Ergonomic design of an uberhood

Abstract

This paper provides an in-detail description of the design considerations, ansys analysis and theoretical data involved in the design of an ERGONOMIC UBERHOOD. The main objective of this paper is to design uberhoods with different shapes and obtain an efficient uberhood from the tested designs. In the wake of many two-wheeler accidents happening in rainy season due to the visibility factor, a hood can be placed to improve the visibility factor for the driver. Especially in two wheelers, there is lot of scope in the design in aerodynamics. The rider provides considerable unattended drag by acting as a bluff body, which can be reduced by stream lining the flow of air. Air should be provided with a hood so that it will get stream lined without reaching bluf body. Preliminary basic shapes like parabola and ellipse are chosen for designing the hood for BAJAJ AVENGER 220. SOLIDWORKS is used for modeling the hood. Based on the model, theoretical drag forces were calculated for the corresponding Reynold’s number. ANSYS Fluent is used to obtain pressure contours, velocity contours, drag forces and lift forces. Theoretical drag force and the simulated drag forces are compared. The results obtained from Fluent are compared with the unhooded vehicle. There is an overall reduction in drag force for hooded vehicle when compared to the unhooded vehicle.