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Effect of Side Taper on Aerodynamics Drag of a Simple Body 2016-01-1621

Shape with Diffuser and without Diffuser Published 04/05/2016

Pruthviraj Mohanrao Palaskar

Tata Technologies

CITATION: Palaskar, P., "Effect of Side Taper on Aerodynamics Drag of a Simple Body Shape with Diffuser and without Diffuser,"
SAE Technical Paper 2016-01-1621, 2016, doi:10.4271/2016-01-1621.

Copyright 2016 SAE International

Abstract Boat tails are heavily studied for truck trailers. However boat tails on
trailers come as an extension and generally all four sides of rear of
There are different techniques to reduce aerodynamic drag of a
trailer gets boat tail extensions. Side tapering is not preferable on
vehicle. Side tapering or boat-tailing is one of the methods to reduce
trailers as it would reduce load carrying volumetric capacity. There is
drag of a vehicle. In this study instead of using very simple shape of a
slight difference in approach and construction for boat tail and side
model, a more relevant simple car like shape resembling a hatchback
tapering. Side tapering is generally done to modify sides of vehicle to
vehicle is utilized. This shape of a simple car body has 10o diffuser
reduce its cross sectional area at the rear. Boat tailing is mostly
angle. This hatchback model is modified digitally to give side
performed using extensions on existing rear end of vehicle.
tapering to it. The boat-tailing is restricted to sides of a vehicle and
tapering is applied along the whole height of a vehicle. First a
Many researchers have reported significant drag reduction using
correlation study is performed between numerically predicted drag
angled boards creating cavity and boat tail effect on scaled models of
values and wind tunnel tested values. Effect of tapering with and
simplified real or close to real trucks. Cooper [1] reported optimum
without diffuser is also studied. An unexpected behavior is observed
angle as 150 with 3 side boat tail. Schoon and Pan [2] found 12.50 as
when removing a diffuser on base model caused reduction in drag
optimum angle with 4 sided boat tail
values. Best tapering angles in both with and without diffuser cases
are reported. Detailed post processing is performed to understand
Studies are also performed on generic bodies to asses boat tail drag
wake behavior and variation of different parameters in all different
reduction potential such as Mair[3] and also Mair and Wang[4].
analysis cases.
Gilhaus[5] studied simple rectangular bodies representing bluff body
vehicles near ground and with angled boards at rear end to provide
Introduction cavity and boat tail effects. Howell et al [6] studied taper angles on
sides and top of Windsor body. Authors found that for short taper
Drag reduction of a vehicle is one of the desired objectives of vehicle
lengths initially give sharp drag reduction but this trend is reversed
manufacturer as it leads to reduction in fuel consumption and
and increase in drag occurs for angles greater than 100. For large
improved acceleration with lower power. Vehicle wake is one of the
taper angles drag shoots up for this short taper length.
major contributors to its drag. There are numerous techniques to
control and reduce vehicle wake in order to reduce its drag. Tapering
Mostly researchers worked on scaled generic models and found
sides of passenger vehicle is one such simple technique which can be
different combinations of lengths and angles for best drag reduction.
practically implemented on commercial and passenger vehicles.
It is therefore necessary to have a database for full scale model which
Proper study of aerodynamic behavior of this side tape/boat tail
has most of the features of real world passenger vehicle which can
feature is necessary. Also it is helpful to have a design rule that can be
serve as ready reckoner design rule. Hence a side taper study is
applied with correct understanding of physics behind it. If range of
performed in this work to generate a database and a guideline giving
best angles and lengths for boat tail can be found then early
best angle and length for drag reduction. Computational fluid
provisions in exterior design can be made to properly implement this
dynamics (CFD) is useful tool to asses accurately the drag reduction
feature without affecting other constraints on a passenger vehicle
potential of different modifications of a vehicle. It is less cumbersome
shape.
to modify vehicle models digitally and generate large database in
short time span using CFD. This study uses commercial CFD tool,
Fluent for performing numerical analysis.
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MIRA Reference Car and Geometry

