Aerodynamic Effect on Stability and Lift Characteristics of an Elevated Sedan Car

There is a strong interaction between air and vehicle components. Aerodynamics plays a significant role in a vehicle's fuel efficiency. The contact patch load between the tire and road is directly related to the vehicle load. In this research, the lift forces generated due to the additional wing attached to the car model with different spans and heights of the wing location from the car body is considered for study. The loads due to change in Angle of Attack (AOA) and their effect on the tire loads are studied. The upward vertical force produced from aerodynamic loads reduces the wheel load of the car virtually. A tire's coefficient of friction would decrease with upward vertical force. This balance load implies that a lightweight car would make more efficient use of its tires than a heavier car. ANSYS Fluent is used for the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) study. The validation of airflow characteristics, lift and drag forces from simulations are done with wind tunnel testing data. Varying the angle of attack, wingspan, height between the car and the wing's lower surface, one can increase the capacity of the payload by 10% or fuel efficiency by 10% to 20%.