Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Identification of wake vortices in a simplified car model during significant aerodynamic drag increase under crosswind conditions

  • Regular Paper
  • Published:
Journal of Visualization Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Wake vortices associated with a significant aerodynamic drag increase in a simplified notchback car model at a certain yaw angle and flow resulting in these vortices are identified in this study. In comparison with previous studies that only indicated the characteristic flow attachment on the leeward rear-end corner of the target car model under a significant drag increase, this study clarified the changes in the wake vortices in the target car model. Computational fluid dynamics simulations at typical yaw angles before and after the drag increase were performed. Two vortex visualization methods that depict the isosurface of the dimensionless vorticity and the vortex core lines of low-pressure vortices with swirling motions were applied. As results, four vortices were identified near the region where the surface pressure of the base decreases. These vortices were formed near the leeward side and center of the base and became stronger as the drag increased significantly. Therefore, these vortices are considered to contribute to the drag increase, in addition to enhancing the Coanda effect of the attached flow along the leeward rear-end corner. The flows associated with the four vortices were also identified by visualizing the streamlines passing through their vortex core lines. These findings will be useful in the suppression of significant aerodynamic drag increase at specific yaw angles.

Graphical abstract

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11
Fig. 12
Fig. 13
Fig. 14
Fig. 15
Fig. 16

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Ahmed SR, Ramm G, Faltin G (1984) Some salient features of the time-averaged ground. SAE technical papers: paper no. 840300

  • Banks DC, Singer BA (1995) A predictor-corrector technique for visualizing unsteady flow. IEEE Trans vis Comput Graph 1(2):151–163

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bayraktar I, Landman D, Baysal O (2001) Experimental and computational investigation of Ahmed body for ground vehicle aerodynamics. SAE technical papers: paper no. 2001–01–2742

  • Bello-Millán FJ, Mäkelä T, Parras L, del Pino C, Ferrera C (2016) Experimental study on Ahmed’s body drag coefficient for different yaw angles. J Wind Eng Ind Aerodyn 157:140–144

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Berdahl C, Thompson D (1993) Education of swirling structure using the velocity gradient tensor. AIAA J 31(1):97–103

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bonnavion G, Cadot O, Évrard A, Herbert V, Parpais S, Vigneron R, Délery J (2017) On multistabilities of real car’s wake. J Wind Eng Ind Aerodyn 164:22–33

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carlino G, Cardano D, Cogotti, A (2007) A new technique to measure the aerodynamic response of passenger cars by a continuous flow yawing. SAE technical papers: paper no. 2007–01–0902

  • Chometon F, Strzelecki A, Ferrand V, Dechipre H, Dufour P, Gohlke M, Herbert V (2005) Experimental study of unsteady wakes behind an oscillating car model. SAE technical papers: paper no. 2005–01–0604

  • Dalla Longa L, Evstafyeva O, Morgans AS (2019) Simulations of the bi-modal wake past three-dimensional blunt bluff bodies. J Fluid Mech 866:791–809

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  • Gohlke M, Beaudoin JF, Amielh M, Anselmet F (2007) Experimental analysis of flow structures and forces on a 3D-bluff-body in constant cross-wind. Exp Fluids 43(4):579–594

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Guilmineau E, Chikhaoui O, Deng GB, Visonneau M (2013) Cross wind effects on a simplified car model by a DES approach. Comput Fluids 78:29–40

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  • Günther T, Theisel H (2018) The state of the art in vortex extraction. Comput Graph Forum 37(6):149–173

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Howell J (2015) Aerodynamic drag of passenger cars at yaw. SAE Int J Passeng Cars Mech Syst 8(1):306–316

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hucho WH, Sovran G (1993) Aerodynamics of road vehicles. Annu Rev Fluid Mech 25(1):485–537

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hunt JCR (1987) Vorticity and vortex dynamics in complex turbulent flows. Trans Can Soc Mech Eng 11(1):21–35

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jankun-Kelly M, Jiang M, Thompson D, Machiraju R (2006) Vortex visualization for practical engineering applications. IEEE Trans vis Comput Graph 12(5):957–964

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jeong J, Hussain F (1995) On the identification of a vortex. J Fluid Mech 285:69–94

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  • Kida S, Miura H (1998) Swirl condition in low-pressure vortices. J Phys Soc Jpn 67(7):2166–2169

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lawson A, Sims-Williams D, Dominy R (2008) Effects of on-road turbulence on vehicle surface pressures in the A-pillar region. SAE Int J Passeng Cars Electron Electr Syst 1(1):333–340

    Google Scholar 

  • Li J, Carria PM (2020) A simple approach for vortex core visualization. J Fluids Eng 142(5):051504

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mayer J, Schrefl M, Demuth R (2007) On various aspects of the unsteady aerodynamic effects on cars under crosswind conditions. SAE technical papers: paper no. 2007–01–1548

  • Meile W, Ladinek T, Brenn G, Reppenhagen A, Fuchs A (2016) Non-symmetric bi-stable flow around the Ahmed body. Int J Heat Fluid Flow 57:34–47

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Miura H, Kida S (1997) Identification of tubular vortices in turbulence. J Phys Soc Jpn 66(5):1331–1334

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Muto M, Tsubokura M, Oshima N (2012) Negative Magnus lift on a rotating sphere at around the critical Reynolds number. J vis 24(1):014102

