Aerodynamic study of the environmental vehicle model with the flow simulation CFD program

Abstract

With this study, the design and performance of the vehicle’s body may be improved by analysing the factors that affect the aerodynamics. The challenge of this study is to be able to design and to construct a vehicle body that will have less drag than commercial vehicles in accordance with the existing competition rules to help achieve better energy efficiency. Modern CAE methods provide high capabilities for optimized designs and fast design processes. The practical use of these processes is shown by an example of an efficient vehicle for the Shell Eco-marathon. The work produces CFD modelling of the aerodynamic characteristics of the electrical vehicle model and is compared with the characteristics of similar models obtained from other authors. The aerodynamic characteristics of the Team Avtomobilist's vehicle are, better. At vehicle speed ν = 10 m/s, the smallest value of the drag coefficient of the vehicles involved in the race is C x = 0,085, whereas the one of the Team Avtomobilist is C x = 0,065, i.e. with 25% smaller.