Yazarlar

  • MakaleAçık Erişim2026Scopus SJRQ3
    CFD Simulation of Aerodynamic Forces on a Simplified Heavy Vehicle Model with Steady Base Blowing

    Firat, Erhan; Seydhan, Mehmet

    A numerical investigation was conducted to examine the flow around a European tractor-trailer combination model (GETS) using a steady RANS model k-ω SST at a Reynolds number of 100000. Experimental aerodynamic force measurements were also carried out for the purpose of validating the CFD simulations. The present paper focuses on the effect of steady blowing from the thin slots positioned on the rear surface (base) of the model on the aerodynamic characteristics of the GETS. The combination of three key parameters was tested: the jet-to-freestream velocity ratio (VR), the inclination angle of the jet (θ), and the jet’s location. More than 100 CFD simulations were performed over a range of key parameters. The findings indicate that the jet direction’s inclination towards the rear surface typically leads to a modest yet favorable effect on the drag reduction. It has been demonstrated that increasing the VR to 2 has the potential to reduce aerodynamic drag by up to 50%. However, it is also demonstrated that employing VR values greater than approximately 1.25 is not viable in terms of active flow control efficiency. At θ=0°, the active control efficiency of the both-jets configuration is approximately 6 for VR=0.5 and approximately 1.6 for VR=1. The total drag coefficient on the model is reduced by 8.3% and 17.7% for the VR=0.5 and 1 cases, respectively. It has been demonstrated that the viscous components of total drag and lift are independent of jet configuration, VR, and θ. In both upper and lower jet configurations, it is possible to increase or decrease the aerodynamic lift acting on the model by changing the inclination angle.

  • MakaleAçık Erişim2026Scopus SJRQ1
    Large-eddy simulation of flow over a square prism with moving belts

    You, Rui; Fırat, Erhan

    This three-dimensional (3D) numerical study investigates the feasibility of controlling the intermittently reattaching flow (IRF) by using the moving-surface boundary-layer control (MSBC) method. To this end, a fixed square prism was preferred due to its geometric simplicity and was equipped with moving belts that placed side surfaces close to the trailing edges. The effects of three dimensionless key parameters including velocity ratio (i.e., VR, the ratio of the velocity of the moving belt to the freestream velocity), length ratio (i.e., LR, the ratio of the belt length to the edge length of the square prism), and gap ratio (i.e., GR, the ratio of the spanwise distance between the neighboring belts to the edge length of the square prism) mainly on the aerodynamic characteristics were investigated using large-eddy simulation (LES). The findings suggest that the rise in VR and LR parameters leads to a proportional decrease in the time-averaged drag, 〈CD〉, attributable to their contribution to the linear momentum transfer mechanism by the moving surfaces. This mechanism, firstly, provides an additional thrust to the prism in the opposite direction of the main flow. Secondly, this mechanism increases the base pressure by stretching the shear layers from the leading edges of the prism in the streamwise direction. For LR = 0.4 and VR = 4, a 17 % reduction in 〈CD〉 was observed. Additionally, the root-mean-square (RMS) values of fluctuating drag and lift coefficients, CD-RMS and CL-RMS, have decreased by 71 % and 55 %, respectively. Conversely, the increase in the GR parameter led to an increase in the spanwise distance between each individual moving belt and a reduction in the positive effect of the linear momentum transfer mechanism on the 〈CD〉 reduction. The segmentation of moving belts along the spanwise direction also triggered the vorticity redistribution mechanism concurrently. The study also elucidated the underlying mechanisms that led to the failure of the vorticity redistribution mechanism to adequately reduce the 〈CD〉.

  • MakaleYalnız künye2025Scopus SJRQ1
    Reduction of fluid forces on a circular cylinder in the laminar flow regime using a pair of airfoils

    Fırat, Erhan; Oruç, Vedat; You, Rui; Biçer, Uğur; Devecioğlu, Atilla G.

    Flow around the cylinder, with/without a pair of airfoils symmetrical to the cylinder's horizontal axis, was simulated for a diameter-based Reynolds number (Re) of 100. The objective of this numerical study is to simultaneously reduce the values of the time-averaged and fluctuating forces acting on a system consisting of a pair of airfoils and a cylinder below those of a single cylinder by using different combinations of the parameters chord (c), angle of rotation (β), angle of attack (α), and the shortest distance between the aerodynamic center of the airfoil and the surface of the cylinder (g). The values of these key parameters are determined primarily through two approaches. The first approach involves emulating the flow pattern surrounding the system to match the potential flow pattern. The second approach involves disrupting the interaction between the shear layers from the cylinder by stretching them in the mean flow direction. The second approach has been demonstrated to exhibit superior performance in terms of reducing both time-averaged and fluctuating forces concurrently. The second approach has been demonstrated to exhibit superior performance in terms of reducing both time-averaged and fluctuating forces concurrently. The optimal geometrical parameters that yield the desired end results are determined to be c = 0.5D, α = 0°, β = 60°, and g = 0.2D. Utilizing these parameters has been demonstrated to result in a substantial reduction in the time-averaged drag, fluctuating drag, and fluctuating lift coefficients of the system, with the respective percentage reductions reaching 14.4 %, 92.1 %, and 73 %, respectively, when compared to the values obtained for a single cylinder.

