Aerodynamics of Platooning Bus Under Crosswind: Aan Yudianto, I Wayan Adiyasa, Afri Yudantoko
Aerodynamics of Platooning Bus Under Crosswind: Aan Yudianto, I Wayan Adiyasa, Afri Yudantoko
Aerodynamics of Platooning Bus Under Crosswind: Aan Yudianto, I Wayan Adiyasa, Afri Yudantoko
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3Aan Yudianto1*, I Wayan Adiyasa 2, Afri Yudantoko 1, 3
41Automotive Design Laboratory, Department of Automotive Engineering Education,
5Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta, 55281, Indonesia
62Autotronic Laboratory, Department of Automotive Engineering Education, Universitas
7Negeri Yogyakarta, 55281, Indonesia
83Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, 01069, Germany
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10Email: [email protected]
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Abstract
14crosswind on it. The study aims to investigate the alteration of aerodynamic coefficient
15comprising drag force coefficient, lift force coefficient, side force coefficient, and pressure
16coefficient of buses traveling in a platoon by considering crosswind. The simulation
17employed a detailed bus model. Proposed meshing techniques were also offered. The
18investigation considered the yaw angle from 0 ° to 30 ° and inter-bus distances by proposed
19coefficient X/L from 0.05 to 1.25. The results in the changes in the aerodynamic performance
20of both buses were presented. The advantages of platoon configuration were described in
21more detail when no crosswind was considered in terms of the generated turbulence kinetic
22energy of the leading and following bus. The results indicated that a crosswind deteriorates
23aerodynamic benefits during the platoon. The inter-bus distance determines how the airflow
24around the bus behaves, leading to the variation in aerodynamic advantages experienced by
25buses. Comparison between the numerical study and experiment indicated a satisfactory
26correlation of results validation.
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29
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31. Introduction
4 Several vehicles orderly travels in a coordinated manner which has a leading vehicle
5that the action is followed by other following vehicles is a broad definition of vehicle
6platooning investigated in this study. Platooning vehicles, sometimes called vehicles
7traveling in convoy, have gathered increasing attention and become a strategy to reduce
8vehicle fuel consumption and support green mobility movements [1]. The reduction of drag
9force on a vehicle leads to a reduction in overall vehicle resistance. Thus, the fuel efficiency of
10a vehicle is improved due to less power required by the engine leading the less fuel
11consumption [2]. This condition leads to the environmental benefits in support of reducing
12the environmental pollution.
13 It has been studied that the reducing fuel consumption of a vehicle in a platoon was
14primarily due to the drag reduction benefits from a vehicle platoon configuration. The inter-
15vehicle distance becomes a main investigated topic by some previous researchers [3]–[6]. It
16was found that the distance between vehicles becomes the main factor in achieving the
17aerodynamic advantages of platoon configuration. Some research has also been undertaken
18to investigate the effect of the external body shape of a vehicle traveling in a platoon [7]–[9].
19The external body shape of a vehicle also determines how the air flowing through the body,
20creating different aerodynamic flow behavior around the vehicle. The rear part of vehicles
21becomes the main concern since this part determines more in the wake generation behind the
22vehicle body. The importance of vehicle platoon configuration also gains more attention to
23develop machine learning techniques related to predicting the drag force on vehicles in
24platoon [10]. The proposing technique offers complementary technology to the
25Computational Fluid Dynamics study to investigate the external aerodynamic effect of
26vehicles in a platoon.
27 The fact that vehicles traveling in uncertain environmental conditions, including
28crosswinds, leads this study to be carried out. The lateral airflow component imposed to a
29vehicle, unfortunately, increases the side force affecting the vehicle’s stability and safety [11].
30This effect becomes more vulnerable to a large vehicle. Some studies has been conducted to
31evaluate the effect of crosswind to large ground vehicle such as a train [12]–[15] and trucks
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19aerodynamics ranging from a basic reference model [24] to a complex vehicle model [25]. In
20this study, a 1/10 scaled and detailed bus model was utilized in the study. The bus model
21includes a pair of mirrors, the embossed upper part in which the air conditioning
22compartment was positioned, and the shape representing the wheel of an intercity bus, as
23depicted in Figure 1. The tire of the bus was assumed to have a flat shape, as shown in Figure
241 Detail A. The door handle, side windshield, and other small detail were excluded for the
25sake of simplicity. The surface of the underbody was also assumed as a flat surface. The total
26length (L) of the model was 1,243 mm, the height (H) was 355 mm, and the overall width (W)
27was 267 mm. The model includes 9 ° of upper front tapering angle and 5 ° of rear diffuser
28angle. However, the wheel compartment was ignored so that the wheel and main body part
29was merged. The other model dimension was detailed in Figure 1.
