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Technical Paper

Adaptive Base-Flaps Under Variable Cross-Wind

2017-08-25
2017-01-7000
Road vehicles usually operate within windy environments. The combination of typical wind distributions and vehicle speeds, imposes on such vehicles aerodynamic yaw angles, β, which are often almost uniform up to 6° and relevant up to 14°. Drag saving devices are often optimized for zero cross-wind scenarios, minimizing drag only around these design conditions. This work presents the drag saving increase that an adaptive system can provide over a classic boat-tail. In the experimental set up employed, two flaps are located at the rear lateral edges of an Ahmed body and respectively set at angles θ1 and θ2 with respect to the model. To evaluate the efficacy of different flap positioning strategies under cross-wind, the model was tested in a wind tunnel, , with and without flaps at yaw angles β = 0°, 3°, 6° or 9°. The flap sizes tested, δ, were 9% or 13% of the body width. For each β and δ, the maps of drag against the two flap angles were obtained.
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