    Google Scholar 

  • Nakamura Y, Nakashima T, Hiraoka T, Shimizu K, Nouzawa T, Doi Y, Mutsuda H (2020) Identification of the vortex around a vehicle by considering the pressure minimum. J vis 23(5):793–804

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nakashima T, Hamamura K, Shimizu K, Hiraoka T, Nouzawa T (2018) Influence of rear-end shape on transient aerodynamic characteristics caused by time variation of the relative wind direction. Trans Soc Automot Eng Jpn 49(2):447–452 ((in Japanese))

    Google Scholar 

  • Nakashima T, Hamamura K, Shimizu K, Hiraoka T, Nouzawa T (2019) Aerodynamic drag change of vehicle model caused by flow hysteresis under fluctuating crosswind. Trans Soc Automot Eng Jpn 50(3):938–944 ((in Japanese))

    Google Scholar 

  • Nouzawa T, Okada Y, Ohira Y, Okamoto S, Nakamura K (2009) Flow structure around vehicle increasing aerodynamic drag:2nd report, characteristic flow structure of sedan vehicle. Trans Jpn Soc Mech Eng Ser B 75(757):1807–1813 ((in Japanese))

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oettle N, Sims-Williams D, Dominy R, Darlington C, Freeman C (2013) The effects of unsteady on-road flow conditions on cabin noise: spectral and geometric dependence. SAE Int J Passeng Cars Mech Syst 4(1):120–130

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rao A, Minelli G, Basara B, Krajnović S (2018) On the two flow states in the wake of a hatchback Ahmed body. J Wind Eng Ind Aerodyn 173:262–278

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sane S, Bujack R, Garth C, Childs H (2020) A survey of seed placement and streamline selection techniques. Comput Graph Forum 39(3):785–809

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shimizu K, Nakashima T, Sekimoto S, Fujii K, Hiraoka T, Nakamura Y, Nouzawa T, Ikeda J (2019) Aerodynamic drag reduction of a simplified vehicle model by promoting flow separation using plasma actuator. Mechanical engineering letters 5: paper no. 19–00354–19–00354

  • Stoll D, Schoenleber C, Wittmeier F, Kuthada T, Wiedemann J (2016) Investigation of aerodynamic drag in turbulent flow conditions. SAE Int J Passeng Cars Mech Syst 9(2):733–742

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tsubokura M, Kobayashi T, Nakashima T, Nouzawa T, Nakamura T (2009) Computational visualization of unsteady flow around vehicles using high performance computing. Comput Fluids 38:99–164

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  • Tunay T, Firat E, Sahin B (2018) Experimental investigation of the flow around a simplified ground vehicle under effects of the steady crosswind. Int J Heat Fluid Flow 71:137–152

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Urquhart M, Varney M, Sebben S, Passmore M (2020) Aerodynamic drag improvements on a square-back vehicle at yaw using a tapered cavity and asymmetric flaps. Int J Heat Fluid Flow 86:108737

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang S, Goldfeather J, Longmire EK, Interrante V (2013) Methods to identify individual eddy structures in turbulent flow. Tsinghua Sci Technol 18(2):125–136

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wiebel A, Scheuermann G (2005) Eyelet particle tracing-steady visualization of unsteady flow. In: Proceedings of the IEEE visualization conference, pp. 77–84

  • Wieser D, Schmidt HJ, Müller S, Strangfeld C, Nayeri C, Paschereit C (2014) Experimental comparison of the aerodynamic behavior of fastback and notchback drivaer models. SAE Int J Passeng Cars Mech Syst 7(2):682–691

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wieser D, Nayeri CN, Paschereit CO (2020) Wake structures and surface patterns of the drivaer notchback car model under side wind conditions. Energies 13(2):320

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Windsor S (2014) Real world drag coefficient-is it wind averaged drag? Proc Int Veh Aerodyn Conf 2014:1–16

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhang Y, Liu K, Xian H, Du X (2018) A review of methods for vortex identification in hydroturbines. Renew Sustain Energy Rev 81:1269–1285

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The author would like to acknowledge the technical contributions and funding of Mazda Motor Corporation. A part of this work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI grant number JP20K04286. The computation was carried out using the computer resource offered under the category of General Projects by Research Institute for Information Technology, Kyushu University. The authors would also like to acknowledge these supports.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate School of Advanced Science and Engineering, Hiroshima University, 1-4-1 Kagamiyama, Higashi-Hiroshima-shi, Hiroshima, Japan

    Yusuke Nakamura, Takuji Nakashima, Chao Yan, Hidemi Mutsuda & Taiga Kanehira

  2. Mazda Motor Corporation, 3-1 Shinchi, Fuchu-cho, Aki-gun, Hiroshima, Japan

    Keigo Shimizu & Takenori Hiraoka

  3. Office of Research and Academia-Government-Community Collaboration, Hiroshima University, 1-4-1 Kagamiyama, Higashi-Hiroshima-shi, Hiroshima, Japan

    Takahide Nouzawa

Authors
  1. Yusuke Nakamura
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Takuji Nakashima
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Chao Yan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Keigo Shimizu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Takenori Hiraoka
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Hidemi Mutsuda
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Taiga Kanehira
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Takahide Nouzawa
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Takuji Nakashima.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Nakamura, Y., Nakashima, T., Yan, C. et al. Identification of wake vortices in a simplified car model during significant aerodynamic drag increase under crosswind conditions. J Vis 25, 983–997 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12650-022-00837-8

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12650-022-00837-8

Keywords

Search

Navigation