Assessment of Passenger Car for Surface Dirt Contamination in Wind Tunnel

The purpose of developing an automobile was to reduce human effort, travel faster, and cover longer distances. Cars were meant for transporting a small number of people from one point to another. In India, the four-wheeler segment has picked up over the years due to economic liberalization. The vehicles have been undergoing constant improvements. This may be either in the design or the final product. Also, the importance of aerodynamics is a crucial factor considered while designing a vehicle. This study focuses on improving the aerodynamics of the side-view mirror and reducing the blind spot region. The side mirror of Toyota Etios Liva was used in this study. Blind spots were first determined, and the mirror drag is analyzed experimentally in a wind tunnel and numerically using commercial software. The results show that the drag value of the new mirror was 0.449 compared to 0.634 of the original mirror. This work helps to reduce the blind spot region of the car considered for the study.

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Experimental and Numerical Aerodynamic Analysis of a Passenger Car: Influence of the Blockage Ratio on Drag Coefficient

Journal of Fluids Engineering ◽

10.1115/1.4030183 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 137 (8) ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

Armagan Altinisik ◽

Emre Kutukceken ◽

Habib Umur

Keyword(s):

Wind Tunnel ◽

Three Dimensional ◽

Experimental Results ◽

Scale Model ◽

Passenger Car ◽

Drag Coefficients ◽

Drag Forces ◽

Pressure Distributions ◽

Numerical Studies ◽

Blockage Correction

Experimental and numerical investigations were performed to determine the pressure distributions and the drag forces on a passenger car model. Experiments were carried out with 1/5th scale model FIAT Linea for 20% and ~ 1% blockage ratios in the Uludag University Wind Tunnel (UURT) and in the Ankara Wind Tunnel (ART), respectively. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis for 1/5th scale model with 0%, 5%, and 20% blockage ratios was performed to validate various blockage correction methods supplementary to the experimental results. Three-dimensional, incompressible, and steady governing equations were solved by STAR-CCM+ code with realizable k–ε two-layer turbulence model. The calculated drag coefficients were in good agreement with the experimental results within 6%. Pressure coefficients on the model surfaces have shown similar trends in the experimental and numerical studies. Some of the existing blockage correction methods were successfully compared in this study and predicted drag coefficients were within ± 5%. The authors propose the continuity and the Sykes blockage correction methods for passenger car models because they are very simple and practical and they can be used economically for engineering applications.

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