International Journal of Emerging Technology and Advanced Engineering

Website: www.ijetae.com (ISSN 2250-2459, ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal, Volume 3, Issue 2, February 2013)

Experimental Investigation of Aerodynamic Forces on Sedan,

Fastback and Square-Back Car by simulation in CFD"
Review Study.
Bhavini Bijlani1, Pravin P. Rathod2,, Arvind S. Sorthiya3
1

PG Student, 2Associate Professor Department of Mechanical Engineering,3Associate Professor Department of Mechanical

Engineering.
Government Engineering College, Bhuj-370 001 (Kutch-Gujarat-INDIA)
Two elements that have major influence on the drag
coefficient of a bluff object are the roundness of its front
corners and the degree of taper at its rear end.[1]
Aerodynamic Devices like spoiler, vortex generator,
NACA duct etc. are useful to reduced aerodynamic drag
in various type of vehicles.

Abstract To study of different papers related to

Aerodynamic forces acting on vehicle body and their effect
on fuel consumption and stability of vehicle. The main role
of aerodynamic drag coefficient is the effect on fuel
consumption and stability of vehicle . All Researcher main
aim to reduce aerodynamic drag coefficient by improving
design of vehicle. This study is useful to find method for
better car body design and importance of wind tunnel and
CFD in aerodynamic investigation of vehicle.

II.

Generally Most of Researchers are prefer hybrid

method for investigate aerodynamic coefficients , wind
tunnel and CFD Wind tunnel is a tool used in
aerodynamic research to study the effects of air moving
past solid objects. A wind tunnel consists of a closed
tubular passage with the object under test mounted in the
middle. A powerful fan system moves air past the object;
the fan must have straightening vanes to smooth the
airflow. The test object is instrumented with a sensitive
balance to measure the forces generated by airflow; or,
the airflow may have smoke or other substances injected
to make the flow lines around the object visible. Fullscale aircraft or vehicles are sometimes tested in large
wind tunnels, but these facilities are expensive to operate
and some of their functions have been taken over by
computer modelling. In addition to vehicles, wind tunnels
are used to study the airflow around large structures such
as bridges or office buildings. The earliest enclosed wind
tunnels were invented in 1871; large wind tunnels were
built during the Second World War.
Air velocity and pressures are measured in several
ways in wind tunnels. Air velocity through the test
section is determined by Bernoulli's principle.
Measurement of the dynamic pressure, the static
pressure, and (for compressible flow only) the
temperature rise in the airflow. The direction of airflow
around a model can be determined by tufts of yarn
attached to the aerodynamic surfaces. The direction of
airflow approaching a surface can be visualized by
mounting threads in the airflow ahead of and aft of the
test model.
Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) is the analysis
of systems involving fluid flow, heat transfer and
associated phenomena such as chemical reactions by
means of computer-based simulation.

Keyword Aerodynamic, automotive ,Car body, CFD,

Wind-tunnel

I.

METHODOLOGY

INTRODUCTION

With regard to automobiles, aerodynamics has a strong

impact on body design. For this reason, cars over the
years have become steadily more streamlined and
aerodynamic in appearance, a factor that designers
balance with aesthetic appeal. To achieve high vehicle
performance, much of the attention focuses on lowering
the vehicle drag coefficient (Cd), which accounted to
about 75 to 80% of total motion resistance at 100 km/h,
Hucho(1998). In the modern era where our fuel resources
are fast depleting all the efforts are to find alternate
sources of energy or to save our current resources or
minimize the use of current resources like fuels, so now a
day's aerodynamics are given very much importance as
everyone like to have a good looking , stylish and fuel
efficient car.
However, as the passenger car must have enough
capacity to accommodate passengers and baggage in
addition to minimum necessary space for its engine and
other components, it is extremely difficult to realize an
aerodynamically ideal body shape. The car is, therefore,
obliged to have a body shape that is rather
aerodynamically bluff, not an ideal streamline shape as
seen on fish and birds. Such a body shape is inevitably
accompanied by flow separation at the rear end. The
passenger car bodys aerodynamic bluffness, when
expressed by the drag coefficient (CD), is generally
between 0.2 and 0.5, while that of more bluff cubic
objects is greater than 1.0 and that of the least bluff
bullets is less than 0.1.

