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Simulation of Rear Glass and Body Side Vehicle 2011-01-0173

Published
Soiling by Road Sprays 04/12/2011

Adrian Philip Gaylard

Jaguar Land Rover

Bradley Duncan
Exa Corporation

Copyright © 2011 SAE International

doi: 10.4271/2011-01-0173

ABSTRACT of exterior rear-view mirrors. The need for excessive use of

rear wash-wipe systems, due to the aggregation of solid
Numerical simulation of aerodynamics for vehicle development
contaminants, should also be avoided. Neither do customers
is used to meet a wide range of performance targets, including
appreciate having their hands or clothing soiled when they
aerodynamic drag for fuel efficiency, cooling flow rates, and
come into contact with exterior surfaces and handles. Demands
aerodynamic lift for vehicle handling. The aerodynamic flow
of this kind will continue to grow, particularly with the
field can also be used to compute the advection of small
increasing number of camera systems fitted to vehicles to
particles such as water droplets, dust, dirt, sand, etc., released
facilitate reversing, emergence from junctions and the detection
into the flow domain, including the effects of mass, gravity,
of collision threats.
and the forces acting on the particles by the airflow. Previous
efforts in this topic have considered the water sprays ejected
These expectations give rise to the need for simulation
by rotating wheels when driving on a wet road. The road spray
methods, both physical and numerical, that can be deployed at
carries dirt particles and can obscure the side and rear glazing.
suitable stages of a vehicle development programme to ensure
that the product will meet the needs of the customer. Ideally,
In this study, road sprays are considered in which the effects of
numerical simulation methods are required that enable soiling
additional water droplets resulting from splashing and dripping
performance to be determined in the early phases of the
of particles from the wheel house and rear under body are
development, when physical test properties are either not yet
added to help understand the patterns of dirt film accumulation
available or not sufficiently representative (i.e. lacking under
on the side glass and rear glass. Results are compared to
body systems or the ability to have wheel rotation applied).
experimental photographs for both a sedan and an SUV tested
using luminescent dye in a wind-tunnel as well as in road
Surface contamination can be characterised as either third-
testing. Results show that the addition of splashing and
party (or foreign-soiling), originating from the wakes of other
dripping particles increases the impingement of particles on
road vehicles, for example, or self-soiling. The latter is
the surface and provides excellent correlation to the
typically caused by spray being driven into the flow around the
experimental data. This allows use of simulation for identifying
vehicle by the rotation of the vehicle’s wheels. The following
problems and potential solutions for upper body soiling issues.
work explores the simulation of this latter type of self-
generated road spray, using Lagrangian particle tracking to
INTRODUCTION simulate the spray droplets, combined with a transient flow
The contamination of vehicle surfaces, both glazed and field simulation. It should be noted that this type of simulation
unglazed, by water and solid contaminants, is becoming an does not account for droplet break-up, coalescence, the
increasingly important issue in vehicle development. In light formation of surface films or the stripping of droplets from
rain, or when following other road vehicles on wet roads surface films. Rather, the spray is modelled using particles of a
customers reasonably expect to have an unobstructed view fixed diameter and density.
through the front side glazing; particularly as it enables the use