Modifications
SUVs are most fuel guzzling passenger vehicles. Any drag reduction
work can help SUVs to become more fuel efficient. Hence MIRA
square-back model which is closer in shape to passenger SUVs is
studied. All dimensions of the model are mentioned in [7] & [8]. (a). Side View: Square-back (b). Rear View: Square-back
with diffuser with diffuser
Schematic drawing of square-back model is shown in figure1.It is to
be noted that MIRA model has diffuser of 100. Different side taper
angles and lengths are studied for baseline as well as without diffuser
configurations. The square-back model is 4.177m long. Side taper
lengths investigated are 5 %( 209mm), 10% (313mm) and 15 %(
418mm) of total model length and taper angles studied are 50 to 200
in 50 steps. Side taper geometry for 15% length with taper angles is
shown in figure2 for illustration. It is to be noted that tapering is (c). Side View: Square-back (d). Rear View: Square-back
applied along whole height of the vehicle. Effect of taper is also without diffuser without diffuser
studied on without diffuser configuration. Baseline geometry
comparison of with and without diffuser configurations is shown in Figure 3. Geometry comparison between with diffuser and without diffuser
figure3. square-back model.

Validation
MIRA square-back reference car is obvious choice for CFD method
validation. Apart from square-back model, MIRA notchback
reference car is also taken up for validation. This ensures that any
change in geometry can be properly captured by CFD method.
Dimensions of both square-back and notchback reference cars along
with drag coefficient values are given in [7] and [8]. Schematic
diagram of notchback vehicle with major dimensions is given in
figure4.

Figure 1. MIRA Square-back reference car dimensions.

Figure 4. MIRA Notchback reference car dimensions.

CFD Methodology
All the aerodynamics data from MIRA full scale wind tunnel is
utilized for validation purpose. The MIRA full scale tunnel is an open
circuit [11], closed jet design with a working section size of 4.4m *
7.9m. The overall accuracy is quoted as better than 3 counts of drag
(CD = 0.003) at the standard test speed of 28m/s.

CFD Domain
CFD domain size is chosen exactly of the same size as MIRA tunnel
constant cross section part where vehicles are kept for testing.
Boundary conditions for tunnel walls are such that it is close to real
tunnel. Hence all sides of tunnel are no slip walls.

Figure 2. Illustration of side taper angles on 15% length of square-back model.

