Experimental

Aerodynamics
Vehicle Aerodynamics
Lecture 3:
Performance and stability
G. Dimitriadis
Experimental Aerodynamics

Car performance
! Car performance is a function of the
complete design of a car.
! Aerodynamics plays a significant part
but there are many other factors that
are important.
! As the main function of aerodynamics is
to improve fuel efficiency, we will
concentrate on fuel performance in this
part of the course.
Experimental Aerodynamics

Car equation of motion

! Use Newtons 2nd Law of Motion:
FT: Traction force
D: Drag force
R: Rolling resistance"
V: Speed
mg: weight
!: climb angle

FT"
!"

R"

FT = D + R + m

Experimental Aerodynamics

D"
mg"

dV
+ mgsin !
dt

Drag force
! As already discussed in the previous
section, the drag force can be
expressed as
1
D = !V 2CD S
2

! This expression is deceptively simple

because it includes all of the internal
and external sources of drag in the drag
coefficient.
Experimental Aerodynamics

Rolling resistance
! The rolling resistance can be
approximated as R=fRmg, where fR is the
coefficient of rolling resistance.
! fR can be approximated as a function of
speed.
Typical variation of
rolling resistance
coefficient with speed.
f R = a2V 2 + a1V + a0

In this example:
f R = 2.80 ! 10 "7 V 2 + 1.97 ! 10 "6 V + 0.012
Experimental Aerodynamics

Car inertia
! The inertia of the car depends primarily on its
mass but also on the moment of inertia of all
rotating parts of the powertrain.
! The total inertia can be expressed as an
effective mass, meff=m(1+#i), where #i depends
on the chosen gear:
! 1st gear: #1=0.25
! 2nd gear: #2=0.15
! 3rd gear: #3=0.10
! 4th gear: #4=0.075
! 5th gear: #5=0.063

Experimental Aerodynamics

Complete traction force

! A complete (but approximate) equation for
the traction force can then be written as:
1
dV
2
2
+ mgsin #
FT = !V CD S + ( a2V + a1V + a0 ) mg + m(1 + " i )
2
dt

! Notice that the acceleration term is defined

as a resistance to acceleration and
therefore has a sign opposite to that of the
traction force.
Experimental Aerodynamics

Fuel consumption
! The fuel consumption of a car running over
a certain period of time T is usually defined
T
as the ratio:
!0 bdt
B=

! Vdt

! Where b is the volume fuel rate and the

denominator is simply the distance
travelled in T seconds.
! The fuel consumption is usually measured
in L/100 km.
0

Experimental Aerodynamics

Powered driving
! Consider the case where the engine is
providing a traction force, i.e. FT>0.
! The traction power necessary to produce the
required traction force is given by PT=FTV.
! The traction power is related to the engine
power by PT=Pb,T$D, where is the $D drivetrain
efficiency.
! The volume fuel rate can be expressed as
b =

be
be
PT =
FT V
!fuel"D
!fuel"D

! Where be is the specific fuel consumption.

Experimental Aerodynamics

Specific fuel consumption

! The specific fuel consumption (brake specific
fuel consumption for reciprocating engines) is
defined as:
b
m fuel
be =
= !fuel
Pb,T
Pb,T

! The brake specific fuel consumption (bsfc) is

not a constant; it varies with the speed of
rotation of the engine.
! However, the minimum bsfc for most engines is
of the same order, between 200 and 300 g/Kwh
Experimental Aerodynamics

Sample bsfc map for an

Minimum bsfc
engine

Experimental Aerodynamics

Fuel consumption in powered driving

! The fuel consumption in powered driving is then given as

1
B=
!fuel

be
FT Vdt
"D
T

# Vdt
0

! For constant speed operation on a level road over a short period

of time (little fuel is burned so the car weight does not change
much), this becomes
! or,

Experimental Aerodynamics

B=

be
FT
!fuel"D

be # 1
%
!V 2CD S + ( a2V 2 + a1V + a0 ) mg
B=
&
!fuel"D $ 2

Application example
! Apply this equation to a luxury car with S=2m2,
m=1500kg at V=150kph (i.e. fR=0.018).
&
be mg # 1
2
2
B=
!V CD S + ( a2V + a1V + a0 )(
%
'
!fuel"D $ 2mg

! Substituting gives

be mg
0.94CD + 0.018)
B=
(
!fuel"D

! We can simplify a bit by noting that 0.94CD>>0.018

and that 0.94!1:
be mg
C
B=
!fuel"D D

Experimental Aerodynamics

Drag effect on fuel

consumption
! This simple example demonstrates that, all
other factors remaining equal, fuel consumption
is directly proportional to the drag coefficient.
! Therefore, a 10% decrease in the drag
coefficient of the car could bring about a 10%
decrease in non-dimensional fuel consumption.
! Remember that non-dimensional fuel
consumption is given by
B!fuel"D
be mg
Experimental Aerodynamics

