Automotive aerodynamics is the study of the aerodynamics of road vehicles. Its main goals are reducing drag and wind noise, minimizing noise emission, and preventing undesired lift forces and other causes of aerodynamic instability at high speeds. Air is also considered a fluid in this case. For some classes of racing vehicles, it may also be important to produce downforce to improve traction and thus cornering abilities.
Sketch and dimensions of original polygon to make body of the car
Used boss-extrude feature to extruded the sketch into a 3-dimensional object from a mid plane
Sketch for cut out of CO2 cartridge hole in the back of the car
Used extrude-cut feature to cut out the cartridge hole
Sketched wheel holes in the body of the car and dimensioned them on the sketch for proper alignment
Mid-plane through all extrude cut type to cut out holes all the way through the body
Add wood texture using appearance feature
Sketch and dimensions of cut for the curved aerodynamic body
After cut view of the rail car body
Extrude cut feature from the bottom face showing material cut away and kept
Missdimentioned a part earlier so I went back and fixed it here to properly match tutorial
Finishing editing the dimensions of correct model
Using new sketch and extrude cut feature to cut off unecessary material on the body of the car
Isometric view after side cut
Sketching and dimensioning the arc for installation of a cockpit on the car
Isometric view of dimensioned part and next sketching plane (top)
Sketching and dimensioning arcs and lines ensuring they are tangent and properly measured
Mirror feature to reflect original sketch over center construction line
Arc outline for the cockpit to follow along with sketching and dimensioning
Lofted base featrure to follow along path of sketches and form cockpit
Sketch and boss-extrude feature of front wheel standoff
View of part after boss-extrusion of front wheel standoff
Rear wheel cut out shown with sketch and cut extrude feature highlighted in yellow
Mirrored rear wheel cut to both sides over right plane
Finished product after filleted edges and cuts to the edge of the car
Beginning sketch of the arc flyout in the front windshield of the car
Sketch and dimensions of the cockpit windshield on front plane
Mirrored the sketch over the right plane and center construction line
Display of split cut feature displaying the pink projection onto the cockpit windshield
Finished split cut on both sides of the cockpit to make windshield
Complete view of boy rail part
Sketch and centerline of the front rim and dimensions
More sketching of the front rim part including dimensions
Final sketch of dimensioned front rim with connected lines and full sketch
evolve-base feature to create wheel shape around center axis
extrude cut for axle hole
sketch of cut out for wheel hole on the face of the rim
used the circular sketch pattern to create 8 identical cuts over 360 degrees
view of part after circular pattern
adding bump to little screw like knobs using dome extrude feature
used circular pattern again to rotate the feature about the center axis with equal spacing
fillet edges of the rim for smooth finish
changed material of the rim to stainless steel
sketch of center lines and 3 point arc for the tire shape
mirror entities about the center line sketch
dimensioned skecth and added connecting arcs to make complete sketch
revolve boss extrude feature to rotate the extruded object about the center horizontal line
changed material of the part to rubber
FRONT WHEEL ASSEMBLY
inserted wheel and rim for the front tire in order to assemble them
used mate feature to create coincident edges and set center cut extrude as mate reference
inserted both rear tire and rear tire rim with spokes into assembly
mate reference with the tire rim and wheel
REAR WHEEL ASSEMBLY
sketch of the outline for the rear tire
adding bup out arc as the round part of the tire
revolve boss feature to extrude sketch about the center line
view of finished tire with text display on it
changed tire material to rubber
sketch of the beginning of the rear rim
outer edge of wheel rim
used revolve boss extrude feature to rotate sketch about the center line
Extrude cut center of the rim for axle to go into
Sketch of the holes for the spokes to attach to
dimensioned the skteches to proper fit
lofted boss base feature connected sketches
connected other sketches
used the circular patter to make spokes go all the way around the center face
finished view after circular pattern
filleting the edges where the spokes connect to the rim at
linear pattern to repeat spokes on both sides of the rim
changed material to stainless steel
original sketch of axle
mid plane boss extrusion for the axle
fillet edges and complete axle
copied front axle and made it shorter for rear axle
sketch of the center of the washer
outer circle skecth for the washer
changed the material of the part to brass
inserted washer into the rail car assembly and automatically mated it to the axle
added washer to both axles
inserted rear and front wheel assembly and mated them to washers attatched to the front and rear axle
mirrored mates over center plane to make other 2 wheels
These images above show the design process of the body for my Co2 car.
