Heft 2012
Heft 2012
Heft 2012
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Published
for Aerodynamic Investigations 04/16/2012
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Angelina I. Heft, Thomas Indinger and Nikolaus A. Adams
Technische Universität München
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Copyright © 2012 SAE International
doi:10.4271/2012-01-0168
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exist (see G.M. Le Good [2]): the use of strongly simplified
ABSTRACT car models and that of production vehicles.
State of the art aerodynamic research of vehicles often
employs strongly simplified car models, such as the Ahmed
and the SAE body, to gain general insights. As these models
for
Generic car models, such as the SAE model and the Ahmed
body, make it easy to relate the observed phenomena to
specific areas and thus help to understand basic flow
exhibit a high degree of abstraction, the obtained results can
only partly be used for the aerodynamic optimization of structures. At the same time, more complex flow phenomena,
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production vehicles. Aerodynamic research performed on e.g. at the underbody and the wheels/wheelhouses, cannot be
specific vehicles is on the other hand often limited due to reproduced due to the oversimplification of these geometries.
On the other hand, it is usually not feasible to investigate
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Mechanics at the Technische Universität München. right direction, these models are still too generic to
completely understand the complex phenomena occurring at
realistic vehicles.
INTRODUCTION
Due to growing customer consciousness and various national To close this gap, the Institute of Aerodynamics and Fluid
iew
and international agreements, the reduction of CO2 emissions Mechanics of the Technische Universität München (TUM), in
has become increasingly important. As the car sector is one cooperation with two major car companies, the Audi AG and
of the big contributors to the overall CO2 emission, it is the BMW Group, therefore, proposes a new realistic generic
necessary to lower the fuel consumption of contemporary car model. The body is based on two typical medium-class
cars. Aerodynamic optimization of cars still offers big saving vehicles and includes three interchangeable tops and two
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opportunities, especially as its importance increases with the different underbody geometries to allow for a high
use of recuperation systems (see Hucho [1]). universality. To encourage the use of the DrivAer model in
independent research projects, the geometry and a
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To further optimize the car geometry, it is important to comprehensive database with both numerical and
understand the occurring aerodynamic phenomena. So far experimental results will be published on the website of the
two basic approaches to investigate these aspects of the flow institute1.
1http://www.aer.mw.tum.de/en/research-groups/automotive/drivaer
The aim of this paper is to present this new geometry to a
broad audience and to provide first experimental results. In
the beginning the necessity of a new realistic generic car
geometry will be discussed, followed by a short summary of
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the development of the DrivAer model. In the next section,
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the experimental wind tunnel setup will be presented and the
general approach and the data processing will be explained.
This passage will be followed by the discussion of the Figure 1. Dimensions of the SAE model.
experimental results categorized into force and pressure
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measurements. Concluding the paper, the experimental
results will be summarized and a short outlook on future
investigations of the DrivAer model will be given.
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MODEL
BACKGROUND
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The flow around a bluff body moving in proximity of a static
ground is governed by the interaction with the ground and Figure 2. Dimensions of the Ahmed body.
highly turbulent separation and reattachment. Both the
experimental reproduction of the relative movement between
vehicle and ground and unsteady investigations are highly
complex and, therefore, associated with high experimental
effort. Yet, to be able to further optimize road vehicles it is
for
On the other hand, as their shapes are very unlike actual car
geometries, these insights cannot be readily applied in the
development of production vehicles. Complex areas of the
necessary to completely understand these phenomena. car geometry, such as the A- and C-pillars, the highly curved
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rear end, and the wheelhouse region, are especially impaired.
The improvement of wind tunnel facilities, especially as to Therefore, during the actual optimization process, often real
the introduction of ground effect simulation through moving production car geometries are employed. As these are usually
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belts, allows a more precise experimental investigation of only accessible to a limited group of people, they are rarely
time-accurate flow content (see Janssen [3], Cogotti [4]). featured in more than one published work and, thus, cannot
Another important advance is the development of smaller and serve for validation purposes.
more accurate pressure transducers that can easily be fitted
into the surface of wind tunnel models. The gap between these two approaches makes a new realistic
ly
[2] identifies two main classes: the investigations performed reference car or the VW reference car (see G.M. Le Good
on strongly simplified generic models and those carried out [2]), the authors of this paper think that these models are still
on real production cars. too generic to allow for detailed investigations of complicated
flow phenomena. To this end, the DrivAer model is proposed
Commonly, especially time-accurate investigations resort to and will be - along with numerical and experimental results -
iew
the use of strongly simplified bodies, such as the SAE body, made available to the public. The computer-aided design
as presented by Cogotti [5], see Figure 1, and the Ahmed (CAD) geometry will be published on the homepage of the
body, as described by Ahmed [6], see Figure 2. These models Institute of Aerodynamics and Fluid Mechanics at the TUM
offer the advantage of a reasonable computational and and independent experimental and numerical studies using
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experimental effort compared to production vehicles and the the geometry are strongly encouraged.
possibility to examine the flow effects of different parts of the
vehicle with limited interference effects. Furthermore, in DEVELOPMENT
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1:2.5 DrivAer model measured in the Wind Tunnel A of the
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Institute of Aerodynamics and Fluid Mechanics.