346

International Journal of Emerging Technology and Advanced Engineering

Website: www.ijetae.com (ISSN 2250-2459, ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal, Volume 3, Issue 2, February 2013)
The heat and mass transfer, fluid flow, chemical
reaction, and other related processes that occur in
engineering equipment, in the natural environment, and
in living organisms play a vital role in a great variety of
practical situations.[8]
CFD analysis of the test model in a wind tunnel
provides results within lift and drag coefficients and
pressure distributions.

c. The low yaw angle behavior may be attributable to

low mean coefficient values, whilst the high yaw
angle behavior can be attributed to body induced
unsteadiness.
d. The theoretical approach of Baker, which assumes
force fluctuations are much less than mean forces,
and nobody induced unsteadiness exists, predicts
extreme/mean coefficient ratios a little below 1.0
for all cases. Modification of the theory is required
to take account of low yaw angle effects and body
induced fluctuations.
Mahmoud Khaled et al [2] In his work he focuses on
a parametric analysis of the trends in the aerodynamic
forces. In this work experiment aerodynamic force
measurements carried out on a simplified vehicle model.
Tests were performed in wind tunnel S4 type. The
simplified model has flat and flexible air inlets and
several types of air outlet, and includes in its body a real
cooling system and a simplified engine block can move
in the longitudinal and lateral directions. The
aerodynamic force measurements are carried out at a
wind speed 30m/s.
The results of this research, show configurations in
which the overall drag coefficient can be decreased by
2%, the aerodynamic cooling drag coefficient by more
than 50% and the lift coefficient by 5%. The
aerodynamic drag is independent of the position of the air
outlet in the wheel arch. However placing this outlet at
the rear of the wheel arch decreases the lift force.
Drag increases were found for the rear Ahmed body
for spacing of 0.1-1.0, when compared to the drag of the
body isolation. For greater spacing, the drag of the rear
body fell below the value of the isolated case, up to the
maximum spacing considered. The lift coefficient of the
rear body was also found to be very sensitive to spacing.
the effect of the strong vortex system arising from the
slant back was the cause of the drag and lift changes of
the rear vehicle.
Simon Watkins et al [3] has Research about the
effect of vehicle spacing on the aerodynamic of a car
shapes. For this test two co-linear Ahmed bodies are used
in wind tunnel. Inter spacing was varied from 0.1 to 4.0,
based on vehicle length. Test were conducted in the
RMIT Industrial Wind Tunnel, a Closed -jet and fixed ground type, having a 2m high, 3m wide and 9m long test
section. A 2:1 contraction is situated before the test
section and the test speed was 35 m/s. The free stream
turbulence intensity was 1.8% and the blockage ratio
(less than 2%).
Bhagirath zala [4] has reported his thesis on about the
aerodynamic of sedan and hatchback car model by
comparing two types of model experimentally and
subsequent validation by computational fluid dynamics
(CFD).

Figure 1 Pressure contour around the car body[10]

III.

REVEIW

C.J. Baker [1] has presents the results of

investigations for the aerodynamic forces and moments
on lorries and railway containers in high cross winds,
which were obtained in a variety of different wind tunnel
simulations. Data from mean extreme side and lift force
coefficient are mainly considered. In this experiment
different types of wind tunnel simulations can be
determined, and in particular the viability of the "moving
model rig" type of apparatus is considered. 1/25th scale
model was used in a ground plane in the low turbulence
wind tunnel. Also three different type of container were
considered.
Based on the results of the study conclusions can be
drawn:
a. The mean side force coefficient on the vehicles that
were studied are insensitive to the nature of the
wind tunnel simulation. The moving model results
are similar to the static values. The results suggest
that static low turbulence, low Reynolds number
tests can accurately determine mean side force
coefficients for such sharp edged vehicles.
b. The lift force coefficients are very dependent upon
the nature of the wind tunnel test. it would seem
that high Reynolds number tests are required to
provide a conservative, if not necessarily realistic,
upper bound. However there is the possibility that
the required Reynolds number might be reduced by
the addition of turbulence to the flow. Further work
is required here.

