Aerodynamic Drag Reduction of A Car by Vortex Generation

International Journal of Mechanical Engineering
ISSN : 2277-7059
Volume 2 Issue 1
http://www.ijmejournal.com/
https://sites.google.com/site/journalijme/
Aerodynamic Drag Reduction of a Car by Vortex

Generation
Md. Hasan Ali1, Mohammad Mashud2, Abdullah Al Bari2 and Muhammad
Misbah-Ul Islam2
1
Department of Energy Technology

Department of Mechanical Engineering
Khulna University of Engineering & Technology
Khulna-9203, Bangladesh
E-mail: [email protected]
2
Abstract. One of the main causes of aerodynamic drag for sedan vehicles
is the separation of flow near the vehicles rear end. To delay flow
separation, bump-shaped vortex generators are tested for application to the
roof end of a sedan. Commonly used on aircraft to prevent flow separation,
vortex generators themselves create drag, but they also reduce drag by
preventing flow separation at downstream.
The overall effect of vortex
generators can be calculated by totaling the positive and negative effects.
Since this effect depends on the shape and size of vortex generators, those on
the vehicle roof are optimized. This paper presents the optimization result,
the effect of vortex generators in the flow field and the mechanism by which
these effects take place.
Keywords: Aerodynamic Drag, Flow Visualization, Vortex Generator,
Computationa l Fluid Dynamics (CFD)
1 Introduction
To save energy and to protect the global environment, fuel consumption
reduction is primary concern of automotive development. In vehicle bo dy
development, reduction of drag is essential for improving fuel consumption
and driving performance , and if an aerodynamically refined body is also
aesthetically attractive, it will contribute much to increase the vehicles appeal
to potential customers.
However, as the passenger car must have enough capacity to
accommodate passengers and baggage in addition to minimum necessary space
for its engine and other components, it is extremely difficult to realize an
aerodynamically ideal body shape. The car is, therefore, obliged to have a
body shape that is rather aerodynamically bluff, not an ideal streamline shape
as seen on fish and birds. Such a body shape is inevitably accompanied by flow
separation at the rear end. The passenger car bodys aerodynamic bluffness,
when expressed by the drag coefficient (CD), is generally between 0.2 and
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0.5, while that of more bluff cubic objects is greater than 1.0 and that of the
least bluff bullets is less than 0.1. Two elements t hat have major influence on
the drag coefficient of a bluff object are the roundness of its front corners and
the degree of taper at its rear end. The importance of the influence of the rear
taper in passenger cars can be described as follows:
Fig. 1 shows the flow around a sedan. Because of the presence of a trunk at
the rear, the flow separates at the roof end and then spreads downward. As a
result, the flow around the car is similar t o that around a streamline-shaped
object with a taper at the rear. For this reason, a sedan with a trunk tends to
have smaller drag coefficient value than a wagon-type car. In other words, taper
at the rear has the effect of delaying flow s e par at i o n ( or shifting the flow
separation point downstream).
Fig. 1. Flow around a sedan
A well-known example for intensifying the flow separation delaying effect

is utilizing a dimple (like the ones on golf balls) [1]. Adding dimple-shaped
pieces can lower the CD to a fraction o f its original value. This is because
dimples causes a change in the critical Reynolds number ( the Reynolds number
at which a transition from laminar to turbulent flow begins in the boundary
layer). There are reported examples of aircraft wings controlling the boundary
layer, in which vortex generators (hereinafter referred to as VG(s))
successfully delayed flow separation even when the critical Reynolds
number is exceeded [2].
Although the purpose of using VGs is to control flow separation at the roof
end of a sedan, it is so similar to the purpose of using VGs on aircraft. To
determine the shape o f s e dan VG s , the data on aircraft V G s are referred to
[2].
2 Mechanisms of Flow Separation and Objectives of Adding

