A computational study of cargo van aerodynamics

Abstract

Paper presented to the 10th International Conference on Heat Transfer, Fluid Mechanics and Thermodynamics, Florida, 14-16 July 2014.

In the modern era, various forms of transportation are made and put to use every day. Comparing the vehicles nowadays to the time when the first car was invented, the vehicles nowadays are expected to endure all sorts of abuses, whether it is from the environment or from accidents. Innovative ideas, better visualization, reduced time in the design process, and cost effective “computational testing” is all put together is the use of Computational Fluid Dynamics. The present study numerically investigates the flow field around a cargo van model. A three-dimensional model of the van is used. Numerical results are obtained using a finite volume CFD code with unstructured grids with size of about 500,000 cells. The governing equations for this study are Navier-Stokes equations. The turbulence model used is the k-ε model. Different free stream velocities ranging from about 43 km/hr to 140 km/hr have been examined. Effects of free stream velocity on the wake region and on the velocity flow field results are presented. Results show ta significant wake region behind the model. It is noted that the free stream velocity plays slight role in the location of the wake region behind the van.