The Impact of Using Dimpled Surfaces on Ahmed Body on The Flow Characteristics

Abstract

Vehicle aerodynamics which directly affects fuel consumption values in vehicles has great importance in terms of vehicle stability, acceleration ability, vehicle noise, and environmental pollution. Ahmed car model is one of the most important generic models, so this popular car model is widely used in the literature on fluid mechanics and vehicle aerodynamics studies. This study investigates the effect of a passive drag reduction technique which is known as dimple surface, on Ahmed car model with a 35° slant angle. The flow control methods were applied numerically also these methods were compared with similar works. Analysis made in this study were conducted with 2.4 million cell numbers and the maximum drag reduction is 3.5 % with optimum dimple surfaces. Moreover, the applicability and manufacturability factors were also evaluated in terms of implementing the dimpling modification to today’s current road vehicles.