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Pickup Truck Drag Reduction-Devices That Reduce Drag Without Limiting Truck Utility
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English
Abstract
Students and faculty of the Mechanical Engineering Department at Texas Tech University have developed two add-on devices that can significantly reduce pickup truck drag without limiting vehicle utility. One device is a wing structure mounted behind the top rear of the cab; the other device is a cover over the rear portion of the pickup bed. Both devices have demonstrated 5% to 6% drag reductions. Further, the rear bed cover reduces vehicle lift by 30%. Most significant, scale model tests have indicated drag reduction on the order of 17% and lift reduction of 30% when the wing and bed cover are used together.
Work to date has involved scale model tests in a low speed wind tunnel and full scale tests in the Lockheed wind tunnel. In addition, computational fluid dynamic studies have been performed to aid in designing the test program and interpreting the test results.
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Authors
Citation
Maxwell, T., Jones, J., and Jones, W., "Pickup Truck Drag Reduction-Devices That Reduce Drag Without Limiting Truck Utility," SAE Technical Paper 881874, 1988, https://doi.org/10.4271/881874.Also In
References
- Duncan, Louis T. Aerodynamic Evaluations of the 1980 F-Series Light and Medium Trucks and the 1978 CL-9000 Heavy Truck SAE Paper 801405 Truck Meeting King-of-Prussia, Pennsylvania November 10-13 1980
- New Tricks in Pickup Truck Aerodynamics. Automotive Engineering, 96 2 February 1988 141 146
- Scribor-Rylski, A. J. Road Vehicle Aerodynamics Pentech Press London 1975
- Jones, William B. Jones Jesse C. Maxwell Timothy T. Evaluation of Drag Reduction Devices for Pickup Trucks: A Senior Mechanical Engineering Design Project Presented at the Poster Session, 1987 ASEE Annual Conference Reno, Nevada June 21-25 1987
- Caretto, L. S. Gosman A. D. Patankar S. V. Spalding D. B. Two Calculational Procedures for Steady, Three-Dimensional Flows with Recirculation Proceedings of the 3 rd International Conference on Numerical Methods in Fluid Dynamics Paris 1972 II 60
- Patankar, Suhas V. Numerical Heat Transfer and Fluid Flow Hemisphere Publishing Corporation New York 1980