Aerodynamic Performance of Vehicles in Platoons: The Influence of Backlight Angles

Future generation road networks are intended to feature improved throughput and significantly reduced fleet energy consumption. ‘Platooning’ arranges moving vehicles in close longitudinal convoy, and is viewed as a core aspect of such technologies.

The aerodynamic performance of platoons potentially allows increased traffic throughput and a useful energy reduction; however the magnitude of this reduction varies significantly with inter-vehicle spacing. For some vehicles in platoons under specific conditions, the resulting aerodynamic performance may actually worsen [2].

This work attempts to deconstruct relationships between two key vehicle geometries and their aerodynamic performance in platoons. A study of homogeneous and heterogeneous platoons using common reference models is presented.