Aerodynamic Testing of Road Vehicles - Testing Methods and Procedures

Ground Vehicle Standard
J2084_201604
Stabilized

Published April 12, 2016 by SAE International in United States

Sector:

Automotive

Issuing Committee:

Road Vehicle Aerodynamics Forum Committee

Language: English

Scope

The scope of this SAE Information Report is confined to wind-tunnel testing, although it is recognized that many aspects of the aerodynamic characteristics of road vehicles can be investigated in other test facilities (such as water-tanks) or, especially, on the road. For example, coastdown testing is often used to determine aerodynamic drag (either in isolation or as part of the total resistance), and artificial gust generators are used to investigate the sensitivity of vehicles to cross-wind gusts.

Also excluded from the present Report are climatic wind-tunnel tests of road vehicles, which are defined in more detail in Section 3.

The Report covers the aerodynamic requirements of a wind-tunnel for automotive testing, together with the facility equipment needed and the requirements affecting the test vehicle or model. The test methods and procedures described here include those for six-component force measurements and measurements of pressures and velocities both on the vehicle/model surface and in the surrounding flow-field.

Flow visualization techniques are outlined, with reference to the detailed coverage in a related SAE Information Report (2). In addition, the reduction, analysis, and presentation of wind-tunnel data are considered, with further references to associated SAE Information Reports (3,4) on corrections to be applied for wind-tunnel blockage effects. Finally, methods are discussed for the validation of the wind-tunnel data, e.g., by tunnel-to-road correlation studies.

As already indicated, this document has been prepared in conjunction with a number of other SAE Information Reports and Recommended Practices (1-5), each of which provides greater detail than is given here on its particular aspect of automotive aerodynamic testing.

Rationale

Much of the information presented in this document is mature and unlikely to change in the foreseeable future. The remainder - relating particularly to moving ground simulation and blockage correction techniques - is nevertheless judged by the Road Vehicle Aerodynamics Committee to be of historical significance. To supplement it contents, users are encouraged to consult more recent revisions of J1252, J1594, and J2881, as well as relevant SAE conference papers published since the 1993 issue of this document.

Data Sets - Support Documents

Title	Description	Download
Unnamed Dataset 1
TABLE 1	WIND-TUNNELS FOR FULL-SCALE AUTOMOBILE AERODYNAMICS

Reference

Number	Title
680121	Problems of Ground Simulation in Automotive Aerodynamics
750704	Comparisons of Effectiveness of Commercially Available Devices for the Reduction of Aerodynamic Drag on Tractor-Trailers
810187	FIAT Research Center Reference Car: Correlation Tests Between Four Full Scale European Wind Tunnels and Road
820371	The General Motors Engineering Staff Aerodynamics Laboratory - A Full-Scale Automotive Wind Tunnel
820375	Correlation Experience with the SAE Wind Tunnel Test Procedure for Trucks and Buses
820377	A New Approach to Measuring Road Load by Chassis Dynamometer and Wind Tunnel Tests
850285	An Improved Over-the-Road Test Method for Determining the Fuel Savings Benefit of a Truck Aerodynamic Drag-Reducing Device
850286	Comparison of On-Road and Wind-Tunnel Tests for Tractor-Trailer Aerodynamic Devices, and Fuel Savings Predictions
850287	Full-Scale, Ort-Road Study of the Effect of Automobile Shape on its Aerodynamic Characteristics, and Comparison with Small-Scale Wind Tunnel Results
850288	The Effect of Front-Edge Rounding and Rear-Edge Shaping on the Aerodynamic Drag of Bluff Vehicles in Ground Proximity
870243	Flow-Field Surveys Behind Three Squareback Car Models Using a New “Fourteen-Hole” Probe
870244	Advanced Experimental Techniques and Their Application to Automotive Aerodynamics
870245	On the Influence of Ground Movement and Wheel Rotation in Tests on Modern Car Shapes
870246	Measurement of the Projected Frontal Area of Vehicles - A New Contour-Tracking Laser Device in Comparison to Other Methods
870249	The New Volvo Multipurpose Automotive Wind Tunnel
870374	Engineering Properties of Low Coefficient Austenitic Ductile Iron for Engine Applications
880246	The Sensitivity of Wind-Tunnel Data to a High-Speed Moving Ground for Different Types of Road Vehicles
880248	The Effect of Groundplane Boundary Layer Control on Automotive Testing in a wind Tunnel
880249	A Comparison of the Ground-Plane-Suction and Moving-Belt Ground-Representation Techniques
880250	Wind Tunnel-to-Road Aerodynamic Drag Correlation
880252	A Two-Component Fiber-Optic LDV System for Automotive Aerodynamics Research
890369	Some Basic Investigations into the Principles of Ground Simulation Techniques in Automotive Wind Tunnels
890370	Advances in the Development of Wind Tunnel Balance Systems for Experimental Automotive Aerodynamics
900321	Comparison of Different Ground Simulation Techniques for Use in Automotive Wind Tunnels
HSJ1566	This document is not part of the subscrption.
J1252_201207	SAE Wind Tunnel Test Procedure for Trucks and Buses
J1594	This document is not part of the subscrption.
J2085	This document is not part of the subscrption.

	2016-04-12	\|	J2084_201604
	1993-01-01	\|	J2084_199301

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Item Number	Content Type
Title	Author(s)
Affiliation(s)	Publisher
Publish Date	Abstract/scope
Citation	DOI

Ground Vehicle Standard	SAE Wind Tunnel Test Procedure for Trucks and Buses
Technical Paper	The Effect of Front-Edge Rounding and Rear-Edge Shaping on the Aerodynamic Drag of Bluff Vehicles in Ground Proximity

Aerodynamic Testing of Road Vehicles - Testing Methods and Procedures

Scope

Rationale

Recommended Content

Topic

Data Sets - Support Documents

Issuing Committee

Reference

Revisions

Revision History*