Design of Apparatus for the Determination of Aerodynamic Drag Coefficients of Automobiles.

Abstract

There are three major components of the total resistance to motion of road vehicles: aerodynamic drag, rolling resistance in the form of tire friction on road surfaces and mechanical resistance in the form of bearing friction. Apparatus constructed at the naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, CA, employs the measurement of total drag (aerodynamic drag + rolling resistance drag + mechanical drag) by means of coastdown testing and the measurement of rolling resistance and mechanical drag in an aerodynamic shielding trailer to determine the aerodynamic drag. Data acquisition and reduction is carried out with a portable dedicated minicomputer system. The apparatus is designed to yield drag coefficients with an estimated uncertainty of about one percent. Originator-supplied Keywords include: Rolling Resistance, Aerodynamic Drag, Drag Coefficient, and Coastdown Test. (Thesis).

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jun 01, 1984
Accession Number
ADA151842

Entities

People

  • B. R. Gritte

Organizations

  • Naval Postgraduate School

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Materials and Manufacturing Processes

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Acquisition
  • Aerodynamic Drag
  • Aerodynamic Forces
  • Automobiles
  • Barometric Pressure
  • California
  • Computer Programming
  • Data Acquisition
  • Data Reduction
  • Drag
  • Engineering
  • Friction
  • Measurement
  • Strain Gages
  • Test Equipment
  • Towing Vehicles
  • Vehicles

Readers

  • Aerodynamics/Aeronautics.
  • Tribology (the study of the boundary interaction between sliding surfaces, lubrication, wear and friction).