Effects of wheels on flow around truck trailer
- Authors: Jure Marn, Jurij Iljaž
- Citation: Acta hydrotechnica, vol. 27, no. 46, pp. 29-41, 2014.
- Abstract: This work analyzes effects of rolling wheels on air flow around and behind the truck trailer. The numerical simulation or analysis takes into account the turbulent, three dimensional flow, as well as the effect of rolling wheels, based on the finite volume method (FVM). The computational mesh as well as the computational domain were tested and compared on three different levels, therefore the results are verified. Also the effects of the k-ε and SST turbulence models were compared. In particular, attention was paid to trailer attachments, known as »boat tails«, of two kinds. We established that the trailer attachments are both useful and well founded, not only because of blunt body characteristics but also because of the rolling wheels. The results show vorticity generation and their distribution in accordance with »boat tail« attachments. Rolling wheels effect is approximately half of the blunt body effect and therefore not negligible. The total average force of the blunt body trailer and the rolling wheels is approximately 800 N, where the effects of blunt body and wheels are comparable. This underscores the need to take into account rolling wheels in analysis, and also justifies including in the analysis appropriate trailer attachments. Effect of different turbulence models was negligible.
- Keywords: fluid mechanics, computational fluid dynamics, pressure distribution around vehicle, vorticity analysis, trailer accessories, transport
- Full text: a46jm.pdf
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