International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology (IRJET)
e-ISSN: 2395-0056
Volume: 11 Issue: 02 | Feb 2024
p-ISSN: 2395-0072
www.irjet.net
Optimizing Fuel Savings in Articulated Tractor-Trailer with Aerodynamic Venturi Passage Combinations Darshitkumar P. Panchal1, Vimal R. Patel2 Automobile Engineering Department, L.D. College of Engineering, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India ---------------------------------------------------------------------***---------------------------------------------------------------------
Abstract - The environmental issues continue to rise and
aerodynamic drag will lead to fuel savings and a reduction in emissions of carbon dioxide and other pollutants. There are still a lot of opportunities for improvement, especially by aerodynamic drag reduction.
that forces automobile engineers to develop new concepts to lower fuel consumption and emission levels. This study focuses on the application of aerodynamic enhancement on heavy articulated trucks and investigates the effectiveness of novel aerodynamic trailer design with the combination of cab roof deflectors to minimize drag at the trailer head. Complete model designed using computer graphics and analyzed by computational fluid dynamic (CFD) for each configuration, to optimize class 8 vehicle structure. The test results reveal that early flow separation, pressure difference, and high base wake regions are primary contributors to high drag value. Analysis demonstrates the use of a novel venturi passage design with the combination of cab roof deflectors prominently reduces 17.38% drag coefficient compared with a conventional trailer. Notably, implementation of this combination approach results in a 14% increase in drag performance compared to vehicles that only feature cab roof deflector. These findings will be potentially helpful in the field of Automotive to enhance fuel efficiency and sustainability of heavy commercial vehicles.
Despite a number of drag-reducing devices including side skirts, cab-roof fairings and vanes, base flaps, gap seals, boat tails, and underbody fairings, have been researched in the literature for heavy commercial trailer trucks [4-8] there is still a significant research gap when it comes to modifications that are specifically designed to increase aerodynamic performance at the trailer body. However, Client demands for the maximum volume capacity of trailers have slowed down the development of trailer modifications for better aerodynamic performance. As a result, the installation of components to optimize the truck cab's aerodynamic performance became the manufacturer’s primary focus [9]. In order to close this research gap, the purpose of this paper is to examine how effectively a new aerodynamic trailer design will reduce aerodynamic drag. Through Computational fluid dynamics (CFD), the effectiveness of these designs in combination with traditional drag reduction techniques is studied.
Key Words: Fuel Consumption, Aerodynamics, Computational Fluid Dynamics, Venturi Passage, Drag Reduction.
2. NUMERICAL CONTEXT
1. INTRODUCTION
2.1 Aerodynamic Drag Force
Fuel consumption in the automotive sector has increased dramatically, and heavy commercial vehicles are the major contributor to the high economic loss experienced by the nation. The significant impact that heavy-duty vehicles have on the total amount of fuel used on roads, with articulated trucks being especially important in such scenarios, which subsequently leads to considerable amounts of air pollution [1]. It is important to analyze and put new methods that will potentially improve fuel efficiency.
One of the most significant aerodynamic parameters is the drag force or Fd. This represents the total aerodynamic resistance acting on a vehicle when moving forward. Equation 1 defines the drag force expression, where ρ is the surrounding medium density, A is the vehicle's frontal area, and V is the vehicle velocity in relation to the air [10]. (1) Hence, the drag force increases with the square of the velocity and is proportional to the Cd value. The needed power to overcome the drag force is calculated by multiplying the drag force with the vehicle velocity. The expression can be written as shown in Equation 2.
Aerodynamic improvement is one of the most important methods when it comes to fuel saving, according to recent studies on fuel reduction techniques for trucks. About 52% of the fuel is used by a large commercial vehicle travelling at 100 km/h to provide the power needed to overcome aerodynamic drag. That significant effect is air drag after 90 km/h on heavy commercial vehicles [2]. These class 8 trucks travel between 150,000 and 200,000 miles annually, making their fuel demand high in the automotive industry [3]. Because of its high mileage, any small decrease in
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(2) This emphasizes how crucial it is to minimize Cd through aerodynamic design in order to decrease the total drag of a vehicle and increase vehicle fuel efficiency.
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