The Influence of Motion Aerodynamics on the Simulation of Vehicle Dynamics

Race cars undergo very quick ride height changes on the track, which are induced by breaking, acceleration, cornering, as well as bumps on the track. It has recently been shown in wind tunnel tests that these quick changes in model attitude can lead to astonishingly large hysteresis effects on the aerodynamic coefficients. In order to verify whether such effects may be relevant to the overall performance of a car, aerodynamic data from wind tunnel tests with a moving model was fed into a vehicle dynamics simulation program. Relevant changes in estimated car performance on straight as well as on curved tracks are reported.