Body shape development and

aerodynamics
From Aerodynamics of Road Vehicles: From Fluid Mechanics to
Vehicle Engineering
edited by Wolf-Heinrich Hucho
 Nature of flow on upper , back region
and the under-body of the car
 How the shape of the region
influences the flow pattern and
hence the aerodynamic behaviour?
 How to improve the aerodynamic
performance
Nature of flow
 Nature of flow: Summary

 Laminar boundary layer in front

 Separation on bonnet

 Reattachment on wind screen

 Separation at back

 Complex flow under the body

  Four significant
geometric zones:
 Front (Ck)

 Rear slant(Cs)

 Base(Cb)

 Side panels, roof

and under
body(Cf)
Ahmed reference model
FRONT

Flow features

Geometric
features
FRONT Effect of bonnet wind screen interaction

Higher V than V0
because of
obstruction, hence Cp
negative

Very small V
FRONT
Re-attachment
Separation

How the angle between wind screen and bonnet affects the separation
and re-attachment?
Difficult to model hence experimental study was conducted
 Try obtaining an
equation for
formula car

Increasing
angle causes Increasing
reattachment angle causes
point to early
move away separation
From Aerodynamics of Road Vehicles: From Fluid Mechanics to
Vehicle Engineering
edited by Wolf-Heinrich Hucho
 Summary
 Increasing angle causes re-
attachment point to move away.
 Increasing angle causes early
separation
 The low angle reduces the pressure
drag and overall drag
 What is the effect of cross-wise
curvature?
P decreases nearer wall
as v increases.
Cp =1- (v/vo)2
Hence if V is higher Cp
will be smaller. Hence
Cp/CpCL will be less than
one nearer the wall.
With higher angle of wind
screen the Cp value is
increasing because v is
decreasing. This effect is
more pronounced at
smaller angle as side
velocities will be smaller.
At higher angle flow
velocities at sides will be
higher.

In the bonnet this

trend is seen
nearer the wall
 On the sides velocities are higher as
flow is deflected and hence less
pressure.
 Pressure gradient exists across the
bonnet
 Effect of ground flow on pressure
distribution
 Velocity
increases
nearer the wall
and pressure
decreases

High obstruction hence

higher velocity

Large variations, need to

consider velocity gradients
 Presence of velocity gradient because of
ground causes early separation
 The description provided so far will help in
understanding wind loads, design of
mechanical components as well as
placement of inlet grills for ventilation.
 Let us discuss complex flow between the
underside of the car and the ground
 Two boundary layers form one on
the under body and one on the
ground
 Flow is highly three dimensional

 Drag contribution can be calculated

using rough boundary formulations.
 Affectingfactors
 The distance between the underside
and the ground
 The width, length and height ratios
of the vehicle and styling of the body
shape
 The roughness of the underside

 Lengthwise and cross wise curvature

 Smooth and rough
boundaries show
different response

Percentage change
in drag coefficient
becomes constant at
higher clearance

Aerodynamic lift
decrease because
of more uniformity
in the flow

From Aerodynamics of Road Vehicles: From Fluid Mechanics to

Vehicle Engineering
edited by Wolf-Heinrich Hucho
 Smooth underside results in lower
drag
 As the distance from the ground
increases the drag may decrease or
increase depending on the styling of
the car.
 If the ground clearance is small
because of venturi effect it may
cause high flow velocities and low
pressure resulting in low lift.
 Flow at the roof
 Slightly
higher
drag but
low drag
coefficient

Benefit of arching is achieved only when frontal area is kept

constant
 Flow at the rear end

About 90 Less than or

degrees about 20 About 30 to
degrees 50 degrees

Square back Fast back Notch back

 Fast back suitable for 2+2 coupe or
sports car (angle less than 20
degrees)
 Hatch back/Notch back about 30
degrees to 50 degrees

 Square back up to 90 degrees

 Effect of increasing angle
 With increasing angle drag increases
as the separation points dictate
amount of negative pressure at the
back.
 Drag increases to a maximum
beyond which it remains constant
 Boat tailing

Effect of
boat tailing
on a
cylinder

From Aerodynamics of Road Vehicles: From Fluid Mechanics to

Vehicle Engineering
edited by Wolf-Heinrich Hucho
From Aerodynamics of Road Vehicles: From Fluid Mechanics to
Vehicle Engineering
edited by Wolf-Heinrich Hucho
Effect of boat tailing
Diffuser effect
 Excrescence drag
 In an automobile vehicle, the additional drag starts to act
because of practical requirements of having wing mirrors,
rain guttering, wheels and wheel cavity. These components
disturb the smooth flow and hence result in additional drag.
These may increase the over all drag by up to 50%.
Typically wing mirrors contribute to 3 to 6 % of total drag.
Wing mirrors may be a source of vibration because of their
location.
Effect of side wind
 Baker’s work

 Mishra et al work

 Review on Drag and add-on
devices

From Aerodynamics of Road Vehicles: From Fluid Mechanics to

Vehicle Engineering
edited by Wolf-Heinrich Hucho
 Car with a Trailer

From Aerodynamics of Road Vehicles: From Fluid Mechanics to Vehicle

Engineering
edited by Wolf-Heinrich Hucho
 Effect of Trailer shape

From Aerodynamics of Road Vehicles: From Fluid Mechanics to

Vehicle Engineering
edited by Wolf-Heinrich Hucho