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In a real-world environment, a vehicle on the road is subjected to a range of flow yaw angles, the most severe of which can impact handling and stability. A fully coupled, six degrees-of-freedom CFD and vehicle handling simulation has modelled the complete closed loop system. Varying flow yaw angles are introduced via time dependent boundary conditions and aerodynamic loads predicted, whilst a handling model running simultaneously calculates the resulting vehicle response. Updates to the vehicle position and orientation within the CFD simulation are achieved using the overset grid method. Using this approach, a crosswind simulation that follows the parameters of ISO 12021:2010 (Sensitivity to lateral wind - Open-loop test method using wind generator input), was performed using the fastback variant of the DrivAer model. Fully coupled aerodynamic and vehicle response was compared to that obtained using the simplified quasi-steady and unsteady, one way coupled method.

Aerodynamic aids, such as spoilers, applied to the rear of cars can provide drag reduction to improve performance, or can enhance high speed stability by reducing lift at the rear axle. In some cases these can be conflicting demands. It has been noted, however, that when rear axle lift is reduced there is often a reduction in yawing moment which has a beneficial effect on crosswind sensitivity. Wind tunnel results from real road vehicles are presented to illustrate this effect. This beneficial relationship is further explored in a wind tunnel experiment using simple models to represent road vehicles. Force and moment coefficients as a function of yaw angle are measured for a range of vehicle geometries which generate a substantial variation in lift. It is shown that as lift is reduced, yawing moment is also reduced, while side force and rolling moment are increased.

For the automotive industry, the quality and level of the wind noise contribution has a growing importance and therefore should be addressed as early as possible in the development process. Each component of the vehicle is designed to meet its individual noise target to ensure the wind noise passenger comfort level inside the vehicle is met. Sunroof broadband noise is generated by the turbulent flow developed over the roof opening. A strong shear layer and vortices impacting on the trailing edge of the sunroof are typical mechanisms related to the noise production. Sunroof designs are tested to meet broadband noise targets. Experimentally testing designs and making changes to meet these design targets typically involves high cost prototypes, expensive wind tunnel sessions and potentially late design changes.

A vehicle on the road encounters an unsteady flow due to turbulence in the natural wind, due to the unsteady wakes of other vehicles and as a result of traversing through the stationary wakes of roadside obstacles. There is increasing concern about potential differences between the steady flow conditions used for development and the transient conditions that occur on the road. This paper seeks to determine if measurements made under steady state conditions can be used to predict the aerodynamic behaviour of a vehicle on road in a gusty environment. The project has included measurements in two full size wind tunnels, including using the Pininfarina TGS, steady-state and transient inlet simulations in Exa Powerflow, and a campaign of testing on-road and on-track. The particular focus of this paper is on steady wind tunnel measurements and on-road tests, representing the most established development environment and the environment experienced by the customer, respectively.

This paper presents a methodology for simulating Fluid Structure Interaction (FSI) for a typical vehicle bonnet (hood) under a range of onset flow conditions. The hood was chosen for this study, as it is one of the panels most prone to vibration; particularly given the trend to make vehicle panels lighter. Among the worst-case scenarios for inducing vibration is a panel being subjected to turbulent flow from vehicle wakes, and the sudden peak loads caused by emerging from a vehicle wake. This last case is typical of a passing manoeuvre, with the vehicle suddenly transitioning from being immersed in the wake of the leading vehicle, to being fully exposed to the free-stream flow. The transient flowfield was simulated for a range of onset flow conditions that could potentially be experienced on the open road, which may cause substantial vibration of susceptible vehicle panels.

The vehicle dynamics control systems are traditionally based upon utilizing wheel brakes as actuators. However, there has been recently strong interest in the automotive industry for introduction of other vehicle dynamics actuators, in order to improve the overall vehicle stability, responsiveness, and agility features. This paper considers various actuators such as active rear and central differentials and active front and rear steering, and proposes design of related yaw rate control systems. Different control subsystems such as reference model, feedback and feedforward control, allocation algorithm, and time-varying controller limit are discussed. The designed control systems are verified and compared by computer simulation for double lane change and slalom maneuvers.

