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Cars in several motor sports series, such as Formula 1, make use of multi-element front wings to provide downforce. These wings also provide onset flows to other surfaces that generate downforce. These elements are highly loaded to maximise their performance and are generally operating close to stall. Rubber debris, often known as marbles, created from the high slip experienced by the soft compound tyres can become lodged in the multiple elements of a front wing. This will lead to a reduction in the effectiveness of the wing over the course of a race. This work will study the effect of such debris, both experimentally and numerically, on an inverted double element wing in ground effect at representative Reynolds numbers. The wing was mounted at two different ride heights above a fixed false-floor in the Loughborough University wind tunnel and the effect of debris blockage modelled by closing sections of the gap between elements with tape.

In this paper, a direct correlation between transmission gear rattle experiments and numerical models is presented, particularly focusing on the noise levels (dB) measured from a single gear pair test rig. The rig is placed in a semi-anechoic chamber environment to aid the noise measurements and instrumented with laser vibrometers, accelerometers and free field microphones. The input torsional velocity is provided by an electric motor, which is controlled by a signal generator, aiming to introduce an alternating component onto the otherwise nominal speed; thus, emulating the engine orders found in an internal combustion engine. These harmonic irregularities are conceived to be the triggering factor for gear rattle to occur. Hence, the rig is capable of running under rattling and non-rattling conditions. The numerical model used accounts for the gear pair's torsional dynamics, lubricated impacts between meshing teeth and bearing friction.

The drag coefficient at zero yaw angle is the single parameter usually used to define the aerodynamic drag characteristics of a passenger car. However, this is usually the minimum drag condition and will, for example, lead to an underestimate of the effect of aerodynamic drag on fuel consumption because the important influence of the natural wind has been excluded. An alternative measure of aerodynamic drag should take into account the effect of nonzero yaw angles and a variant of wind-averaged drag is suggested as the best option. A wind-averaged drag coefficient (CDW) is usually derived for a particular vehicle speed using a representative wind speed distribution. In the particular case where the road speed distribution is specified, as for a drive cycle to determine fuel economy, a relevant drag coefficient can be derived by using a weighted road speed.

Electrification of aircraft is on track to be a future key design principal due to the increasing pressure on the aviation industry to significantly reduce harmful emissions by 2050 and the increased use of electrical equipment. This has led to an increased focus on the research and development of alternative power sources for aircraft, including fuel cells. These alternative power sources could either be used to provide propulsive power or as an Auxiliary Power Unit (APU). Previous studies have considered isolated design cases where a fuel cell system was tailored for their specific application. To accommodate for the large variation between aircraft, this study covers the design of an empirical model, which will be used to size a fuel cell system for any given aircraft based on basic design parameters. The model was constructed utilising aircraft categorisation, fuel cell sizing and balance of plant sub-models.

In a real-world environment, a vehicle on the road is subjected to a range of flow yaw angles, the most severe of which can impact handling and stability. A fully coupled, six degrees-of-freedom CFD and vehicle handling simulation has modelled the complete closed loop system. Varying flow yaw angles are introduced via time dependent boundary conditions and aerodynamic loads predicted, whilst a handling model running simultaneously calculates the resulting vehicle response. Updates to the vehicle position and orientation within the CFD simulation are achieved using the overset grid method. Using this approach, a crosswind simulation that follows the parameters of ISO 12021:2010 (Sensitivity to lateral wind - Open-loop test method using wind generator input), was performed using the fastback variant of the DrivAer model. Fully coupled aerodynamic and vehicle response was compared to that obtained using the simplified quasi-steady and unsteady, one way coupled method.

The motivation for this paper is to consider the effect of rear end geometry on rear soiling using a representative generic SUV body. In particular the effect of varying the top slant angle is considered using both experiment and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). Previous work has shown that slant angle has a significant effect on wake shape and drag and the work here extends this to investigate the effect on rear soiling. It is hoped that this work can provide an insight into the likely effect of such geometry changes on the soiling of similarly shaped road vehicles. To increase the generality of results, and to allow comparison with previously obtained aerodynamic data, a 25% scale generic SUV model is used in the Loughborough University Large Wind Tunnel. UV doped water is sprayed from a position located at the bottom of the left rear tyre to simulate the creation of spray from this tyre.