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Boundary Conditions
Since MIRA square-back model has simple geometry, prism layers
are grown on all vehicle surfaces including underbody and wheels.
All boundary conditions are mentioned in table1.
Table 1. CFD Boundary conditions
Mesh Generation
Surface mesh sizes are governed by wall model to be used and
corresponding y+. Since non equilibrium wall functions are used, y+
values are desired to be in the range 50-150.As per fluent best
practices [9], surface mesh size for 28m/s as free stream velocity,
must be in the range 2mm to 6mm. Prism layers are grown on vehicle
exterior surfaces, underbody, wheels and on tunnel surfaces. 10 prism
layers are grown on vehicle surfaces and 5 layers are grown on tunnel
surfaces. First cell height for prism layers is kept near 1.2mm.
Hex-core type volume mesh is grown. Final volume mesh is shown in
figure5.Smallest volume mesh size is15mm which is obtained after
grid independent study. Transition from tetrahedral mesh to
hexahedral mesh is performed by pyramids. Volume mesh at mid
vertical section is shown in figure 5. Selected final sizes of refinement
box mesh are given in table3 and corresponding refinement zones are
shown in figure 5.
Table 2. Refinement Box mesh sizes
Numerical Method
The realizable k- model is utilized for solving RANS turbulent flow
equations. Also for near wall treatment, the non-equilibrium wall
functions available in RANS solver are used. Detailed equations for
realizable k- model and non equilibrium wall functions can be
obtained in software help manual[12].Solver solves incompressible
Navier- Stokes equations in a segregated manner that is pressure and
velocity equations are uncoupled. For each of reference car models
steady state simulations are performed such that all residuals of
variables reach within 0.0001and drag coefficient does not change
more than 2 counts (0.002) which required 7000 iterations. Final CD
results are given in table4.
Figure 5. Volume mesh at mid vertical cut section.
Wind tunnel corrections
For reaching final coefficient value from measured force in tunnel,
MIRA tunnel requires two types of corrections. Present analysis
method implements same corrections to arrive at final values of force
coefficients.
Solid blockage correction
The first correction applied is simple solid blockage dynamic pressure
correction as described by Heriot [13]. It is derived using continuity
equation and tries to account for increase in flow speed local to the
vehicle due to blockage formed in wind tunnel due to the vehicle. The
measured dynamic pressure is corrected based on the ratio of vehicle
frontal area to test sections cross sectional area,
1)
Where:
qcorre Corrected reference dynamic pressure.
qm Measured reference dynamic pressure.
AT Cross sectional area of tunnel.
AF Cross sectional area of a vehicle.
Horizontal Buoyancy correction
Drop in static pressure along the length of a tunnel test section is
accounted using horizontal buoyancy correction. The correction is
derived such that it is made a function of overall vehicle length (L0)
and given by,
2)
Where, L0 is in meters and the ratio (Lm/L0) is taken to be constant
for each type of vehicle configuration as per table1.
Equations 1) and 2) are from [11].
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Table 3.
Table 4. Comparison between CFD and wind tunnel results
CFD results match within 1.2% which is very good agreement with
wind tunnel experimental drag coefficient data.
Apart from experimental values, flow behavior must also be properly
captured by CFD. Experimental data, capturing flow behavior around
full scale reference car models is not publically available. However
time averaged velocity distribution and streamlines images are
available for 1/3 rd scale reference car models [10]. Although
Reynolds number is different for both cases, comparison is made for
generic qualitative velocity distribution around the vehicle in mid
plane. Comparison is made for velocity distribution in wake for both
reference cars in figure 6. It is to be noted that in the reference [10],
scales for velocity are not provided, however velocity scale for
present study is given in figure 6.
Figure 6. Velocity distribution along the longitudinal symmetry plane (left:
Exp [9], Right: CFD).
Recirculation or wake zones shown with streamlines behind vehicles
are also in good comparison with experimental observations as seen
in figure 7.
(a). Notchback
(b). Square back
Figure 7. Streamlines distribution along the longitudinal symmetry plane (left:
Exp [9], Right: CFD).
Drag coefficient values agree within 1.2% and flow features match
with experimental data too. This is good correlation level. This
method applies well for drag prediction.
Results and Discussion
For baseline square-back which has a diffuser, results for all angles at
all lengths are shown in the figure8. Data is presented in incremental
(drag counts) fashion over the baseline square-back model.
Figure 8. Plot showing variation of drag reduction in counts for range of side
taper angles at different taper lengths.
In general drag reduces as the taper angle is increased. For all
lengths, optimum angle for best drag reduction is 10o.However after
10o angle, drag reduction benefits start reducing.
When diffuser is removed from baseline MIRA square-back model,
drag reduction data is as per figure 9.Both with diffuser and without
diffuser configurations data is shown in same plot. A trend of drag
reduction is same for both cases. Also optimum angle for maximum
drag reduction is again at 10 o for no diffuser configuration. It is
interesting to note here that after removing diffuser, drag coefficient
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is reduced by 28 counts (0.028) with respect to baseline square-back energy compared to other cases to go further which after interaction
configuration. This is counter intuitive because generally addition of with flow from sideward and top portion, forms vortex which is
diffuser is found to reduce drag in sedan type passenger vehicles. farthest from base compared to other cases.

Figure 9. Plot showing variation of drag reduction in counts for range of side
taper angles at different taper lengths for both with diffuser and without
diffuser configurations.
Figure 10. Comparison of Pressure distribution on front portion of 313mm
In order to find out reason for 10 o taper angle behaviors, a taper length cases with baseline case.
representative case of 313mm taper length is studied. Phenomenon
mentioned for this case is applicable for all other taper lengths too.

Pressure coefficient distribution on frontal portion of vehicle surfaces

for 10% (313mm) taper length for all angles is compared against base
model in figure 10.It shows pressure distribution is almost same for
front portion and drag changes are caused by changes in pressure
distribution on rear base area caused due to geometry modifications at
rear portion.

Side taper angle of 10 o gives best possible reduction in drag. Reason

behind this is explained using different arguments and figures in
following section. In figure11, as seen from pressure coefficient
distribution on vertical symmetric plane, low pressure swirl for 10 o is
created little farther than other cases from base of the vehicle. This
low pressure zone acts like center of vortex behind the base of a
vehicle. This low pressure zone must be as far away as possible from
base so that its effect on base surface is lesser. This is one of the
reasons for 10 o case to have lower drag. Also the pressure
distribution in wake for other than 10 o case is not properly
distributed which cause uneven upper and lower lobe portion of the
wake.

In figure 12, it can be observed that at the start of the diffuser lower
pressure zone is created as flow gets accelerated there. The spread of Figure 11. Comparison of Pressure distribution on symmetric vertical plane of
lower portion is more in 10 o case compared to other cases. This 313mm taper length cases.
causes pumping action of diffuser which is also mentioned in [15].
Hence flow gets accelerated and pressure recovery happens late as
can be seen from figure 13. In figure 13, pressure recovery for 20 o
case happens faster than that of 10 o .Thus flow has sufficient kinetic
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similar. It is also observed that as angle increases, wake distribution

at the back of vehicle becomes uneven and top side portion extends
much larger than bottom portion. Initially for small angles of 5o and
10 o, tapering directs lesser flow from model sides, into the wake. As
angle increases, all flow along sides is directed into the wake but then
diffuser also directs underbody flow upward. Hence most of the
sideward flow is lifted up due to diffuser which results in extension of
top portion of wake and curtailing of bottom portion.

