Coupling analysis of unsteady aerodynamics and vehicle behavior with road input: Modeling and verification in road tests

Abstract

This paper discusses that the unsteady aerodynamic forces caused by vehicle motion in road input have a large influence on the vehicle behaviors. In the present coupling analysis, unsteady aerodynamic forces were obtained by using the response functions for vehicle motion derived in our previous study. By attaching a protrusion on the roof which only measures about 3% of the vehicle height, pitch and heave motions are affected significantly by the change of unsteady aerodynamic effects. Due to the coupling of the unsteady aerodynamic forces and vehicle suspension responses, the vehicle behavior depends on the road input frequency. The pitch motion is enhanced in low-frequency road input (<1.6 Hz for a real vehicle) and is suppressed at high frequencies (>1.6 Hz). Meanwhile, the heave motion is suppressed over 1.2 Hz. Such vehicle behaviors were verified in actual running tests, and were consistent to the subjective evaluation of the drivers feeling. Comparing the unsteady aerodynamic coefficients to the equivalent vehicle specification factors, the aerodynamic inertia caused by pitch motion contributes to 39% of the rear vehicle mass inertia effect in pitch motion. This aerodynamic effect is important in designing suspension specifications of vehicles. These results show that the vehicle stability can be affected even by small detail in vehicle shape due to the unsteady aerodynamic forces.

Keywords

• road vehicle
• aerodynamics
• unsteady aerodynamic force
• vehicle dynamics
• coupling analysis
• response function
• motion simulation