PowerFLOWを用いたタイヤ荷重変形とトレッドパターン回転を模擬した空力シミュレーション

抄録

In recent years, to improve fuel efficiency, electric efficiency, and driving range of automobiles, a reduction in aerodynamic drag is being sought in tires for automobiles. Despite the fact that tires with a tread pattern undergo load deformation while rotating on a moving vehicle, there are few instances of aerodynamic simulations that take this factor into consideration. In this study, we focus on the tire rotation method in PowerFLOW which treats the treaded tire surface as an immersed boundary. Therefore, volumetric force is applied to the interface between the tire and air because the computational grid is not match tire surface. The treaded tire rotation and deformation are expressed by the morphing method in the PowerFLOW’s function without fluid structure interaction calculation. To evaluate the accuracy of this method, wind tunnel tests and simulations for different types of tires with an automobile were conducted. They were good agreement delta CD and wake total pressure distribution tendency.