Grant: Engage Grants Program

Thermal management is a major consideration in the design of vehicles. As a result, numerous wind tunneltests are performed to study vehicle thermal phenomena such as underbody and under hood temperaturedistribution. Although vehicles encounter cross-winds in real world driving conditions, the majority ofautomotive climatic wind tunnel testing and development is performed in wind tunnels without cross-windcapability. This has therefore made it difficult to study in detail the effects of cross-wind on vehicle thermalphenomena. As an industry leader, it is essential for the industry partner to pioneer test techniques involvingthermal phenomena in cross-wind in order to maintain its competitive edge. The proposed project is acollaboration between the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT) and Aiolos EngineeringCorporation, a Canadian owned world leader in wind tunnel design and construction. The objective of theproposed project is to investigate what automotive thermal phenomena may be sensitive to cross-wind. Toachieve this objective, the applicant plans to employ both computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations andwind tunnel measurements to study the effects of cross-wind on thermal effects under a combination of groundspeeds and cross-wind speeds. For the CFD simulation ANSYS Fluent software and the turbulence modelsavailable in it will be employed. The results will be validated with the detailed experimental data to be obtainedfrom the wind tunnel measurements. For the wind tunnel measurements, a full scale vehicle will beinstrumented with flow sensors, thermocouples and heat plates. The test will be conducted in the world's onlyfull-range climatic wind tunnel that incorporates a dynamometer in a large turn-table for yaw testing at UOIT.This project may lead to the development of advanced test techniques for wind tunnel testing of automotivethermal phenomena in cross-winds. In addition, the collaboration between engineers from industry andacademia will provide a unique opportunity to nurture and enhance the essential skills needed by Canada'swind tunnel industry.