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Numerical Comparison of Rolling Road Systems
Journal Article
2011-37-0017
ISSN: 1946-3936, e-ISSN: 1946-3944
Sector:
Citation:
Hennig, A., Widdecke, N., Kuthada, T., and Wiedemann, J., "Numerical Comparison of Rolling Road Systems," SAE Int. J. Engines 4(2):2659-2670, 2011, https://doi.org/10.4271/2011-37-0017.
Language:
English
Abstract:
The entire automotive industry is moving towards lower CO₂
emissions and higher energy efficiency. Especially for higher
driving speeds this can be achieved by minimizing aerodynamic drag.
Additionally, aerodynamic downforce is essential to maintain or
even improve the handling performance of a vehicle. In order to
optimize the vehicle's aerodynamic efficiency in wind tunnel
tests, the boundary conditions of a vehicle driving on a road must
be simulated properly. Particularly for optimizing the underbody
region of a vehicle, ground simulation is an important issue in
every wind tunnel. Today rolling road systems featuring one or more
moving belts on the wind tunnel floor are a standard tool to
simulate the complex boundary condition of a vehicle driving on the
road. But generally the technical effort to measure aerodynamic
forces accurately increases with improvement of the aerodynamic
ground simulation.
This paper presents an attempt to evaluate the influence of
different rolling road systems. The use of CFD makes it possible to
investigate their influence on different types of vehicles
excluding wind tunnel interference effects and independent of force
measurement techniques. A numerical study with a standard passenger
car and generic racing cars is presented. This study includes
rolling road systems like a 5-belt, a T-belt and a single belt
system as well as a new 3-belt rolling road layout.
An investigation of surface pressures, force development graphs
and integral values is shown to analyze the influences of different
rolling road systems. It can be concluded that, particularly
concerning aerodynamic developments for the vehicle underbody,
single belt systems are at least multiple partial belt systems of
similar dimensions are essential to guarantee an optimal and
reliable ground simulation in automotive wind tunnels.