Influence of Low-Resistance Accessories on Aerodynamic Characteristics of Low-Resistance Vehicles

Abstract:

A numerical research is conducted on a low-resistance electric vehicle with or without front wheel spoiler， rear wheel side plate， and rear wheel deflector. By comparing the aerodynamic force， surface pressure， and the computed result of flow field， the effects of low-resistance accessories on the aerodynamic characteristics of these working conditions are evaluated. The result indicates that compared with the basic condition， when removing only the front wheel spoiler， the rear wheel side plate and the rear wheel deflector， and removing both the rear wheel side plate and the deflector， the total resistance of the vehicle is increased by 3.0 %， 6.5 %， －1.8 %， and 1.2 % respectively. The main contribution to the change in the total resistance of the low-resistance vehicle came from the front and rear wheel areas， underbody， and base. The low-resistance attachments mainly affect the underbody obstruction indirectly by changing the flow field in the wheel area， which in turn changes the wheel-body aerodynamic interaction， thereby affecting the aerodynamic characteristics of the low-resistance vehicle.