Date of Award

Spring 2006

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Fine Arts (MFA)

Department

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering

Program/Concentration

Mechanical Engineering

Committee Director

Ayodeji Demuren

Committee Member

Arthur Taylor

Committee Member

Sebastian Bawab

Call Number for Print

Special Collections; LD4331.E56 T74 2006

Abstract

Vehicle Aerodynamics has been the focus of study by researchers for centuries. This interest can be owed to increasing demand on fuel efficiency, vehicle top speed and acceleration performance. Interior aerodynamics, such as engine cooling, air conditioning, wind noise, stability, and cross wind sensitivity play key role in customer satisfaction. Hence a complete understanding of flow around the vehicle is prerequisite to achieve any of the above parameters. Aerodynamic development of motor vehicle is expensive. Much capital must be invested in test facilities such as wind tunnels and climate tunnels. The models are costly and at the beginning of a specific development several design alternatives have to pursued. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) serves as a much cheaper tool to meet current development needs. It can closely simulate flow, and thus help optimize the external body geometry.

The present study aims to simulate the external flow field around a bluff body using computational methods. The Reynolds-averaged Navier Stokes equations are solved using a finite volume method. Aerodynamics of a generic bluff body is studied computationally and validated using experimental results by Lienhart et al. The effect of grid sizes on the computational domain is studied. Furthermore, different turbulence models such as Spalart-Allmaras, standard k-s model, k-co Shear Stress Transport (SST) model and Reynolds Stress model (RSM) are used to simulate turbulent flow. Further, an attempt is made to understand flow phenomenon such as separation regions, turbulence and vorticity. Two different geometric shapes of the bluff body are studied to examine effects of salient body shapes.

This study demonstrates the ability of computational fluid dynamics to simulate ground vehicle aerodynamics. With the developments in computing power, computational fluid dynamics can be applied on real-life transportation problems with reliability, and ease of use, at affordable costs. The results indicate the RSM model to give better results for both geometric configurations considered for this study.

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DOI

10.25777/2j8m-pb71

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