The Effect of Center Belt Roughness on Vehicle Aerodynamics 2009-01-0776
Recently built or refurbished wind tunnel facilities show a trend towards a detailed simulation of road conditions. Therefore, these wind tunnel facilities are equipped with boundary layer conditioning systems and a rolling road consisting of one or several belts in order to simulate the rotation of the wheels and the relative motion between the vehicle underfloor and the road. Belts are either realized in rubber or steel. Steel belts offer the possibility to be coated with rubber to protect the belt itself. This coating additionally offers the possibility to attain a certain roughness to represent the road surface.
This paper presents measurements of the roughness of the steel belt systems installed in the IVK Model Scale and Aero-Acoustic Full Scale Wind Tunnel in comparison to road surfaces. Additionally, the influence of roughness on the aerodynamic coefficients drag and lift is presented and discussed for the SAE reference body with different rear end configurations.
Citation: Kuthada, T., Schröck, D., Potthoff, J., and Wiedemann, J., "The Effect of Center Belt Roughness on Vehicle Aerodynamics," SAE Int. J. Passeng. Cars – Mech. Syst. 2(1):841-848, 2009, https://doi.org/10.4271/2009-01-0776. Download Citation
Author(s):
Timo Kuthada, David Schröck, Jürgen Potthoff, Jochen Wiedemann
Affiliated:
IVK / FKFS Universität Stuttgart
Pages: 8
Event:
SAE World Congress & Exhibition
ISSN:
1946-3995
e-ISSN:
1946-4002
Also in:
SAE International Journal of Passenger Cars - Mechanical Systems-V118-6EJ, Vehicle Aerodynamics, 2009-SP-2226, SAE International Journal of Passenger Cars - Mechanical Systems-V118-6
Related Topics:
Wind tunnel tests
Scale models
Steel
Elastomers
Coatings, colorants, and finishes
Roads and highways
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