Analysis and Manufacturing of Aerodynamic Components

Abstract

Aerodynamic components are extensively used in motorsport, such as Formula One to increase the downforce, thereby ensuring traction of the tires, which increases the performance of the race car during cornering. However, these aerodynamic components that provide the downforce also increase drag. An ideal solution, therefore, is dynamically adjustable aerodynamic components, which have the ability to change the amount of downforce and drag. Such components have been used as aerodynamic components for an FSAE car as part of this study. After completing an extensive research on current car design without aerodynamic components, preliminary design concepts were formulated and full car solid model was designed on SOLIDWORKS software. These designs were then compared against each other based on the analysis performed on STAR CCM+ software on the basis of downforce, and drag was then generated. The software analysis was used to compare and conclude the final design from each iteration to get an optimum aerodynamic package which consists of all components for the car. The product was manufactured using some advanced manufacturing techniques to save cost, time as well as to provide it for further development.