Aerodynamic Characteristics of a Road Vehicle in Steady-State Cornering

The objective of this study was to investigate the aerodynamics of a road vehicle during cornering. We focused on steady-state cornering and divided the vehicle motion into two components, a yaw rotation and a sideslip motion. The fluid-dynamic characteristics of the vehicle in steady-state cornering and the effects of the two motion components were investigated both by a towing tank experiment and by numerical simulation. The results indicate that both of the motion components generated fluid-dynamic centripetal force and fluid-dynamic yaw moments in opposite directions. The distributions of pressure change on the vehicle body, generated by the motion components, were numerically visualized. The physical mechanisms that generated these aerodynamic characteristics are discussed.