Proceedings of the
International Conference on Mechanical Engineering 2009
(ICME2009) 26- 28 December 2009, Dhaka, Bangladesh

ICME09-FM-27

 

AERODYNAMICS OF VEHICLE ADD-ONS

Firoz Alam, Harun Chowdhury and Simon Watkins
School of Aerospace, Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, RMIT University,
Melbourne, Australia

ABSTRACT

Over 80% of the required total vehicle power is essential to overcome the aerodynamic drag and the remaining power is used for rolling resistance. An aerodynamically streamlined shape significantly reduces the aerodynamic drag thus lowering the fuel consumption. Although aerodynamics of road vehicles has been well studied, scant studies on aerodynamic effects of vehicle add-ons were reported to the public domain. Due to the life style demands, most modern passenger cars use various add-ons including roof-rack ski-rack, bicycle rack, advertising signboard, police and ambulance siren, and portable ladder. The aerodynamic impact on fuel consumption was not well studied, fully understood and quantified. Therefore, the primary objectives of this study were to experimentally measure the aerodynamic drag generated by the use of various vehicle add-ons under a range of vehicle operating speeds and cross winds conditions. The study was conducted using a reduced scale (25%) detailed model of a production large family size passenger car manufactured in Australia. The aerodynamic drag coefficient was related to fuel consumption and a detailed analysis of fuel consumption was conducted.
 

Keywords: Vehicle Aerodynamics, Wind Tunnel, Drag Coefficient, Vehicle Add-ons.

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