Drag reduction on a generic tractor-trailer using active flow control in combination with solid flaps

Abstract

An experimental investigation was carried out to assess the drag reducing potential of active flow control in conjunction with flat panel flaps attached to the trailer of a generic tractor-trailer model. The experiments were carried out in a wind tunnel with a 1/10th scale generic tractor-trailer model at Reynolds numbers up to 640,000 based on the model width. Active flow control was achieved by means of constant blowing, constant suction and oscillatory blowing and suction. A secondary objective was to make short base flaps with active flow control as effective as long flaps with no active flow control. Measurement techniques such as flow visualizations, loads by means of a 6-component balance, LDA and PIV were employed. The results show that constant blowing at a momentum coefficient of 11.13% is able to achieve higher drag reduction than long flaps with no active flow control. The analysis of the flow field in the wake showed that constant blowing deflects the shear layer between the free stream and the wake region downward and hence reduces the size of the wake. The flaps at the side of the truck did not appear to have any substantial drag reducing effect. © 2009 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.