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PREVIOUS RELEVANT WORK door mirror glass. Karbon and Longman [10] demonstrated the
viability of combining Lagrangian particle representation of
Road sprays have been a long-standing concern for the
airborne water droplets with a thin (surface) film model to
commercial vehicle industry. With large numbers of wheels
account for water movement on vehicle surfaces, within a
and axles, tractor-trailer combinations can generate substantial
RANS simulation. An interesting feature of this work was the
road-spray, which then becomes a hazard for other road users.
use of a periodic surface water source on the windscreen to
A useful summary of work in this area has been provided by
model the effect of windscreen wipers driving surface water
Gotz and Mayr [1]. Nevertheless, a review of specific
over the a-pillar.
contributions of workers in this field that includes recent
developments is apposite.
Waki et al [11] investigated door mirror design, assessing
mirror glass contamination. They used a full-scale track test
Clarke [2] explored the reduction of splash and spray from
with photosensitive paper attached to the mirror glass and
commercial vehicles; building on work done during the 1970s.
spraying “developing liquid” into the airflow. In a second
This work looked at road-spray generation mechanisms, the
phase of the work, a water tunnel was used to perform flow
conversion of splash to spray, wheel set interaction, fender and
visualisation experiments. A simple assessment of aeroacoustic
wheel well treatments. The investigation was undertaken using
impact was also made. Bannister [12] provided a seminal
actual vehicles running through water troughs. Olson and Fry
analysis of the relationship between aerodynamic drag, door
[3] reported an investigation of the effect of aerodynamic aids
mirror design, and side glass soiling. This work was based on
on splash and spray generation using water troughs, combined
track testing and the use of a rain grid in a full-scale
with video recording and a laser measurement system.
aerodynamic wind tunnel. Borg and Vevang [13] investigated
droplet size distribution within wakes (foreign-generated
Lajos, Preszler and Finta [4] looked at mud and dust deposits on
contamination), enabling the development of a wind tunnel
bus bodies via scale-model wind tunnel testing. They
based foreign-soiling simulation using a bespoke turbulence
demonstrated the effect of a moving belt road simulation, finding
generator and rain grid. They demonstrated the efficacy of this
that the, “rear wall deposits depend mainly on the structure of the
system in assessing front side-glass contamination. The work
wake and the characteristics of the under body flow.” Fujimoto
also included an assessment of body side self-soiling,
et al [5] combined full scale trials and reduced-scale wind tunnel
introducing water with a UV tracer onto a dynamometer roller.
testing to elucidate the mechanisms of mud accretion on the rear
Bouchet et al [14] used specially designed rain collectors in
surfaces of a “van type truck” and the potential for drag-reducing
the Jules Verne climatic wind tunnel to determine the intensity
devices to mitigate both this and road spray.
spatial gradient in the wake of a vehicle. Their measurements
of the droplet size distribution generated by the rear wheels of
Goetz and Schoch [6] reported on a laser-illumination method
their test vehicle showed more negative skew and positive
for measuring the spray generated by both commercial vehicles
kurtosis (leptokurtic) compared to natural raindrop size
and cars. They also demonstrated a number of modifications to
distributions. Both the negative skew and kurtosis tended to
the wheel arch system that reduced road spray (wheel arch
decrease (slightly) with increasing vehicle speed, the mode
liner grooves and extended mud flaps).
diameter decreasing and thus becoming more centred in the
range. The mode droplet diameter for a vehicle speed of
Kim [7] investigated the ability of a truck-cab corner turning-
80 km/h was 0.2 mm.
vane to reduce cab side dirt contamination. The work used
both Reynolds Averaged Navier Stokes (RANS) CFD
Foucart and Blain [15] reported a multi-stage computational
simulation to study the aerodynamic characteristics, along
method for simulating rain collection on the windscreen and
with full-scale road tests.
subsequent movement of a water film over the a-post onto the
side glass. The initial computation of the flow field used a
The literature for cars follows a similar pattern, starting with
Lattice Boltzmann solver. This was used to provide the
full-scale track testing, moving into wind tunnel and ultimately
boundary conditions for a local unsteady RANS model
computational simulations. Early work by Dawley [8] focussed
focussing on the windscreen and front side glass. Rain droplets
on the use of a roof trailing edge spoiler to keep a station
were represented via Lagrangian particle tracking, with surface
wagon backlight clear of contamination, using a test track
water simulated by an Eulerian model.
based experiment. In a similar vein, Costelli [9] published on
the aerodynamic development of the Fiat UNO; part of this
Experimental validation was presented, using wind tunnel
work demonstrated the effectiveness of a variable-attitude
experiments with a UV tracer in the water. Borg and Vevang
spoiler for reducing soiling on the backlight. This work appears
[16] examined the use of Lagrangian particle tracking methods
to have used wind tunnel based test methods.
with and without a wall film model to examine front side-glass
water contamination, within the context of a RANS simulation.
Currently, the major theme in the published literature is the
Kruse and Chen [17] reported the development of an Euler-
management of water and soiling on the front side glass and
Lagrange method, to address the same issue. This work also

