Getting the aero advantage

Team Rahal has come up with several innovative ways of integrating and implementing Fluent Inc.'s computational fluid dynamics software into its engineering processes.

Championship car racing is challenging in itself, with about 16 teams involved in over 20 races each year. But when regulations change as often as they do, coupled with new race tracks and a longer season, the sport has become as much of an engineering competition as a racing challenge. To remain in the upper echelons of the sport, Team Rahal engineers have sought ways to implement and integrate new computer software simulation techniques into their design cycle. One of these solutions is Fluent's computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software.

One of the major benefits of CFD is that it enables engineers to visualize the airflow over a vehicle without having to conduct resource- and time-intensive smoke tunnel testing. According to Ray Leto, Technical Coordinator at Team Rahal, thermal, flow visualization, and pressure plots enable engineers to determine optimal positioning of wing fences and vortex generators. The positioning of such devices is important to obtain the maximum amount of downforce needed to keep the vehicle under control at such high speeds. “CFD has really allowed us to play with the tuning of where we think these vortex generators should be,” he said.