CFD Analysis of Drag Reduction Using External Devices on Pickup Trucks

The flows over a pickup truck with add-on devises were studied using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) with the objective of investigating the effect of these add-no devices on the flow structures around the vehicle, aerodynamic drag, and lift coefficient. All numerical simulations were performed using commercial CFD software Fluent [8]. A generic pickup model with extended cab was used as the base model and all the flow simulations were performed at zero degree yaw angle. The pickup configurations used in the present CFD simulation include Aerocap with different rear inclination angle α, Tonneau cover, Rear Roof Garnish, and Tail-plates. Results from numerical simulations indicated that Aerocap with inclination angle α = 12° and a reduced rear width has produced the minimum aerodynamic drag coefficient. It was also shown that the wake region decrease when the rear inclination angle increases.