Numerical Investigation of Vehicle Aerodynamics with Overlaid Grid System

The drag reduction mechanism in newly developed low aerodynamic drag model car is investigated through numerical simulation. In order to deal with the computational domain around a three-dimensional complicated vehicle body, the method of overlaid grid system is employed.

The results of computational case study on the body shape demonstrate that the lateral tapering near the rear end and the spats around the wheels bring better flow properties for drag reduction, such as the pressure recovery in the wake.