Understanding Tractor Trailer Aerodynamics Using a Time Accurate Approach

In the United States, 70 percent of freight tonnage is transported by tractor trailers each year. Tractor trailers spend much of their time at highway speeds, resulting in 65 percent of their fuel consumption being used to overcome aerodynamic drag. Consequently, it is essential to understand the source of this aerodynamic drag and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is the perfect tool to identify and diagnose these issues. Watch this webinar showing how SU2 was used for a transient simulation conducted to capture near body drag and wake drag phenomena with a Delayed Detached Eddy model based on the Shear Stress Transport turbulence. The control over mesh topology and boundary layer generation within Pointwise provided a mesh best suited for this simulation.