Computational Simulation of the GCM Tractor-Trailer Configuration

Aerodynamic simulations were carried out for the Generic Conventional Model, a 1/8th scale tractor-trailer model, that was tested in the NASA Ames 7’x10’ tunnel. The computed forces are compared for the zero, ten and fourteen degree yaw cases while the pressure coefficients are compared to experimental data for the ten and fourteen degree cases. A DES version of the one-equation Menter SAS is used in these simulations. Overall forces as well as pressure distributions matched well for the fourteen degree case. For the ten degree case, the forces were in reasonable agreement while the pressure distributions indicated a need for tighter grid resolution as well as possibly advanced turbulence models.