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  • MakaleAçık Erişim2023Scopus SJRQ3
    Aerodynamic Drag Improvements on a Simplified Heavy Vehicle using Three-sided Plain and Notched Base Flaps

    Fırat, E.

    An experimental investigation has been undertaken to determine the effects of plain and notched base flaps on the drag performance of simplified tractor-trailer combination without any intermediate gap, Generalized European Transport System (GETS). Both plain and notched base flaps are rigid, made up of three identical flaps whose length is equal to the width of the GETS model, and not angled inward or outward. The experiments examined three-sided flap configurations corresponding to various combinations of seven heights of the plain part (from 10 to 40 mm in steps of 5 mm), four notch amplitudes (from 2.5 to 10 mm in steps of 2.5 mm), and five notch wavelengths (from 10 to 50 mm in steps of 10 mm). It is shown that the drag performance of the plain flap at zero yaw highly depends on the height of the plain flap. The maximum drag reduction occurs for e/w=0.1 yielding a drag reduction of 1.9% when compared to the GETS model without flap (baseline GETS). It was shown that the time-averaged drag coefficient increased slightly until a maximum was reached at e/w=0.3 but then decreased slightly with increasing e/w. Under zero yaw angle conditions, GETS model with a notched base flap, e10-a05.0-λ20, gives the lowest drag. The addition of this base flap to the GETS model resulted in a 2.8% drag reduction. This notched base flap was shown to be more effective not only at reducing <CD> under yawed flow conditions tested but also at reducing time-averaged side coefficient under yawed flow conditions tested, compared to the e10-a00.0-λ00 flap

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  • MakaleYalnız künye2017Scopus SJRQ1
    Reduction of fluid forces acting on a square prism using a planar jet

    Akansu, Yahya Erkan; Fırat, Erhan; Hacıalioğulları, Mustafa

    This experimental study focused on the concurrent minimization of the mean and fluctuating forces acting on a square prism in crossflow by creating a continuous jet through a narrow spanwise slot in it. For this purpose, three different predetermined injection surfaces (i.e., front, top, and rear) were individually studied for the injection ratios (IR) of 0, 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5, and 3 at a Reynolds number (Re) of 8000. The results showed that the rear jet is the optimum injection surface. For the rear jet configuration, the optimum IR is 1.5 in terms of mean total drag coefficient reduction, 〈CDT〉. In this case, the reductions in the 〈CDT〉 and the level of root mean square (RMS) of fluctuating pressure coefficient (CP RMS) on the side surfaces are about 29.7% and 68%, respectively. However, the maximum reduction in the CP RMS level on the side surfaces occurred at IR = 2. In this case, the reductions in the 〈CDT〉 and the level of CP RMS on the side surfaces are about 27.5% and 88%, respectively. The underlying mechanism of force reduction was also demonstrated. Various flow patterns were identified with respect to IR at incidence angle (α) of 0°. It was also proved that, at relatively small angles of incidence, from α = 0° to 20°, the active flow control method is still effective in reducing 〈CDT〉 and in suppressing the fluctuating side forces, which is indicative of periodic vortex shedding from either side of the square prism.

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  • MakaleYalnız künye2017Scopus SJRQ1
    Passive flow control in the near wake of a circular cylinder using attached permeable and inclined short plates

    Ozkan, Gokturk M.; Firat, Erhan; Akilli, Huseyin

    The main objective of this study is to assess the effectiveness of attached permeable plates in suppressing nominally two-dimensional vortex shedding from a fixed cylinder. The permeable plate along the entire span of the cylinder was made of a chrome-nickel screen and was attached normal to the cylinder surface. The main parameters of the study are porosity of the permeable plate, β, and the plate angle of the cylinder-plate arrangement, θ, with respect to the freestream. Experiments were performed using Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) and Flow Visualization Techniques. Additionally, drag force measurements were carried out in a wind tunnel to analyze the effects of permeable plates on drag coefficient of the circular cylinder. The results revealed that the use of a permeable plate successfully suppresses the vortex shedding downstream of the circular cylinder by reducing the velocity fluctuations in the wake, elongating the vortex formation region further downstream and attenuating the vortex shedding frequency. The porosity values of β=0.4 and 0.5 with plate angles in the range of 35°≤θ≤90° were found to be effective on suppressing the vortex shedding. Furthermore, both the drag coefficients of the cylinder-plate arrangement and the <TKE>maxwere reduced almost for all porosity ratios for θ<30°.

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