Aerodynamic simulations using CFD is now a standard tool in the automotive industry, and is becoming more and more integrated in the aerodynamic design process of new vehicles. This process is distinguished by parallel development with wind tunnel experiments and CFD simulation results, which demands comparable results to be generated by the two development tools.
As wind tunnel effects are not simulated in most industrial applications of CFD, the comparison with experimental results normally show differences partly due to wind tunnel effects and ground simulation effects. Therefore a deeper understanding of wind tunnel effects and methods to fully reproduce experimental values with CFD is necessary.
In this paper, an extensive validation study with a detailed scale notchback model inside an open jet wind tunnel is presented. This study includes experimental data from the real wind tunnel as well as CFD simulation results with and without wind tunnel effects.
A detailed investigation of flow field data, surface pressures and integral values of two different wind tunnel configurations is shown. These wind tunnel configurations feature different pressure distributions resulting in different forces and surface pressures. Furthermore, a comparison with blockage free simulation results demonstrate the influence of the open jet wind tunnel on the flow.