Aerodynamic evaluation of different car carrier devices for drag reduction using CFD

Abstract

Aerodynamic of commercial trucks has been extensively studied due to their impact on fuel efficiency; reducing consumption is one of the most important and challenging issues for the trucking industry. In this paper, several Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) simulations are performed to evaluate the drag of a standard car carrier and its different modifications. Therefore, several covers, which act as aerodynamic devices, are tested to determine their effectiveness in fuel consumption. The study compares the drag coefficients, velocity vectors, pressure contours, and turbulence kinetic energy of different fairing configurations. The results show that, although all covers reduce the drag coefficient compared to the conventional car carrier, two of them have significant drag reductions.