Downloaded from SAE International by Yildiz Teknik Univsitesi, Friday, July 11, 2014

Design & Validation of a High Speed Car With 2013-01-2824

Published
Respect to Aerodynamics & Body Styling 11/27/2013

Vaseem Akram Abdul

Mahindra Two Wheelers Ltd.

Ajay Kumar Maddineni

Varroc Polymers Pvt Ltd

Mohammad Rafiq B Agrewale

Automotive Research Association of India

Copyright 2013 SAE International

doi:10.4271/2013-01-2824

ABSTRACT COMPETITIVE BENCHMARKING

The design process started with competitive bench-marking.
An open wheeled open cockpit high speed car with 800 CC
Their design specifications were analysed and it helped in
MPFI engine was developed validated and run at 105 kmph.
determining some of the critical and key parameters such as
The key focus was to build a car with superior aerodynamic
frontal area, wheel base, wheel track and ergonomics of
characteristics especially in terms of drag. This work
driver.
discusses in detail about the design and simulation of car
using CFD package followed by Wind Tunnel testing.
IDENTIFYING CONSTRAINTS
The design of high speed car starts with design of seat The outcomes of the previous step led to identifying
according to the ergonomics of the driver followed by the constraints such as space availability in the cockpit,
space frame. Based on the space frame designed, the body manufacturing limitations and tolerances thereby setting
panels are sketched and CAD model is developed. The CAD starting points for the design.
model is imported in CFD package for virtual testing and
validated through wind tunnel results. For this 1:3 scale
model was manufactured using Rapid Prototyping.
DESIGN METHODOLOGY
Seat Design
INTRODUCTION Anthropometry data [1] of the three different drivers were
Aerodynamics is one of the most important aspects while obtained with the help of lab facility available at ARAI, Pune.
dealing with the design of race car. Maximum downforce or The three positions checked were arm reach, seated position
negative lift plays an important role in maintaining traction at and standard position.
high speeds. This paper discusses about the drag force and its
effect on performance. The car is designed aerodynamically
best in terms of drag, analyzed using CFD package FLUENT
and validated through wind tunnel testing carried out with a
1:3 scale model.
 Downloaded from SAE International by Yildiz Teknik Univsitesi, Friday, July 11, 2014

Triangulations were made wherever necessary to improve the

analysis results during various loading conditions that include
torsion, longitudinal/lateral accelerations and static bending
etc.

Figure 1. Arm Reach, Seated and Standard Position

(From Left)

Figure 5. Rollcage Developed

BODY DESIGN
Once the space frame was ready, all the subsystems were
modeled and assembled. This included the impact attenuator,
engine, wheels & tyres, seat and driver. The body panels
were sketched and incorporated in the model. Hence the
model was designed aesthetically looking good.
Figure 2. CAD model (Left) & Actual Manufactured
Seat (Right)

Based on the values obtained of the three driver's propotions

the seat was designed and then checked with the 95th
percentile dimensions. One of the main considerations in seat
design was back rest angle of the seat that was dependent on
driver's comfort and roll-over safety by ensuring the line
joining the top surfaces of both the Roll hoops will clear the
top most surface of the driver's helmet by 2 inches.

Figure 6. Final CAD model of Car

Rapid Prototyping
The scale model for wind tunnel testing was manufactured
using Fused Deposition Modeling[3] by STRATASYS. This
technique of rapid prototyping helped the project completion
on time as it was less time consuming than the conventional
clay modeling or any CNC operated product. This also helped
Figure 3. Roll Hoop Requirements in learning the concepts of Rapid Prototyping [3].

Hence based on the comfortable posture of the driver the seat

was designed.

SPACE FRAME DESIGN

Space frame was designed by making the driver seated in
driving position and imagining cockpit[2] around him. The
main aim was to ensure compactness for reducing the frontal
area.
Figure 7. 1:3 scale Rapid Prototype of Car
The side pods were integrated inside the space frame
structure to stiffen during torsion loading conditions.
 Downloaded from SAE International by Yildiz Teknik Univsitesi, Friday, July 11, 2014

Fused Deposition Modeling

FDM works on an additive principle by laying down
material in layers. A plastic filament or metal wire is
unwound from a coil and supplies material to an extrusion
nozzle which can turn the flow on and off. The nozzle is
heated to melt the material and can be moved in both
horizontal and vertical directions by a numerically controlled
mechanism, directly controlled by a computer-aided
manufacturing (CAM) software package. The model or part
is produced by extruding small beads of thermoplastic
material to form layers as the material hardens immediately
after extrusion from the nozzle. Stepper motors or servo Figure 10. Velocity contour of Baseline car at 30m/s
motors are typically employed to move the extrusion head.
Similarly, the analysis of modified car was carried out. The
control volume for the analysis was taken similar to wind
tunnel test section so as to obtain close proximity with the
wind tunnel testing. Hence the wind tunnel was modeled
using CAD package, SolidWorks and then imported into
Hypermesh for meshing.

Figure 8. RP manufacturing process

CFD ANALYSIS
The analysis results of baseline car are shown in figure 9 &
Figure 9. Meshing of Car model
figure 10 to understand the pressure and velocity distributions
at 11 m/s and 30 m/s respectively[4]. From the figures below,
large wake region[5] can be observed at 30 m/s.

Figure 10. Meshing of Control volume

Figure 9. Velocity Contour of Baseline car at 11m/s

The meshed model was then imported into Fluent and the
The drag force was obtained through Fluent software with boundary conditions were applied with inlet velocities set for
frontal area known and hence the using the formula[6] below 11m/s and 30 m/s for average and maximum speeds
the coefficient of drag was calculated at 30 m/s. respectively. The k- turbulence model was selected.

