Comparative investigation of large eddy simulation and RANS approaches for external automotive flows

This thesis investigates the accuracy and scalability of RANS and LES approaches applied to external automotive aerodynamics. Due to the availability of considerable experimental and computational data available on the Ahmed body, this reference model was chosen for this study. The relative simple geometry of the Ahmed body model is able reproduce the common flow features of a hatch back style vehicle. The 25° slant angle configuration was used as it is a major challenge in terms of flow prediction. The RANS model used included the Standard K-ε, RNG K-ε, Realizable k-ε and K-ω SST. The LES simulations were run with the Smagorinsky-Lilly SGS model. Three grids with different level of refinement were generated. A viscous hybrid mesh approach was used for all the simulations. This type of mesh is commonly used by automotive manufactures and motorsport organizations. The commercial package Fluent 12 was used as a solver. The K-ω SST and LES models showed good agreement with the experimental data. LES in particular was the only model to predict flow re-attachment over the slant angle as seen on the experimental and computational data available in literature. The richness of the unsteady data available from the LES simulations and correct interpretation of flow topology balance in part the major computational requirements compared to the RANS models. Taking into account the hardware resources available to automotive manufactures, the LES is suitable to be part of the design process.