Comparison of Different Ground Simulation Techniques for Use in Automotive Wind Tunnels

The range of applicability and the physical restrictions for the use of ground-simulation techniques in automotive wind tunnels are elucidated. The techniques considered are the moving-belt technique, as well as boundary layer control techniques like tangential blowing and distributed normal suction for use in wind tunnels with stationary ground boards. Attention has to be paid to the question of whether the flow to be simulated is of boundary layer or Couette type. In the case of boundary layer flow, interaction of the ground-floor boundary layer with the inviscid flow in the gap between a vehicle and the road can be fully simulated by introducing a negative transpiration velocity along the stationary ground plane. In practise however, angularity effects on the external flow result from mismatched control parameters. Very small relative ground clearances give rise to the formation of a Couette flow between the road and the vehicle. For this type of gap flow interaction with the rest of the flow field around the car vanishes asymptotically. When performing tests on a stationary ground board, mass and momentum have to be added to the gap flow to meet the characteristics of the moving-ground case. This can be achieved by tangential blowing.