Numerical Analysis of Aeroacoustic Phenomena Generated by Truck Platoons

Abstract

In recent years there has been dynamic progress in the development of fully autonomous trucks and their combination and coordination into sets of vehicles moving behind each other within short distances, i.e., platooning. Numerous reports from around the world present significant benefits of platooning for the environment due to reduced emissions, reduced fuel costs, and improved logistics in the transport industry. This paper presents original aerodynamic and aeroacoustic studies of identical truck column models. They are divided into four main stages. In the first, a truck model and three columns of identical trucks with different distances between the vehicles was made and tested using computational fluid dynamics (CFD). Two turbulence models were used in the study: k−ω shear stress transport (SST) and large eddy simulation (LES). The aim of the work was to determine the drag coefficients for each set of vehicles. The second stage of work included determination of sound field distributions generated by moving vehicles. Using the Ffowcs Williams–Hawkings (FW-H) analogy, the sound pressure levels were determined, followed by the sound pressure levels A. In order to verify the correctness of the work carried out, field tests were also performed and additional acoustic calculations were carried out using the NMPB-Routes-2008 and ISO 9613-2 models. Calculations were performed using SoundPlan software. The performed tests showed good quality of the built aerodynamic and aeroacoustic models. The results presented in this paper have a universal character and can be used to build intelligent transport systems (ITSs) and intelligent environmental management systems (IEMSs) for municipalities, counties, cities, and urban agglomerations by taking into account the platooning process.

Numerical Analysis of Aeroacoustic Phenomena Generated by Heterogeneous Column of Vehicles

“…The aerodynamic parameters connected with airflow around the vehicle were calculated on the basis of the continuity (1) and momentum (2) equations. In accordance with the previous studies [26,27], it was decided to use the k − ω SST turbulence model for the first stage of the research.…”

“…Discretization was performed using a structural mesh. The grid parameters were selected on the basis of previous studies presented in [26,27]. The boundary layer around the vehicles consists of 15 elements in height.…”

“…The calculations for the heterogeneous column were performed analogously to those presented in the previous works [26,27]. The simulation was divided into three stages.…”

“…In recent years, due to the dynamic development of super computers, it has become possible to perform aerodynamic and aeroacoustics calculations for very complex computer models using CFD. As part of the work carried out for several years, the authors have built and verified a simplified car model, which is known in the scientific community as the Ahmed body [26], and a model of a homogeneous column of trucks [27].…”

Bio-Model Selection, Processing and Results for Bio-Inspired Truck Streamlining

“…For the CFD analysis, incompressible flow was simulated with a Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) turbulence model at k-ε settings [ 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 ]. The initial condition is static (velocity = zero), with a uniform pressure comparing the inlet with the outlet.…”