The effects of adding a streamlined tail to a simple vehicle shape, represented by the Windsor Body has been investigated in a small scale wind tunnel experiment. The extended tail has a constant width, with a flat lower surface and a constant upper surface taper angle. The tail is truncated in steps to understand the trends in the principal aerodynamic characteristics. The slant surface and the base have been pressure tapped to indicate the contribution to drag and lift from these surfaces. The bodies have been tested over a range of yaw angles and wind tunnel airspeeds. The effects of adding wheels, albeit in a fixed ground experiment, has also been studied. The experimental data for the basic wheel-less body in a squareback configuration and with tapered tails of different length at zero yaw has been compared with an earlier CFD simulation of the same configurations.

Wind tunnel tests have been conducted on a simple bluff body model, representing a car like shape, to investigate drag reduction opportunities from injecting low velocity air into the base region. This flow is known as base bleed. Most tests have been carried out using a square back shape. The effects of flow rate, porosity and porosity distribution over the base area have been investigated. In all cases drag is reduced with increasing bleed rate, but the optimum porosity is a function of bleed rate. A significant part of the drag reduction occurs without the bleed flow and arises from the presence of a cavity in the model. The effects of cavity size are examined for different base configurations. Some factors affecting implementation are considered.

Various techniques to reduce the aerodynamic drag of bluff bodies through the mechanism of base pressure recovery have been investigated. These include, for example, boat-tailing, base cavities and base bleed. In this study a simple body representing a car shape is modified to include tapering of the rear upper body on both roof and sides. The effects of taper angle and taper length on drag and lift characteristics are investigated. It is shown that a significant drag reduction can be obtained with moderate taper angles. An unexpected feature is a drag rise at a particular taper length. Pressure data obtained on the rear surfaces and some wake flow visualisation using PIV are presented.

The aerodynamic drag characteristics of a passenger car are typically defined by a single parameter, the drag coefficient at zero yaw angle. While this has been acceptable in the past, it may not allow a true comparison between vehicles with regard to the impact of drag on performance, especially fuel economy. An alternative measure of aerodynamic drag should take into account the effect of non-zero yaw angles and some proposals have been made in the past, including variations of wind-averaged drag coefficient. For almost all cars the drag increases with yaw, but the increase can vary significantly between vehicles. In this paper the effect of various parameters on the drag rise with yaw are considered for a range of different vehicle types. The increase of drag with yaw is shown to be an essentially induced drag, which is strongly dependent on both side force and lift. Shape factors which influence the sensitivity of drag with yaw are discussed.

Growing concerns about the environmental impact of road vehicles will lead to a reduction in the aerodynamic drag for all passenger cars. This includes Sport Utility Vehicles (SUVs) and light trucks which have relatively high drag coefficients and large frontal area. The wind tunnel remains the tool of choice for the vehicle aerodynamicist, but it is important that the benefits obtained in the wind tunnel reflect improvements to the vehicle on the road. Coastdown measurements obtained using a Land Rover Freelander, in various configurations, have been made to determine aerodynamic drag and these have been compared with wind tunnel data for the same vehicle. Repeatability of the coastdown data, the effects of drag variation near to zero yaw and asymmetry in the drag-yaw data on the results from coastdown testing are assessed. Alternative blockage corrections for the wind tunnel measurements are examined.

Side force has an influence on the behaviour of passenger cars in windy conditions. It increases approximately linearly with yaw angle over a significant range of yaw for almost all cars and the side force derivative, (the gradient of side force coefficient with yaw angle), is similar for vehicles of a given category and size. The shape factors and components which affect side force for different vehicle types are discussed. The dominant influence on side force, for most cars, however, is shown to be the vehicle height which is consistent with slender wing theory if the car and its mirror image are considered. This simple theory is shown to apply to 1-box and 2- box shapes, covering most MPVs, hatchbacks and SUVs, but does not adequately represent the side forces on notchback and fastback car shapes. Data from simple bodies is used to develop a modification to the basic theory, which is applied to these vehicle types.

A drag coefficient, which is representative of the drag of a car undergoing a particular drive cycle, known as the cycle-averaged-drag coefficient, has been previously developed. It was derived for different drive cycles using mean values for the natural wind. It assumed terrain dependent wind velocities based on the Weibull function, equi-probable wind direction and shear effects. It did not, however, include any effects of turbulence in the natural wind. Some recent research using active vanes in the wind tunnel to generate turbulence has suggested that the effect on drag can be evaluated from the quasi steady wind inputs. On this basis a simple quasi-steady theory for the effect of turbulence on car drag is developed and applied to predicting the cycle-averaged-drag coefficient for a range of cars of different types. The drag is always increased by the turbulence but in all cases is relatively small.

