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Aerodynamic drag reduction of a simplified squareback vehicle using steady blowing
journal contribution
posted on 2012-05-28, 11:30 authored by Rob Littlewood, Martin PassmoreA large contribution to the aerodynamic drag of a
vehicle arises from the failure to fully recover pressure in the
wake region, especially on squareback configurations. A
degree of base pressure recovery can be achieved through
careful shape optimisation, but the freedom of an automotive
aerodynamicist to implement significant shape changes is
limited by a variety of additional factors such styling, ergonomics
and loading capacity. Active flow control technologies
present the potential to create flow field modifications
without the need for external shape changes and have
received much attention in previous years within the aeronautical
industry and, more recently, within the automotive
industry. In this work the influence of steady blowing applied
at a variety of angles on the roof trailing edge of a simplified
scale squareback style vehicle has been investigated. Hotwire
anemometry, force balance measurements, surface
pressure measurements and PIV have been used to investigate
the effects of the steady blowing on the vehicle wake
structures and the resulting body forces. The energy consumption
of the steady jet is calculated and is used to deduce
an aerodynamic drag power change. Results show that
overall gains can be achieved; however, the large mass flow
rate required restricts the applicability of the technique to
road vehicles. Means by which the mass flow rate requirements
of the jet may be reduced are discussed and suggestions
for further work put forward.
History
School
- Aeronautical, Automotive, Chemical and Materials Engineering
Department
- Aeronautical and Automotive Engineering
Citation
LITTLEWOOD, R.P. and PASSMORE, M.A., 2012. Aerodynamic drag reduction of a simplified squareback vehicle using steady blowing. Experiments in Fluids, 53(2), pp. 519 - 529.Publisher
© Springer VerlagVersion
- AM (Accepted Manuscript)
Publication date
2012Notes
This article was published in the journal, Experiments in Fluids [© Springer Verlag]. The definitive version is available at: http://www.springerlink.com/content/q72401gkv745j11r/ISSN
0723-4864eISSN
1432-1114Publisher version
Language
- en