Applied aerodynamics: Challenges and expectations

Aerospace is the leading positive contributor to this country's balance of trade, derived largely from the sale of U.S. commercial aircraft around the world. This powerfully favorable economic situation is being threatened in two ways: (1) the U.S. portion of the commercial transport market is decreasing, even though the worldwide market is projected to increase substantially; and (2) expenditures are decreasing for military aircraft, which often serve as proving grounds for advanced aircraft technology. To retain a major share of the world market for commercial aircraft and continue to provide military aircraft with unsurpassed performance, the U.S. aerospace industry faces many technological challenges. The field of applied aerodynamics is necessarily a major contributor to efforts aimed at meeting these technological challenges. A number of emerging research results that will provide new opportunities for applied aerodynamicists are discussed. Some of these have great potential for maintaining the high value of contributions from applied aerodynamics in the relatively near future. Over time, however, the value of these contributions will diminish greatly unless substantial investments continue to be made in basic and applied research efforts. The focus: to increase understanding of fluid dynamic phenomena, identify new aerodynamic concepts, and provide validated advanced technology for future aircraft

External Aerodynamics of Heavy Ground Vehicles: Computations and Wind Tunnel Testing

Aerodynamic characteristics of a ground vehicle affect vehicle operation in many ways. Aerodynamic drag, lift and side forces have influence on fuel efficiency, vehicle top speed and acceleration performance. In addition, engine cooling, air conditioning, wind noise, visibility, stability and crosswind sensitivity are some other tasks for vehicle aerodynamics. All of these areas benefit from drag reduction and changing the lift force in favor of the operating conditions. This can be achieved by optimization of external body geometry and flow modification devices. Considering the latter, a thorough understanding of the airflow is a prerequisite. The present study aims to simulate the external flow field around a ground vehicle using a computational method. The model and the method are selected to be three dimensional and time-dependent. The Reynolds-averaged Navier Stokes equations are solved using a finite volume method. The Renormalization Group (RNG) k-ϵ model was elected for closure of the turbulent quantities. Initially, the aerodynamics of a generic bluff body is studied computationally and experimentally to demonstrate a number of relevant issues including the validation of the computational method. Experimental study was conducted at the Langley Full Scale Wind Tunnel using pressure probes and force measurement equipment. Experiments and computations are conducted on several geometric configurations. Results are compared in an attempt to validate the computational model for ground vehicle aerodynamics. Then, the external aerodynamics of a heavy truck is simulated using the validated computational fluid dynamics method, and the external flow is presented using computer visualization. Finally, to help the estimation of the error due to two commonly practiced engineering simplifications, a parametric study on the tires and the moving ground effect are conducted on full-scale tractor-trailer configuration. Force and pressure coefficients and velocity distribution around tractor-trailer assembly are computed for each case and the results compared with each other. Finally, this study demonstrates that it is possible to apply computational fluid dynamics for ground vehicle aerodynamics with substantial detail and fidelity. With the latest developments on computing power, computational fluid dynamics can be applied on real-life transportation problems with reasonable turn-around times, reliability, ease of accessibility and affordability. The next step is deemed to be considering such a computational methodology for analysis within an automated optimization process in improving aerodynamic designs of heavy ground vehicles

Advances in Modeling of Fluid Dynamics

This book contains twelve chapters detailing significant advances and applications in fluid dynamics modeling with focus on biomedical, bioengineering, chemical, civil and environmental engineering, aeronautics, astronautics, and automotive. We hope this book can be a useful resource to scientists and engineers who are interested in fundamentals and applications of fluid dynamics

Investigation of vehicle ride height and diffuser ramp angle on downforce and efficiency

