NumericalAnalysisofAirFlowoverCarSpoiler.docVIP

Numerical Analysis of Flow over Car Spoiler Kriengsit Theera-apisakkul Computational Mechanics Laboratory Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering Kasetsart University 50, Phaholyothin Rd., Jatujak, Bangkok 10900 Tel. 0 2942 8555 ext. 1844 kriengsit_t@ Chawalit Kittichaikarn Computational Mechanics Laboratory Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering Kasetsart University 50, Phaholyothin Rd., Jatujak, Bangkok 10900 Tel. 0 2942 8555 ext. 1802 fengclk@ku.ac.th Abstract Aerodynamic characteristics of racing car is of significant interest in reducing car racing accidents due to wind loading and in reducing the fuel consumption. On the limitations of conventional wind tunnel experiment and rapid developments in computer hardware, considerable efforts have been invested in the last decade to study vehicle aerodynamics computationally. This paper presents a numerical simulation of flow around racing car with spoiler positioned at the rearend using commercial fluid dynamics software FLUENT. The study focuses on CFD-based lift and drag prediction on the car body and on improvement in the design due to spoiler configurations. A three dimensional computer model of a racing car was used as the base model in this study. Spoiler was positioned on the rearend at 4 different heights and was adjusted to wind collision angles of -10 to -2 degrees at 2 degree increments. The wind speed in this study ranges from 80 km/hr to 200 km/hr. From the results obtained, it was found that at the certain height of spoiler and wind collision angle, the change in CD is negligible but CL changes significantly as the speed of the racing car increases. Furthermore, the values of CD and CL increase as the height of the spoiler decreases and the angle of wind collision increases. 1. Introduction At present, modified car racing becomes more popular around the world. Aerodynamic characteristics of modified racing car is therefore inevitably of significant intere