More realistic data

! A more realistic estimate of the
decrease in fuel consumption due to a
decrease in drag is the following:
! Gasoline engines:
!CD
!B
= 0.40
B0
CD0

! Diesel Engines:

!CD
!B
= 0.50
B0
CD0
Experimental Aerodynamics

European car classes

! A classification of European car classes
is as follows:

! With the following representative cars:

Experimental Aerodynamics

Fuel effect on European cars

! Estimate of fuel consumption reduction

due to drag, mass and power reductions

Experimental Aerodynamics

Statistics
! These fuel consumption effects depend on the
choice of car usage, what is known as the
Driving Cycle.
! The Driving Cycle is a definition of how much
time the average car spends driving in a city,
on a regional road or on a motorway.
! The old European Driving Cycle specified that
B=1/3(Bcity+B90+B120).
! The diagrams of the previous slide were
obtained using this definition.
Experimental Aerodynamics

NEDC
! The new European Driving Cycle is
called NEDC and is as complicated as
anything that European bureaucrats can
produce.
! Using this Driving Cycle, car weight
decreases become more important to
fuel savings than drag reductions.
! Therefore, it must be right...
Experimental Aerodynamics

NEDC fuel consumption

savings
"G denotes change in car
weight
Car weight reductions have
a much bigger effect on
fuel consumption under the
new standard.
Conversely, drag
reductions have a
significantly smaller effect.
Experimental Aerodynamics

Lowest fuel consumption

! Decreasing the drag coefficient can increase
the maximum speed of a car.
! Further fuel savings can be obtained if the
engine power is decreased so that the
maximum speed remains at its original value.
! A reduction in power will worsen the cars
acceleration and climbing performance.
Therefore, the cars weight must also be
reduced.
! Of course, reducing mass is not necessarily
very easy.
Experimental Aerodynamics

Potential mass reductions

! This is where the process becomes even more
hypothetical.
! We can assume that the mass reduction
potential is 10% for class A cars up to 20% for
class E cars.
! Then we can determine how much we can
reduce the power in order to preserve the same
acceleration and climb performance.
! Finally, this gives us the estimate of how much
we need to decrease the drag coefficient so
that the maximum speed remains the same.
Experimental Aerodynamics

Optimal fuel savings

Experimental Aerodynamics

Optimal
CD

Class

0.32

0.28

0.24

0.23

0.24

Discussion
! The optimal drag coefficients seem reasonable.
! However, it must be kept in mind that their
calculation started from a very weak
assumption about the weight reduction
possibilities.
! If such weight reductions are not possible, then
the optimal drag coefficients values are wrong.
! Therefore, the value of such calculations is
debatable.
! You cant just wish for fuel savings. There must
be a concrete mechanism by which they are
achieved!
Experimental Aerodynamics

Directional stability
! At high speeds, the yawing moment caused by
aerodynamic forces during turning or because
of a crosswind can be quite significant.
! In the early years of the automobile era (up to
the 1920s) car performance and road quality
limited the top speeds.
! Therefore, there was little correlation between
aerodynamics and yawing moment.
! However, as car performance and road quality
improved, the aerodynamic yawing moment
became increasingly important.
Experimental Aerodynamics

6 degrees of freedom
! A car has 6 degrees of freedom:
Up#

3 Displacements:
Front, side, up
3 Rotations:
Yaw, pitch, roll
C.G.: Centre of
gravity
Experimental Aerodynamics

Yaw#
C.G.#
Front#
Roll#

Pitch#

Side#

Centre of pressure
! The resultant aerodynamic force can be seen
as the integral of the pressure distribution over
the entire surface of the car.
! This resultant force acts on the centroid of the
pressure distribution, known as the Centre of
Pressure.
! The centre of pressure is not coincident with
the cars centre of gravity.
! As a consequence, the aerodynamic force
creates an aerodynamic moment around the
centre of gravity.
Experimental Aerodynamics

Aerodynamic forces and

moments

! The resultant aerodynamic force and moment

around the centre of gravity can be decomposed
in the direction of the three car axes, yielding:
! 3 Forces:
! Lift
! Drag
! Side force

! 3 Moments:

! Pitching moment
! Yawing moment
! Rolling moment

Experimental Aerodynamics

Streamlining
! Streamlining reduced drag but also
decreased lateral stability.
! Furthermore, many cars of the interwar
years had the engine installed in the rear.
! The combination of rear lift and rear
positions of the centre of gravity greatly
reduced the directional stability of cars.
! Vehicles with low aerodynamic drag were
generally sensitive to crosswinds
Experimental Aerodynamics

Effect of lift
! Many cars produce lift at high airspeeds.
The lift coefficients are much smaller than
those of aircraft but they are positive.
! This lift decreases the wheel load and
increases the sensitivity of the steering
response to small disturbances.
! If the lift is higher towards the rear of the
car, it can cause oversteer, i.e. the sideslip
angle of the rear wheels becomes greater
than that of the front wheels.
Experimental Aerodynamics

Car shape effect on lift

Influence of stagnation
point position and
separation height on lift
and pitching moment.
Clearly, a high
stagnation point and
slow separation tend to
create higher lift and,
hence, more directional
instability.
Experimental Aerodynamics

50s bathtubs
! The bathtub cars of the 1950s did not really
improve the directional problems.
! They generated significant amounts of rear lift
and many of them had rear-mounted engines.
! The situation became so bad that some cars
started featuring double fins at the back.

