Aerodynamic Drag Reduction in Heavy Vehicles

One of the most difficult challenges in the automobile industry today is reducing vehicle fuel consumption. The creation of more fuel-efficient automobiles has accelerated with the increase in fuel prices. According to a new study on truck fuel reduction technology, aerodynamic enhancement is essential for fuel savings. For all vehicle manufacturers, lowering the drag coefficient has become an increasingly crucial task. This project uses a computational method to examine the influence of a change in the truck-trailer profile on aerodynamic drag. This numerical analysis was carried out on the unmodified and modified profiles of the truck-trailer with a shear stress transportation (SST) turbulence model utilizing the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software ANSYS Fluent. The CATIA software was used to model the truck, and CFD was used for meshing and analysis. The aerodynamic drag coefficient of the vehicle is compared before and after alteration, and it can be observed that shape optimization helps to reduce drag and hence improves the truck's fuel efficiency.