Numerical investigation of dynamic characteristics of ground vehicles in crosswind gusts

Co-financed project: Vinnova MSCA 80% funding, ECO2 20% funding
Postdoc: Tural Tunay

In on-road conditions, ground vehicles are subjected to unsteady flows with a wide range of scales that can influence the handling, stability or even safety of the vehicle. It has been revealed that unsteady aerodynamic loads on the vehicles differ from steady loads considerably. Therefore, the present project aims to investigate dynamic characteristics of the ground vehicles in unsteady crosswind conditions by employing two-way coupled aerodynamics and vehicle dynamics simulations including driver’s model. In this project, a reliable numerical method is employed to predict the response of the vehicles to on-road crosswind gusts by 2-way coupling the aerodynamics and vehicle dynamics simulations.