FLOW CONTROL FOR A GENERIC TRUCK CABIN USING SYNTHETIC JET

Paper in proceeding, 2017

Active flow control can be applied using a various number of approaches. The general, yet ultimate, goal is to use a control strategy able to actively manipulate a separated flow. Reattachment or deflection of the shear layer is of main importance to enhance the aerodynamic performance of blunt and aerodynamic bodies. The experiments presented in this paper show the achievements of a synthetic jet used to mitigate and eventually suppress the recirculation bubble occurring at the A-pillars of a truck, Fig. 1a. The model consists of a simplified truck cabin, characterized by sharp edge separation on top and bottom edges and pressure induced separation on the rounded vertical front corners. The pressure induced separation reproduces the flow detachment occurring at the front A-pillars of a real truck. Figures and dimensions of the model are presented in Figs. 1 (b and c), 2, and Tab. 1, respectively. Time resolved PIV was employed to investigate the flow (Re = 5 × 10 5 ), Fig. 3. The snapshots were post processed using modal and phase averaged analyses.