Study of different tyre simulation methods and effects on passenger car aerodynamics

Wheel aerodynamics has long been identified as a major contributor to the aerodynamic forces acting on vehicles. Lately, tyre design has been taking more and more attention as it shows potential of drag reduction. This paper looks into different methods of simulating tyre rotations in CFD and their effects on the aerodynamic forces acting on the vehicle. A new methodology is tested by combining rotating wall and moving reference frame boundary conditions and compared to sliding mesh. Two fully detailed production tyres are investigated using the various methods to show the possibility of tyre design analysis using CFD.