Technical Paper
Wind-Load and Surface-Pressure Measurements of the Aerodynamic Interactions of a Passenger Vehicle with Adjacent-lane Vehicles
2024-04-09
2024-01-2549
The mutual aerodynamic influence of road vehicles in close proximity is known to alter significantly the drag performance of the vehicles. This paper presents an extension to a study presented at SAE WCX 2023 for which aerodynamic force measurements were presented for a DrivAer Notchback model and an AeroSUV Estateback model in close lateral proximity with each other, or with a proximate Ahmed body or simplified medium-duty vehicle. Wind-tunnel measurements were conducted for a yaw-angle range of ±10, for lateral distances representing 75%, 100%, and 125% of a typical highway lane spacing, and for longitudinal distances up to 2 vehicle lengths forward and back. The results of the previous study showed changes in drag coefficient on the order of ±25% or more depending on the relative locations and wind conditions. In this paper, the wind-load results are examined in more details and surface-pressure measurements are investigated to identify the source of the performance changes.