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2 Figure 1. Dimension of the detailed bus model
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43. Computational Domain and Boundary Condition Settings
5 A cuboid periphery computational domain was selected to perform the simulation. The
6overall length was 10L, the total height was 5H, and the width was 15W. The leading bus
7(Bus A) was located at 3L from the inlet 1 boundary. The following bus (Bus B) was
8positioned depending on the platooning position investigated in this study which was
9introduced by a coefficient of X/L. A refinement zone was introduced to further investigate
10in mode detailed mesh around Bus A and Bus B. The size of the refinement zone was 5L in
11length, 3H in height and 5W in width. The position of this zone was at 2.5L from the inlet 1
12boundary, 5W from inlet 2 and outlet 2 boundary. Therefore, the position of the model was
13exactly at the middle of the computational domain, which is 2W from the side of the
14refinement zone. Outlet 1 face was also named for the rear face of the computational domain
15periphery.
16 Table 1 describes the boundary setting of the computational domain. Since both buses
17were assumed traveling in +x direction, inlet 1 was set as a velocity-inlet setting that the
18velocity vector component represents as the velocity of incoming flow ( vif ¿ in -x direction,
19crosswind velocity component ( v cw ¿ was also set in +z direction. Instead, the vertical vector
20component was set to zero. A similar setting was configured at the second inlet face. These
21settings allowed the simulation to have a resultant velocity produced from the velocity of the
22incoming flow and crosswind velocity. Outlet 1 and Outlet2 were set to pressure outlets
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4 Figure 2. Computational domain
9local sizing mesh for both buses was configured with a local minimum size of 0.005 m and a
10maximum size of 0.3 m. The refinement zone was introduced since the area surrounding the
11bus was one of the points to be observed. Body-of-influence control type was utilized to set
12the mesh sizing for refinement zone having 0.05 m target mesh size with 1.2 growth rate.
13Initially, the surface mesh was generated with a minimum size of 0.05 m and 0.3 m in
14maximum with a 1.2 growth rate. In this stage, curvature and proximity size function was
15developed with 18 normal curvature angles. The edges' scope proximity was also set for
16surface mesh generation. After that, the generation of volume mesh was performed. The
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8 Figure 3. Mesh Strategy
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105. Platooning Bus Position and Airflow Direction
11 Six different platooning distances were introduced by means of X/L coefficient and the
12summation of incoming flow and crosswind generate a certain degree of airflow passing
13through the buses. The X represents the distance between the bus measured from the rear
14part of the leading bus to the front windshield of the following bus. The L represents the
15total length of the bus. The platooning position was investigated at six different positions
16with X/L equals 0.05, 0.25, 0.50, 0.75, 1.00, and 1.25. The simulation employs a steady
17simulation, meaning that it kept the position of the following bus unmoved. The velocity of
18incoming flow ( vif ¿ was kept at 10 m/s in -x direction. Different yaw angles ( α ) with
19α =0 , α =10 , α =20, and α =30, were performed to simulate the platooning bus in different
20wind directions. These angles resulted from the velocity vector resultant of the velocity of
21incoming flow ( vif ¿ and crosswind velocity ( v cw ¿ . In this case, the crosswind velocity
22direction was in +z of the axis. Therefore, the expression of resultant velocity ( v res ¿ is written
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v cw
4 α =arc tan ( )
vif
(2)
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7 Figure 4. Bus position and airflow direction
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96. Aerodynamic Parameter Definition
10 This study was undertaken to assess the changes of aerodynamic forces coefficient
11together with turbulence kinetic energy of two buses in a platoon with a certain distance by
12considering the wind perpendicular to the bus motion. The aerodynamic forces coefficient
13investigated in this study includes drag coefficient (C d), side force coefficient (C s), lift force
14coefficient (C l), and pressure coefficient (C p ¿ that mathematically is expressed in Equation
15(5) to (8).
FD
C d=
16 1 2 (5)
ρv A
2 res
Fs
C s=
17 1 2 (6)
ρv A
2 res
Fl
C l=
18 1 2 (7)
ρv A
2 res
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3 F l respectively in Equation (5), (6) and (7). Those three forces are divided by half of the
4product of air density (ρ), a square of resultant velocity ( v res ¿ and bus projected area ( A ¿.