Vortex Generators
Fig. 2 shows a schematic of flow velocity profile on the vehicles centerline
plane near the roof end. Since the vehicle height in this section becomes
progressively lower as the flow moves downstream, an expanded airflow is
formed there. This causes the downstream pressure to rise, which in turn
creates reverse force acting against the main flow and generates reverse flow at
downstream Point C. No reverse flow occurs at Point A located further upstream
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of point C because the momentum of the boundary layer is prevailing over the
pressure gradient ( dp/dx). Between points A and C, there is separation point B,
where the pressure gradient and the momentum of the boundary layer are
balanced. As shown in Fig. 2, in the lower zone close to the vehicles surface
within the boundary layer, the airflow quickly loses momentum as it moves
downstream due to the viscosity of air.
Fig. 2. Velocity profile around rear end
Fig. 3. Flow around vortex generator
The purpose of adding VGs is to supply the momentum from higher region
where has large momentum to lower region where has small momentum
by streamwise vortices generated from VGs located just before the separation
point, as shown in Fig. 3. This allows the separation point to shift further
downstream. Shifting the separation point downstream enables the expanded
airflow to persist proportionately longer, the flow velocity a t the separation point
to become slower, and consequently the static pressure to become higher. The
static pressure at the separation point governs over all pressures in the entire
flow separation region. It works t o reduce drag by increasing the back pressure.
Shifting the separation point downstream, therefore, provides dual advantages in
drag reduction: one is to narrow t h e separation region in which low pressure
constitutes the cause of drag; another is to raise the pressure of the flow
separation region. A combination of these two effects reduces the drag acting on
the vehicle.
However, the VGs that are installed for generating streamwise vortices
bring drag by itself. The actual effectiveness of installing VGs is therefore
deduced by subtracting the am o unt of dr ag by itself from t h e amount of drag
reduction that is yielded by shifting the separation point downstream. Larger
sized VGs increase both the effect of delaying the flow separation and the drag
by itself. The effect of delaying the flow separation point, however, saturates at
a certain level, which suggests that there must be an optimum size for VGs.
3 Experimental methods
Evaluation of the effectiveness of VGs and optimization were conducted using
subsonic wind tunnel. The test section was closed and the main flow velocity
was set at 5 m/s. Mitsubishi LANCER EVOLU- TION VIII model car was used
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as the test vehicle. To evaluate the effectiveness of VGs, six component forces of
the vehicle were measured and VGs optimum shape and size were examined.
Furthermore, in order to clarify the factors contributing to the effect provided
by VGs, the total pressure distribution of the wake flow was measured with
pitot rake, the velocity distribution was measured by the particle image
velocimetry (PIV) method, and the flow field was analyzed in detail using
computational fluid dynamics (CFD).
4 Finding the Optimum VGs

To select appropriate shape and size of the VG which generates stream wise
vortex the most efficiently (with the least drag by itself) is important to
achieve objectives.
In connection with t he size, the thickness o f the boundary layer is
measured based on the assumption that the optimum height o f the VG would
be nearly equal to the bo undar y layer thickness. Fig. 4 shows the velocity
profile on the sedans roof. From this figure, the boundary layer thickness at
the roof end immediately in front of the separation point is about 30 mm.
Consequently, the optimum height for the VG is estimated to be up to
approximately 30 mm. As to the shape, a bump-shaped piece with a rear slope
angle of 25 to 30 is selected. This is based on the fact that a strong stream wise
vortex is generated on a hatchback-type car with such rear window angle [4].
A half-span delta wing shape is also recommended for the VG. This shape is
inferred from an aircrafts delta wing that generates a strong streamwise vortex at
its leading edge [2]. Also to the location o f VGs, a point immediately upstream
of the flow separation point was assumed to be optimum, and a point 100 mm
in front of the roof end was selected as shown in Fig. 5. The effects of bumpshaped VGs mounted at this point are presented in Fig.6.
Fig. 4. Velocity profile on roof
Fig. 5. Location of vortex generators
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Fig. 6.
Effects of bump-shaped vortex generators
The front half contour of the bump-shaped VG was smoothly curved to

