| dc.description.abstract | In this thesis work an investigation of the aerodynamics of a Fomula Student race car
was conducted. The work focused on a computational fuid dynamics evaluation of the
aerodynamic effects predicted for the car moving through relatively sharp corners of
constant curvature. To assess the credibility of the closure models investigated, comparisons
with experimental reference cases were conducted. To put some bounds on the
numerical discretization errors for the car simulations, a grid convergence study was also
conducted. For the simplied wing validation test cases, a relatively good agreement
between aerodynamic performance values obtained from experiments and simulations
was found. For the full car simulations, comparisons were made with on track measured
values of lift. With respect to the measured values, the predictions of lift obtained from
the simplified computer model geometry was high. It is believed that this was due, in
part, to the simplicity of the model geometry, allowing for less disturbed air
flow around the lift generating devices of the car, as well as the turbulence models inability to accurately predict amplitudes and the stream wise extent of the wake of bluff bodies directly upstream of several key lift generating devices. For assessing the aerodynamic effects of steady state cornering for the vehicle the momenta about its yaw, pitch and roll axes were tracked. In addition, lift, drag and sideforces were investigated. The modelling of rotational flow around the car found effects not present in, and in direct opposition to those predicted by modelling a cornering vehicle as having a fixed yaw angle with respect to the free stream. | |
