The Effect of Free Stream Turbulence on A-pillar Airflow

Document Number: 2009-01-0003

Date Published: April 2009

Author(s):
Jeff Howell - Tata Motors European Technical Centre
Martin Passmore - Loughborough Univ.
Joshua Baden-Fuller - Loughborough Univ.

Abstract:
Various studies have shown that the level of wind noise experienced inside cars on the road in unsteady conditions can be substantially different from that measured in wind tunnel tests conducted using a low turbulence facility. In this paper a simple geometric body representing the cabin of a passenger car has been used to investigate the effects of free stream turbulence, (FST), on the A-pillar vortex flowfield and the side glass pressure distribution. Beneath the A-pillar vortex, both mean and dynamic pressures are increased by FST. The unsteady pressure can be associated with wind noise and the flow visualization shows the peak unsteadiness is related to the separation of the secondary vortex.

File Size: 381K
Product Status: In Stock

Included in: SP-2226

See other papers presented at SAE World Congress & Exhibition, April 2009, Detroit, MI, USA, Session: Vehicle Aerodynamics (Part 2 of 5): Turbulence and Unsteady Aero

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