Aerodynamic Simulation of Road Vehicle in Steady Crosswind

Abstract

Because crosswind affects drivers to control their vehicles safely, the research on flow characteristics in automotive crosswind has a great significance to improve the crosswind stability of the vehicle. By the steady state numerical simulation method, the aerodynamic characteristics of external flow field of Ahmed body in crosswind was investigated. The Ahmed body with 25° slant angle is built in UG NX. The external flow field of the Ahmed body in the wind direction of 0°, 15º, 30° angle is simulated in XFlow software. According to the map of the pressure and velocity distribution, the flow field both before and after, as well as left and right has significant change as the wind direction angle increased, and the trail turbulence intensity also changes. The changes of aerodynamic force and moment affect the driving stability of a motor vehicle.