Design and Simulation of a Novel Fin Geometry for Lateral Airflow Control and Improved High-Speed Cornering
SAE-PP-00340
06/24/2023
- Content
- The act of high-speed cornering has always been a crucial factor in lap times in High-speed automobiles, such as Formula One (F1) racing. This paper presents a novel fin geometry design that enhances the cornering performance by contributing towards cornering forces. The design is assembled on the Front wing of the automobile and consists of seven symmetrically designed fins that can rotate about the vertical axis to direct air laterally. The uneven distribution of airflow generates greater downforce on outer wheels during cornering and also generates lateral lift across the body of the car, resulting in increased cornering forces. The design was modeled in SolidWorks and simulated in ANSYS Fluent, and the numerical solutions were validated by a grid Independence study and validation study on NACA 0012 airfoil. The results showed that the proposed design increased the cornering force by 18.05% compared to the baseline case. The pressure contours, vector graphs, and streamlines were analyzed to evaluate its effect overall. The paper demonstrates an opportunity to enhance the cornering ability of high-speed automobiles.
- Citation
- A, P., and kundu, N., "Design and Simulation of a Novel Fin Geometry for Lateral Airflow Control and Improved High-Speed Cornering," SAE MobilityRxiv™ Preprint, submitted June 24, 2023, https://doi.org/10.47953/SAE-PP-00340.