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Physics Procedia 22 (2011) 239 245

1875-3892 2011 Published by Elsevier B.V. Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of Garry Lee.
doi:10.1016/j.phpro.2011.11.038
Available online at www.sciencedirect.com
2011 International Conference on Physics Science and Technology (ICPST 2011)
Influence of Different Diffuser Angle on Sedans
Aerodynamic Characteristics
Xingjun HU
a
*,Rui ZHANG
a
,Jian YE
b
,Xu YAN
b
,Zhiming ZHAO
b
a
State Key Laboratory of Automobile Simulation and Control, Jilin University, Changchun 130022,China
b
Changan Auto Global R&D Center, Chongqing 401120,China
Abstract
The aerodynamic characteristics have a great influence on the fuel economics and the steering stability of a high
speed vehicle. The underbody rear diffuser is one of important aerodynamic add-on devices. The parameters of the
diffuser, including the diffuser angle, the number and the shape of separators, the shape of the end plate and etc, will
affect the underbody flow and the wake. Here, just the influence of the diffuser angle was investigated without
separator and the end plate. The method of Computational Fluid Dynamics was adopted to study the aerodynamic
characteristics of a simplified sedan with a different diffuser angle respectively. The diffuser angle was set to 0, 3,
6, 9.8 and 12 respectively. The diffuser angle of the original model is 9.8. The conclusions were drawn that when
the diffuser angle increases, the underbody flow and especially the wake change greatly and the pressure change
correspondingly; as a result, the total aerodynamic drag coefficients of car first decrease and then increases, while the
total aerodynamic lift coefficients decrease.
2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection
Keywords: Computational fluid dynamics; sedan; diffuser angle; aerodynamic characteristics

1. Introduction
Diffuser is one of the most important aerodynamic devices often found on F1 [1]. It is often used to
reduce lift for race cars. In recent years, diffuser has also been widely used in ordinary cars. The diffuser
can work to both reduce drag and increase downforce for driving car [2], which can improve fuel
economy and operation stability of vehicle[3]. It has been shown in studies published by Cederlund and
Lasse Christoffersen, that the wake structures of the rear wheels and rear wing for sports car can have a

