A wind tunnel investigation into the effects of roof curvature on the aerodynamic drag experienced by a light goods vehicle Online publication date: Mon, 22-Dec-2014
by Jenny Holt; Kevin Garry; Stefan Velikov
International Journal of Vehicle Design (IJVD), Vol. 67, No. 1, 2015
Abstract: Roof curvature is used to increase ground vehicle camber and enhance rear-body boat-tailing to reduce aerodynamic drag. Little aerodynamic data is published for light goods vehicles (LGVs) which account for a significant proportion of annual UK licensed vehicle miles. This paper details scale wind tunnel measurements at Re = 1.6 × 106 of a generic LGV utilising interchangeable roof panels to investigate the effects of curved roof profile on aerodynamic drag at simulated crosswinds between −6° and 16°. Optimum magnitudes of roof profile depth and axial location are suggested and the limited dataset indicates that increasing roof curvature is effective in reducing drag over a large yaw range, compared to a flat roof profile. This is primarily due to increased base pressure, possibly from enhanced mixing of longitudinal vortices shed from the rear-body upper side edges and increased turbulent mixing in the near-wake due to the increased effective boat-tail angle.
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