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Nowadays, much focus for vehicle manufacturers is directed towards improving the energy efficiency of their products. The aerodynamic drag constitutes one major part of the total driving resistance for a vehicle travelling at higher speeds. In fact, above approximately 80km/h the aerodynamic drag is the dominating resistance acting on a truck. Hence the importance of reducing this resistance is apparent. Cooling drag is one part of the total aerodynamic drag, which arises from air flowing through the heat exchangers, and the irregular under-hood area. When using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) in the development process it is of great importance to ensure that the methods used are accurately capturing the physics of the flow. This paper deals with comparative studies between CFD and wind-tunnel tests. In this paper, two comparative studies are presented.

Constantly lowering emissions legislation and the fact that fuel prices have increased tremendously over recent years, have forced vehicle manufacturers to develop more and more energy-efficient vehicles. The aerodynamic drag is responsible for a substantial part of the total driving resistance for a vehicle, especially at higher velocities; thus it is important to reduce this factor as much as possible for vehicles commonly operating in these conditions. In an attempt to improve transport efficiency, longer vehicle combinations are becoming more common. By replacing some of the shorter vehicle combinations with longer combinations, the same amount of cargo can be transported with fewer vehicles; hence there is large potential for fuel savings. The knowledge of the aerodynamic properties of such vehicles is somewhat limited, and therefore interesting to study.

The purpose of this study is to determine the effect of tire operating conditions, such as the tire inflation pressure, speed, and load on the change of the first mode of vibration. A wide base FEA tire (445/50R22.5) is virtually tested on a 2.5m diameter circular drum with a 10mm cleat using PAM-Crash code. The varying parameters are altered separately and are as follows: inflation pressure, varying from 50 psi to 165 psi, rotational speed, changing from 20 km/h to 100 km/h, and the applied load will fluctuate from 1,500 lbs. to 9000 lbs. Through a comparison of previous literature, the PAM-Crash FFT algorithmic results have been validated.

This paper presents an approach to fault detection and isolation that is based on off-board 1D simulation tools such as GT-power or AVL Boost. The proposed method enables engineers to develop diagnostic functions early on in a development project. The proposed algorithm is evaluated based on measurements from the air path system of the new Volvo FH truck. The results are encouraging. The paper discusses pros and cons of the method and concludes that it has clear potential to be used for on-board diagnostics.

In this paper, the turbulent flow induced by a production side-view mirror assembled on a full-scale production truck is simulated using a compressible k-ω SST detached eddy simulation (DES) approach -- the improved delayed DES (IDDES). The truck configuration consists of a compartment and a trailer. Due to the large size and geometric complexity of the configuration, some simplifications are applied to the simulation. A purpose of this work is to investigate whether the simplifications are suitable to obtain the reasonable properties of the flow near the side-view mirror. Another objective is to study the aerodynamic performances of the mirror. The configuration is simplified regarding two treatments. The first treatment is to retain the key exterior components of the truck body while removing the small gaps and structures. Furthermore, the trailer is shaped in an apex-truncated square pyramid.

This paper investigates the impact of tread design on the tire-terrain interaction of two similar-sized truck tires with distinctly different tread designs running over various terrains and operating conditions using advanced computation techniques. The two truck tires used in the research are off-road tires sized 315/80R22.5 wide which were designed through Finite Element Analysis (FEA). The truck tire models were validated in static and dynamic domains using several simulation tests and measured data. The terrain includes a flooded surface and a snowed surface which were modelled using Smoothed-Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) technique and calibrated using pressure-sinkage and direct shear tests. Both truck tire models were subjected to rolling resistance and cornering tests over the various flooded surface and snowed surface terrain conditions on the PAM-CRASH software.

Side mirrors are a known source of aerodynamically generated noise in vehicles. In this work we focus on mirrors for heavy duty trucks, they are large, often not designed with main focus on aero-acoustics and are located in a cumbersome position on the up-right A-pillar of European trucks. First the test method itself is discussed. To allow fast and cost effective design loops a bespoke vehicle, where the powertrain is separated from the cab, is developed. This vehicle can be run on a standard test track. While running the tests the wind speed is monitored, any variations are then compensated for in the post processing allowing averaging over longer time periods. For the mirror tests the door of the vehicle was especially trimmed to reduce other transmission paths into the cab than the side window. Additionally other possible aeroacoustic sources were reduced as much as practically possible.