5The term p and pif in Equation (8) represent the static pressure in the evaluated area and
6static pressure in the free stream respectively. Moreover, the vif is the incoming flow velocity.
7Another aerodynamic parameter evaluated in this study is the turbulence kinetic energy (k )
8that is defined as half of the total square of the standard deviation of each airflow velocity
9component of each axis represented by u , v and w in Equation (9).
1 ´' 2 ´' 2 ´ ' 2
10 k=
2
(( u ) +( v ) +( w ) ) (9)
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127. Results and Discussion
137.1. Alteration of Aerodynamic Coefficients
14 Figure 5 compares the changes of drag coefficient of leading and the following bus for
15each platooning position ranging from X/L = 0.05 to 1.25 by considering yaw angle from α = 0
16up to α = 30. As the yaw angle elevates, the value of the drag coefficient also significantly
17rises, especially for the following bus for a higher distance from the leading bus. The value of
18the coefficient of drag for the leading bus is hovering at the value of 0.37 up to 0.39 when
19both buses travel without the interference of crosswind. The value becomes double and triple
20when crosswind is considered producing yaw angle α = 10 and 30. However, drag coefficient
21reduction occurs for the leading bus after X/L = 0.25, and it steadily decreases to a value of
22approximately 0.7 when X/L = 0,75. The value remains for bus distance X/L = 1 and 1.25. A
23significant alteration of the drag coefficient occurs for Bus B. When X/L is 0.05, drag
24coefficient values for all yaw angles are between 0.18 to 0.35. As the distance between buses
25becomes larger, the value for α = 30 significantly increases up to 1.25 for X/L = 1.25.
26Nevertheless, a quire steady drag coefficient is generated by Bus B for α = 0. The values
27remain constant after X/L=0.25 to X/L = 1.25, generating drag for a coefficient of
28approximately 0.23.
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13lateral velocity of the wind component increases the value of the lift coefficient. Similar
14results have also been observed by other studies [26], [27]. The trend is depicted in Figure 7.
15All the side force coefficient values at each yaw angle are generally constant, but when the
16yaw angle is rising, the values also elevate. The side force coefficient of Bus A reaches the
17peak of approximately 3.7 at X/L = 0.25. For Bus B, the highest value of side force coefficient
18undergoes by Bus B when α = 30 at X/L = 1.25 reaching the value of 3.40. This imposed
19crosswind clearly can deteriorate driving performance of the vehicle [28].
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21 Figure 5. Drag force coefficient alteration of Bus A and Bus B
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2 Figure 6. Lift force coefficient alteration of Bus A and Bus B
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4 Figure 7. Side force coefficient alteration of Bus A and Bus B
6part of the bus in the platoon when α = 0, as it is shown in Figure 8. The following bus,
7instead, undergoes a significantly lower value of pressure coefficient at the front part. It is
8observed that there is nearly zero pressure coefficient when X/L = 0.05 in front of Bus B. The
9area of the positive value of the pressure coefficient is getting larger as the following bus gets
10separated from the leading bus. In terms of streamlines contour, the distance of X/L = 0.25
11generated a whirlpool utmost located in between both buses. In this condition, the following
12bus experiences less stagnation point of the incoming flow, and so that surface pressure is
13small since the airflow direction is sort of hindered by the leading bus. It is investigated with
14the discussion in the previous point in Figure 5 that, at the closets position, the following bus
15benefits more in the aerodynamic drag coefficient, and it lessens when the distance is getting
16farther.
17 Figures 9 to 11 depict how crosswind affects the pressure coefficient value observed
18around both buses for all platooning distances. A significant shifting of the positive value of
19the pressure coefficient is observed when the yaw angle is getting larger. Moreover, a
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8merged in to one. As a result, the highest value of pressure coefficient is only undergone by
9front bus as it is depicted in Figures 9 (a), 10 (a) and 11 (a). The same behavior can be
10investigated for the whirlpool generation. It is a mere front bus that is generating a whirlpool
11at the leeward side of the bus. This occurs when α = 10, 20, and 30. As the distance is getting
12larger, the flow separation occurs, and the airflow starts to flow in between two buses. This
13can be clearly seen when the platooning distance is X/L=0.50 for α = 20 and 30 (Figure 10 (c)
14and 11 (c)). The characteristic is continuous for larger platooning distances. At high yaw
15angle, buses in platoon formation that have a large distance have fewer benefits in terms of
16aerodynamic forces coefficient either for leading or the following bus. These results are
17proved by Figures 10 (f) and 11 (f). The area of pressure coefficient and airflow streamlines
18are similar for the two buses. Since the airflow direction is far from the side of the bus, the
19value of the side force coefficient is also similar for both buses. These results support
20previous researchers examining the pressure coefficient of vehicles in crosswind [29]. These
21results also agree with the previous results of the side force coefficient previously discussed
22and portrayed in Figure 7.
