Experimental and numerical study of flow structures between two Ahmed bodies with various inter-body distances

Paper in proceeding, 2015

Numerical and experimental study of mutual interaction of flow structures in a two-vehicle platoon is presented in this paper. The investigations were conducted for the vehicles distances in the range of d/L = 0-1.3 at Re = 130, 000. The experimental observations showed a sudden unexpected drag increase of the follower at specific close distances of the bodies in which, the velocity fluctuations of the shear layer separated from the leader suddenly increases. Accurate PANS numerical simulations were performed at three alternative close distances of the bodise which increased understanding of the flow structures.