Aerodynamic investigation of vehicle coating materials

Abstract

Aerodynamic drag coefficient, which is one of the most prominent issues when it comes to resistances affecting vehicle movements, has been the agenda of many studies from past to present. Vehicle body coating materials such as paint, paste, etc. used in vehicles can improve the aerodynamic properties of the vehicle and reduce fuel consumption. In this study, the effects of surface roughness differences created by coating materials such as paint, primer paste, special applications, etc. on the aerodynamic friction coefficient were investigated using the finite element method. By using the packaged computer program, the aerodynamic drag forces and aerodynamic drag coefficients encountered at different speeds between 40 km/h - 150 km/h were calculated by defining the body parts and front-rear glass parts separately with the industry-specific roughness values. Appropriate roughness values are calculated and then the results are presented graphically and visually. Three different paint roughness values, which are low (Ra = 0.000000351 m), medium (Ra = 0.000001032 m), and high (Ra = 0.00000148 m), and a commonly used fluoropolymer, also called Teflon (Ra = 0.00000524 m) were used. It has been observed that changes in pavement aerodynamic drag coefficient increase with increasing levels of roughness. According to the low paint roughness value, there was an increase in the aerodynamic resistance coefficient compared to the medium roughness value, an increase of 0.000612529%, an increase in the aerodynamic resistance coefficient compared to the high roughness value, an increase of 0.00104783%, and an increase in the aerodynamic resistance fluoropolymer roughness value was 0.091195826%.