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included experimental verification using a water spray with a
UV tracer in the FKFS thermal wind tunnel. Although the
paper concentrated on front side glass, it is clear that the
experimental method was more widely applicable.
Road sprays, the topic of this paper, have been explored using a
combination of unsteady Lattice Boltzmann flow simulation
and Lagrangian particle tracking, starting with Roettger et al
[18, 19]. Kuthada and Cyr [20] provided a comprehensive
overview of vehicle soiling issues and explored the use of this
combination of modelling techniques for road spray driven off
the vehicle’s tyres. In addition, this work provides an
experimental validation for the road spray generated by a wheel
in isolation. Finally, Borg [21] reported the use of RANS flow
simulation plus Lagrangian particle tracking to analyze body
side and chassis soiling from vehicle generated road sprays.
Other surface contamination issues reported in the literature
include the nature of the rainwater film that forms over the
bonnet of a road vehicle [22] (building on the earlier
development of a bespoke test facility [23]) and the deposition
of brake dust on the front wheels of a saloon car [24].
Experimental methods continue to be developed; Aguinaga and
Bouchet [25] illustrate the ‘state of the art’ in test techniques
for side-glass contamination measurement. Bouchet [26] has
explored ‘rain’ intensities due to splash and spray from a
vehicle running on a wet road. Future developments in the
numerical simulation of soiling deposition may well include the
use of unsteady Large Eddy Simulation (LES) [27] and
the adoption of open-source CFD code as the simulation
framework [28].
This work explores the extension of a combination of
Lagrangian particle tracking and flow field simulation using a
transient Lattice Boltzmann solver, where additional particle
sources are added to account for splashing and dripping from
the wheel house and rear under body.
VEHICLES
SUV
Two vehicles were selected for this work: a classic, two-box,
SUV and a ‘fast back’ saloon. The 2.7L diesel variant of the
2005MY Land Rover Discovery 3 (LR3) was selected for the
SUV geometry. This vehicle emphasises a command-driving
position and exhibits classic Land Rover styling cues, such as
verticality of surfaces. The result is a bluff body with a large
near-vertical base area.
The LR3 is 4.838m long, with a 2.885m wheelbase. The fixed-
roof variant height is 1.837m; vehicle width (mirrors deployed)
is 2.176m with front and rear track of 1.605m and 1.612m,
respectively. The projected frontal area is 3.15m2 and has a
drag coefficient of 0.40. Experimental work was carried out on
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a pre-launch field evaluation unit (FEU); numerical simulation
was based on a production-representative CAD model.
The typical concern with road sprays for this type of vehicle is
soiling of the rear surfaces. However, body side soiling is still
relevant, particularly with reference to door handle cleanliness.
SALOON
The 2.7L V6 diesel variant of the 2008MY Jaguar XF was chosen
for the saloon car geometry. Its aerodynamics has been discussed
in detail by Gaylard [29]. This full-sized saloon aims to fuse the
style and performance of a sports car with the space and
refinement of a luxury saloon. The sports car heritage is seen in
the generally aggressive stance; epitomised by large ‘haunches’
over the rear wheels along with an upright and aggressive front
grille. Alongside this it incorporates a number of (potentially)
aerodynamically beneficial features: a well raked screen,
cambered roofline, glass house tumblehome, reasonable front
tyre-face coverage, squared-sills and a ‘fastback’ style rear with
a sharp boot deck trailing edge condition.
The XF is 4.961m long, with a 2.909m wheelbase. Its height is
1.460m; vehicle width (mirrors deployed) is 1.877m with front
and rear track of 1.559m and 1.571m, respectively. The
projected frontal area is 2.33m2. This is combined with a drag
coefficient that is relatively representative of contemporary
full-sized saloon vehicles, of 0.29.
The experimental work was completed using a full-scale
aerodynamic test property (‘aerobuck’). This married a new
fibreglass upper body with an updated donor ‘go-cart’,
providing a fully representative test property with complete
under body and engine bay. The numerical simulations use an
equivalent CAD model.
Generally, for a vehicle of this type, the principal road-spray
concern is body side soiling as it relates to door handle
cleanliness and the soiling of customers’ clothes as they enter
and egress from the vehicle. For this reason, the experimental
investigation did not consider soiling of the rear surfaces.
SIMULATION METHOD
NUMERICAL
High-fidelity transient aerodynamics simulations were performed
for the SUV and saloon using commercial Lattice Boltzmann
Method (LBM) software. The simulations were performed using
a grid size and distribution suitable for aerodynamics simulation
(See [30], for example.). The simulations were setup with rotating
wheels. To match the test environment of the wind tunnel, the
floor was fixed rather than moving, and small sliding belts were
added under the wheels to simulate the wind tunnel dynamometer.
The transient flow data was recorded with a 100Hz sampling rate
in order to provide a sequence of flow data frames for the particle
advection calculations.
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Particle advection was computed using the post-processing

