Aerodynamics and safety for road trucks in Bangladesh

The light and medium sized trucks are the main backbone of freight movement in Bangladesh. Most trucks are typically box shape and built locally on imported chassis by roadside truck body builders with no consideration of aerodynamics, safety (crashworthiness) and environmental impact. Hence, the main purpose of this study is to analyze the aerodynamic aspect of light and medium sized trucks widely used in Bangladesh. The study involves the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) modelling and experimental study using wind tunnel. The study also highlights the safety issues related to light and medium sized trucks. The findings reveal that minor changes in light and medium sized truck body design can reduce aerodynamic drag of nearly one-third thereby lowering fuel consumption and…