It is most important to learn here that even though it is expected to

decrease drag as boat tail angle increase but it does not happen after
10o angle. Decrease in wake size will result decrease in drag. This is
true only till 10o angle but after that two counter rotating strong
vortices are formed which consume more energy in wake. Hence drag
increases instead of reducing after 10 o angle. Strength of vortices
increases after 10 o angle which is shown in figure16.In figure 16, a
cut plane is passed at 320mm down from rooftop which passes
through upper lobe portion of wake. Vorticity contours show that
after 10 o angle, two counter rotating vortices formed, increase in
magnitude and spread as seen by dark green and yellow shades on the
plane. Increase in magnitude of vortices results in more loss of energy
in wake which in turn increases drag. Hence drag benefits for angles
above 10 o start reducing. Vorticity increases as with increase in taper
length, lesser base area is available to accommodate more sideward
flow. As flow is not separating at start of taper length, it causes
existing two vortices to go strong in magnitude.

Figure 12. Comparison of Pressure distribution on underbody of 313mm taper

length cases.

Figure 13. Comparison of Pressure distribution on underbody of 313mm taper

length for 10 o and 20 o angles.

Effect of side tapering on wake structure of baseline square-back

model is compared using wake bubbles in figure14.Images are
obtained by creating iso-surfaces of null total pressure and then
coloring it by turbulent kinetic energy. Wake structure forms two
distinct lobes as taper angle increases. These two lobes become more
Figure 14. Wake structures in top view for all geometry modifications. Wake
pointed as taper angle is increased; also turbulent kinetic energy is is shown by iso-surfaces of null total pressure, colored by turbulent kinetic
seen to be increasing at top portion of these two lobes. Side views of energy.
wake structures for all cases are shown in figure15. It shows that for
all lengths, wake behavior for particular angle and taper length is
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bodies like passenger cars, produce eddies or vortices behind rear

wheels. When top portion of the vehicle is sloped down, like in sedan
vehicle, two counter rotating vortices are produced from rear pillar as
seen in figure17(b).Now in presence of diffuser, bottom vortices get
enhanced in size and can better cancel out top vortices. This
phenomenon is schematically illustrated in figure17(c).

In square-back vehicle there are no formations of upper vortices.

However strong lower vortices due to rear wheels and diffuser, are
still present and do not cancel out with any opposing vortices. This
behavior is illustrated in figure17 (d) .Thus the diffuser which helps
in reducing drag in notchback (sedan type) vehicles would actually
increase the drag of square-back vehicles due to non cancellation of
bottom vortices. Proof of this behavior is investigated in MIRA
square-back vehicle.

Figure 15. Wake structures in side view for all geometry modifications. Wake
is shown by iso-surfaces of null total pressure, colored by turbulent kinetic
energy.
(a). Simple square cross section body

(b). Body with upper downward taper

(c). Body with diffuser and upper taper

(d). Body with diffuser alone and no top taper, like square-back with diffuser.
Figure 16. Contours of vorticity magnitude for all geometry modifications on
plane passing through 320mm down from rooftop. Figure 17. Schematic illustrations to explain effect of diffuser on square-back
vehicle.
Another counter intuitive observation is about increase in drag
coefficient due to presence of diffuser as seen in the plot of figure9.
This particular behavior can be explained with the help of simple
square cross section bluff body as shown in figure17(a).All bluff
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Wake structures of MIRA square-back car with diffuser and without
diffuser configurations are shown in figure18. One of the striking
features of without diffuser configuration is that its wake length and
overall wake size is more than with diffuser configuration. However
even though wake size is more for without diffuser configuration, its
drag is lesser than with diffuser configuration. This shows that
conventional method of drawing conclusion from wake size alone
can not be proper way for comparing drag benefits of different
vehicles.
bottom portion of the model. These vortices start moving up as
observation plane is shifted away from base of model. Whereas when
diffuser is not present, there is absence of any strong vortex as seen in
figures20 (b), (d), (f) and (h).Even behind the wake bubble of with
diffuser model, two vortices are clearly seen in figure20(g) as
highlighted by black arrows and these vortices could not get
cancelled out due to absence of other pair of vortices. Thus all these
investigations prove that diffuser causes increase in drag value for
square-back vehicle which has flat rooftop.

