Numerical investigation of the drag force reduction for homogeneous column of vehicles

Abstract

This paper presents simulation studies on the aerodynamics of vehicles moving in an organized column. The object of research is a column that consist of three vehicles of the same type (homogeneous column). In this research geometry of Ford Transit was used. As a part of the studies, the air drag forces acting on individual vehicles were calculated. The results are presented in dimensionless drag coefficient. The influence of the distance between cars on the generated force was also determined. In the first stage of the work, a numerical model was developed based on the Ahmed body reference structure. The calculations were carried out for 9 different velocities. The obtained results of the drag coefficient were compared with the work of other authors. The applied turbulence model and parameters of the boundary layer were used to create a numerical model of a moving column of vehicles. Mesh independence for numerical model of van was verified. The Finite Volume Method was implemented in the ANSYS Fluent program and used for the calculations. The use of supercomputers was necessary due to the large size of the grid.