A Change of Three-Dimensional Vortical Structures by an Air Spoiler in the Wake of a Road Vehicle

에어 스포일러 장착에 따른 자동차 후류 3차원 와 구조의 변화

A change of three-dimensional vortical structures on the wake behind a road vehicle has been investigated according to the existence of an air spoiler. To reconstruct the three-dimensional velocity fields, two-dimensional PIV(particle image velocimetry) measurements were performed for lots of the x-y, y-z and z-x planes. Since the isovorticity surface does not represent exactly the vortical structures within the recirculation region due to strong shear flows, the velocity component normal to the x-y plane is obtained by interpolating those velocities in the z-x plane. Then, the ${\lambda}_2-definition$ is applied to visualize the vortices in the recirculation region. As a result, it is found that the air spoiler weakens C-pillar vortices and produces strong wing-tip vortices. Inside the recirculation region, the height and volume of coherent vortices are increased relatively when an air spoiler is equipped. On the other hand, two small coherent vortices are observed in case that an air spoiler is absent.