Annual fuel use for long-haul truck rest period idling is estimated at 667 million gallons in the United States. The U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory's CoolCab project aims to reduce heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) loads and resulting fuel use from rest period idling by working closely with industry to design efficient long-haul truck climate control systems while maintaining occupant comfort. Enhancing the thermal performance of cab/sleepers will enable smaller, lighter, and more cost-effective idle reduction solutions. In order for candidate idle reduction technologies to be implemented at the original equipment manufacturer and fleet level, their effectiveness must be quantified. To address this need, a number of promising candidate technologies were evaluated through experimentation and modeling to determine their effectiveness in reducing rest period HVAC loads.

Cab climate conditioning is one of the primary reasons for operating the main engine in a long-haul truck during driver rest periods. In the United States, sleeper cab trucks use approximately 667 million gallons of fuel annually for rest period idling. The U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory's (NREL) CoolCab Project works closely with industry to design efficient thermal management systems for long-haul trucks that minimize engine idling and fuel use while maintaining occupant comfort. Heat transfer to the vehicle interior from opaque exterior surfaces is one of the major heat pathways that contribute to air conditioning loads during long-haul truck daytime rest period idling. To quantify the impact of paint color and the opportunity for advanced paints, NREL collaborated with Volvo Group North America, PPG Industries, and Dometic Environmental Corporation.

One promising method for reducing fuel consumption and emissions, particularly in heavy duty trucks, is platooning. As the distance between vehicles decreases, the following vehicles will experience less aerodynamic drag on the front of the vehicle. However, reducing the velocity of the air contacting the front of the vehicle could have adverse effects on the temperature of the engine. To compensate for this effect, the energy consumption of the engine cooling system might increase, ultimately limiting the overall improvements obtained with platooning. Understanding the coupling between drag reduction and engine cooling load requirement is key for successfully implementing platooning strategies. Additionally, in a Connected and Automated Vehicle (CAV) environment, where information of the future engine load becomes available, the operation of the cooling system can be optimized in order to achieve the maximum fuel consumption reduction.

The commercial vehicle development process needs to consider the vehicle aerodynamics not only in ideal flow conditions, but also in the turbulent real world environment. The turbulent real world environment includes not only atmospheric turbulence, but also the vehicle to vehicle interactions that happen when driving around other vehicles or into and out of the wake of in/on coming vehicles. A vehicle driving into the wake of an oncoming vehicle not only experiences an increase in the total aerodynamic forces, it also experiences unsteady transient loads over the vehicle components such as windshield, mirror, sunvisor, door and side fairing. To properly design specific components, designers need to understand the magnitude of unsteady forces on various vehicle components, otherwise these components may fail which imposes warranty and safety risks. In this paper, we attempt to understand the various forces acting on the primary vehicle during a passing maneuver.

This paper focuses on predicting the rolling resistance and hydroplaning of a wide base truck tire (Size: 445/50R22.5) on dry and wet surfaces. The rolling resistance and hydroplaning are predicted at various inflation pressures, loads, velocities, and water depths. The wide base truck tire was previously modeled and validated using Finite Element Analysis (FEA) technique in virtual performance software (Pam-Crash). The water is modeled using Smoothed-Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) method and Murnaghan equation of state. A water layer is first built on top of an FEA rigid surface to represent a wet surface. The truck tire is then inflated to the desired pressure. A vertical load is then applied to the center of the tire. For rolling resistance tests variable constant longitudinal speeds are applied to the center of the tire. The forces in the vertical and longitudinal directions are computed, and the rolling resistance is calculated.

This paper investigates the tire-road interaction for tires equipped with two different solid rubber material definitions within a Finite Element Analysis virtual environment, ESI PAMCRASH. A Mixed Service Drive truck tire sized 315/80R22.5 is designed with two different solid rubber material definitions: a legacy hyperelastic solid Mooney-Rivlin material definition and an Ogden hyperelastic solid material definition. The popular Mooney-Rivlin is a material definition for solid rubber simulation that is not built with element elimination and is not easily applicable to thermal applications. The Ogden hyperelastic material definition for rubber simulations allows for element destruction. Therefore, it is of interest and more suited for designing a tire model with wear and thermal capabilities.