Aerodynamic Drag Reduction of a Passenger Vehicle by Controlling the Wake Using CFD Analysis

Author(s):

Jacob Khatri Musa , Mechanical Engineering Department L. D. College of Engineering Ahmedabad – 380015; Prof. P. D. Patel, Associate Professor, Automobile Engineering Department, L D College of Engineering, Ahmedabad

Keywords:

CFD, Wind tunnel experiments, Aerodynamic drag, Drag coefficient, Drag Reduction, Wake

Abstract:

With the increase in global warming and harmful emissions coupled with the increasing number of automobile road vehicles moving on highway roads has brought the attention of policy makers to focus on the research to mitigate climate change and also to increase the performance of road vehicles. Due to the current laws which have been reinforced on fuel emissions, scholars and manufacturers have been prompted to work back to back on improving the engine performance or reducing aerodynamic drag of road vehicles to improve fuel economy. This research focus on how aerodynamic drag can be reduced by adding a spoiler at the rear of a passenger vehicle to control the flow. The analysis is done through wind tunnel experiments in combination with CFD software package Fluent 16.0. The addition of a rear spoiler was found to be able to reduce aerodynamic drag but in the wrong run it considerably increased lift.

Other Details:

Manuscript Id	:	IJSTEV2I11178
Published in	:	Volume : 2, Issue : 11
Publication Date	:	01/06/2016
Page(s)	:	282-288

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