Aerodynamic Characterisation of a Compact Car Overtaking a Heavy Vehicle

The time-varying flow field a compact car experiences whilst performing an overtaking manoeuvre of a heavy vehicle has been characterized using an array of five, five-hole dynamic pressure probes mounted in front of an operational, full-scale compact automotive vehicle. In addition, the effect of these conditions on the vehicle’s surface pressure has been investigated through 188 pressure taps distributed over the compact vehicle in separate experiments. The experiments were performed in ideal conditions, on a 2.9 km runway of the Fassberg airfield next to DLR Trauen, Germany