Review on Aerodynamic Drag Reduction of Vehicles

Abstract

Due to higher price, limited supply and negative impacts on environment by fossil fuel, automobile industries have directed their concentrations in reducing the fuel consumption of vehicles in order to achieve the lower aerodynamic drag. As a consequence, numerous researches have been carried out throughout the world for not only getting the optimum aerodynamic design with lower drag penalty and but also other parameters that increases the fuel consumption. In this regard, relevant experimental and numerical outcomes on vehicle drag reduction considering various techniques such as active, passive and combined techniques in order to delay or suppress flow separation behind the vehicles have been considered in this review paper. Furthermore, the effects of drag reduction and their applicability on the vehicles are also illustrated in this paper. Therefore, it is conjectured that the drag reduction has been improved as much as 20%, 21.2%, and 30% by using the active, passive and combined control systems, respectively.