Models of hybrid powertrains are used to establish the best combination of conventional engine power and electric motor power for the current driving situation. The model is characteristic for having two control inputs and one output constraint: the total torque should be equal to the torque requested by the driver. To eliminate the constraint, several alternative formulations are used, considering engine power or motor power or even the ratio between them as a single control input. From this input and the constraint, both power levels can be deduced. There are different popular choices for this one control input. This paper presents a novel model based on an input linearizing transformation. It is demonstrably superior to alternative model forms, in that the core dynamics of the model (battery state of energy) are linear, and the non-linearities of the model are pushed into the inputs and outputs in a Wiener/Hammerstein form.

A large contribution to the aerodynamic drag of a vehicle (30%(1) or more depending on vehicle shape) arises from the low base pressure in the wake region, especially on square-back configurations. A degree of base pressure recovery can be achieved through careful shape optimization, but the flow structures and mechanisms within the wake that cause these base pressure changes are not well understood. A more complete understanding of these mechanisms may provide opportunities for further drag reductions from both passive shape changes and in the future through the use of active flow control technologies. In this work surprisingly large changes in drag and lift coefficients of a square-back style vehicle have been measured as a result of physically small passive modifications. Tests were performed at quarter scale using a simplified vehicle model (Windsor Model) and at full scale using an MPV. The full scale vehicle was tested with and without a flat floor.

Surface contamination, or soiling, of the exterior of road vehicles can be unsightly, can reduce visibility and customer satisfaction, and, with the increasing application of surface-mounted sensors, can degrade the performance of advanced driver-assistance systems. Experimental methods of evaluating surface contamination are increasingly used in the product development process, but the results are generally subjective. The use of computational methods for predicting contamination makes objective measures possible, but comparable data from experiment is an important validation requirement. This article describes the development of an objective measure of surface contamination arising during experiments. A series of controlled experiments using ultraviolet (UV) dye-doped water are conducted to develop a robust methodology. This process is then applied to a simplified contamination test.

This paper explores design methods for a vehicle handling dynamics state estimator based on a linear vehicle model. The state estimator is needed because there are some states of the vehicle that cannot be measured directly, such as sideslip velocity, and also some which are relatively expensive to measure, such as roll and yaw rates. Information about the vehicle states is essential for vehicle handling stability control and is also valuable in chassis design evaluation. The aim of this study is to compare the performance of a Kalman filter with that of a robust filter, under conditions which would be realistic and viable for a production vehicle. Both filters are thus designed and tested with reference to a higher order source model which incorporates nonlinear saturating tyre force characteristics. Also, both filters rely solely on accelerometer sensors, which are simulated with expected noise characteristics in terms of amplitude and spectra.

Energy management of battery electric vehicle (BEV) is a very important and complex multi-system optimisation problem. The thermal energy management of a BEV plays a crucial role in consistent efficiency and performance of vehicle in all weather conditions. But in order to manage the thermal management, it requires a significant number of temperature sensors throughout the car including high voltage batteries, thus increasing the cost, complexity and weight of the car. Virtual sensors can replace physical sensors with a data-driven, physical relation-driven or machine learning-based prediction approach. This paper presents a framework for the development of a neural network virtual sensor using a thermal system hardware-in-the-loop test rig as the target system. The various neural network topologies, including RNN, LSTM, GRU, and CNN, are evaluated to determine the most effective approach.

The motivation for this paper is to predict the flow of water over exterior surfaces of road vehicles. We present simulations of liquid flows on solid surfaces under the influence of gravity with and without the addition of aerodynamic forces on the liquid. This is done using an implementation of a Coupled Level Set Volume of Fluid method (CLSVOF) multiphase approach implemented in the open source OpenFOAM CFD code. This is a high fidelity interface-resolving method that solves for the velocity field in both phases without restrictions on the flow regime. In the current paper the suitability of the approach to Exterior Water Management (EWM) is demonstrated using the representative test cases of a continuous liquid rivulet flowing along an inclined surface with a channel located downstream perpendicular to the oncoming flow.

A control strategy has been designed for a city bus equipped with a pneumatic hybrid propulsion system. The control system design is based on the precise management of energy flows during both energy storage and regeneration. Energy recovered from the braking process is stored in the form of compressed air that is redeployed for engine start and to supplement the engine air supply during vehicle acceleration. Operation modes are changed dynamically and the energy distribution is controlled to realize three principal functions: Stop-Start, Boost and Regenerative Braking. A forward facing simulation model facilitates an analysis of the vehicle dynamic performance, engine transient response, fuel economy and energy usage.