Improvement for the Validation of the Aerodynamic Simulation and Wind Tunnel Test for the FAW-VW T-ROC

Owing to the advantages and the rapid development of CFD methods in recent decades, CFD has become one of the most widely used tools in the field of automotive aerodynamic development. To improve the credibility of simulation, benchmarking with experiment is necessary, for which a large variety of factors should be considered, including the accuracy of digital model for the vehicle, the replication of the experimental environment in the simulation, and others.

In the current aerodynamic development of passenger cars at FAW-VW, CFD models used for evaluation and optimization of aerodynamic performance replicate an open-road scenario with low blockage and full moving floor. In order to improve the benchmarking accuracy, the study of the influence of the wind tunnel geometry and ground system on simulation was carried out in this paper. The results show that with considering more factors of the experiment in the simulation, the agreement between wind tunnel test and CFD simulation is improved and can better meet the current design and optimization requirements.