approach described in Kuthada and Cyr [20]. The advection is
computed using Lagrangian integration of particle trajectories,
considering the local aerodynamic drag force opposing the
direction of motion, the pressure gradient force, as well as
effects of mass and gravity. For efficiency of the calculation,
the advection is computed in a post-processing procedure that
assumes a frozen flow field and computes the motion of
particles from the release location until they stop on the surface
or exit the flow domain. The particle advection calculation is
repeated for each frame of flow field data sampled from the Figure 1. Rakes for emitting wheel spray particles are
transient flow. The deposition is accumulated over all frames. placed around the tyre in 10-degree increments.
The advection of particles through a frozen flow field allows
the effect of the relatively long time-scales (many minutes)
required for deposition of material on the surface to be The particles are released from the spinning wheel surface,
recovered using a relatively short-duration time simulation parallel to the tyre/wheel at each station. Rakes are omitted for
(about 1 second of real time). Summing the deposition over the front lower quarter of the tyre since these particles will
many frozen flow fields, sampled from the transient flow, spray directly into the ground.
captures the spreading of particles by random structures in the
turbulent flow over the surface of the vehicle. In Figure 2(a), the advection of particles is shown with
reflection turned off - particles that hit the wheel housing
Particles were released from the tyre at 10-degree stations surface just stop on the surface, so only some regions of spray
around the front or rear wheel as shown in Figure 1, and were from the wheel will escape the wheel housing and contribute to
ejected tangential to the direction of motion of the tyre. the soiling of the body side. In 2(b) and 2(c), particles are
The particles were assumed to be water droplets with density reflected back into the flow, creating a more realistic spray
1000 kg/m3, and the distribution of particles sizes was from the wheel and wheel arch. Droplets may reflect multiple
determined from the experimental results of Kuthada and Cyr times on the wheelhouse as well as the body side. This results
[20] (in preference to the measurements made in a vehicle in more particles being emitted from the top of the wheel,
wake by Bouchet et al [14]). A mean droplet size of 0.165 mm forming a large wheel spray region downstream.
was used. Splashing of droplets was roughly approximated by
allowing them to reflect from surfaces as if they were solid
particles rather than liquid. Therefore, droplet break-up during
splash was not considered. Particles that hit any surfaces of the
vehicle were considerer to reflect (splash) from the surface
except when velocity was near zero, in which case the particle
was considered to come to rest on the surface. For either
reflected or stopped particles, the location on the surface is
marked as a “hit point” where dirt, sediment, and water can be
deposited on the surface of the vehicle. The hit points are
marked with dots in the visualization to assess the surface
deposition.

Dripping from wetted surfaces was also considered as an

additional particle source. The dripping was simulated by
releasing additional low-velocity small particles with a
distribution of sizes up to 0.2 mm from the wheelhouse and
under body - regions that could have a significant impact on
the body side or rear face surfaces. Larger particles were also
considered, but just impact on the ground so they can be
neglected. Figure 2. Splashing in the wheelhouse is simulated by
allowing particles to reflect in the wheel housing.
(a) No reflection in wheelhouse, (b) and (c) With reflection
in wheelhouse

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slightly asymmetric lobes of high soiling intensity. The track

test (Figure 5) apparently shows a more even pattern of soiling
over the rear glass, with a wider central soiling band narrowing
onto the rear bumper. This may be explained by the track test
being conducted over a longer period with all four wheels
generating road spay, as opposed to just two in the wind-
tunnel. Neither can the influence of ambient conditions be
ruled out.

