In Formula Student competitions, the active adaptation of the aerodynamic
components to the current race track conditions can significantly enhance the
overall dynamic performance of the car. Due to the abundant low-speed corners,
angles of attack of fixed aerodynamic components are usually exaggerated,
preventing the car from achieving higher acceleration capabilities due to
induced drag. This issue can be tackled by introducing an active drag reduction
system (DRS). In this work, a strategy for performing iterative numerical
simulations is proposed, with the goal of obtaining a range of different
configurations suitable for certain track conditions. Specifically, the case of
lowest drag is exploited.
Different macros were developed to couple the utilization of computational fluid
dynamics tools for aerodynamic analysis with an extensive iterative process with
minimal user interference. An initial mesh refinement study was conducted.
Afterward, angles of attack and centers of rotation of the two most rear flaps
are iterated. The lowest-drag configuration was found to be at
αflap1 = 0° and αflap2 = −6 ° , the latter mostly due to its aerodynamic interaction with the
rest of the system. Results show that the angle of attack of flap 2 had the most
influence on the overall forces, while varying the centers of rotation had a
weaker impact. Nevertheless, combining the investigation of the angles of the
attack with the center of rotation yields optimal DRS configuration with the
minimum drag. Within one loop of the proposed strategy, a reduction of up to
94.5% in rear-wing drag was found. The strategy proposed
can be looped until a configuration is obtained for specific optimization
targets, such as drag reduction.