Aerodynamik Optimierung City-Hybrid

  • Lukas Ferrari

Student thesis: Master's Thesis

Abstract

As part of the "City-Hybrid" project, a four-wheeled, covered electric bicycle is being developed for urban environments. The main focus of this thesis is to optimize the aerodynamics of the City-Hybrid's body, minimize the drag coefficient, and improve weather protection. In the first part of this thesis, the aerodynamic development in vehicle design, as well as relevant fluid dynamics fundamentals, is explained. Another key point is the weather protection for the passengers, as well as the possibilities for weight optimization.
The main part includes the aerodynamic optimization of the City-Hybrid using the simulation tool Ansys Fluent. To ensure the accuracy of the simulation, the simulation settings are first validated using a sphere. Subsequently, six different body designs are created and simulated with CATIA V5. The results are compared, and optimization options in the form of sub-variants are presented. Changes are made to the six body variants to improve the flow around the vehicle. The simulation results are presented, and the best variants are introduced at the conclusion. The body variant V6_2 achieved the best results in terms of the drag coefficient and flow velocity inside the vehicle. The narrow, curved rear wall, combined with the wide front of the vehicle contributed to reducing the flow velocity inside the vehicle. In addition, the large passenger footboards had a significant impact on the flow velocity inside the vehicle as well as the drag coefficient, as the comparison with V6_1 shows.
Date of AwardOct 2024
Original languageGerman (Austria)
SupervisorGeorg Aichinger (Supervisor)

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