Experimental Aerodynamics

Effect of fins
! Car fins act exactly like aircraft fins
C.P.: Centre of pressure
C.G.: Centre of gravity
Y: Side force
D: Drag force
%: Yaw angle
Yf: Fin side force
Df: Fin drag

V"

%"
C.P.#

V"

Y"
D"

C.G.#

Yf"
Df"
Experimental Aerodynamics

The airflow is coming at an

angle %, causing a side force
and drag acting on the centre
of pressure. These forces
cause a destabilizing moment
around the centre of gravity.
The fins create side and drag
forces on their centers of
pressure. These provide a
stabilizing moment around the
centre of gravity.

Front-mounted engines
! Eventually, the directional stability problems
started being resolved by mounting the engines
at the front on most cars.
! Furthermore, as aerodynamics started
becoming important again in the 70s,
aerodynamically induced directional instability
started to be investigated.
! Finally, spoilers started to get installed on the
rear of high performance cars, pushing the rear
of the car down and thus increasing directional
stability.
Experimental Aerodynamics

Spoilers
! Spoilers can have several functions:

! Create downforce to improve the grip of the

tyres on the road.
! Create downforce to counter body-generated
lift and overcome directional stability problems.
! Smooth out and direct the airflow in order to
decrease turbulence and drag
! Decorate.

! In general, downforce-producing spoilers

are only required for racing vehicles.
Experimental Aerodynamics

Passenger car spoilers

! Several non-racing cars (usually
Sports Coupes like the Toyota
Celica and the Toyota MR2)
feature factory-installed front
and rear spoilers. Their
functions usually are:
! Front spoiler: decrease drag by
diverting the flow away from the
wheels
! Rear spoiler: smooth the flow to
reduce turbulence

Toyota Celica

! Both these functions help to

reduce drag.
Experimental Aerodynamics

Toyota MR2

Yawing moment
! The aerodynamic yawing moment acting around
the centre of gravity is denoted by N.
! For yaw stability, the rate of change of this moment
with yaw angle must be negative, i.e.
!N
<0
!"

! This condition can also be written in coefficient

form
!C N
!"

! Where CN is defined as:

Experimental Aerodynamics

<0

CN =

1
!V 2 Sl
2

l is the wheelbase,
i.e. the distance
between the front and
rear wheels.

Effect of flow separation

! For car directional stability, larger areas
of separation are actually good!

Case B: Front separation

Case A: Rear separation

# !C N &
%
( >0
$ !" ' A

Experimental Aerodynamics

But

# !C N & # ! C N &
%
( <%
(
$ !" ' B $ !" ' A

# !C N &
%
( >0
!"
$
'B

Controlled separation
! Case A occurs at smaller yaw angles, case B at
bigger ones.
! At a critical yaw angle, the flow jumps from
case A to B.
CD"

CN"

%"
Experimental Aerodynamics

%"

Crosswind
! When a crosswind Vc acts on a vehicle
at an angle &, the resultant airspeed
seen by the vehicle is Vr and its
direction angle is %, the yaw angle.
&

Vc

Experimental Aerodynamics

Vr
%
V

Side force and Yawing

moment

! The side force and yawing moment coefficients can be

assumed to be linear with yaw angle, at least for %<20o.
Then,
! CY=CY%"
! CN=CN%#

! The total side force becomes

1
Y = !Vr2 SCY" #
2
! The total yawing moment becomes
1
N = !Vr2 SCY" #e
2
! Where e is the distance between the centre of pressure
and the centre of gravity
Experimental Aerodynamics

Gusts
! Crosswind is rarely sustained.
Atmospheric turbulence can be seen as a
noisy background signal peppered with
discrete powerful events known as gusts.
! Gusts are sudden and last a short time.
The response of cars to gusts is different
to the response to sustained crosswinds;
the former is dynamic, the latter is static.
! Gusts excite the yaw dynamics of the car
and can cause oscillations to occur.
Experimental Aerodynamics

Measurement of crosswind
effects

Open loop test

Such measurements
are carried out using
crosswind blowers.

Closed loop test

Experimental Aerodynamics

All 6 aerodynamic
load components
Effect of yaw angle
on all six
aerodynamic load
coefficients for
three different car
families
(hatchback,
notchback and
estate)
Experimental Aerodynamics

Overtaking
! Effect of crosswind on car overtaking a
Recovery to
bus
steady state
conditions

!: %=0o
*: %=5o
x: %=10o
Encountering
bus wake

Experimental Aerodynamics

Recovery to
steady state
conditions

Encountering
bus wake