AERODYNAMIC CHARACTERISTICS OF CARS WITH TRAILERS IN ROAD EXPERIMENTS

The aerodynamics of an automobile is an important parameter of its exploitation that can significantly affect the dynamics and fuel consumption of the automobile. Small enterprises in Latvia provide road transport services using cars coupled with trailers. It is important to choose the right combination of an automobile and a trailer for such a vehicle-trailer system, as the resistance of air depends on it. Besides, the aerodynamics of a trailer has to be examined only in combination with a certain pulling vehicle. In case loads are transported over long distances, the amount of fuel consumed if loads are transported in a trailer may considerably affect the cost of transport. The paper examines 12 various vehicle-trailer systems for two pulling vehicles and two trailers with different tent use combinations. The best performance results were gained in the case where a trailer was used with a low tent -c(X)A = 1.66 for Renault Laguna and c(X)A = 1.20 for Renault Trafic.