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Figure 4. DrivAer body with different tops.
shown in Figure 4 - just as for example the SAE body and the
MIRA reference car (see G.M. Le Good [2]). Furthermore, as The results presented in this paper were obtained using the
shown in Figure 5, two different underbody geometries are mock-up configuration of a scaled 1:2.5 DrivAer model, i.e.
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provided: a smooth underbody for symmetrical investigations without considering a cooling flow. However, future
and a detailed underbody based on the simplified underbody investigations will concentrate on cooling configurations for
geometry of the Audi A4. both conventional and electric cars.
EXPERIMENTAL SETUP into account. To obtain physically accurate results, the
blockage ratio
The DrivAer model was measured in the recently updated
Wind Tunnel A of the Institute of Aerodynamics and Fluid
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Mechanics at the Technische Universität München, a (1)
horizontal Göttingen type wind tunnel. The open test section
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of the Wind Tunnel A has a length LT=4.8m, the nozzle has a should be as small as possible (see Hucho [8]). At the same
height of HN=1.8m and a width of WN=2.4m. Vortex time, it is desirable to satisfy the Reynolds number similarity
generators are installed at the nozzle exit to reduce the to ensure the physical similarity of the flow structures:
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pressure fluctuations induced by the developing shear layers.
To allow for ground simulation (GS) with rotating wheels,
the wind tunnel has been equipped with a moving belt system
(see Mack et al. [9]). As the moving belt lies 60mm higher (2)
than the static ground configuration, the effective nozzle
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height is reduced to HN,eff=1.74m. Especially for the If measuring a 1:2.5 model, the free stream wind speed
optimization of underbody geometries and the wheelhouse should be 2.5 times higher than for the 1:1 vehicle. In vehicle
region, it is essential to simulate the relative motion between aerodynamics it is common to perform the measurements at
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the vehicle and the ground [3]. The vehicle body is held from the wind speed u=140km/h which would correspond to a
above by a central strut while the wheels are supported necessary free stream velocity of almost u=100 m/s for a
separately by four horizontal struts from outside of the test 1:2.5 model. On the other hand, it has been observed that the
section. In the measured configuration, there is no physical drag coefficient reaches a relatively stable level for higher
connection between the body and the wheels. The model is
placed over a polyester-based belt of 1.39m width and a
distance of 4.53m. The basic configuration can be seen in
Figure 6.
for
Reynolds numbers. At the beginning of the DrivAer
measurement cycle, therefore, it has to be verified that the
drag coefficient reaches a constant level for the chosen
Reynolds number. To that end, the drag coefficient at
different Reynolds numbers will be examined.
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Taking the dimensions of the Wind Tunnel A and its capacity
into consideration, the chosen 1:2.5 model with a blockage
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m/s. The boundary layer is reduced using a passive boundary through flexible tubing (see Vogel [10]). Up to 192 ports can
layer scoop. For a more detailed description of the wind be measured successively in one measurement cycle. For the
tunnel setup, its characteristics, such as the static pressure time-averaged measurements a sampling rate of 20 Hz and an
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distribution and the boundary layer profile, be kindly referred averaging period of 10s were chosen.
to Mack et al. [9].
During one measurement cycle, 188 locations distributed
The decision on the size of the wind tunnel model is based on over the surface of the model were measured. In this paper,
various factors. On the one hand, it is important to take the only some of the most relevant regions will be discussed,
effects of wind tunnel blockage on the aerodynamic results namely the symmetry plane that was equipped with 61 probes
(in the configuration with detailed underbody), the z=60mm
plane which runs approximately through the stagnation point measurements were not conducted at fixed velocities, but
with 21 measurement locations (see Figure 7), the windshield rather at fixed Reynolds numbers. The Reynolds numbers
with 16 pressure taps (see Figure 21), the side window were determined as the equivalent of 10m/s, 20m/s, 30m/s
directly behind the A-pillar where 11 probes were located and 40 m/s in an air-conditioned dry air environment at 20°C
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(see Figure 24), and finally the rear windows of the estate and at sea level (see Table 1). The chosen reference length
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back and the notchback configuration with 32 probes each lref=1.84m corresponds to the length of the scaled DrivAer
(see Figures 25 and 26). model.
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the velocity at standard conditions.
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When working with ground simulation, it is furthermore
Figure 7. Distribution of pressure taps in the z=60mm important to separate the aerodynamic from the frictional
plane of the 1:2.5 model. forces between the moving belt and the wheels. To isolate the
aerodynamic forces, a measurement series with operating
the fastback top. The measured forces are depicted as non-dimensional force
coefficients. The drag coefficient can be calculated as:
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