Figure 3. Dripping of particles from wetted surfaces in the

wheel house and under body is simulated by releasing
low-velocity particles from those regions.

EXPERIMENTAL
Two experimental techniques are reported here. For the SUV a
test track experiment was undertaken. A vehicle was driven at
80 km/h over a graded and wetted gravel track at Volvo’s
Hällered complex, to obtain a rear soiling pattern.

Both the SUV and saloon were tested in a wind tunnel

environment, using the technique described by Borg and
Vevang [13]. This involves injecting water treated with a
UV dye into either the front or rear tyre contact patch, as the
wheel is driven by a single-axle dynamometer. This enables
the road spray associated with either the front or rear wheels
to be investigated; but not both simultaneously. The
dynamometer roller speed and onset wind speed were matched
at 80 km/h.

ROAD SPRAY EXPERIMENTS

SUV Figure 4. (a) Deposition Intensity Analysis and (b) raw data
The results of the SUV road-spray experiments are shown in picture for SUV tailgate soiling.
Figures 4 and 5. The wind-tunnel experiments (Figure 4) show
high levels of soiling over the rear glass, with a central soiling
band narrowing onto the rear bumper. The rear glass has two

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Figure 5. (a) Before and (b) after tailgate soiling test at
Hällered.
SALOON
Only front wheel-driven soiling was experimentally simulated
for the Jaguar XF saloon. The results are shown in Figure 6
(below). This shows water being driven out of the wheel house
from a high angle onto the downstream body side. The highest
levels of soiling are seen immediately behind the front wheel,
decreasing with both height and distance downstream. There is
some door handle contamination.
SAE Int. J. Passeng. Cars - Mech. Syst. | Volume 4 | Issue 1
Figure 6. Deposition Intensity Analysis for body side dirt
deposition.
ROAD SPRAY SIMULATIONS
SUV
First, the aerodynamic simulation results for the SUV were
used to compute the body side soiling from water spray from
the front left wheel, including wheel house and rocker panel.
The effects of splashing and dripping were included as shown
in Figures 1, 2, 3. Figure 7 shows a visualization of one frame
of the transient turbulent flow using isosurfaces of negative λ2
values [31] for visualizing the vortex structures. This indicates
the most energetic vortex structures, representing the fine-
scale turbulent flow. Vortices are created in the regions of
strong shear in separated flow regions, and then these vortices
are carried downstream into the vehicle wake. The trajectory
of the turbulent wheel wake is also evident. The wheel wake
contains small-scale vortex structures which, due to strong
spatial gradients in velocity, are capable of pushing small
particles travelling near the vehicle surface toward the surface
where they can impact the surface and deposit dirt and other
materials.
Figure 7. Transient flow structure for snapshot of
aerodynamic simulation on the SUV.
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In Figure 8, the trajectories of particles emitted from the tyre
are shown, including the effect of splashing of particles in the
wheel house. The trajectories follow and fill up the turbulent
wake behind the wheel. The trajectory of particles closely
follows the advection of turbulent flow structures in the
wheel wake.
Figure 8. Particle traces from wheel spray for one frame of
transient data. (Frame 1, t=0.535 sec)
The trajectories of low-velocity particles that are dripped from
either the wheel house or rocker panel are shown in Figure 9.
These behave similarly to the particles ejected from the wheel
and fill in the wake of the wheel and will add to deposition of
material on the body side.
Figure 9. Particle traces from dripping particles. In a)
low-velocity particles are released from the wheel house. In
b) low-velocity particles are released from the rocker panel.
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Then, in Figures 10, 11, 12, 13, the final analysis of material
deposition pattern is shown. The particle trajectories are
simulated over 120 frames of data, from (time) t=0.53 to
t=0.99 seconds (t=0.616 to t=0.99 seconds shown). The
particle accumulation pattern shows soiling of the body side
surface up to about 50% of the height of the door. The sequence
of image shows the accumulation of the soiling pattern using
successive frames of transient flow data, using the frozen-flow
approximation for advection of droplets in the flow.
(a) Frame 30 (t=0.616)
(b) Frame 40 (t = 0.657 sec)
(c) Frame 50 (t=0.699 sec)
Figure 10. Body side soiling pattern for spray from front-
left wheel including splashing droplets in wheel house and
dripping from wheel house and rocker panel. Simulation
time from (a) t=0.616 s to (c) t=0.699 s.
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(a) Frame 60 (t=0.740) (a) Frame 90 (t=0.865)

