An Integrated CFD and Truck Simulation for 4 Vehicle Platoons

Michael Siemon, Patrick Smith, Dudley Nichols, David Bevly, Scott Heim

Research output: Contribution to journalConference articlepeer-review

10 Scopus citations

Abstract

A Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) study was conducted on four-vehicle platoons, and the aerodynamic data is then coupled with a high-fidelity truck simulation software (TruckSim) to determine fuel efficiency. Previous studies typically have focused on identical two vehicle platoons, whereas this study accounted for more complex platoon configurations. Heavy duty vehicles (HDVs), both military and commercial, make up a significant percentage of fuel consumption. This study aimed to quantify fuel savings of a platoon consisting of dissimilar trucks and trailers, thus reducing vehicle operational cost. The vehicle platoon featured two M915 trucks and two Peterbilt 579 trucks with dissimilar trailer configurations. An unloaded flatbed trailer, a centered 20 ft shipping container, two 20 ft shipping containers, and a 53 ft box trailer configurations were utilized. The platoon vehicles were spaced evenly with 30 ft, 50 ft, and 100 ft gaps to characterize gap effects on drag reduction and broadly cover typical operational range. A grid refinement study was conducted to determine meshing requirements needed to properly predict drag profiles on each vehicle. The coefficient of drag from the CFD study was then used along with the mathematical models in TruckSim to provide an accurate predicted fuel efficiency for each vehicle in the platoon. Vehicle spacing and control was accomplished by use a cruise control system on the truck. This control, along with the CFD drag data, resulted in increased fuel savings for the vehicles of the platoon.

Original languageEnglish
JournalSAE Technical Papers
Volume2018-April
DOIs
StatePublished - 2018
Externally publishedYes
Event2018 SAE World Congress Experience, WCX 2018 - Detroit, United States
Duration: Apr 10 2018Apr 12 2018

Funding

This work was completed in part with resources provided by the Auburn University Hopper HPC Cluster, without which this study would not have been possible. Details of the vehicles studied in this work were provided by members of the U.S. Army at the Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC) as well as employees of Integrated Solutions for Systems (IS4S) under SBIR contract W56HZV-17-C-0084.

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