The first step was to create a body with a simple rectangle sketch, then using the boss-extrude feature to make a rectangular prism.
The second step of designing the body of the car included using the style spine feature to outline a sketch of my car's inspiration, a Ferrari F40, then cutting that sketch out of the rectangular prism with the extruded cut feature. (parameters for the cars design prevented me from designing a basic replica)
The image above displays how the style spline feature was used to outline a cutout from the rectangular prism originally constructed for the base of the car.
The images above show the design of the spoiler on the back of the car
The original body of the spoiler was created using a rectangular sketch on the back of the car before using the boss-extrude feature to make it 3-dimensional.
Next, the extruded cut feature was used to cut out a hole through the extruded spoiler to create a higher value of down force on the car.
The spoiler was later angled inward along the sides and given filleted edges for a more streamlined aerodynamic shape.
Initially, the car was intended to have only one spoiler, but it didn't meet the height requirements after including the wheels, leading to the addition of another spoiler displayed in the pictures above.
The wheel well was created for 4 inverted wheels cut out from the original body of the car.
The first step to creating the wheel well was to outline circular sketches with a radius of 14mm on the front and back sides of the car, then use the cut extrude feature to cut out the wheel well area with a depth of 10mm.
Next, the axles were inserted into the center of the wheel well cut-outs by sketching circles with a radius of 8mm to fit the fixed bearings provided by the instructor, then made 3-dimensional using the boss-extrude feature out 9mm from the face of the wheel well.
The cartridge hole is in the back of the car where the Co2 capsule is placed in the car to start the car and propel it forward.
The cartridge hole was made with a 22mm sketch of a circle on the back of the car, then using the boss-extrude feature to extrude it towards the front of the car 50.8mm.
After creating the original cylinder a 18.5mm circle was sketched offset towards the inside of the outer ring before cutting out a cavity in the cylinder for the Co2 cartridge.
The front of the cylinder of the Co2 cartridge hole was flat and not very aerodynamic, so I used the sweep boss base feature to follow a style spline and round out the front of the cylinder for the Co2 cartridge.
In order to make the car more aerodynamic additional airflow holes and chambers were added around the car to allow better airflow and a streamline body.
The first example of this is behind the rear tires where the sketch feature was used to outline where a hole would be cut out with the cut extrude feature. This cut went up to the face of the wheel well allowing the air circulating around the tires a smooth escape.
The next step of the rear airflow holes used the three-point arc feature to sketch an arc along the inside of the airflow cutout to help direct the flow of air out the back of the car.
The second airflow section is a chamber located between the rear and front tires created using a rectangular sketch on a plane made with the reference geometry located in the middle of the car. The airway through the car was cut out with the cut-extrude feature on mid-plane to go through both to the front and the back of the car.
The final step of this airflow hole was using the style spline feature to sketch a curved long along the inside of the cut out rounding out the inside of the chamber directing and increasing the speed of airflow through the chamber.
Edges all around the car and throughout important features faced the wrath of the fillet and chamfer features to create a smoother streamline body in order to increase the aerodynamics of the car.
Certain fillets needed to be done in order to avoid errors, as well as some chamfers being used before filleting the edges of the chamfer feature. One of the main filleted features was the brim around the edge of the car, following along the edges of the body and wheel well.
Another important feature was the main front-facing features of the car displayed here, showing the preview of what would be cut away and kept turning the front and what would be the windshield into a curved face.
The last major parts of the car were the sides, which were originally sticking out and had pointy edges filleted down with the help of the chamfer feature.
The grill was added to the front of the car to make it look cool and allow air to flow through the face of the car, which broke the plane and entered first into the force of airresitance making it push back on the car less.
The first step to making the grill was using the cut extrude feature to cut out an area from the front face of the car back to the wheel well.
Next, the fillet feature was used to soften the edges and help direct airflow throughout the grills. The entrance of the grill and the front face of the car were also filleted to make it smoother and more aerodynamic.
Inside the grill, small cylindrical shapes were extruded between the top and bottom faces of the cut-out area to help break up the airflow through the grill and add some really cool details to the car. The cylinders were replicated with the linear pattern feature before the entire left side of the car, including the wheel wells, fillets, chamfers, grill, and body features, were mirrored over the right plane to the right side of the car.
The wheel rim was created in solidworks modeled after the bearings seen below, since the car wouldn't use realistic wheel rims but instead ball bearings to rotate the wheels.
