Numerical and Experimental Investigations for Aerodynamic Drag Reduction of a Truck Model Using Synthetic Jets

The oil crisis and climate change represent a challenge for reducing fuel consumption and gas emissions of ground vehicles. This leads to a rapid increase in the number of studies on reducing aerodynamic drag for those vehicles. In this paper, an active flow control method using synthetic jet actuators was applied at the base surface of a scaled-model truck to evaluate their ability of aerodynamic drag reduction. Numerical and experimental studies were conducted. The results presented an aerodynamic drag reduction of 9.82% obtained using synthetic jet devices. Detailed analyses also showed that the application of these devices improves the aerodynamic characteristics of the truck model, reducing the size of the wake region behind the vehicle and increasing the pressure recovery in this area.