Experimental Analysis of the Flow Over a Commercial Vehicle - Pickup

Abstract

An experimental analysis of the flow around a commercial pickup vehicle by means of wind tunnel experiments is presented. The pickup model was based on the leaders of light pickup market in Brazil and it wasbuiltwith flat surfaces and sharp edges at scale 1:10. A primary goal was to obtain a better understanding of the flow pattern around such vehicle, especially in the region behind the cabin (bed flow) and the pickup’s wake. A secondary goal was to gather original data for computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis. The experiments were conducted in a low speed wind tunnel with Reynolds numbers around 5×105. Hot-wire anemometry was used to obtain a quantification of the flow inside the test section as well as the velocity profiles upstream and downstream the model. To describe the flow direction and attached/detached/recirculation zones, wall tufts and china clay flow visualization techniques were applied. Acceleration due to the underbody constriction and the shear layer formed on the cabin were well defined, also indicating a region of recirculation behind the tailgate. The flow visualization allowed the identification of recirculation regions inside the trunk andlocations of detached flow around the vehicle. The main flow structures were reproduced and data was available for further investigations.
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