Research on the Thermal Flow Field of Automobile Based on Numerical Climatic Wind Tunnel

In order to establish a high-precision digital automotive climatic wind tunnel, consider the influence of wind tunnel structure on automotive CFD simulation, study the thermal flow field characteristics of automobiles in climatic wind tunnels, and create a detailed digital model of the climatic wind tunnel using CFD method. The simulation model was established based on the actual climatic wind tunnels and vehicles, taking into account the structure of the climatic wind tunnels, the equipment in the test section, the boundary layer suction, and other interferences on the automotive. The simulation results are compared with wind speed in front and altitude direction, surface pressure of the vehicle, and underhood components’ temperature measurements in the climatic wind tunnel. Good agreement is observed confirming that the simulation model can accurately predict the thermal flow field characteristics of automobile in the climatic wind tunnel. The study shows that the integration of the climatic wind tunnel model in the automotive CFD simulation can improve the accuracy of the thermal flow field, which can reduce the climatic wind tunnel tests in the development of the project, reduce the development cost of the whole vehicle, and shorten the development cycle.