An Evaluation of CFD for Modelling the Flow Around Stationary and Rotating Isolated Wheels

Navier-Stokes calculations for the flow around an isolated wheel have been performed. Both a stationary wheel on a fixed ground and a rotating wheel on a moving ground were considered. Extensive comparisons with experimental measurements of surface static pressure coefficient and wake total pressure are made. These show that CFD can give good qualitative results for the flow field around both stationary and rotating wheels. Highlighted are details about the separation process from the top of the wheel and the flow structure around the wheel contact area.