Advancing Aerodynamic Optimization: Reducing Drag and Fuel Consumption in Modern Vehicles

Abstract

In the developed world, almost every household owns a car. Despite the increasing prevalence of electric vehicles, gasoline-powered vehicles continue to contribute significantly to emissions. Air and fluid resistance are the primary factors contributing to poor fuel economy; however, these forces are inherent to vehicle operation and cannot be eliminated. Several prominent methods for reducing the drag have been proposed and compared. It was found that pneumatic control systems could reduce the drag by 20% to 30%. For the GT model, which is both inherently optimized and a high-performance racing car, the maximum observed drag reduction was 16.53% when tail and diffuser modifications were applied. The physical modeling method is a fundamental approach for obtaining aerodynamic data. To show that the relationship between drag force and fuel consumption of cars can be revealed by performing computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to provide aerodynamic design. However, considering ride comfort, the effectiveness of these modifications is considerably impacted owing to their complex configurations. Based on existing data, it is imperative to further develop this body of knowledge to meet the rising demand and stringent standards in the future, particularly as AI-driven intelligent driving technologies rapidly advance.