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3 Figure 9. Pressure coefficient at α =10 °
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5 Figure 10. Pressure coefficient at α =20 °
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2 Figure 11. Pressure coefficient at α =30 °
4 The discussion in the previous section indicates that the most beneficial platooning
5condition happens when the buses travel altogether with the absence of crosswind. This
6point discusses the turbulence kinetic energy portrayed at the middle vertical plane when
7the yaw angle α = 0. The comparison of turbulence kinetic energy around the bus is
8compared in Figure 12. The variation of platooning distances causes the different behavior
9of kinetic energy caused by the air flowing through the vehicle. The assumption used in this
10study is that it uses a free stream from the front part of the bus model and neglects the
11induced turbulence from other vehicles or infrastructure around the bus, which can generate
12a non-uniform and fluctuating airflow [30]. It shifts over the platooning distances. When X/L
13= 0.05, the highest value of turbulence kinetic energy is located at the top front of the leading
14bus. Instead, the following bus produces less turbulence kinetic energy. This result agrees
15with the previous discussion saying that the drag coefficient of Bus B is low at this position.
16The aerodynamic advantages is experienced by the following bus in terms of drag coefficient
17and lift coefficient as it is already mentioned and observed in Figure 5 and 6. When X/L
18equals 0.25, the location of the highest area of turbulence kinetic energy shifts to the tail of
19the following bus. However, the leading bus also generates turbulence, yet the value is less
20than the following bus. With the higher platooning distances, which are from X/L = 0.50 to
211.25, the turbulence kinetic energy value reaches the highest point located at the tail of the
22leading bus. At this point, it can be observed that the airflow is then continued to the
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4 Figure 12. Turbulence kinetic energy of platooning buses at α =0 ° captured at vertical
5 midplane.
8simulation and the real experiment using wind tunnel conducted by Meile et al. [31], which
9also agrees with the result of Ahmed et al.'s original Ahmed Body reference model al. [32].
10An Ahmed Body with a rear slant angle 25 ° reference model was utilized in this study to
11perform simulation which then compared to the experimental results. The percentage of
12differences is then calculated by Equation 10.
13 Two aerodynamic coefficient results, drag coefficient and lift coefficient, are selected to
14be then compared to the experimental results. Figure 13 shows the comparison of the drag
15and lift coefficient for both simulation and experiment. The resulting different percentage of
16drag force coefficient is 0.37%, and the lift force coefficient is 2.90%. Therefore, a satisfactory
17correlation between the numerical simulation and experiment has been achieved, and the
18results in this study have been well validated.
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2 Figure 13. Comparison of drag and lift coefficient between simulation and experiment.
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49. Conclusion
5 The study has been carried out to investigate the aerodynamic benefits of two detailed
6bus scaled models traveling in platoon formation in the case of considered crosswind. A
7platooning bus formation brings aerodynamic benefits depending on the distance between
8buses. However, the presence of a large crosswind, producing a large number of yaw angles,
9significantly reduces the aerodynamic advantages of platoon formation. In this case, the
10following bus obtains more benefits as opposed to the leading bus, indicated by reducing the
11value of generated drag coefficient in the small distance between buses when α = 0. These
12benefits are reduced as the yaw angle produced by crosswind increases. Moreover, the larger
13distance between buses also generates a higher value of turbulence kinetic energy that
14reduces the aerodynamic benefit of buses. Future works potentially to be performed are the
15assessment of reliability analysis of vehicles in platoon since it has been studied that a
16platooning formation brings convinced advantages in certain cases.
17
1810.Author's declaration
19Authors’ contributions and responsibilities
20 Write the contribution of each author here, or mark the following column.
21
√ The authors made substantial contributions to the conception and design of the study.
√ The authors took responsibility for data analysis, interpretation and discussion of results.
11
1211.Acknowledgment
13 This work was the branch of the research from Auto-Body Research Group 2021 that
14was fully funded by Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta under the full support of Automotive
15Design Laboratory Department of Automotive Engineering Education. Appreciations are
16expressed to Professors, lecturers, and students involved in this research.
17
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