Title: Aerodynamic analysis of some boat tails for heavy vehicles

Authors: R. Miralbes; L. Castejon

Addresses: VEHIVIAL (New Vehicle Technologies and Road Safety), Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Zaragoza, C.P.S. C/Maria de Luna s/n 50018, Zaragoza, Spain ' VEHIVIAL (New Vehicle Technologies and Road Safety), Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Zaragoza, C.P.S. C/Maria de Luna s/n 50018, Zaragoza, Spain

Abstract: The aim of this paper is the aerodynamic study of the use of boat tails to reduce the aerodynamic drag coefficient in heavy vehicles. There are some improvements and some patents that improve the aerodynamic efficiency of the vehicle and the fuel consumption, but there are no experimental or numerical analyses of this benefit. This paper analyses some of these improvements using numerical tools and comparing the results with the results of the vehicle without them. To make the numerical analysis, the CFD methodology, using FLUENT, has been used since it allows simulating some geometries and modifications of the geometry.

Keywords: vortex generators; aerodynamics; aerodynamic drag coefficient; heavy vehicles; computational fluid dynamics; CFD; trailers; articulated lorries; boat tails; fuel consumption.

DOI: 10.1504/IJHVS.2012.046830

International Journal of Heavy Vehicle Systems, 2012 Vol.19 No.2, pp.115 - 127

Published online: 20 Dec 2014 *

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