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The Effect of Center Belt Roughness on Vehicle Aerodynamics

Journal Article
2009-01-0776
ISSN: 1946-3995, e-ISSN: 1946-4002
Published April 20, 2009 by SAE International in United States
The Effect of Center Belt Roughness on Vehicle Aerodynamics
Sector:
Citation: Kuthada, T., Schröck, D., Potthoff, J., and Wiedemann, J., "The Effect of Center Belt Roughness on Vehicle Aerodynamics," SAE Int. J. Passeng. Cars – Mech. Syst. 2(1):841-848, 2009, https://doi.org/10.4271/2009-01-0776.
Language: English

Abstract:

Recently built or refurbished wind tunnel facilities show a trend towards a detailed simulation of road conditions. Therefore, these wind tunnel facilities are equipped with boundary layer conditioning systems and a rolling road consisting of one or several belts in order to simulate the rotation of the wheels and the relative motion between the vehicle underfloor and the road. Belts are either realized in rubber or steel. Steel belts offer the possibility to be coated with rubber to protect the belt itself. This coating additionally offers the possibility to attain a certain roughness to represent the road surface.
This paper presents measurements of the roughness of the steel belt systems installed in the IVK Model Scale and Aero-Acoustic Full Scale Wind Tunnel in comparison to road surfaces. Additionally, the influence of roughness on the aerodynamic coefficients drag and lift is presented and discussed for the SAE reference body with different rear end configurations.