Aan Yudianto, Umar Aminudin, Wahyu Setiawan, Febri Julianto
The aerodynamic benefits of a group of vehicles running in a platoon formation have increasingly gained researcher's attention. The objectives of the study are to investigate the aerodynamic response of four vehicles traveling in misaligned platoons at a selected lateral offset and longitudinal distance. A modified reference vehicle model was utilized in the Computational Fluid Dynamics simulation. The assessment of the aerodynamic force coefficient, including drag coefficient, lift force coefficient, side force coefficient of the vehicles, and pressure coefficients around the vehicle together with air streamlines, was performed in the study. Seven vehicle configurations were selected to investigate the aerodynamic behavior of platoon formation. The results indicate that the leading vehicle generates the least drag coefficient compared to the following ones. The action of a vehicle leaving platooning formation causes a larger value of the side force coefficient of the vehicle in the vicinity. Moreover, the vehicle leaving platooning configuration distracts the aerodynamic benefit of platoon formation - the larger distance of the misaligned vehicle, the higher the airflow distraction imposed on the following misaligned vehicle. © 2023 Author(s).
Automotive Design Laboratory, Department of Automotive Engineering Education, Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta, Indonesia; Automotive Body Workshop and Laboratory, Department of Automotive Engineering Education, Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta, Indonesia
