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An experimental/computational research program has been conducted to evaluate and confirm a patent-pending pneumatic concept intended to improve aerodynamic problem areas of automobiles. These areas of concern include: separated flow and drag reduction; lift, side force and moment control; and lateral/directional stability. The pneumatic concept applied uses a form of blowing which has proven quite effective in aircraft applications because of its very large aerodynamic returns from minimal blowing input. During this research program, this blowing system was installed in models of generic streamlined automobiles and its effect on aerodynamic and control improvements was investigated. Initial wind-tunnel evaluations revealed that the unblown streamlined model exhibited all of the above areas of concern. Pressure distributions on the vehicle were used to design an effective blowing concept which improved vehicle aerodynamics by enhancing the local flowfields.

Under contract to the DOE Office of Heavy Vehicle Technologies, the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) is developing and evaluating pneumatic (blown) aerodynamic devices to improve the performance, economics, stability and safety of operation of Heavy Vehicles. The objective of this program is to apply the pneumatic aerodynamic aircraft technology previously developed and flight-tested by GTRI personnel to the design of an efficient blown tractor-trailer configuration. Recent experimental results obtained by GTRI using blowing have shown drag reductions of 35% on a streamlined automobile wind-tunnel model. Also measured were lift or download increases of 100-150% and the ability to control aerodynamic moments about all 3 axes without any moving control surfaces.