Abstract

GUANUCHE, Denny Javier; REMACHE CHIMBO, Álvaro; HEREDIA PANTOJA, Esteban  and  MARTINEZ, Patricio Danilo. Aerodynamic study of an air deflector for trucks and its influence on fuel consumption. RCTU [online]. 2021, vol.8, n.1, pp.25-31. ISSN 1390-7697.  https://doi.org/10.26423/rctu.v8i1.557.

In this study, the aerodynamics of air deflectors before and after being incorporated into cargo trucks were analyzed to verify the existence of fuel savings. Preliminary studies carried out in Ecuador showed a fuel saving of 4.63 % on the road under a German standard (DIN 70 030-2). An experimental methodology was used in which the geometry of a truck and its air deflector are analyzed by means of the one-dimensional equation of the drag force, varying the parameters of the same, according to the norms and regulations established by the control institutions. With computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software, the drag coefficient and drag force of the truck with and without aerodynamic aids is established, for which the wind tunnel conformation, meshing, boundary conditions and iterations of the processing of the variables in the CFX software are required. As a result, we obtained an estimated drag coefficient reduction of 5.607 % and a drag force reduction of 244.66 [N]. Therefore, we found that the aerodynamic elements help us to reduce the drag force and consequently the fuel consumption.

Keywords : Drag force; drag coefficient; gravimetry; computational fluid dynamics.

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