Effect of side tapering angle on square-back model without diffuser

can further be studied for taper lengths 15 %( 418mm) of total model
length. All other taper lengths and angles give similar wake structure
and flow behavior except drag coefficient magnitude which is
depicted by plot in figure9. It is to be noted from figure21 that as
taper angle is increased, wake size behind the model gets reduced but
drag, first decreases and then increases after 10 o angle. This can be
seen against the reference line drawn in figure21.Hence it is not
always true that less is the size of wake, lesser is the drag. It is true up
to 10 o angle but after that even though wake becomes shorter, drag
benefits are not more than 10 o angle. The reason for this behavior is
same as that observed in with diffuser model. It is explained in
figure22. It can be seen that two strong counter rotating vortices get
formed in the wake of model after 10 o angle which cause more
energy loss and hence drag benefit is reduced compared to 10 o angle.
Strength of vortices can be judged by vorticity magnitude and its
spread.

Figure 18. Wake structure of with diffuser and without diffuser MIRA
square-back configurations in different views.

If we compare the streamlines distribution around the models as

shown in figure19, it is found that indeed the square-back MIRA
model with diffuser has strong bottom vortices whereas when
diffuser is not present, strength of bottom vortices is lesser. Bottom
vortices in diffuser model can be judged by group of streamlines as
highlighted in figure19 (a). Streamlines in figure19 are colored by
vorticity magnitude. It can be noted that streamlines as highlighted in
figure19 (a) have more vorticity magnitude compared streamlines in
figure19 (b). These vortices, originating at bottom portion of with
diffuser square-back model does not cancel out in absence of counter
vortices from top.

This phenomenon can be more elaborated by observing velocity

vectors in planes parallel to base of square-back model, behind it.
Figure20 gives velocity vector distribution in different planes starting
from distance, 400mm, 800mm, 1400mm and 7500mm behind the
base of model. From figure 20(a), it can be observed that due to Figure 19. Streamlines behind the model base, colored by vorticity magnitude.
presence of diffuser, two counter rotating vortices start moving near
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ground plane. Table 5 shows difference in CD caused due to

symmetry ground condition in with diffuser cases for 10% taper
length. Short forms are introduced to compactly designate different
cases. NSG stands for no slip ground. SG stands for slip ground. 313
mm is taper length andd stands for degrees. In configuration column
of table5, CD difference is taken as per the column entry.

Figure 21. Wake structure for without diffuser square-back model colored by
turbulent kinetic energy.