© 2018 The Author(s). The final, definitive version of this paper has been published in Knight, J., Spicak, M., Kuzenko, A., Haritos, G., & Ren, G. (2019). Investigation of vehicle ride height and diffuser ramp angle on downforce and efficiency. Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part D: Journal of Automobile Engineering, 233(8), 2139–2145. by Sage Publications Ltd. All rights reserved. It is available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/0954407018776767.Diffusers are typically used in motorsport to generate negative lift (downforce). They also reduce aerodynamic drag and so significantly enhance aerodynamic efficiency. The amount of downforce generated is dependent on ride height, diffuser ramp angle and its relative length to that of the vehicle length. This paper details a numerical investigation of the effects of ride height and diffuser ramp angle in order to find an optimum downforce and efficiency for the inverted Ahmed model. A short and long diffuser with ratios of 10% and 35%, respectively, to that of vehicle length are studied. The short diffuser produced lower maximum downforce and efficiency at a lower ride height and lower angle when compared to the longer diffuser. The long diffuser produced highest downforce and the best efficiency with a ramp angle of 25° at ride height ratio of 3.8% when compared to vehicle length. Different ride heights were found to correspond to different diffuser ramp angles to achieve optimum downforce and efficiencies.Peer reviewe

A wind tunnel investigation into the effects of roof curvature on the aerodynamic drag experienced by a light goods vehicle

Roof curvature is used to increase ground vehicle camber and enhance rear-body boat-tailing to reduce aerodynamic drag. Little aerodynamic data is published for light goods vehicles (LGVs) which account for a significant proportion of annual UK licensed vehicle miles. This paper details scale wind tunnel measurements at Re = 1.6 × 106 of a generic LGV utilising interchangeable roof panels to investigate the effects of curved roof profile on aerodynamic drag at simulated crosswinds between -6° and 16°. Optimum magnitudes of roof profile depth and axial location are suggested and the limited dataset indicates that increasing roof curvature is effective in reducing drag over a large yaw range, compared to a flat roof profile. This is primarily due to increased base pressure, possibly from enhanced mixing of longitudinal vortices shed from the rear-body upper side edges and increased turbulent mixing in the near-wake due to the increased effective boat-tail angle

Wind Field and Trajectory Models for Tornado-Propelled Objects

A mathematical model to predict the trajectory of tornado born objects postulated to be in the vicinity of nuclear power plants is developed. An improved tornado wind field model satisfied the no slip ground boundary condition of fluid mechanics and includes the functional dependence of eddy viscosity with altitude. Subscale wind tunnel data are obtained for all of the missiles currently specified for nuclear plant design. Confirmatory full-scale data are obtained for a 12 inch pipe and automobile. The original six degree of freedom trajectory model is modified to include the improved wind field and increased capability as to body shapes and inertial characteristics that can be handled. The improved trajectory model is used to calculate maximum credible speeds, which for all of the heavy missiles are considerably less than those currently specified for design. Equivalent coefficients for use in three degree of freedom models are developed and the sensitivity of range and speed to various trajectory parameters for the 12 inch diameter pipe are examined

Aerodynamic optimization of the ICE2 high-speed train nose using a genetic algorithm and metamodels

An aerodynamic optimization of the ICE 2 high-speed train nose in term of front wind action sensitivity is carried out in this paper. The nose is parametrically defined by Be?zier Curves, and a three-dimensional representation of the nose is obtained using thirty one design variables. This implies a more complete parametrization, allowing the representation of a real model. In order to perform this study a genetic algorithm (GA) is used. Using a GA involves a large number of evaluations before finding such optimal. Hence it is proposed the use of metamodels or surrogate models to replace Navier-Stokes solver and speed up the optimization process. Adaptive sampling is considered to optimize surrogate model fitting and minimize computational cost when dealing with a very large number of design parameters. The paper introduces the feasi- bility of using GA in combination with metamodels for real high-speed train geometry optimization

Wind Tunnel Study on the Aerodynamic Performance of Deflectors with Different Shapes

The continuously increasing gasoline and diesel fuel costs generated immense interest in road vehicle efficiency. Because the aerodynamic drag of road vehicles is a major contributor to the fuel consumption at highway speeds, renewed interests are focusing on attempts to find novel drag-reducing technology. In this project, a newly designed air deflector with the shape of three concave surfaces was proposed. The effect of the deflector shape on the aerodynamic performance of a truck model, such as drag coefficient, was investigated. The results were compared to the same truck model with conventional convex deflector and without deflector. The relationship between the deflector shape and the drag force coefficient, as well as Reynolds number was revealed in all cases. The impact of deflector details on the characteristics of the airflow around the truck model, focusing on the wake area behind the trailer was also investigated