%0 Journal Article %T Aerodynamic Analysis of Autonomous Battery Electric Truck Concepts for Drag Reduction %J Computational Engineering and Physical Modeling %I Pouyan Press %Z 2588-6959 %A Anirood, Kameel %A Rugbani, Ali %D 2022 %\ 04/01/2022 %V 5 %N 2 %P 71-90 %! Aerodynamic Analysis of Autonomous Battery Electric Truck Concepts for Drag Reduction %K Autonomous truck %K CFD analysis %K Driverless truck %K Long haul BET %K Zero-emission truck %R 10.22115/cepm.2022.352845.1217 %X This research presents an aerodynamic drag analysis of an autonomous battery electric truck (BET) by means of using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) as a simulation tool. The CFD simulation utilises the Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) equations with a realizable k-𝜀 turbulence model and non-equilibrium wall functions to model the near-wall region of the domain. The simulation accuracy is validated against empirical results for the aerodynamic drag on the generic conventional model (GCM) truck, as tested in a wind tunnel. It was found that the overall aerodynamic drag of the vehicle could be reduced by approximately 35.5% without reducing the truck’s trailer loading volume. This work demonstrates that autonomous BETs can significantly reduce the overall aerodynamic drag of a truck, thereby reducing energy consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for the land freight sector. %U https://www.jcepm.com/article_159627_d749912ffc90da18559fd4d0d8a4be38.pdf