minimize drag and its rear half was cut in a straight line to an angle of
approximately 27 for maximum generation of a streamwise
vortex. As
shown in Fig. 6, three bumps shaped VGs that were similar in shape but different
in height (15 mm, 20 mm, and 25 mm) are examined. The graph in Fig. 6
shows that the drag coefficient was smallest at the height of 20 to 25 mm, so a
height in this range was considered optimum for the VG. However, a taller VG
might cause a decrease in the lift. The rather small change in drag coefficient
resulting from change in height can be accounted for as follows. As mentioned
before, an increase in height of the VG simultaneously causes two effects: one is
reduced drag resulting from delayed flow separation and the other is increased
drag by the VG itself. These two effects are balanced when the VGs height is
between 20 and 25 mm.
From these results, a reduction of CD is 0.003 with this bump shaped VG
when the shape and size are optimized. The effectiveness o f the delta wingshaped VG is also examined. The recommended shape of the delta wing shaped
VG is defined by the following [2]:
Length/height = 2, Yaw angle = 15, Interval/height = 6
Based on this data, delta-wing-shaped VGs are created with the following
specifications:
Length/height = 2
Height = 15 mm, 20 mm and 25 mm (three types), Thickness = 5 mm
The delta-wing-shaped VGs should be installed at a yaw angle of 15 to the
airflow di r e c t i o n . In order to meet this condition, the direction of airflow at
the roof end was investigated by oil flow measurement. Airflow direction was
found to be different between sideways positions o n the roof. The airflow is
aligned directly with the backward direction at center of a car, but it
increasingly deviates toward the center as the measurement point shifts away
from the central position. For this reason, the delta-wing-shaped VGs must be
installed at an angle of 15 against the vehicle centerline for the central position,
whereas t he y must be installed at an angle near 0 for outermost positions.
The results of these tests are shown in Figure 7. Delta wing shaped VGs
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were found to be less sensitive to change i n height than bump shaped VGs; the
drag reduction effects for the VGs of three different heights (15 mm, 20 mm
and 25 mm) were all equivalent to 0.006. The effect of lift reduction
increased only slightly with the height. The drag reduction also differed only
slightly with changes in the number of VGs and their positions. The number
and positions of the tested VGs seems to be in their optimum ranges. From these
results, delta wing shaped VGs were capable of reducing drag by 0.006.
Fig. 7. Effects of delta wing-shaped vortex generators
The reason f o r why delta wing shaped VGs are more effective than bump
shaped VGs can be explained as follows: Delta wing shaped VGs have a smaller
frontal projection area, which means that they thems elves create smaller drag.
Moreover, the vortex generated at the edge of a delta wing shaped VG keeps its
strength in the flow downstream of the edge since it barely interferes with
the VG itself because of the VGs platy form. With bump-shaped VGs, on the
other hand, the vortex is generated at a point close to the downstream edge of
the bump, which causes the vortex to interfere with the bump and lose its
strength.
5 Verification of VGs mechanism

The effect of VGs is estimated that the separation point is shifted to downstream,
which in turn narrows the flow separation region. The flow field was thus
investigated in order to verify the correctness of this estimation. Fig. 8 shows
total pressure distribution in the wake flow immediately upstream of the rear
spoiler for both cases with and without VGs. High t o t a l pressure regions
correspond to high velocity regions. As the figure shows, the high velocity region
is expanded downward by addition of VGs, signifying that the flow separation
region is narrowed.
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Fig. 8. Total pressure distribution (upstream of rear spoiler)
Fig. 9. Velocity distribution by PIV measurement
Fig. 9 shows the results of velocity distribution using the PIV method. The
PIV laser light sheet was illuminated from above on the center plane of the
vehicle body and the measuring surface was photographed from the side (as
indicated by the viewpoint arrow in Fig. 9) to calculate the two dimensional
velocity distribution. Fig. 9(a) shows the velocity distribution for the case with
VGs, and Fig. 9(b) shows the velocity distribution for the case without VGs.
As evident from the figure, the case with VGs shows an increase in velocity on
the surface of the body (rear window) just behind the VG (Zone A in the figure)
and extension of the high velocity zone downward (Zone B in the figure). This
supports our estimation in the previous section that VGs cause air flows above
the rear window to attach to the surfaces of the body.
This phenomenon was examined in detail using CFD analysis. Star-CD was
used as the solver and RNG kas the turbulence model in this analysis.
In order to detect flow separation at the rear window, a prism cell was inserted
in the vicinity of the vehicle, and the y+ value of computational grid is
arranged to become an appropriate value between 20 and 50 near the separation
point. Fig. 10 shows the calculation results for the case with VGs and the case
without VGs. These results show good agreement wi t h the experimental
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results using the PIV method, and clearly show that the low velocity region is
narrowed by the addition of VGs. The changes in drag and lift calculated by
CFD shown below are almost agreed with the experimental results.
Fig. 10. Velocity distribution by CFD
The CFD calculation, t he r e f o r e , could simulate the actual phenomenon.

