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Technical Paper

Drag Optimization of Light Trucks Using Computational Fluid Dynamics

2004-10-26
2004-01-2617
There are 80 million light trucks on the road today with suboptimal aerodynamic forms. Previous research has found that several miles per gallon can be saved by specifically tailoring truck bodies for reduced aerodynamic drag. Even greater savings can be obtained if the shape of the trucks is numerically optimized. This could reduce fuel consumption in the United States by billions of gallons per year. This paper demonstrates a method for drag reduction using CFD and traditional numerical optimization techniques. A method for efficient design variable reduction for CFD optimization of three-dimensional shapes is also presented and applied to light trucks. The optimized form is then physically constructed and installed on a recent model pickup truck. The vehicle is tested in several configurations and the effects on fuel economy are compared to the CFD prediction.
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