Understanding Tractor Trailer Aerodynamics Using a Time Accurate Approach - D. E. Manosalvas-Kjono
Channel: SU2 - Open Source CFD
Date: 2020-06-07

Contribution to the 1st SU2 Conference 2020 (https://su2foundation.org/su2conference2020/)

Title:
Understanding Tractor Trailer Aerodynamics Using a Time Accurate Approach 

Speaker:
D. E. Manosalvas-Kjono, Aeromutable Corp.

Abstract:
The trucking industry consumes over 90 billion gallons of fuel every year to move commercial and consumer goods. At highway speeds, aerodynamic drag is responsible for over 65% of the energy usage. The aerodynamic behavior of these vehicles poses a challenge to state-of-the-art codes and numerical tools, as it features entrapped vortices, flow separation, vortex shedding, ground effects, etc. This presentation will feature the preliminary results coming from a collaboration between Aeromutable, Pointwise, and Stanford University, where the goal is to understand the flow past a tractor trailer. The presentation will include the introduction of a new geometric model aimed towards the study base drag, the meshing efforts and considerations for this problem, a detailed description of the numerical tools used, as well as a walkthrough of the flow features that form the aerodynamic profile of this vehicle.