Vehicle aerodynamics mini project

BOUITA Douae and ANEJARE Mohammed

Adress of authors : Université Internationale de Rabat Technopolis Rabat-Shore Rocade Rabat- Salé,
Rabat 11103 .

Affiliation of authors : Automotive engineering

First author’s email : douae.bouita@uir.ac.ma

Second author’s email : mohammed.anejare@uir.ac.ma

ABSTRACT

Automotive aerodynamics is the study of the aerodynamics of road vehicles. Its main goals are
reducing drag and wind noise, minimizing noise emission, and preventing undesired lift forces
and other causes of aerodynamic instability at high speeds. In this era of fast-depleting natural
resources, and due to the energy crisis, the hike in fuel prices is ever-growing. Fuel consumption
due to aerodynamic drag consumes about half the vehicle’s energy. Thus, reducing the drag is
one of the major approaches automotive manufacturers opt for. Shaping the body of the vehicle
and inclusion of various add on devices contributes to optimization for low drag, which becomes
an essential part of the design process.

1. INTRODUCTION

It has been asked from us as automotive students to apply our skills learned during the
aerodynamics course to find solutions to reduce the drag of a car we choose. For ultimately
decreasing its energy consumption. The following study is about the Tesla Cybertruck; a battery
electric light-duty truck unveiled at 2019.The stated goal of Tesla in developing the Cybertruck
was to provide a sustainable energy substitute for the roughly 6,500 fuel-powered trucks sold per
day in the United States. They claim that it has a better utility than a truck and more performance
than a sports car .

2. NEEDED INFORMATION FROM CLASS NOTES

- Vehicle aerodynamics : the study of the air flow around the body of the road vehicle .

- Flow separation : the case where the flow can no longer follow the profile of the body around
which it flows and separates turbulently from it .

- Drag (D) : forces that oppose the relative motion of an object through the air. Drag always
opposes the motion of the object . It is computed using the following relationship :
- Frontal area (A) : Frontal area is the area where a car hits the air head on.

- Drag coefficient (Cd) : is a dimensionless quantity that is used to quantify the drag or
resistance of an object in a fluid environment, such as air or water.

3. Methods to reduce the aerodynamic drag:

The Following table is taken from a Review of Research on Vehicles Aerodynamic Drag
Reduction Methods, published in the International Journal of Mechanical & Mechatronics
Engineering. It presents some active and passive flow control methods to reduce drag:
3. SPECIFICATIONS

The cybertruck is an electric light duty truck (pickup) announced by tesla in 2019, with three
models. The Rear wheel drive, the all-wheel drive with dual motor and the one with tri-motor
also called “the plaid”. the engineering behind the Cybertruck is extremely impressive.

The most interesting aspect of the Cybertruck's is its design which is highly unconventional,
The exterior design is a complete departure from the usual streamlined styling of other Tesla
models. it only features straight lines. The nose is vertical and there is a gentle incline from
the bonnet up to the roof. The roofline then gently declines down towards the rear of the truck.

The Cybertrucks have a total length of 5.885 m, an overall width of 2.027 m, and a height of
1.90m. The wheelbase of the Tesla Cybertruck is 3.80m with an estimated curb weight
between 2260-2950 kg. It has a lockable aerodynamic cover that gives the vehicle (2,831L)
of protected cargo storage. The Vault will also support loads of up to (1,588kg).

The plaid model which is the most powerful model of the cybertruck produces around 800hp
and 1355Nm of torque. Tesla claims that this revolutionary electric vehicle reach from none
to 100Km/h in under 3 seconds, Knocking off all the other trucks from the throne as the
quickest pick up ever tested with a high speed of 210 km/h ,an estimated range of 800km and
a tow capacity of 6350kg.
4. The drag Force:

• One thing that Elon Musk emphasized about the Cybertruck during its unveil is that its
design is about more than just aesthetics. We already know the thick, angular steel
plates makes for a stronger frame and theoretically lower build cost, but it likely has
another benefit too: aerodynamics.