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +0086-431-85095584; fax: +0086-431-87024799
E-mail address: hxj@jlu.edu.cn
2011 Published by Elsevier B.V. Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of Garry Lee.
240 Xingjun HU et al. / Physics Procedia 22 (2011) 239 245
significant effect on the air flow through the diffuser[4, 5]. It has also been shown in studies published by
YE Hui that the diffuser angle and ground clearance played an important role in the function of diffuser
[6].
This paper aims to study the influence of different diffuser angles on sedan's aerodynamic
characteristics at the modeling design stage. The sedan used for study is a new developed model, and the
model's ground clearance is fixed during the study. The paper was performed as a numerical study
merely. The result of the study was used to provide for the scheme selection judgment basis.
2. Geometrical Model
The vehicle researched here is a new developed sedan. Fig.1 shows the complete CAD representation
of it. In order to reduce computation time, the sedan was simplified. The rearview mirror, front grille and
bottom transmission of the sedan were omitted. The simplified sedan's length, width and height are
4829mm, 1888mm and 1458mm respectively, while the ground clearance is 210mm. Five different cases
including original model were designed. The diffuser angle was set to 0, 3, 6, 9.8 and 12 respectively
for each case while the diffuser angle of the original model is 9.8. The rear views of automobiles for
different cases were shown in Fig.2.
(a) Front view of the sedan (b) View of the sedans bottom
Fig.1. Geometric model of original model
(a)Case one (b) Case two
(c)Case three (d) Case four (e) Case five
Fig.2. Rear part configurations of automobile for various diffuser angles
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3. Numerical simulation
Because the models studied are symmetrical geometries and numerical simulation without side wind
effects can be considered as symmetrical flow-field [7,8,9], a half model was used in the simulation in
order to allow quicker solution of the model with a more refined mesh. For the numerical studies an
idealized computational domain with a constant rectangular cross-section was used. As shown in Figure
3, the computational domain's L W H is 53119mm 5664mm 5832mm. In other words, the domain
extended around four times the vehicle length to the front and six times to the rear.
Fig.3. Overall dimensions of computational domain (unit: mm)
Fig.4. Volume mesh used for the study
The geometric models were used for meshing such as the mesh in Fig.4. For all cases the domain
consisted of tetrahedral mesh and prismatic mesh. Prismatic mesh was used for meshing the domain
around the body and wheel. It can accurately capture surface forces of the vehicle, and improve the
accuracy of calculation. Other domain in the computational domain was meshed by tetrahedral grid. Mesh
around the vehicle was meshed with a smaller size to get a moderate mesh.
The numerical simulation was done in the commercial code FLUENT. Due to its stability and ease of
convergence the k-epsilon model was the chosen turbulence model [9,10]. Both first order upwind
discretization schemes and second order upwind discretization schemes were used for the momentum,
turbulent kinetic energy and turbulent dissipation. SIMPLE scheme was set as the iterative algorithm; the
residual value was set to 0.0001. The boundary conditions used for the study were shown in Table 1.
Table 1. Boundary conditions used for the study
242 Xingjun HU et al. / Physics Procedia 22 (2011) 239 245
Region Boundary conditions
Inlet velocity inlet, v =30m/s, turbulence intensity=0.5%
Outlet Pressure outletreference pressure=0Pa
Symmetry plane Symmetry
Top and side wall
ground wall
4. Results and Discussions
Total drag and lift coefficient for various diffuser angle of the sedan was shown in Table 2. Fig.5 has
shown the change curve of total drag and lift coefficient versus diffuser angle. From Table 2 and Fig.5,
we can found when the diffuser angle varied from 0to 12, the total aerodynamic drag coefficients of car
first decrease and then increases, while the total aerodynamic lift coefficients decrease. There is a diffuser
angle at which the sedan can obtain the minimum drag coefficient.
Table 2. Total drag coefficients and lift coefficients for various diffuser angles
Case name Diffuser angle Cd Cl
Case one 0 0.2841 0.3350
Case two 3 0.2718 0.2791
Case three 6 0.2487 0.2656
Case fouroriginal model 9.8 0.2673 0.2633
Case five 12 0.2822 0.2586
Fig.5. Total drag and lift coefficient versus diffuser angle.
Figures from 6 to 8 were the pressure contours derived from the numerical simulation. From the
calculation results, we can find when the diffuser angle varied from 0 to 12, pressure distributing on the
top of body and the front of body changed little. As seen in Fig.6 and Fig.7, with the increase of diffuser
angle, the distribution area of positive pressure on the rear of the body first increases and then decrease.
The distribution area of positive pressure reach peak at diffuser angle of 6. Difference of positive
pressure distribution on the rear of the body lead to differential pressure of the body surface varies from
case to case, which results in the total aerodynamic drag coefficients of car first decreasing and then
increasing while diffuser angle changes. From Fig.8 it can be seen that with the increase of diffuser angle
Xingjun HU et al. / Physics Procedia 22 (2011) 239 245 243
negative pressure is generated at the underbody interface and the region of the negative pressure become
lager and larger. At the same time, the positive pressure generated at the edge of underbody decrease.
When diffuser angle is changed to 9.8 degree, there is not any positive pressure distributing at the edge of
underbody. The increase of negative pressure distribution and the decrease of the positive pressure
distribution on the underbody lead to increase in differential pressure of the body surface, which results in
decreasing of total aerodynamic lift coefficients. From Fig.8, we can also found the negative pressure
peak at the start of the diffuser.
(a) Case one (b) Case two
(c) Case three (d) Case four (e) Case five
Fig.6. Pressure contour in rear of automobile for various diffuser angle
(a) Case one (b) Case two
(c) Case three (d) Case four (e) Case five
Fig.7. Pressure contour in centre plane of automobile for various diffuser angle
244 Xingjun HU et al. / Physics Procedia 22 (2011) 239 245
(a) Case one (b) Case two
(c) Case three (d) Case four (e) Case five
Fig.8. Pressure contour in rear of automobiles bottom for various diffuser angle
In Fig.9, the streamline behind the vehicle can be seen for diffuser angles from 0 to 12 degrees. From
the streamline and pressure contour of the sedan, it can be found when the diffuser angles varies from 0
degree to 12 degrees, the flow field after the sedan has an obvious change. It can be seen obviously the
wake structures after the car of all cases are different.
(a)Case one (b) Case two
(c) Case three (d) Case four (e) Case five
Fig.9. Streamline after the automobile for various diffuser angle
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5. Conclusions
The aerodynamic characteristics of a simplified sedan with different diffuser angles were studied by
using numerical simulation in the paper. The study was done at the situation that ground clearance of the
sedan was fixed. From the study, it was observed that the change of diffuser angle has a great influence
on wake and the underbody flow behind the rear wheels. The total aerodynamic drag coefficients of sedan
are first increasing then decreasing with increasing diffuser angle and the total aerodynamic lift
coefficients is decreasing as the diffuser angle is increasing. There is an appropriate diffuser angle at
which the total aerodynamic drag coefficient of sedan has a minimum value.
Acknowledgements
Thanks for the supports from National Science Foundation of China (50805062), Development
Programs in Science and Technology of Jilin Province (20080114, 20096005) and Foundation of State
Key Laboratory of Automobile Dynamics Simulation, Jilin University
References
[1]J. P. Howell. The Influence of Ground Simulation on the Aerodynamic of Simple Car Shapes with an Underfloor Diffuser,
Conference on Vehicle Aerodynamics. Royal Aerodynamic Society, 1994
[2]Kevin R. Cooper, T.bertenyi, G. Dutil,J. syms, G. Sovran. The Aerodynamics Performance of Automobile Underbody
Diffuser. SAE Technical Paper 980030, 1998
[3]Ye Hui. A Parametric Study on the Diffuser and Ground Clearance of a Simplified Car Model using CFD. Jilin university,
2006
[4]Cederlund, J. and Vikstrm, J. The Aerodynamic Influence of Rim Design on a Sports Car and its Interaction with the Wing
and Diffuser Flow. M.Sc. Thesis, Chalmers University of Technology, 2010
[5]Lasse Christoffersen, David Sderblom, Lennart Lofdahl. Wing-Diffuser Interaction on a Sports Car. SAE Technical Paper
2011-01-1433, 2011
[6]Fu Limin. Automobile Aerodynamics. Beijing: China Machinery Press, 2006
[7]Hu Xingjun, Qin Peng, Guo Peng, An Yang. Effect of Turbulence Parameters on Numerical Simulation of Complex
Automotive External Flow Field. Applied Mechanics and Materials, 2011,Vols. 52-54, pp 1062-1067
[8]Hu Xing-Jun,Yang Bo,Wang Jing-Yu, Li Ting. Research on influences of rear-view mirror on aerodynamic drag
characteristics of truck. Journal of Hunan University Natural Sciences, 2010, v37, n SUPPL. 1, p 65-69
[9]Sun Jinian. Basic Course of Convection HeatTransfer Numerical Simulation using ANSYS CFX. National Defence Industry
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