NUMERICAL STUDY OF THE EFFECT OF TAPER ANGLES AND TAPER LENGTH ON THE REDUCTION OF AERODYNAMIC DRAG

Abstract

Aerodynamic drag is still one of the main challenges facing the automotive industry. The design engineers are trying to develop novel techniques that could help to control the flow and optimize the shape of a vehicle to make it able to increase the base pressure drag at the wake region. The pressure drag is one of the main contributors to the aerodynamic drag. In our investigation, we have dealt with a benchmark car model (Windsor geometry) and visualized its effect on the characteristic parameters of the flow. In order to maximize the reduction of aerodynamic drag of vehicles, a numerical study has been undertaken based upon the CFD analysis with an active flow control technique including tapering of the rear lower and upper body along the length and height of the Windsor geometry. Taper angles from 12° to 20° in 4° steps have been implemented on the upper and lower part of the body while a taper length has been implemented along with the height of the body sides for the two cases. In comparison to other studies, we have come to sufficient results that gave us a significant reduction of aerodynamic drag for all the cases that we have tested. Thus, our study showed that the aerodynamic drag reductions are maximized, which indicates the efficiency of the technique we have applied.