• From the 2D section above it’s clear that there aren’t much flow separations. However,
2D analysis does not reveal the whole story. To analyse the behaviour of the flow in more
detail, streamlines can be
used to illustrate how the air
flows over a surface. The
below images show a friction
drag colour map on the
surface of the Cybertruck,
along with streamline

The rear of the Tesla

Cybertruck is another area of
significant drag. However, this
is unsurprising considering the
sharp change in surface
geometry of the trailing edge.
Leaving the cybertuck with a
drag coefficient of 0.48 .
5.SKETCHING OF THE CAR:

Side View

Top View

Front View

Rear view
6. MODIFICATIONS:

• SPOILER: Spoiler is one of the most widely used and important aerodynamic devices in
the automotive domain. Its main purpose is to “spoil” the unwanted airflow and channel
the airflow in order, which helps in reducing the drag. However, the actual use of spoiler
is noticed at higher speeds approximately above 120 km/h. Commercial vehicles usually
adopt it to increase the design appeal of the vehicle, which provides little or no
aerodynamic advantage. Thus, mostly high-performance vehicles adapt it to achieve
higher speeds.

According to “Kodali, S. P., and Bezavada, S. (2012) Numerical simulation of air flow over a passenger car and
the Influence of rear spoiler using CFD,International Journal of Advanced Transport Phenomena, Vol. 01(1),
pp.6-13.” The rear spoiler decreases the drag by 3% .

• DIFFUSER: The diffuser is a curved area of the automobile's rear that increases aerodynamic
qualities by improving the transition between the high-velocity airflow beneath the car and the
considerably slower freestream airflow of the ambient atmosphere.

According to Mazyan, W. I. (2013) Numerical simulations of drag-reducing devices for ground vehicles, Doctoral
dissertation, American University. The rear diffuser decreases the drag by 21% .

• FRONT LIP: A front lip is a rubber strip that’s affixed to your front bumper. Front lips vary in
terms of quality, size, and durability. They’re main job is to reduce airflow under the vehicle.
They reduce the drag by 3%. There is no accurate research of the exact percentage of the
drag reduction created by the front lip therefore and after a lot of studies we have concluded
that it is around 3%.

• LATERAL GUIDE VANES: The objective of installing Lateral guide vanes that are usually
near the rear end of the vehicle, is to direct air into the low-pressure wake region in order to
enhance pressure recovery, which in turn would reduce form drag and hence the overall
aerodynamic drag.

According to Wahba, E., Al-Marzooqi, H., Shaath, M., Shahin, M., and ElDhmashawy, T. (2012) Aerodynamic drag
reduction for ground vehicles using lateral guide vanes, CFD Letters, Vol.4(2), pp68-79. The lateral guide vanes
decreases the drag by 18%

• SPLITTER PLATES: The aim of vertical splitter plates placed at the front or the rear of a
car is to reduce drag, Drag reductions of nearly 1.5% were obtained for a zero skew angle
with splitter plates this suggest that this expertise should be used in the automotive field to
reduce consumption and improve dynamic stability of road vehicles.

According to
(https://www.researchgate.net/publication/225119885_Aerodynamic_drag_reduction_by_vertical_split
ter_plates)
• REAR SCREEN: The rear-end shape of a car is one of the most crucial parts from the
aerodynamics point of view. It governs aerodynamic characteristics of the car, especially
drag and rear lift. The use of rear screen allows a reduction in aerodynamic drag of the
vehicle consideration by up to ~6.5%.Efficiency of rear screens from point of view of drag
reducing depends on configuration, dimensions and arrangement of screens.

And that’s According to Rohatgi, U. S. (2012), Methods of reducing vehicle aerodynamic drag,ASME 2012 Summer
Heat Transfer Conference, Puerto Rico, USA, July 8-12

7. FINAL PRODUCT:

Conclusion
All in all and after some calculations, we found that using all these methods the drag cofficent
will be reduced by 53%. Therefore the final drag coefficient of the modified cybertruck will be
0.25 initially being 0.48.