Title: Investigation of aerodynamic drag on tractor-trailer in underground road traffic

Authors: Prasad Vegendla; Tanju Sofu

Addresses: Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Lemont, IL 60439, USA ' Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Lemont, IL 60439, USA

Abstract: Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations in 3D are performed to analyse the aerodynamic drag performance of a truck for two different on-highway road tunnel dimensions. The objective of this work is to investigate the aerodynamic drag performance of single- and multiple vehicle platooning configurations in single- and multi-lane one-way road traffic condition. Significant aerodynamic drag benefit is observed in no-traffic vehicle with an increase in gap between vehicle and road tunnel. In the vehicle platooning, the predicted aerodynamic drag benefit is up to 23% at lower vehicle separation. The aerodynamic drag benefit gradually drops in one-lane traffic and negative performance is observed from 60ft separation distance onwards. In two-lane traffic, where one vehicle is behind the other without a lateral separation, the predicted aerodynamic drag benefit is up to 60 and 44% at vehicle separation distance of 30 and 150ft, respectively. The aerodynamic drag changes are negligible with an increase in vehicle separation distance where two vehicles are separated laterally with 1.2 m distance. In all configurations, the leading vehicle aerodynamic drag changes are negligible irrespective of the vehicle separation distance.

Keywords: aerodynamics; multi-lane traffic; vehicle platooning; road tunnels; aerodynamic drag; tractor-trailers; underground road traffic; computational fluid dynamics; CFD; simulation; trucks; vehicle separation.

DOI: 10.1504/IJAD.2016.080535

International Journal of Aerodynamics, 2016 Vol.5 No.2, pp.133 - 142

Received: 11 Jun 2016
Accepted: 09 Sep 2016
Published online: 28 Nov 2016 *

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