Computational Investigation of Aerodynamic Characteristics and Drag Reduction of a Bus Model

Abstract

It is well-known that buses comprise an important part of mass transportation and that there are many types of buses. At present, the bus transportation is cheaper and easier to use than other means of transportation. However, buses have some disadvantages such as air pollution due to engine exhaust. This study is an attempt to reduce the gas emissions from buses by reducing the aerodynamic drag. Several ideas were applied to achieve this goal including slight modification of the outer shape of the bus. Thus, six different cases were investigated. A computational model was developed to conduct this study. It was found that reduction in aerodynamic drag up to 14% can be reached, which corresponds to 8.4 % reduction in fuel consumption. Also, Neuro-Fuzzy technique was used to predict the aerodynamic drag of the bus in different cases.