Computational simulation of a double-deck bus dynamics in a bend turning coupled with crosswind effects

Abstract

Stability of high-sided road vehicles (trucks, vans, double-deck buses, etc) is highly influenced by crosswinds. Double-deck buses have an increased demand in some countries of Latin America due to their large passenger transportation capability. The variable conditions of the roads and mass distribution of the bus, i.e. vehicle with all passengers in the lower/upper level, empty or full, coupled with the wind action acting on it may lead to dangerous situations. To further understand this subject, a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation of a double-deck bus taking a bend road coupled with crosswind is performed in this work. Some comments about the open source CFD toolbox OpenFOAM implementation to reproduce some dynamics characteristics of the rollover instability are made.