CHAPTER TWO

VEHICLE AERODYNAMICS

2.1 Introduction

The constant need for better fuel economy, greater vehicle performance, reduction in wind noise level
and improved road holding and stability for a vehicle on the move, has prompted vehicle
manufacturers to investigate the nature of air resistance or drag for different body shapes under
various operating conditions.

Aerodynamics is the study of a solid body moving through the atmosphere and the interaction which
takes place between the body surfaces and the surrounding air with varying relative speeds and wind
direction.

The main objectives of vehicle aerodynamics are:

✓ Avoidance of flow separation

Body styling has to accommodate passengers and luggage space, the functional power train, steering,
suspension and wheels etc. thus vehicle design will conflict with minimizing the body surface drag
so that the body shape finally accepted is nearly always a compromise.

2.2 Fundamentals of Fluid Mechanics

Fluid mechanics is the study of fluids either in motion (fluid dynamics) or at rest (fluid statics). Both
gases and liquids are classified as fluids. The essence of the subject of fluid flow is a compromise
between theory and experiment. Since fluid flow is a branch of mechanics, it satisfies a set of well
documented basic laws, and thus a great deal of theoretical treatment is available. However, the
theory is often frustrating because it applies mainly to idealized situations, which may be invalid in
practical problems. The two chief obstacles to a workable theory are geometry and viscosity. The
basic equations of fluid motion are too difficult to enable the analyst to attack arbitrary geometric
configurations. Thus, most textbooks concentrate on flat plates, circular pipes, and other easy
geometries. It is possible to apply numerical computer techniques to complex geometries, and
specialized textbooks are now available to explain the new computational fluid dynamics (CFD).
2.2.1 Classification of Fluid Motions

I. Viscous and Inviscid Flows

If there is a drag force on a moving object due to friction of the air as it flows over the object, the
flow is called viscous flow. But in the case of inviscid flow there is no friction of the air as it flows
over an object.

If the Reynolds number is large, viscous effects will be negligible (but will still have important
consequences), at least in most of the flow; if the Reynolds number is small, viscous effects will be
dominant. Finally, if the Reynolds number is neither large nor small, no general conclusions can be
drawn.

II. Laminar and Turbulent Flows

A laminar flow is one in which the fluid particles move in smooth layers, or laminas; a turbulent flow
is one in which the fluid particles rapidly mix as they move along due to random three-dimensional
velocity fluctuations. In order to differentiate whether the flow is laminar or turbulent Reynolds
number is used.
𝝆𝑽𝑳
𝑹𝒆 =
𝝁
Where Re is Reynolds number, p and µ, are the fluid density and viscosity, respectively, and V and L
are the typical or "characteristic" velocity and size scale of the flow respectively.

Figure 2.1: Reynolds number

For an external flow the Reynolds number range for laminar and turbulent flow is:

Laminar flow 103 < Re < 106

Flows in which variations in density are negligible are termed incompressible; when density
variations within a flow are not negligible, the flow is called compressible. The most common
example of compressible flow concerns the flow of gases, while the flow of liquids may frequently
be treated as incompressible.

IV. Internal and External Flows

Flows completely bounded by solid surfaces are called internal or duct flows. Flows over bodies
immersed in an unbounded fluid are termed external flows. Both internal and external flows may be
laminar or turbulent, compressible or incompressible.

2.2.2 Boundary layer (BL)

Air has viscosity, that is, there is internal friction between adjacent layers of air, whenever there is
relative air movement, consequently when there is sliding between adjacent layers of air, energy is
dissipated. When air flows over a solid surface a thin boundary layer is formed between the main
airstream and the surface.

