Large scale response of a vehicle wake to on-road perturbations

Under disturbed upstream conditions, numerous wind tunnel studies have shown that the near wake region of a vehicle loses its average symmetry, resulting in an increase of drag. The aim of this research work is to analyze the large scale response of a vehicle wake to on-road perturbations by using an instrumented vehicle and by comparing scale one wind tunnel tests, track trials and on road experiments. More precisely, in all these tests, we focus on the analysis of the asymmetry of the pressure distribution at the base. Proper Orthogonal Decomposition (POD) is used. For all cases considered, POD analysis reveals two dominant modes, respectively associated with vertical and horizontal wake large scale reorganization. More than 50% of the total energy is carried by these two modes and this value increases significantly for on-road tests. Noteworthy, the low-frequency energy content of the temporal coefficients of these modes is significantly higher on-road. Low frequencies (even very low ones) then play a major role, corresponding to a quasi-static perturbation domain of the velocity seen by the vehicle. We show that a quasi-steady exploration of the on-road yaw angle statistical distribution during a wind tunnel test captures phenomena similar to those observed on the road and is therefore interesting to evaluate on-road aerodynamic performances. This also opens perspectives for developing closed loop control strategies aiming to maintain a prescribed wake balance in order to reduce drag experienced on the road.