ABSTRACT Proposal Number: CTS-9871448 Principal Investigator: R. Blackwelder, F. Browand Funds are awarded to assemble a wind tunnel containing a moving ground plane test section. This wind tunnel will be used to train undergraduate students in required and elective courses and to study the aerodynamics of road vehicles used in transportation and commerce. The flow field around these vehicles, particularly trucks, is more complex and less understood than the flow fields around airplanes and other aerodynamic bodies. Potential fuel savings from improved aerodynamics efficiencies as well as benefits from decreased levels of pollution are many times greater for ground vehicles in comparison to aircraft because of the larger number of vehicle involved.
