Effect of Active Control by Blowing to Aerodynamic Drag of Bluff Body Van Model

Abstract

The use of active flow control is one method that can be applied to reduce the aerodynamic drag on vehicles. Many studies show that an active flow control provides a very good alternative prospect for reducing the aerodynamic drag on automotive vehicles. In this study, an active flow control of blowing is used in a bluff body van model adapted form modified Ahmed model which is considered the closest basic model of the family van widely produced by car manufacturer. The research was carried out by two approaches namely computational and experimental method. The computational approach used k- standard turbulence model with the objective to determine the characteristics of the flow field, the intensity of turbulence and aerodynamic drag reduction that occurred in the test model. Meanwhile, the experimental approach used load cell in order to validate the aerodynamic drag reduction obtained by the computational approach. The results showed that the addition of active control by blowing gives an influence on characteristics of the flow field, the intensity of turbulence and aerodynamic drag. Aerodynamic drag reductions close to 13:92 % for computational approach and 11:11 % for experimental approach have been obtained. The obtained drag reduction indicates that the flow of blowing is able to effectively reduce the wake that occurred in the back of the bluff body van model.