Figure 20. Velocity vector plot behind the base of model

Effect of Moving Ground

Ideally ground plane on which a vehicle is resting must be moving
and wheels must be rotating to rightly simulate real world moving
vehicle situation. In present case, wheels of the model are fixed and
not in regular shape hence only moving ground simulation can be
performed. Moving ground can be simulated in CFD either by
actually giving velocity as boundary condition to ground plane or
specifying symmetry boundary condition to ground plane. Both
moving ground and symmetry boundary conditions avoid buildup of
boundary layer on ground. However there is slight difference in these
two boundary conditions especially behind the wheels as depicted in
[14]. However for comparison purpose, symmetry boundary
condition can be used as it is easier to implement in CFD. The
amount of error in total CD would be of the order below 10 counts
[14] and this error is common to all cases and hence will not affect
conclusion. All cases with lengths starting from 5% to 15 % taper for
all angles and with diffuser as well as without diffuser are again run
with symmetry boundary condition for ground plane. Apart from
Figure 22. Contours of vorticity magnitude on plane passing at 320mm down
configuration with tapers, base cases of with diffuser and without
from rooftop at middle portion of upper part of square-back model)
diffuser models are also rerun with symmetry boundary condition to
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Table 5. Comparison between symmetry ground and no slip ground results for
313mm length in with diffuser configuration.
Table 5 shows that symmetry boundary condition causes 4 counts
reduction than that of no slip ground condition for baseline case. Also
drag reduction is 0 to 1 counts consistently between corresponding
taper length cases at different angles. Thus using symmetry boundary
condition, there is no change in trend of the drag reduction due to
tapered lengths at all angles. However since base line drag is dropped
more compared to tapered cases, it shows that tapered cases when run
with symmetry ground boundary condition benefits less than
compared with no slip ground boundary condition as, base line CD
drop is 4 counts and other drops are in the range of 0 to 1 counts only.
It may be concluded that moving ground boundary condition does not
affect with diffuser configuration significantly.
In without diffuser case, a similar trend in drag reduction is
observed but drag reduction counts are more. Table 6 shows results
for without diffuser configuration.
Table 6. Comparison between symmetry ground and no slip ground results for
313mm length in without diffuser configuration.
Table 6 depicts that base CD is dropped by 16 counts whereas tapered
cases cause drop in CD by 5 to 6 counts. Thus percentage drop in CD
in with diffuser case is lesser than that of without diffuser case as
seen in tables 5 and 6. Thus finally it can be judged that real world
benefits that are obtained by simulating cases with symmetry
boundary condition for ground are lesser than that of fixed ground
case.
Configuration with diffuser showed very less reduction in drag due
to symmetry boundary condition for tapered lengths. For baseline
configurations with diffuser, drag reduction was only 4 counts. In
absence of boundary layer in symmetry boundary condition on
ground, underbody flow encounters lesser resistance. More flow is
now directed towards underbody. Diffuser pumping action is
increased due to this. This leads to slightly better pressure recovery.
Hence drag reduction is achieved. Pressure drop near diffuser starting
point in symmetry ground boundary condition is shown in figure23
(b).However it is to be noted here that presence of diffuser causes
underbody flow to be directed upward in wake. Thus near the wake,
ground boundary layer has less effect on flow moving along diffuser.
Hence overall drag reduction in diffuser case tends to be lower.
Figure 23. Pressure distribution on underbody of baseline case (with
diffuser) for fixed and moving ground condition.
When no diffuser is present, underbody flow is more affected by
presence of ground boundary layer. The passage for flow below
underbody is constricted due to presence of ground boundary layer as
well as boundary layer on underbody surface. In presence of
boundary layers below underbody, flow experiences more resistance
to flow. When symmetry boundary condition is used, no boundary
layer is developed on ground and resistance to underbody flow is
reduced drastically which reduces drag.
Above study does not include effect of ride height on drag coefficient.
In reference [15], author found that for fixed diffuser angle as ride
height is decreased, downforce increased to a maximum up to certain
level and then further reduction in ride height causes decrease in
downforce. In [15] author does not mention about effect on drag.
Further study is required to understand effect on drag for variation in
ride height of side tapered vehicles like in present study.
Effect of guide vanes on diffuser can be judged from the study
performed so far. Presence of guide vanes may limit/reduce size of
vortices formed in with diffuser configuration which may help is
better management of wake. This may lead to reduction in drag.
However further study is required for explanation of this behavior.
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Conclusions
Following important conclusions can be drawn from this study
1. Best side taper angle for drag reduction of a MIRA square-back
reference car with 10 o diffuser is around 10 o and this value
remains same for taper lengths up to 15% of total length of
vehicle.
2. Best angle for without diffuser configuration of MIRA
reference car remains same as 10 o.
3. As the taper length increase, drag reduction also increases for
lengths up to 15% of total car length.
4. For Square-back type vehicle that has flat rooftop, addition of
diffuser cause increase in drag coefficient rather than decreasing
it. This happens due to non cancellation of strong vortices
generated because of diffuser and rear wheels of model.
5. After 10 o angle in both diffuser and non diffuser square-back
models, drag increases instead of reducing, even though wake
size is reduced. This happens as increasing the angle cause
formation of two strong counter rotating vortices after 10 o angle
which consume energy and hence drag is increased.
6. Symmetry boundary condition representing moving ground
causes tapering benefits to be reduced when compared to fixed
ground condition. Hence in real world tapering may give less
drag reduction if the drag measurement is done in fixed ground
wind tunnel.
7. Symmetry boundary condition for ground does not change the
best angle for drag reduction which is 10 o. However further
investigation may be needed to locate any other minima in 10 o
to 15 o.
Thus CFD can be utilized to generate a database which can readily
give an estimate of optimum parameters for different aerodynamic
features that can be implemented very early in vehicle development.
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otherwise, without the prior written permission of SAE International.
Positions and opinions advanced in this paper are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of SAE International. The author is solely responsible for the content of the paper.
ISSN 0148-7191
http://papers.sae.org/2016-01-1621
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Contact Information
Author:Pruthviraj Mohanrao Palaskar
palaskarpruthviraj@yahoo.com
Definitions/Abbreviations
CD - Coefficient of drag
K - Turbulent kinetic energy
- Dissipation rate