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Development of a New Cost-Efficient Procedure for Evaluation of Wheel Design Aerodynamic Performance
| Content Provider | Semantic Scholar |
|---|---|
| Author | Robertsson, Viktor |
| Copyright Year | 2017 |
| Abstract | The Worldwide Harmonized Light Vehicle Test Procedure (WLTP) is developed by the European Union (UNECE) with the intention to perform more representative emission level, fuel consumption and electric range tests on passenger cars (Mock et al., 2014). To cope with upcoming regulations, one of the recognized issues by Volvo Cars is the wheel’s aerodynamic influence on the vehicle’s total aerodynamic drag which correlates with the vehicles fuel consumption. Previous research has shown that the vehicle’s wheels and wheel housings can affect up to 25% of the vehicle’s aerodynamic drag and consequently increase its fuel consumption (Vdovin, 2013). Volvo Cars has conducted studies within the area of wheel aerodynamics, but it has been concluded that there is still a need for a more comprehensive understanding of the wheel designs’ influence on the aerodynamic drag. This project developed a base wheel solution which allowed different interchangeable wheel design features to be tested in the wind tunnel facility at Volvo Cars in Torslanda, Sweden. The base wheel solution, made out of aluminium, is used as a platform on which the interchangeable wheel design features can be securely mounted. The wheel design features are manufactured using an additive manufacturing technique and fastened onto the base wheel with two snap-fit geometries. The developed solution was tested and verified in the wind tunnel facility at Volvo Cars, with satisfying results. The wheel design feature's snap-fit geometry proved to be adequate for performing full-scale wind tunnel tests. In addition to the developed physical aerodynamic evaluation tool, the consequences of implementing an early aerodynamic evaluation activity into the current wheel development process was investigated. A proposal of implementing a design-build-test activity was developed in order to reduce the risk of costly late iterations of the wheel design and development. Compared to the current procedure, the proposed procedure of implementing the developed base wheel solution and the additive manufactured wheel design features will reduce the cost with approximately 60-80% for each complete set of wheels. Further, the required time for prototype manufacturing is reduced to 10 days, corresponding to a reduction of almost 80% compared to the current procedure with milled wheels. |
| File Format | PDF HTM / HTML |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | http://publications.lib.chalmers.se/records/fulltext/250331/250331.pdf |
| Language | English |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |