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International Journal of Emerging Technology and Advanced Engineering

Website: www.ijetae.com (ISSN 2250-2459, ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal, Volume 3, Issue 2, February 2013)
The experimental investigations was performed on an
open circuit suction type wind tunnel having a 30 cm x
30 cm x 100 cm test section, and maximum speed of 33
m/s on a geometrically similar, reduced scale (1:20)
Aluminium car models .while the three dimensional
computational analysis was carried out using with the
help of software tools like ANSYS-CFX to simulate the
flow of air around the automobiles ANSYS-CFX, CFD
code were used to run the simulation. Computer desktop
with 3.2 GHz Intel core 2 duo with ram of 2.00GB is
used to create and simulate the flow.
The investigation showed that the sedan car produce
better aerodynamic compare to hatchback as drag
coefficient for sedan is lower than hatchback at about
19%. Sedan is more stable than hatchback as sedan
indicates the lower value of CL by 33 % than hatchback.
Sedan is more streamline compare to hatchback as the air
flows for hatchback detached from the car surface earlier
than sedan. Drag force of hatchback car obtained
computationally has higher value than obtained
experimentally by 12.5% Where as drag force of sedan
car obtained computationally has higher value than
obtained experimentally by 11%.
Xingjun HU et al [5] In this Research Researcher's
focuses on the effect of under body rear diffuser
aerodynamic add on device on sedan car. Diffuser is one
of the most important aerodynamic devices often found
on F1. It is often used to reduce lift for race car. It is
widely used in ordinary car. In this paper Researchers
works on influence of diffuser angle was investigated
without separator and end plate. The method of CFD was
adopted to study the aerodynamic characteristics of a
simplified sedan with a different diffuser angle was set
00, 30,60,9.80 and 120. It was studied by using numerical
simulation in the paper. He has found that when diffuser
angle increases, the under body flow and wake change
greatly also pressure change correspondingly, the total
aerodynamic drag coefficients of car first decrease and
then increase, while the total aerodynamic lift
coefficients decrease.
J.P. Howell [6] has reported based on pressure
distribution over the external surfaces of a full scale car
has been measured and the results used to derive the
distribution of side force and yawing moment
components. The test vehicle an early model Rover 825,
an executive class saloon car with frontal area 2.03 m2.
The car had the initial style bumpers with short front and
rear overhangs. No spoiler was fitted to the front bumper,
but a short under tray was mounted between the front
bumper and engine bay cross member. Car was tested in
the MIRA Full scale Wind Tunnel, the normal operating
wind speed is 28 m/s.
For a saloon car shape, the largest contribution to the
overall side force comes from the A pillar region.

With an at the rear location of the moment centre, all

the surfaces form the A- pillar forward contribute to the
overall yawing moment, although it is the nose region
which dominates. As the moment centre moves forward
the influence of all regions other than the extreme nose is
diminished. At most transverse section the side loading is
concentrated on the upper side surface.
Hugo G. Castro et al [7] has worked on Numerical
and Experimental simulation of wind flow passing
through vehicles, A simplified model, knowing as
Ahmed body was studied and the drag of the model and
pressure coefficient on the model rear end were
compared between both techniques. Experimental and
Numerical analysis of the flow over the Ahmed body
with 350 slanted angles were performed. Ahmed body
was chosen as a standard reference given that it was
numerically and experimentally studied in an exhaustive
way.
Comparing both, results from the experimental tests
made in this work and the other experimental reference
as well as the provided by the computational simulation
presents some appreciable differences. Mean drag force
in the experimental tests (Cdmean = 0.40) presents a high
value when comparing with obtained by Ahmed et al.
(Cdmean = 0.257) while the numerical obtained value had
a difference lower than a 9% (Cdmean = 0.28).
IV.

