Aerodynamic Design and Analysis of a formula student car
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Date
2020
Authors
Mohammad Omair
Motaz Qotait
Zaed Omari
Mahmoud Alghanem
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Abstract
The objectives of this project are: obtaining the skills to design an aerodynamic system for a formula one car and learn to use the computational fluid dynamics(CFD) software. Formula one car is a single-seat open cockpit, open-wheel racing car with substantial front and rear wings, with an engine positioned behind the driver, intended to be used in the competition at Formula one racing event. In this project the team will work on fabricating, designing, testing and demonstrating a prototype vehicle with a high performance. The goal of this project is to create highly efficient aerodynamic devices that will make the car operate properly and efficiently on the race track at the Formula society of automotive engineers(FSAE) competition. It will be a great chance to compete with teams all around the world and develop a vehicle that can successfully work as described in the FSAE rules. The benefits of this project are: gaining knowledge, experience in vehicle design, ideas for overcoming future hardships and develop our thinking skills, practicing and improving the team working skills, gaining project management skills, obtaining construction and manufacturing experience, competing in an international setting, increasing student future opportunities in finding promising jobs. This team is mainly responsible for studying of air flow around the car and its interactions with the racecar, the aerodynamics of the car (e.g. the front and rear airfoils). The final project should have very high performance in terms of acceleration, braking, handling and to be sufficiently durable. This team is in charge of the aerodynamics of the race car. The two primary concerns are: the creation of down force to help push the car's tires onto the track and improve cornering forces, and the minimization of drag and lift forces. Those forces are products of air resistance, which acts to slow the car down. The front and rear inverted airfoils or wings have a major influence on the dynamic behavior of the car. These wings are designed in order to develop a maximum down force at still acceptable drag. Full car CFD simulations with the analysis of forces on the race car are required, detailed quantitative analysis of the forces on the whole car with and without aerodynamic will be shown and compared. This thesis describes the process of developing the aerodynamics package of a Formula Student race car with computational fluid dynamics. It investigates the effects of aerodynamics on the vehicle's behavior and performance with regard to the Formula Student competition format. The methods used during the development are evaluated and put into context by investigating the correlation between a wind-tunnel experiment of a wing in ground proximity, and its simulated counterpart. The aerodynamics package consists of an under tray, a front wing and a rear wing and the report details the stages involved in optimizing these components to achieve the desired results.