CFD Investigation for Effect of the Aerodynamic Truck - Cabin Profiles and Devices on the Truck Performance

Today’s request for reducing the fuel consumption of Heavy vehicles is one of the most interesting issues within the automotive industry. Together with the increased fuel price, the development of more fuel efficient vehicles has intensified. Recent research about fuel-saving technologies for trucks displayed that aerodynamic improvement is one of the most essential technologies when it comes to reducing fuel. The Main objective of this study is to determine the aerodynamic impact (drag force) for various profiles in the truck - cabin shape and Aerodynamic devices added in truck cabin such as, [ Cap of truck (with different angle), Gap device (with different length)]. To measure the aerodynamic drag produced by the truck, numerical model studies are undertaken using a 1/50 scale model of standard heavy truck. In this research, a numerical validation procedure by ANSYS FLUENT ®, computational fluid dynamics software with various turbulence models is described for estimation aerodynamic characteristics. It is observed that at the present work a good agreement between the numerical study and the experimental work with the Realizable k-ε model with maximum error is about 8%. Then, computational fluid dynamic (CFD) investigation is utilized for each case to compare with respect to coefficient of drag, Turbulence Kinetic Energy contours, pressure contours, velocity contours, 3D streamlines and velocity vectors between a standard 3D truck model with and without aerodynamic profiles and devices. The results show that the front and mid fillet radius profile has a significant drag coefficient reduction is noticed by about 17.75% with optimum dimensions. The top fillet radius profile has an opposite effect on the drag coefficient due to the Coandă Effect without cap of truck. When top fillet radius is utilized with a cap of the truck, the drag coefficient improvement with an optimism cap truck angle by about 9.92%. By adding Gap device with different lengths, the drag coefficient decreasing by about 8.36%. Finally, by using all aerodynamic profiles and devices on the truck - cabin studied at the same time the improvement in drag coefficient is about 36.03% from a standard 3D truck model.