Figure 2.2: Boundary layer velocity gradient

Any relative movement between the main airstream flow and the surface of the body then takes place
within this boundary layer via the process of shearing of adjacent layers of air. When air flows over
any surface, air particles in intimate contact with the surface loosely attach themselves so that relative
air velocity at the surface becomes zero. The relative speed of the air layers adjacent to the arrested
air surface film will be very slow; however, the next adjacent layer will slide over an already moving
layer so that its relative speed will be somewhat higher. Hence the relative air velocity further out
from the surface rises progressively between air layers until it attains the unrestricted main airstream
speed.
2.3 Aerodynamic Force and Moment

Air flowing past a body, must be diverted from its original path, and such deflections lead to changes
in the speed of the air. Also, the viscosity of the air leads to the existence of frictional forces tending
to resist its flow. As a result of these processes, the body experiences a resultant aerodynamic force
and moment. It is conventional and convenient to separate this aerodynamic force and moment into
three components each, as follows.

2.3.1 Aerodynamic Forces

✓ Lift (L): Lift is force acting perpendicular to the motion of the vehicle. In vehicles negative
lift it sought after to force the vehicle into the ground, this force acting on the vehicle helps
increase vehicle grip which leads to faster cornering speed.
✓ Drag (D): Aerodynamic drag is a force that opposes the vehicles direction of movement. The
main contributor to vehicle’s drag is the high pressure acting on the front of the vehicle,
surface friction and the relatively negative pressure left behind the vehicle.
✓ Cross-wind force (S): This is the component of force mutually perpendicular to the lift and
the drag and it acts in the lateral direction.

2.3.2 Aerodynamic Moments

✓ Pitching moment (PM): This is the moment acting in the lateral axis.
✓ Rolling moment (RM): This is the moment tending to make the vehicle roll about the
longitudinal axis (in the vehicle’s direction of movement).
✓ Yawing moment (YM): This is the moment that tends to rotate the vehicle about the lift
direction.

Figure 2.3: Aerodynamic forces and moments acting on a vehicle

Vehicle drag is a force that opposes the vehicles direction of movement. The main contributor to
vehicle’s drag is the high pressure acting on the front of the vehicle, surface friction and the relatively
negative pressure left behind the vehicle. Aerodynamic drag is usually insignificant at low vehicle
speed but the magnitude of air resistance becomes considerable with rising speed. This can be seen
in Figure 2.4 which compares the aerodynamic drag forces of a poorly streamlined, and a very highly
streamlined medium sized car against its constant rolling resistance over a typical speed range.

Figure 2.4: comparison of high and low aerodynamic drag forces with rolling resistance

There are a number of separate contributions to total drag. As a first step it may be divided into
pressure drag and skin-friction drag.

2.4.1 Skin- friction drag (or surface- friction drag)

This is the drag that is generated by the resolved components of the traction due to the shear stresses
acting on the surface of the body. This traction is due directly to viscosity and acts tangentially at all
points on the surface of the body. At each point it has a component aligned with but opposing the
undisturbed flow (opposite to the direction of movement). This is the restraining force preventing a
thin flat plate placed edgewise to an oncoming airstream being dragged along with it, in other words,
the skin friction is the viscous resistance generated within the boundary layer when air flows over a
solid surface.
Skin friction is dependent on the surface area over which the air flows, the degree of surface
roughness or smoothness and the air speed. Air particles in contact with a surface tend to be attracted
to it, thus viscous drag will retard the layer of air moving near the surface. However, there will be a
gradual increase in air speed from the inner to the outer boundary layer.

The thickness of the boundary layer is influenced by the surface finish. A smooth surface allows the
free air flow velocity to be reached nearer the surface whereas a rough surface widens the boundary
so that the full air velocity will be reached further out from the surface. Hence the thicker boundary
layer associated with a rough surface will cause more adjacent layers of air to be sheared, accordingly
there will be more resistance to air movement compared with a smooth surface.

Figure 2.5: Influence of surface roughness on boundary layer velocity profile

2.4.2 Pressure (form) drag

When viscous air flows over and past a solid form, vortices are created at the rear causing the flow
to deviate from the smooth streamline flow. Under these conditions the air flow pressure in front of
the solid object will be higher than atmospheric pressure while the pressure behind will be lower than
that of the atmosphere, consequently the solid body will be dragged (sucked) in the direction of air
movement. Note that this effect is created in addition to the skin friction drag.
Pressure drag can be reduced by streamlining any solid form exposed to the air flow.

