Characteristics of Flow Behind a Passenger Vehicle

The characteristics of a notchback passenger vehicle wakes have been investigated. The experiment was mainly focused on the effect of rounding trunk-deck end on the steady and unsteady characteristics of the flow structure in the wake of the vehicle. The results showed that the formation of the trailing vortices were enhanced and the turbulence intensity in the wake was increased by rounding the trunk-deck end, although the frequency of the dominant fluid motion changed little. Simultaneous measurement of the velocity in the wake showed the dominant fluid motion over the rear of the vehicle and in its wake is highly correlated with the flow that comes through its underbody.