Reducing the carbon footprint by meeting stringent emission regulations and improving the fuel efficiency has become an essential feature in 21st century product design cycle for automobiles. Aerodynamic drag affects the fuel efficiency of the vehicle considerably. Various drag reduction devices such as air dam, rim cover, spoiler and undercover etc. are added in order to reduce the drag.
This paper aims at understanding the effect of ground clearance on the performance of various aerodynamic drag reduction devices like - air-dam, spoiler, wheel cover and their combinations for hatchback vehicle using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD).
CFD has been extensively used for exploring the various design configurations and has helped in selecting the optimized aero-parts configuration based on aerodynamic performance at concept stage which has ultimately reduced the vehicle drag coefficient by 10%. CFD results have been compared with wind tunnel testing for base configurations which is having around 96 % correlation.