra K. S.
AU - Nabutola, Kaloki L.
N1 - Nabutola, K.L., Boetcher, S.K.S. Assessment of conventional and air-jet wheel deflectors for drag reduction of the DrivAer model. Adv. Aerodyn. 3, 29 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1186/s42774-021-00086-7
PY - 2021/10/1
Y1 - 2021/10/1
N2 - 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.
AB - 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.
KW - Vehicle aerodynamics
KW - Wheel and wheelhouse aerodynamics
KW - Automotive
KW - Active flow control
KW - Passive flow control
KW - DrivAer
UR - https://commons.erau.edu/publication/2064
U2 - 10.1186/s42774-021-00086-7
DO - 10.1186/s42774-021-00086-7
M3 - Article
SN - 2524-6992
VL - 3
JO - Advances in Aerodynamics
JF - Advances in Aerodynamics
ER -