Abstract
Keywords- Transport Efficiency, Long Distance Haulage, CFD, Aerodynamics, Optimization
It is known that in the coming years the EU will have to face an on-going increase of transportation demand of goods (+35%) and passengers (+30%), due to the economic growth that will bring more mobility: in particular, the roads carry today the 44% of freight and 79% of passenger, therefore an increase in the heavy goods traffic and in the CO2 emissions are expected.
The big challenge for the whole on-road transportation system, in the future, will be to provide the best performances in terms of capacity, safety and sustainability: heavy duty vehicles will play an important role in improving and optimizing such issues, through dedicated and focused developments, in order to implement new solutions and systems enabling a more efficient and accepted use of heavy trucks for road transportation of goods.
This paper describes the activity carried out by Iveco in the study and development for reducing the aerodynamic drag of an innovative tractor-semitrailer solution, in order to reduce the fuel consumption. This goal was achieved by the aid of the numerical simulation and analysis of the aerodynamic flow (CFD - Computational Fluid Dynamics). Improvements in aerodynamic drag have been obtained with several modifications in the tractor, a full streamlined trailer, the closure of the gap between tractor an semitrailer and boat-tail inflatable spoilers mounted on the semitrailer. IVECO has achieved patent rights for these new solutions.
The aerodynamic optimization of both the tractor and semitrailer units has achieved an average reduction in drag coefficient of 20% that gives an 8% fuel saving.
The results, tested on road on a concept vehicle with increase transport capacity (IVECO Transport Concept) and shown in the article by Iveco, demonstrate the feasibility of such idea: an optimized fuel economy (up to 24% on l/ton pay-load 100km basis, compared to standard production), thus reducing the operating costs and increasing the efficiency and the sustainability of the road transport system from a global point of view (-25% CO2 emissions).