The effect of thin rectangular plates on the aerodynamic drag of a crossover vehicle

Efforts towards ever more energy efficient passenger cars have become one of the largest challenges of the automotive industry. Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs) or crossovers typically have a blunt rear end shape (for design and practicality), however this is not beneficial for aerodynamic drag. Drag can be reduced by a number of passive and active methods such as tapering, passive vortex generators and blowing into the base. In an effort to reduce the drag of a 1:10 scale crossover geometry, various plates will be introduced in the vicinity of lower and upper rear sides of this geometry. This thesis will be conducted in the Munzur University's closed circuit wind tunnel with the 1:10 scale crossover model. The basic aerodynamic effect of a range of plate heights (h), support lengths (g), and vertical distance between the ground and support (y) will be assessed for -6°, -5°, -4°, -3°, -2°, -1°, 0°, +1°, +2°, +3°, +4°, +5° ve +6° yaws (γ). This includes drag measurements for most configurations. The conclusion is that rear plates could reduce wind averaged drag up to 6.1%. The optimum geometry comprises a flat plate with a height of h=30 mm placed 30 mm downstream (g/l=0.5) of the model.