(b) Frame 70 (t=0.782 sec) (b) Frame 100 (t = 0.906 sec)

(c) Frame 80 (t=0.823 sec) (c) Frame 110 (t=0.948 sec)

Figure 11. Body side soiling pattern for spray from front- Figure 12. Body side soiling pattern for spray from front-
left wheel including splashing droplets in wheel house and left wheel including splashing droplets in wheel house and
dripping from wheel house and rocker panel. Simulation dripping from wheel house and rocker panel. Simulation
time from (a) t=0.740 s to (c) t=0.823 s. time from (a) t=0.740 s to (c) t=0.823 s.

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Figure 13. Body side soiling pattern for spray

from front-left wheel including splashing droplets in wheel
house and dripping from wheel house and rocker
panel. Final soiling pattern, at a simulation time
of t=0.99 s (Frame 120).
Figure 14. Particle traces from wheel spray for one frame
Next, the soiling of the back face due to spray from the rear left of transient data, showing the path of motion of droplets
wheel, and dripping particles from the left rear wheel housing emitted from the rear wheel, including splashing of those
and rear under body was considered. The trajectory of particles droplets in the wheel house (Frame 1, t=0.535 sec).
from the wheel spray is shown in Figure 14, and shows that the
flow pattern in the centre wake creates a weak effect that can
lift small particles onto the back face. Most particles are carried
rearward in the vehicle wake, but some traces show particles
lifted up below the centre of the rear bumper. Due to reverse
flow in that region the particles can be carried to the back face.
In Figure 15, particle trajectories are shown for dripping in
the wheel house and rear under body. These areas are wetted
by the spray from both the front and rear wheels, and the
accumulating water will drip down and create an additional
source of spray that can reach the back face. In the figure, the
particles that emanate in particular from the rear under body
are carried upward and contribute to the deposition on the
back face.

The calculation of particle accumulation was performed, and is

shown in Figures 16 and 17. In Figure 16, particles from the
left rear wheel spray only is included. In Figure 17, particles
from the wheel spray and additional dripping of particles from
the wheel house and rear under body are included. This shows
that for rear face soiling, dripping is a significant source of
additional soiling, because of the location of the source
particles in the region of under body flow that reverses in the
wake and causes impingement on the rear of the vehicle.

Figure 15. Particle traces from dripping particles in a) the

wheel house and b) rear under body near the spare tyre and
rear bumper.

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Figure 16. Rear face soiling pattern for spray from rear-left
wheel including the effect of droplets splashing in wheel
house, but no dripping particles from the wheel house and
rear under body. (a) Frame 50 (t=0.699 sec) and (b) Frame
120 (t=0.990 sec).
Figure 17. Rear face soiling pattern for spray from rear-left
wheel including splashing droplets in wheel house and
dripping droplets from wheel house and rear under body.
The dripping particles create more coverage of the lower
portion of the back face. (a) Frame 50 (t=0.699 sec) and (b)
Frame 120 (t=0.990 sec).

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SALOON
Similar analysis of body side soiling from the front wheel
spray was performed for the saloon. The wheel wake is shown
in Figure 18 first using particle traces from the wheel spray
sources on the tyre. The wheel wake fills the wheel house and
covers the body side. Additional particle traces from dripping
particles are shown in Figures 19(a) and 19(b); they do not
add significantly to the region of coverage of particles. The
accumulation of material on the surface of the body side is
shown in Figure 20. The deposition of material occurs on the
body side on the front and rear side doors in the region of the
wheel wake.