CONCLUSION

The summary of the present literature review is as

follows:
Combining wind tunnel experiments and CFD
computation, integration on both methods can be
lead to a better aerodynamic design.
There is a significant change in the coefficient of
lift and drag of the model car when a more stream
lined body design is adopted.
The fuel consumption can be significantly reduced
by appropriate change in slant angle for the car
body.
The aerodynamic drag is independent of the
position of the air outlet in the wheel arch.
Drag can be reduce by streamlining the body or by
adding spoilers but proper care should be taken to
avoid lift.
Sedan is more streamline compare to hatchback as
the air flows for hatchback detached from the car
surface earlier than sedan.
Unlike wind tunnel tests, the computational
procedure adopted, due to the benefit of advanced
computer configurations with high speed processing
capabilities, could rapidly generate data for the
entire flow field around the car, providing
significant insight into the basic flow features, made
the evaluation process faster and cost effective.

348

International Journal of Emerging Technology and Advanced Engineering

Website: www.ijetae.com (ISSN 2250-2459, ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal, Volume 3, Issue 2, February 2013)
[4 ] Bhagirath zala M.E. thesis, "Aerodynamic performance of Sedan
and hatchback car by experimental method and simulation by
computational fluids dynamics" Gujarat Technical University
2011
[5 ] Xingjun HU, Rui ZHANG, Jian YE, Xu YAN, Zhiming ZHAO "
Influence of Different Diffuser Angle on Sedans Aerodynamic
Characteristics" 2011 International Conference on
Physics
Science and Technology, Physics Procedia 22 (2011) p.239 245
[6 ] J.P. Howell " The side load distribution on a Rover 800 saloon car
under crosswind conditions" Journal of Wind Engineering and
Industrial Aerodynamics 60 (1996) p.139-153
[7 ] Hugo G. Castro, Rodrigo R. Paz, Mario A. Storti,Victorio
"Experimental and numerical studies of the aerodynamic
behaviour of simplified road vehicle Mecanica Computational"
Vol XXIX, 15-18 November2010.p. 3291-3303
[8 ] Prof.A.S.Sorathiya M.E thesis, "Flow simulation and investigation
of aerodynamic forces
of car by ANSYS-CFX" Gujarat
University 2009
[9 ] Masaru Koike,Tsunehisa Nagayoshi, Naoki Hamamoto.
Aerodynamic drag reduction by vortex generators. Mitshibishi
motors technical 2004 no-16,p.11-16
[10 ] M. M. Islam1 and M. Mamun2 Proceedings of MARTEC 2010
The International Conference on Marine Technology 11-12
December 2010,

Acknowledgment
We would like to sincerely acknowledge the encourageous efforts of Mechanical Engineering
Department of Government Engineering College, Bhuj.
Our heartfelt thanks to faculty members who helped us in
prepare review paper and give direction with their
precious suggestions & rich experience.
REFERENCES
[1 ] C.J. Baker, N.D. Humphreys "Assessment of the adequacy of
various wind tunnel techniques to obtain aerodynamic data for
ground vehicles in cross wind" Journal of Wind Engineering and
Industrial Aerodynamics, 60 (1996) p .49-68
[2 ] Mahmoud
Khaled,
HichamElHage,
FabienHarambat,
HassanPeerhossaini "Some innovative concepts for car drag
reduction: A parametric analysis of aerodynamic forces on a
simplified body". Journal of Wind Engineering and Industrial
Aerodynamics 107108 (2012) p. 3647
[3 ] Simon Watkins, Gioacchino Vino "The effect of vehicle spacing
on the aerodynamics of a representative car shape " Journal of
Wind Engineering and Industrial Aerodynamics 96 (2008)
p.12321239

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