Abstract
Understanding the wake characteristics between two in-line vehicles is essential for improving and developing new strategies for reducing in-cabin air pollution. In this study, Ahmed bodies are used to investigate the effects of the rear slant angle of a leading vehicle on the mean flow and turbulent statistics between two vehicles. The experiments were conducted with a particle image velocimetry at a fixed Reynolds number, R e H = 1.7 × 10 4 , and inter-vehicle spacing distance of 0.75 L , where H and L are the height and length of the model. The rear slant angles investigated were a reference square back, high-drag angle ( α = 25 ° ) and low-drag angle ( α = 35 ° ). The mean velocities, Reynolds stresses, production of turbulent kinetic energy and instantaneous swirling strength are used to provide physical insight into the wake dynamics between the two bodies. The results indicate that the recirculation region behind the square back Ahmed body increases while those behind the slant rear-end bodies decreases in the presence of a follower. For the square back models, the dominant motion in the wake region is a strong upwash of jet-like flow away from the road but increasing the rear slant angle induces a stronger downwash flow that suppresses the upwash and dominates the wake region.
Highlights
Air pollution inside and outside the cabin of passenger vehicles is a global concern because of the high level of exposure to gaseous and particulate pollutants from the exhaust of other vehicles and the associated health risks to the occupants, pedestrians and bicycle commuters [1,2,3,4,5,6]
Since the transport of the pollutant between the vehicles is influenced by the wake characteristics, a good understanding of the mean flow and turbulent characteristics between two in-line vehicles is essential for developing effective flow control strategies for minimizing in-cabin air pollution
Since the wake structure around the Ahmed bodies is influenced by the state of the approach turbulent boundary layer, it is important to perform a detailed characterization of the approach flow, which will be useful for setting up inlet conditions for numerical simulations
Summary
Air pollution inside and outside the cabin of passenger vehicles is a global concern because of the high level of exposure to gaseous and particulate pollutants from the exhaust of other vehicles and the associated health risks to the occupants, pedestrians and bicycle commuters [1,2,3,4,5,6]. The increased level of exposure is attributed to the increased number of hours spent every day in vehicles in traffic congestion and highway platooning [6,7,8]. Under these conditions, the pollutants in the exhaust of the leading vehicle are transported into the cabin of the following vehicle due to the relatively short inter-vehicle distance and the low intake point of the ventilation systems [9,10,11,12].
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