Introduction of the eGTU – An Electric Version of the Generic Truck Utility Aerodynamic Research Model 2024-01-2273

Common aerodynamic research models have been used in aerodynamic research throughout the years to assist with the development and correlation of new testing and numerical techniques, in addition to being excellent tools for gathering fundamental knowledge about the physics around the vehicle. The generic truck utility (GTU) was introduced by Woodiga et al. [1] in 2020 following successful adoption of the DrivAer (Heft et al. [2]) by the automotive aerodynamics community with the goal to capture the unique flow fields created by pickups and large SUVs. To date, several studies have been presented on the GTU (Howard et. al 2021 [3], Gleason, Eugen 2022 [4]), however, with the increasing prevalence of electric vehicles (EVs), the authors have created additional GTU configurations to emulate an EV-style underbody for the GTU.

The existing GTU has the flexibility to independently vary the cab and box lengths, plus a rear cap with three different backlight angles to model SUVs, however, the authors set out to model underbody geometry commonly found on EVs by creating separate underbody sections (belly pan, motor shield, battery shield and diffuser) and introduce modularity with the possibility for use as variables in future studies. Furthermore, a wheel and tire change is also completed and shared to highlight the sensitivity with the new underbody. Herein, the authors will build on the GTU capabilities by presenting the new underbody geometry and share initial wind tunnel and CFD results. Experimental testing for the eGTU was conducted at Ford’s Rolling-Road Wind Tunnel (RRWT) facility, while CFD simulations were conducted with an Open Source based Navier-Stokes solver.