Vortex Method Simulation of Ground Vehicle Aerodynamics

Recent results are presented from the application of a grid-free vortex method to the prediction of turbulent aerodynamic flows produced by road vehicles. The approach has the character of a large eddy simulation and incorporates a fast technique for evaluating the mutual interactions of several million vortex elements needed in describing the dynamically significant structure of the turbulent field. The simulations provide information about the unsteady evolution of the flow including forces, vortical structure and separation regions. Predicted mean velocity statistics are shown to compare favorably with physical experiments.