The present research project treats the aerodynamic characteristics of general modifications at the outer contour of heavy duty semi-trailer trucks. The aerodynamic drag represents an important influencing factor of the total driving resistances of trucks, and consequently it has an important contribution on the fuel consumption. In the present publication, different geometrical modifications of the vehicle outer contour have been evaluated regarding a possible reduction of aerodynamic resistances and thus a potential reduction of fuel consumption under steady state conditions on highway traffic. The research activities were carried out under consideration of the European legislation for maximum vehicle dimensions and weight. As a basis for the research work, two types of generic virtual 3D-CAD reference trucks with different levels of detail were created. In a coarse concept study different geometrical modifications at a simplified reference model were investigated and assessed by use of 3D-CFD simulations. Out of this coarse concept study, two specific geometry variants were selected for the creation of two aerodynamic optimized trucks with a high geometrical accuracy. The air drag characteristics of these trucks were calculated in detailed 3D-CFD simulations to verify the results and to compare them with the behavior of market-available vehicles. For the evaluation of the results the fuel consumption of each variant was calculated by use of longitudinal vehicle dynamics simulations under steady state conditions. The present work points out the potential of different geometrical areas of the entire semi-trailer truck configuration with respect to aerodynamic optimization. The elaborated aerodynamically optimized trucks of this project are able to lead to a reduction of fuel consumption and thus to optimized operating costs for carriers. By introducing such optimized trucks the CO2 emissions of road transportation can be decreased significantly, which supports the intentions to environmental friendly road transport.
Environmental impact of aerodynamic optimizations at heavy duty commercial vehicles
2011
10 Seiten, 11 Bilder, 8 Quellen
(nicht paginiert)
Conference paper
Storage medium
English
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