2.4.3 Trailing vortex drag

when air flows from the front to the rear of the car, the air moves between the underside and ground,
and over the raised upper body profile surfaces. The air pressure will therefore be higher in the slower
underfloor airstream than that for the faster air- stream moving over the top surface of the car. Now
air moves from high to low pressure regions so that the high-pressure airstream underneath the car
will tend to move diagonally outwards and upwards towards the low-pressure airstream flowing over
the top of the body surface. Both the lower and the upper airstreams eventually interact along the
side-to-top profile edges on opposite sides of the body to form an inward rotary air motion that
continues to whirl for some distance beyond the rear end of the forward moving car.
The equation which is used to calculate aerodynamic drag is as followed.

2.5 Air streamlines

A moving car displaces the air ahead so that the air is forced to flow around and towards the rear. The
pattern of air movement around the car can be visualized by air streamlines which are imaginary lines
across which there is no flow.

These streamlines broadly follow the contour of the body but any sudden change in the car’s shape
compels the streamlines to deviate, leaving zones of stagnant air pockets. The further these
streamlines are from the body the more they will tend to straighten out.

2.6 Relative air speed and pressure conditions over the upper profile of a moving car

The space between the upper profile of the horizontal outer streamlines relative to the road surface
generated when the body is in motion can be considered to constitute a venturi effect. The air gap
between the horizontal airstreamlines and front-end bonnet (hood) and windscreen profile and the
back-end screen and boot (trunk) profile produce a diverging and converging air wedge, respectively.
Thus, the air scooped into the front wedge can be considered initially to be at atmospheric pressure
and moving at car speed.

Figure: Relative air speed and pressure conditions over the upper profile of a moving car
As the air moves into the diverging wedge it has to accelerate to maintain the rate of volumetric
displacement. Over the roof the venturi is at its narrowest, the air movement will be at its highest and
the air molecules will be stretched further apart, consequently there will be a reduction in air pressure
in this region. Finally, the relative air movement at the rear of the boot will have slowed to car speed,
conversely its pressure will have again risen to the surrounding atmospheric pressure conditions, thus
allowing the random network of distorted molecules to move closer together to a more stable
condition. As the air moves beyond the roof into the diverging wedge region it decelerates to cope
with the enlarged flow space.

2.7 Lamina/turbulent boundary layer transition point

A boundary layer over the forward surface of a body, such as the roof, will generally be laminar, but
further to the rear a point will be reached called the transition point when the boundary layer changes
from a lamina to a turbulent one. As the speed of the vehicle rises the transition point tends to move
further to the front, therefore less of the boundary layer will be laminar and more will become
turbulent; accordingly, this will correspond to a higher level of skin friction.

Figure: Laminar to turbulent boundary layer transition layer

2.8 Flow separation and reattachment

The stream of air flowing over a car’s body tends to follow closely to the contour of the body
unless there is a sudden change in shape.

The front bonnet (hood) is usually slightly curved and slopes up towards the front windscreen,
from here there is an upward windscreen tilt (rake), followed by a curved but horizontal roof
the rear windscreen then tilts downwards where it either merges with the boot (trunk) or
continues to slope gently downwards until it reaches the rear end of the car.

The air velocity and pressure therefore reach its highest and lowest values, respectively, at
the top of the front windscreen; however, towards the rear of the roof and when the screen
tilts downwards there will be a reduction in air speed and a rise in pressure.
If the rise in air pressure towards the rear of the car is very gradual then mixing of the air-
stream with the turbulent boundary layers will be relatively steady so that the outer layers will
be drawn along with the main airstream.