Figure 18. Particle traces from wheel spray for one frame
of transient data, showing the path of motion of droplets
emitted from the wheel, including splashing of those
droplets in the wheel house (Frame 1, t=0.535 sec)
Figure 19. Particle traces from dripping particles in (a) the
wheel house and (b) rocker panel.
Figure 20. Body side soiling pattern for spray from front-
left wheel including splashing droplets in wheel house and
dripping droplets from wheel house and rocker panel. (a)
Frame 50 (t=0.699 sec) and (b) Frame 120 (t=0.990 sec)
DISCUSSION
Comparing the road spray simulations to the experiments
provides some useful insights into the mechanism of soiling.
For the back face of the SUV, in Figure 17(b), the largest
concentration of spray forms on the rear glass and the centre of
the lower tailgate door. This is consistent with the experimental
photographs in Figures 4 and 5. From the analysis of particle
traces in Figures 14 and 15, the mechanism of soiling of the
back face seems to be indirectly related to the spinning rear
wheel. The wheel spray particles are for the most part carried
backward in the wheel wake. Then, some spray particles from
the rear edge of the wake slow down and reverse direction and
then are carried to the back face through large-scale
recirculation. However, Figure 15(b) shows that the dominant
mechanism for soiling of the rear face is from any droplets
exiting the rear under body under the rear bumper, rather than
in the wheel wake. These particles can come from road spray
from either front or rear tyres that impinges on, or wets, the
under body components. Dripping and splashing from these
components produces the source of droplets that are carried by
the more dominant recirculation in the wake that exists
between the rear wheel wakes.

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For both the SUV and saloon cases the mechanism of body
side soiling from the front wheel is more direct. First, the
source of particles is the high-speed spray tangential to the
tyre, but considering for that spray to splash off of the surfaces
of the wheel house so that a large mist of particles is released
in the entire wheel wake. The downstream velocity in wheel
wake carries both the wake flow structures and the particles.
The particles entrained into the turbulent flow environment
of the wheel wake are subject to strong spatial gradients in
velocity as can be seen in the vortex visualization of Figure 7.
The spatial gradients include some contribution in the span-
wise direction and push the same particles toward the surface.
Figures 8 and 9 show that this direct wheel spray with splashing
is the dominant effect, and additional particles dripping from
wetted surfaces do not provide any additional coverage of the
body surface.
For the saloon case, the coverage pattern from the wheel spray
in Figure 20(b) is indicative of the experimental measurement
shown in Figure 6, which shows the largest concentration on
the side door in the near wake of the front wheel, up to the
location of the top of the wheel arch. The particle traces in
Figure 18 show that the source of soiling in this region is spray
from the top of the wheel, splashing in the wheel arch, and then
travelling downstream in the wheel wake.
CONCLUSIONS
In summary, the present results indicate that the simulation
method appears to reproduce results indicative of the physical
test. The use of a Lagrangian particle tracking method with an
unsteady flow field, plus a representation of splashing and
dripping effects, has been shown to produce results that are
consistent with available experimental data.
Further, the results provide indirect evidence that direct spray
from the tyre on the body surfaces is not the cause of vehicle
soiling, but rather that the spray will splash in the wheel house
to form a mist of droplets that occupy the wheel wakes and
lead to deposition of material on the surface.
In the case of rear face soiling, dripping from other wetted
surfaces may be more significant than the spray in the wheel
wake due the pattern of recirculating flow in the lower wake of
the vehicle. Also, the particle traces and turbulent flow
visualizations are helpful tools to understand the mechanisms
and sources of soiling on the vehicle body.
Finally, it must be emphasised that this work does not address
the potential influence of droplet break-up or coalescence [12].
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CONTACT INFORMATION
Adrian Gaylard
agaylar1@jaguarlandrover.com
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors would like to thank Jaguar Land Rover for
permission to publish this paper. Thanks are also due to former
colleagues Joe Edge and Andy Sheppard for leading the XF
and Discovery experimental activities, respectively. Finally,
they would also like to thank Mark Bannister for his helpful
suggestions.
SAE