Aerodynamic Simulation of Heavy Trucks with Rotating Wheels

Kidambi Sreenivas, Ramesh Pankajakshan, D. Stephen Nichols, Brent C.J. Mitchell, Lafayette K. Taylor, and David L. Whitfield
UT SimCenter at Chattanooga, The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, Chattanooga, Tennessee, 37403

Aerodynamic simulations were carried out for the Ground Transportation System model, a 1/8th scale tractor-trailer model, that was tested in the NASA Ames 7’x10’ tunnel. The computed forces and pressure coefficients are compared to experiment. Detailed comparisons are also carried out for the wake in the symmetry plane of the model. A DES version of the two equation hybrid turbulence model is shown to predict the single vortex structure observed in the experiment. Simulations are also carried out for an isolated rotating wheel and the results are compared to experiment data. A theoretically predicted jet arising at the contact patches was observed computationally with its magnitude matching the theoretical predictions. Representative simulations were also carried out for a tractortrailer model with rotating wheels.