Search Results

The airflow around an idealized wheel has been modelled using Star-CD 3.1, a commercial CFD package, and measured in a wind tunnel fitted with a moving ground. Measurements were made of the static pressure along the centreline of the idealised wheel and of the vortex characteristics immediately behind the wheel. Flow characteristics have been shown to change significantly with the introduction of wheel rotation, wheel width, and exposure to the oncoming flow. The CFD model successfully predicted the main features of the pressure profile around the wheel using the RNG k-ε turbulence model with the QUICK higher-order differencing scheme and the log-law wall function. The size of the vortex pair immediately behind the wheel and the Cp profile along the centreline of the wheel were found to be dependant upon the width of the wheel and the exposure to the oncoming flow.