Surface Contamination simulation for a military ground Vehicle 2019-01-1075

Vehicle surface contamination can degrade not only Soldier vision but also effectiveness of camera and sensor systems mounted externally on the vehicle for vehicle autonomy and situational awareness. In order to control vehicle surface contamination, a better understanding of dust particle generation, transport and accumulation is necessary. Focus of the current work is simulation of vehicle surface contamination on the rear part of the vehicle due to the interaction of the combat vehicle track with the ground and dust in the surrounding ambient atmosphere. A notional track military vehicle is used for the Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation. CFD methodology with one-way-coupled Lagrangian particle model is used in the current study. The simulation is initially run with only airflow to solve the air pressure, velocity, and turbulence quantities in a steady state condition. The steady state solution values are used to initialize transient Lagrangian simulation for the dust particles to transport in the atmosphere and accumulate on the exterior surface of the vehicle. One Way coupled Lagrangian simulation methodology is used since the air flow pattern is not greatly affected by the presence of dust particles due to size, number and velocity of particles. Summary and findings from various simulations that are done to date varying the particle size distribution, number of particles, and varying the location of particle injection are presented to understand the dust accumulation and visibility. A qualitative comparison is made with simulation results and visual photographs that are available from the field. A comprehensive database is lacking for validation of simulation results for dust accumulation.