Effects of Vehicle Numbers and Vehicle Types on Drag Reduction of Platoons with Different Front-Edge Radius

2023-01-0951

04/11/2023

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WCX SAE World Congress Experience
Authors Abstract
Content
The platoon of intelligent vehicles can significantly reduce the aerodynamic drag, which has broad development prospects. This research numerically studies the effect of Reynolds number (Re = 3.32×105 to 19.94×105), the vehicle numbers (3-, 5-, 8-vehicle), and vehicle types (fastback, notchback, and squareback) on the platoon drag reduction with three different front-edge radius (R*=R/W×100 = 9.36, 4.68 and 2.34). The results show that when the Reynolds number is greater than 9.97×105, the drag coefficient ratio CD/CDi (CDi is the drag coefficient of the isolated vehicle) of each vehicle in the platoon is less affected by the Reynolds number. When R*=9.36, the averaged CD/CDi of the fastback platoon (even above 1) is higher than that of both the notchback platoon and the squareback platoon without front-edge separation at the leading vehicle due to the weakest shielding effect on the following car resulting from the prominent downwash wake. Compared with R*=9.36, when the flow separation occurs at the front-edge R*=2.34, the averaged CD/CDi of the platoon with different vehicle numbers and each vehicle (except the leading vehicle) in the platoon both exhibit a tremendous reduction. This drag reduction should be attributed to the shielding effect caused by the front-edge separation at the leading vehicle. In addition, at the front-edge R*=2.34, the averaged CD/CDi of the fastback and squareback platoon are comparable, much larger than that of the notchback platoon featured by a balanced wake and shortened recirculation flow at in-notch region. Except for the fastback platoon at R*=9.36, the other platoon's averaged CD/CDi decreases gradually with the increase of vehicle number. This work has a vital reference significance for the aerodynamic optimization design of the future intelligent vehicle platoon.
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DOI
https://doi.org/10.4271/2023-01-0951
Pages
12
Citation
Wang, D., Xia, C., Jia, Q., and Yang, Z., "Effects of Vehicle Numbers and Vehicle Types on Drag Reduction of Platoons with Different Front-Edge Radius," SAE Technical Paper 2023-01-0951, 2023, https://doi.org/10.4271/2023-01-0951.
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Publisher
Published
Apr 11, 2023
Product Code
2023-01-0951
Content Type
Technical Paper
Language
English