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Automotive Aerodynamics

CO2 Rail Car Solidworks Tutorial (Research)

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.

Blank (1)

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

Body Rail (2)

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

Front Rim LX (3)

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

Front Tire (4)

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

Wheel Assembly (5)

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

Rear Rim PX (6)

Rear Tire (7)

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

Rear Rim Spokes (8)

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

Front Rim Spokes (9)

Axles (10)

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

Washer (11)

sketch of the center of the washer

outer circle skecth for the washer

changed the material of the part to brass

Assembly (12)

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

Drawing (13)

Details (14)

Cartridge (15)

Camera and Render (16)

Flow Sim (17)

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