Displayed to the left is the printed wheel and bearing combination, being put together, showing a proper fit. (The bearings were already provided for the car)
The tire was another simple feature created in SolidWorks with a few circular sketches and boss-extrusions to help form a TPU printed tire for the car. The trie was very easy to design in SolidWorks and only took a few minutes to create.
Displayed to the right are images of the completed tires after being printed with TPU individually, all together, and with the wheel bearings that the tires go around.
Below are images of the F40 Co2 car assembly with the help of the mate reference features.
This is a screenshot of the original car and wheels before being assembled.
Front view of the car's assembly.
Final assembly of F40 Co2 car with 2 spoilers and all of the wheels
To the side is the detailed drawing of the F40 Co2 rail car including important information about the design as well as top, right, and isometric views of the car.
The first flow simulation and statistics are displayed below in the gif and data charts explaining the images and what the data sets represent.
The second flow simulation with an additional spoiler in order to reach the required height is displayed below as a gif next to the data statistics and table for this simulation.
The first flow simulation was done with a car with only 1 spoiler since I had not yet reviewed the parameters required for the Co2 car and did not meet the height requirements with my original design of the car.
This flow simulation is of a very similar model of the car with few to no changes accept for the additional spoiler and added height meeting the required parameters for the car even decreasing the lift and drag helping to bring both values closer to their desired range with little to no friction accept for at the front of the car and edges of the spoiler.
This gif shows the airflow simulator in action through one of the rear airflow holes, where the air pushed in circular motion from the tires is able to escape. This feature is very green and was an important part of the cars efficent air flow. This airflow hole was included in both cars, which is why it is big and in the middle.
The Drag and lift for the first flow simulation with only one spoiler are displayed in the screenshot above, showing the average drag value as -50.7768 p and the average lift value as 4.45106 p.
This flow simulation had a worse average drag value by a factor of 6, while the lift was a smaller value even going 7 units into the negatives meaning that the car wouldn't start to fly if enough lift force was applied. overall, the addition of a second spoiler would help the car stay on the ground but create more friction or drag.
This image shows the computational domain for half of the car to speed up the simulation. The domain runs just underneath the car to simulate a real world example of the flow simulation.
Showing the flow simulation arrows for the first design of the car from an isometric view.
This image shows the flow simulations effects on the different faces of the car, red being bad drag and or lift while the green symbolizes good airflow.
The arrows above simulate the stationary flow simulation.
Same data from before about the lift and drag values with some extra numbers.
The repeated values for drag and lift as well as even more specific measurements are displayed above.
Graph of the drag throughout the flow simulation.
Graph of the lift throughout the flow simulation.
This is a graph of drag throughout the simulation.
This is a graph of the value of lift throughout the simulation.
Extra information about some of the parameters of the flow simulation.
Lift and drag over certain times throguhout the simulation.
Computational domain of half the car to speed up the loading of flow simulation.
The parameters and extra data sets are displayed above.
This is a screenshot of the computational domain and flow simulation of the car before adding in wheels and full assembly of the car.
Displayed below are images of all of the test prints for the Co2 race car. In total, I only had to do one test print for the body since all of the measurements were practically perfect fits, as well as the test prints for the wheels fitting around the bearings nicely and snugly, meaning that I didn't have to reprint anything. The Co2 cartridge also fit perfectly into the cartridge hole with a little elbow grease, meaning I didn't need to apply tape or anything for the race.
4 TPU printed wheels
the completed test prints for the wheels and body
display of test printed wheel well design
back face of the car including airflow holes, cartidge hole, spoiler, and guideline hole
The final product turned out well and looks like it was printed good but the filament supports were difficult to remove at times with them often getting stuck deep inside some parts of the car such as the cartridge hole. Overall, it looks smooth and detailed, but if I were to print it again, I would print it on its back straight up.
Isometric view of the completed car
Front view of the completed car can see the guide line hole and grill
back view showed at an angle
rear view of the car
wheel well with wheel attached
wheel well without the wheel
same picture different angle
This gif to the left shows a slow-motion snapshot of the first race where I had a finish time of 2.043 seconds losing the race by a close margin. Before this race I forgot to take some of the leftover support filament out of the car which I had thought would make it slower but ended up not making too much of a different in the upcoming races.
Displayed on the right is a gif of the second race where I raced the second slowest car so far and ended up losing cementing my car as the slowest race car to this point with a finish time of 2.049 seconds.
Displayed to the side if a gif of the third race which I also lost making my car an astounding 0-3 with a final race time of 2.051 seconds.
Overall, I finished last in the standings with the slowest average times and going 0-3.