Aerodynamic drag reduction by vertical splitter plates

The capacity of vertical splitter plates placed at the front or the rear of a simplified car geometry to reduce drag, with and without skew angle, is investigated for Reynolds numbers between 1.0 × 10⁶ and 1.6 × 10⁶. The geometry used is a simplified geometry to represent estate-type vehicles, for the rear section, and MPV-type vehicle. Drag reductions of nearly 28% were obtained for a zero skew angle with splitter plates placed at the front of models of MPV or utility vehicles. The results demonstrate the advantage of adapting the position and orientation of the splitter plates in the presence of a lateral wind. All these results confirm the advantage of this type of solution, and suggest that this expertise should be used in the automotive field to reduce consumption and improve dynamic stability of road vehicles.