Innovative Systems Design and Engineering www.iiste.org ISSN 2222-1727 (Paper) ISSN 2222-2871 (Online) Vol.5, No.11, 2014 91 Vehicle Body Shape Analysis of Tricycles for Reduction in Fuel Consumption Metu Chidiebere, Aduloju Sunday Christopher*, Bolarinwa Gabriel Oladeji, Olenyi Joseph , Dania David E. National Engineering Design Development Institute, PMB 5082, Nnewi, Nigeria. * E-mail of the corresponding author: chrisaduloju@yahoo.com Abstract Growing concern about environmental protection and energy conservation has led a number of studies to increase fuel economy and reduction in emissions. From theoretical studies one of the major factors influencing fuel consumption is air resistance and developing ways to reduce this influencing factor could be achieved by designing vehicle body shape to have a low coefficient of air resistance. This paper focuses on the comparative analysis of fuel consumption of one of an existing tricycles and NASENI TP1 with reference to their body shapes. Solid models for these two different tricycles were done and simulated using Solidworks flowxpress. Mathematical models were applied to compare the rate of fuel consumption between the simulated models. The result of simulation shows that there is a 2% reduction in coefficient of drag (C d ) and 17.34% reduction in fuel consumption for NASENI TP1 as compared to the referenced tricycle. 1.0 Introduction Reducing the transportation sector energy consumption is an important part of reducing overall energy consumption. It requires development of new more fuel efficient vehicle models and more efficient operating of existing vehicles. This makes the development of fuel efficient vehicles a paramount issue [1]. In 2004, on the average cars in the United States of America have 8.7L/100km as its fuel consumption rate and in 2012 cars in the European countries have 5L/100km on the average [2]. Likewise for motorcycles the fuel consumption ranges from 1.5L/100km to about 2.8L/100km. this shows a remarkable decrease when compared to that of cars because of the specifications of the engine [3]. The fuel consumption from different samples of tricycles ranges from 2.8L/100km to 4L/100km. This range in fuel consumption also depends on the specification/type of the engine and also varies between manufacturers. A larger engine type consumes more fuel [4]. In some developing countries like Nigeria, tricycles are being used in urban cities for transportation. This contributes to increase in fuel consumption in the transportation sector, thus causing an increase in gas emissions that are potentially dangerous to human health. Minimizing the use of fuel in order to reduce emissions is an important short-term and long-term goal. In order to reduce the amount of fuel consumption, more fuel efficient tricycle models should be produced as well as operating exiting ones efficiently. The most simple and conveniently implemented method used in the estimation of fuel consumption is based on utilization of mathematical models. Evaluating fuel efficiency is an important factor to consider while designing vehicles. Based on this, evaluation is usually performed via mathematical modeling and simulation, the main constructive parameters of the vehicle may be determined at the design stage and steps to reduce fuel consumption may be taken [5]. Several mathematical models for estimating fuel efficiency are described in literature. Generally, analytical mathematical models used in computation of fuel consumption in vehicles can be applied to tricycles. This paper focuses on the comparative analysis of fuel consumption of two models of tricycles with reference to their body shapes. The referenced model (RFM1) is the common shape of tricycles in use in most urban cities in Nigeria while the second model (NASENI TP1) is the tricycle designed and constructed by National Engineering Design and Development Institute (NEDDI) Nnewi, an institute under National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI). The tricycles are modeled and simulated using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) capability of Solidworks flowxpress software and the necessary data needed for analysis were generated. The use of the software and mathematical models reduces the need for costly physical testing and prototyping. 2.0 Review of Mathematical Models At present the most widely used methods of fuel consumption estimation are simulations and road tests. Utilizing simulations and mathematical models are simple and more readily available [6].