CFD results in Fig. 10 also show that the velocity of the airflow along the
bottom surface of the rear spoiler increases by addition of VGs, which reveals
that a decrease in lift (an increase in down-force) did occur. These results also
show that the flow separation region (low velocity region) at the rear portion of
the trunk is slightly narrowed.
Fig. 11 shows the pressure distribution on the vehicle body surface. The
addition of VGs gives the effect of increasing t h e surface pressure over a wide
area ranging from the rear window to the trunk and this in turn reduces the
drag. However, negative pressure region around the VGs indicate that VGs
themselves cause drag. Such changes in airflow can be attributed to VGs that
work to suppress flow separation at the rear window. To verify this mechanism,
the airflow was studied in further detail. Fig. 12 shows vortices distribution
behind the VGs. Streamwise vortices are generated behind the VGs. Our
estimation that the streamwise vo r t e x causes the separation point to shift
downstream is confirmed by CFD results. Fig. 13 shows close-up views of the
flow field near the separation point.
The case with VG s shows flow
separation occurring further do wns t r e am than in the case without VGs.
Fig. 11. Pressure distribution of vehicle (CFD)
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Fig. 12. Vorticity distribution behind vortex generator (CFD)
Fig. 13. Velocity vectors around separation point (CFD)
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6 Conclusions
The conclusions of this research can be summarized into the following
points:
(1) Vortex generators (VGs) were studied t o install immediately upstream of
the flow separation point in order to control separation of airflow above the
sedans rear window and improve the aerodynamic characteristics. It was found
that the optimum height of the VGs is almost equivalent to the thickness of the
boundary layer (15 to 25 mm) and the optimum method of placement is to
arrange them in a row in the lateral direction 100 mm upstream of the roof end
at intervals of 100 mm. The VGs are not highly sensitive to these parameters and
their optimum val ue ranges are wide. Better effects are obtained from delta
wing-shaped VGs than from bump shaped VGs.
(2) Application of the VGs of the optimum shape determined through the
abovementioned analyses to the Mitsubishi LANCER EVOLUTION showed a
0.006 reduction in both the drag coefficient and lift coefficient.
(3) Factors contributing to the effect of VGs were verified by conducting
measurement of total pressure, velocity distribution and CFD. As a result of
the verifications, it is confirmed that VGs create streamwise vortices, the vortices
mix higher and lower layers of boundary layer and the mixture causes the flow
separation point to shift downstream, consequently separation region is narrowed.
From this, we could predict that VGs cause the pressure of the vehicles entire
rear surface to increase therefore decreasing drag, also the velocity ar o und the
rear spoiler to increase, and the lift to decrease.
The delta-wing-shaped VG, which demonstrated high effectiveness in this
research, is planned for commercialization as an accessory for sedans after
slight modifications to the shape with respect to design, legal conformance and
practicality.
References
1. Hoerner, S . F., Fluid-dynamic Drag, P ublished by the author, 1958
2. Hoerner, S. F., Fluid-dynamic Lift, Published by the author, 1985
3. Shibata, H., MMCs Vehicle Wind Tunnel, Automobile Research Review (JARI)
Vol. 5, No. 9, 1983
4. Hucho, W . H., Aerodynamics of Road Vehicles, F our t h Edition, SAE International 1998
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International Journal of Mechanical Engineering