By using the formula mentioned above the calculated Drag

Drag force, D = CD (0.5*v2*A) N/m
coefficient was 1.18 at 30 m/s.

The calculated value of CD was 1.3 for baseline car.

 Downloaded from SAE International by Yildiz Teknik Univsitesi, Friday, July 11, 2014
Figure 11. Pressure contour of modified car at 11m/s
Figure 12. Velocity contour of modified car at 11m/s
Figure 13. Pressure contour of modified car at 30m/s
Figure 14. Velocity contour of modified car at 30m/s
Reduction in Drag coefficient:
Hence there is a reduction of around 9 % drag with the new
car model.
WIND TUNNEL TESTING
Open Circuit Wind Tunnel
In an open circuit wind tunnel[7], fresh air is drawn into the
machine, passes through the test section and discharged
through the machine. It is relatively much cheaper to build
except that the ambient conditions are subjected to change
based on the atmospheric changes.
Figure 15. Open circuit wind tunnel
The RPT model of high speed car was mounted on the
platform balance by means of four bolts tightened. A test run
was initiated at 10 m/s to check the readings obtained by
varying the yaw angle. Once the results of the test run were
satisfactory, the actual run was started with speeds at 11 m/s
and 30 m/s.
Figure 16. Car mounted on Platform balance
 Downloaded from SAE International by Yildiz Teknik Univsitesi, Friday, July 11, 2014

Figure 17. Testing in process

It can be incurred that with the increase in the velocity of air

the Drag force is predominant than the Lift force. This shows
the effect of drag at high speeds. The average Coefficient of
Drag obtained is 0.9 while Coefficient of Lift obtained being
0.17 from the wind tunnel experiment.

CONCLUSIONS
Hence the car is designed for Drag force and space frame is
developed with the intention of reducing the overall frontal
area considering the ergonomics and safety of the driver. The
areas of reducing drag were with optimization of profile of
car for low profile drag, plain underbody for reduced
interference drag and smooth body panels for low friction
drag.

Figure 18. Instrumentation setup

RESULTS
The variations of Coefficient of Drag and Coefficient of Lift
with velocity are shown below.

The surprising value of CL i.e. 0.29 of base line car is due to

the fact that the CAD model was not exactly the same as the
original car. As engine and its sub components in the car
were simply closed by a smooth surface which is not the case
in the baseline car but is going to be the case with modified
car.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The author expresses immense gratitude towards
STRATASYS for sponsoring Rapid Prototype for Wind
Tunnel testing, IISC Bangalore for providing wind tunnel
facilities and Director, ARAI for supporting in CFD
assistance at ARAI CAE Dept.
 Downloaded from SAE International by Yildiz Teknik Univsitesi, Friday, July 11, 2014

9. Morelli, A., A New Aerodynamic Approach to Advanced

Automobile Basic Shapes, SAE Technical Paper
2000-01-0491, 2000, doi:10.4271/2000-01-0491.

Figure 19. High Speed car developed

REFERENCES
1. Mariotti, E. and Jawad, B., Formula SAE Race Car
Cockpit Design An Ergonomics Study for the Cockpit, SAE
Technical Paper 2000-01-3091, 2000, doi:
10.4271/2000-01-3091.
2. Way, M., Berndt, N., and Jawad, B., The Study of a
Cockpit with a Fixed Steering Wheel Position: Methods and
Model, SAE Technical Paper 2003-01-2180, 2003, doi:
10.4271/2003-01-2180.
3. Fidan, I., Rapid Prototyping for DFM, SAE Technical
Paper 2004-01-1246, 2004, doi:10.4271/2004-01-1246.
4. Ueno, D., Hu, G., Komada, I., Otaki, K. et al., CFD
Analysis in Research and Development of Racing Car, SAE
Technical Paper 2006-01-3646, 2006, doi:
10.4271/2006-01-3646.
5. Khalighi, B., Zhang, S., Koromilas, C., Balkanyi, S. et al.,
Experimental and Computational Study of Unsteady Wake
Flow Behind a Bluff Body with a Drag Reduction Device,
SAE Technical Paper 2001-01-1042, 2001, doi:
10.4271/2001-01-1042.
6. Jawad, B., Longnecker, M., Nagy, K., and Timmer, J.,
Aerodynamic Drag and Fuel Economy in a Formula SAE
Racing Style Vehicle, SAE Technical Paper 2001-01-2554,
2001, doi:10.4271/2001-01-2554.
7. Wordley, S. and Saunders, J., Aerodynamics for Formula
SAE: Initial Design and Performance Prediction, SAE
Technical Paper 2006-01-0806, 2006, doi:
10.4271/2006-01-0806.
8. Joseph, K., Garcia, D., and Sluder, R., Aerodynamics of
Race Car Liftoff, SAE Technical Paper 2004-01-3506, 2004,
doi:10.4271/2004-01-3506.

The Engineering Meetings Board has approved this paper for publication. It has Positions and opinions advanced in this paper are those of the author(s) and not
successfully completed SAE's peer review process under the supervision of the session necessarily those of SAE. The author is solely responsible for the content of the paper.
organizer. This process requires a minimum of three (3) reviews by industry experts. SAE Customer Service:
Tel: 877-606-7323 (inside USA and Canada)
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a
Tel: 724-776-4970 (outside USA)
retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, Fax: 724-776-0790
photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of SAE. Email: CustomerService@sae.org
ISSN 0148-7191 SAE Web Address: http://www.sae.org
Printed in USA