CFD Analysis of Airflow Around the Rider of a Motorcycle for Rider Comfort Improvement

Document Number: 2009-01-1155

Date Published: April 2009

Author(s):
Yasushi Takahashi - Honda R&D Co., Ltd.
Yukinori Kurakawa - Honda R&D Co., Ltd.
Haruomi Sugita - Honda R&D Co., Ltd.
Tsuneaki Ishima - Gunma Univ.
Tomio Obokata - Tokyo Denki Univ.

Abstract:
Recently, rider comfort at highway driving has become an important issue in the performance improvement of motorcycles. Comfort includes windbreak, pressure on the rider, wind noise, visibility, and steering characteristics. However, most of these factors cannot be analyzed conventionally. Therefore we used CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) to examine the rider¿s airflow environment. The environment of a rider on a motorcycle is an open space, very different from the passenger environment in an automobile. There are many airflow paths in a motorcycle with a cowl and a windscreen; thus, airflow behavior is constituted with a delicate balance. Though wind tunnel tests can give us an outline of airflow, CFD is a useful way to visualize the airflow of the rider¿s environment and clarify the details. As the results, a lot of helpful knowledge was obtained for the development of new motorcycles.

File Size: 2043K
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 4 of 5): Aerodynamic Development

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