Enhancing turbulence: a potential strategy for drag reduction based on ground transportation systems (GTS) model

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the mechanism and performance of a potential strategy, which is to enhance turbulence to carry out drag reduction for heavy trucks. Design/methodology/approach Enhancing turbulence deflector (ETD) was placed on the roof surface of an ground transportation system (GTS) to investigate the drag reduction mechanism of enhancing turbulence. Transition shear-stress transport improved delay detach eddy simulation model was adopted to simulate the unsteady small-scale flow around the ETD. Findings By optimizing the three influencing factors, diameter, streamwise length and streamwise position, the optimized ETD has achieved a maximum drag reduction of 7.04%. The analysis of flow field results shows that enhancing turbulence can effectively suppress flow separation and reduce the negative pressure intensity in the wake region of GTS. Originality/value The present work provides another potential possibility for the improvement of the aerodynamic performance of heavy trucks.