Aerodynamic improvement of blunt bodies through flexible devices

Abstract

The high emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases associated with heavy land transport vehicles have promoted different government strategies aimed to develope a more efficient transport. This thesis proposes to study and implement aerodynamic improvements in the performance of blunt-based vehicles, such as trucks, whose fuel consumption is highly impaired due to the high aerodynamic resistance imposed by shape restrictions. The use of flexible passive control devices, designed through numerical-experimental work, and implemented at the rear of the vehicle to reduce aerodynamic drag is proposed. This would represent an advance in the knowledge of the mechanisms of stabilization, control of wakes and obtaining electrical energy by deformation in real applications using flexible structures, which application has hardly been explored to date, being easily extrapolated and adaptable to vehicles with other characteristics.