Figure: Flow separation and reattachment

Conversely if the downward slope of the rear screen/boot is considerable, the pressure rise
will be large so that the mixing rate of mainstream air with the boundary layers cannot keep
the inner layers moving, consequently the slowed down boundary layers thicken.
Under these conditions the mainstream air flow breaks away from the contour surface of the
body, this being known as flow separation.
An example of flow separation followed by reattachment can be visualized with air flowing
over the bonnet and front windscreen; if the rake angle between the bonnet and windscreen
is large, the streamline flow will separate from the bonnet and then reattach itself near the top
of the windscreen or front end of the roof.
The space between the separation and reattachment will then be occupied by circulating air
which is referred to as a separation bubble, and if this rotary motion is vigorous a transverse
vortex will be established.
2.9 Pressure (form) drag

When viscous air flows over and past a solid form, vortices are created at the rear causing the flow
to deviate from the smooth streamline flow. Under these conditions the air flow pressure in front of
the solid object will be higher than atmospheric pressure while the pressure behind will be lower than
that of the atmosphere, consequently the solid body will be dragged (sucked) in the direction of air
movement. Note that this effect is created in addition to the skin friction drag.

Pressure drag can be reduced by streamlining any solid form exposed to the air flow, for instance a
round tube encourages the air to flow smoothly around the front half and part of the rear before flow
separation occurs thereby reducing the resistance by about half that of the flat plate. The resistance
of a tube can be further reduced to about 15% of the flat plate by extending the rear of the circulating
tube in the form of a curved tapering lobe.

2.10 After flow wake

This is the turbulent volume of air produced at the rear end of a forward moving car and which tends
to move with it. The wake has a cross-sectional area equal approximately to that of the rear vertical
boot panel plus the rearward projected area formed between the level at which the air flow separates
from the downward sloping rear window panel and the top edge of the boot.

Figure: After flow wake

The aerodynamic drag coefficient is a measure of the effectiveness of a streamline aerodynamic body
shape in reducing the air resistance to the forward motion of a vehicle. A low drag coefficient implies
that the streamline shape of the vehicle’s body is such as to enable it to move easily through the
surrounding viscous air with the minimum of resistance; conversely a high drag coefficient is caused
by poor streamlining of the body profile so that there is a high air resistance when the vehicle is in
motion. Typical drag coefficients for various classes of vehicles can be seen as follows:

2.11.1 Drag coefficients and various body shapes

A comparison of the air flow resistance for different shapes in terms of drag coefficients is presented
as follows:

(a) Circular plate: Air flow is head on, and there is an immediate end on pressure difference. Flow
separation takes place at the rim; this provides a large vortex wake and a correspondingly high
drag coefficient of 1.15.

(b) Cube: Air flow is head on but a boundary layer around the sides delays the flow separation;
nevertheless, there is still a large vortex wake and a high drag coefficient of 1.05.
(c) Sixty-degree cone: With the piecing cone shape air flows towards the cone apex and then spreads
outwards parallel to the shape of the cone surface. Flow separation however still takes place at
the periphery thereby producing a wide vortex wake This profile halves the drag coefficient to
about 0.5 compared with the circular plate and the cube block.

(d) Sphere: Air flow towards the sphere, it is then diverted so that it flows outwards from the center
around the diverging surface and over a small portion of the converging rear half before flow
separation occurs. There is therefore a slight reduction in the vortex wake and similarly a
marginal decrease in the drag coefficient to 0.47.

(e) Tear drop: If the proportion of length to diameter is well chosen, the streamline shape can
maintain a boundary layer before flow separation occurs almost to the end of its tail. Thus, the
resistance to body movement will be mainly due to viscous air flow and little to do with vortex
wake suction. With these contours the drag coefficient can be as low as 0.05.
Example 1: The drag coefficient of a car at the design conditions of 1 atm, 25°C, and 90 km/h is to
be determined experimentally in a large wind tunnel in a full-scale test. The height and width of the
car are 1.40 m and 1.65 m, respectively. If the horizontal force acting on the car is measured to be
300 N, determine the total drag coefficient of this car. (Density: 1.164 kg/m3)

Example 2: A 200cm diameter spherical tank completely submerged in freshwater is being towed by
a ship at 4 m/s. Assuming turbulent flow, determine the required towing power.