Vehicle handling is heavily influenced by the torque distribution to the driving wheels. This work presents a newly developed differential, designed to actively control the driving torque distribution to the wheels. The new device incorporates an electric machine, which can operate either as a motor or generator. A control unit monitors signals from various sources in the vehicle, such as steering angle, yaw acceleration and wheel rotational speed. Then, a control algorithm takes into account the steering angle rate and the vehicle speed in order to determine the suitable difference between output torque values. The handling improvement capabilities are evaluated by simulating in ADAMS/Car the driving behavior of a vehicle equipped with the new differential. The model that has been used to simulate vehicle handling is that of a Formula SAE type racing car.

Recent changes to the rules regarding aerodynamics within Formula SAE, combined with faster circuits at the European FSAE events, have made the implementation of aerodynamic devices, to add down-force, a more relevant topic. As with any race series it is essential that a detailed analysis is completed to establish the costs and benefits of including an aerodynamic package on the vehicle. The aim of the work reported here was to create a methodology that would fully evaluate all aspects of the package and conclude with an estimate of the likely gain in points at a typical FSAE event. The paper limits the analysis to a front and rear wing combination, but the approach taken can be applied to more complex aerodynamic packages.

A novel semi-analytical solution has been developed for the calculation of the static and dynamic response of an off road tire interacting with a deformable terrain, which utilizes soil parameters independent of the size of the contact patch (size-independent). The models involved in the solution presented, can be categorized in rigid and/or pneumatic tires, with or without tread pattern. After a concise literature review of related methods, a detailed presentation of the semi-analytical solution is presented, along with assumptions and limitations. A flowchart is provided, showing the main steps of the numerical implementation, and various test cases have been examined, characterized in terms of vertical load, tire dimensions, soil properties, deformability of the tire, and tread pattern. It has been found that the proposed model can qualitatively capture the response of a rolling wheel on deformable terrain.

Automotive clutches are prone to rigid body torsional vibrations during engagement, a phenomenon referred to as take-up judder. This is also accompanied by fore and aft vehicle motions. Aside from driver behaviour in sudden release of clutch pedal (resulting in loss of clamp load), and type and state of friction lining material, the interfacial slip speed and contact temperature can significantly affect the propensity of clutch to judder. The ability to accurately predict the judder phenomenon relies significantly on the determination of operational frictional characteristics of the clutch lining material. This is dependent upon contact pressure, temperature and interfacial slip speed. The current study investigates the ability to predict clutch judder vibration with the degree of complexity of the torsional dynamics model. For this purpose, the results from a four and nine degrees of freedom dynamics models are compared and discussed.

Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs) typically have a blunt rear end shape (for design and practicality), however this is not beneficial for aerodynamic drag. Drag can be reduced by a number of passive and active methods such as tapering and blowing into the base. In an effort to combine these effects and to reduce the drag of a visually square geometry slots have been introduced in the upper side and roof trailing edges of a squareback geometry, to take air from the freestream and passively injects it into the base of the vehicle to effectively create a tapered body. This investigation has been conducted in the Loughborough University’s Large Wind Tunnel with the ¼ scale generic SUV model. The basic aerodynamic effect of a range of body tapers and straight slots have been assessed for 0° yaw. This includes force and pressure measurements for most configurations.

A vehicle driving on the road experiences unsteady flow conditions which are not generally reproduced in the development environment. This paper investigates the potential importance of this difference to aeroacoustics and hence to occupant perception and proposes a methodology to enable better ranking of designs by taking account of wind noise modulation. Two approaches of reproducing the effects of unsteady wind on aeroacoustics were investigated: an active wind tunnel Turbulence Generation System (TGS) and a quasi-steady approach based on measurements at a series of fixed yaw angles. A number of tools were used to investigate the onset flow and its impacts, including roof-mounted probe, acoustic heads and surface microphones. External noise measurements help to reveal the response of separate exterior noise sources to yaw.

The in-cabin sound pressure level response of a vehicle in yawed wind conditions can differ significantly between the smooth flow conditions of the aeroacoustic wind tunnel and the higher turbulence, transient flow conditions experienced on the road. Previous research has shown that under low turbulence conditions there is close agreement between the variation with yaw of in-cabin sound pressure level on the road and in the wind tunnel. However, under transient conditions, sound pressure levels on the road were found to show a smaller increase due to yaw than predicted by the wind tunnel, specifically near the leeward sideglass region. The research presented here investigates the links between transient flow and aeroacoustics. The effect of small geometry changes upon the aeroacoustic response of the vehicle has been investigated.