A Review of Active Aerodynamic Systems for Road Vehicles

Janusz Piechna
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Janusz Piechna: Institute of Aeronautics and Applied Mechanics, Warsaw University of Technology, 00-665 Warsaw, Poland

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 23, 1-31

Abstract: Comfort, safety, high travel speeds, and low fuel consumption are expected characteristics of modern cars. Some of these are in conflict with one other. A solution to this conflict may be time-varying body geometry realized by moving aerodynamic elements and appropriate systems for controlling their motion. This paper presents a review of existing technical solutions and the results of published research on the effects of active flow control around a vehicle on its dynamic properties. Active aerodynamic systems typically adjust certain aerodynamic characteristics based on the vehicle speed, but systems using other information such as acceleration, yaw rate, steering angle, and brake pressure, as well as fully automatic systems, are also considered. This review provides information on historical and current methods, models, and their effectiveness in designing vehicle bodies and the movable aerodynamic elements mounted on them. Technical solutions in which the driver is an element of the control system, automatic systems, their models, models of movable aerodynamic elements, and coupled dynamic-aerodynamic models are presented. A number of types of moving aerodynamic element solutions used for different purposes are considered in this paper and conclusions are presented.

Keywords: vehicle aerodynamics; active aerodynamic; coupled analysis; car dynamics; FSI; vehicle dynamics control; active aerodynamic surfaces; aerodynamic wings; aerodynamic braking; vehicle handling (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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