A complete transient, three dimensional simulation of the flow-field around a generic pickup truck geometry is carried out. A 1/12-scale replica of an actual pickup truck, with simplified features such as a smooth underbody, is considered in the study.
The purpose of the study is twofold. First, it seeks to improve our understanding of the complex flow field around a pickup truck, which is predominantly a bluff body with a prominent wake. To this end a detail description of the time-averaged pressure distribution on the vehicle body as well as time-averaged velocities in the wake of the truck is provided. Secondly, the study seeks to judge the accuracy with which modern CFD techniques can predict complex, practical, bluff-body wake flows. This is accomplished by making a close comparison of the time-averaged wake velocity profiles predicted by CFD with analogous measurements made in a wind tunnel experiment using particle image velocimetry.
CFD simulations are carried out with an unstructured finite-volume method based Navier-Stokes solver in conjunction with the RNG k-ε and LES turbulence models. Simulation results are compared with experimental data reported elsewhere in literature.