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The flow-field around a “common” European heavy truck, equipped with several different trailer devices, is investigated using steady and unsteady simulations. This work demonstrates how with simple devices added on the trailer it is possible to strongly decrease the aerodynamic drag over 10%, with an increase of overall dimensions below 1% without any change to the load capacity of the trailer. Several devices, installed on the trailer, are tested on a target vehicle and the shape of the “airbag”, the “fin”, the “boat tail” and the “front-rear trailer device” has been optimized to achieve the maximum in drag reduction in front wind. The performance of the optimized devices are tested also in cross wind conditions with the yaw angle varying from 0° to 30°. The truck equipped with the front-rear trailer device is also investigated using time variant simulation with yaw angle of 0°, 5°, 10°.

Many studies have been carried out to optimize the aerodynamic performances of a single car or a single vehicle. In present days the traffic increases and sophisticated technologies are developing to guarantee the drivers safety, to minimize the fuel consumption and be more environmentally friendly. Within this research area a new technique that is being studied is Platooning: this means that different vehicles travel in a configuration that minimizes the aerodynamic drag and therefore the fuel consumption and the longitudinal space. In the present study platoons with different vehicles and configurations are taken into account, to analyze the influence of car shape and relative distance between the vehicles. The research has been carried out using CFD techniques to investigate the different flow fields around different platoons, while wind tunnel tests have been used to validate the results of the CFD simulations.