1

INDEX
Serial
Number
Content Page Number
1 ABSTRACT 2
2 INTRODUCTION 3
3 AERODYNAMIC FORCES ON A BODY
i. LIFT
ii. DRAG
iii. WEIGHT
iv. THRUST

4-5
4 HISTORY AND EVOLUTION OF
AERODYNAMICS

6
5 LIFT OR DOWNFORCE 7-8
6 WINGS AND SPOILERS 9
7 SOFTWARES AND WIND TUNNEL TEST 10
8 CONCLUSION 11
9 REFERENCES 12

LIST OF FIGURES


Figure no Content Page
number
1 AERODYNAMIC FORCES ON A BODY 4
2 LIFT AND DOWNFORCE OVER BODY
FLOW
8
3 DOWNFORCE BY RAKED
UNDERBODY
8
2


ABSTRACT




When objects move through air, forces are generated by the relative
motion between the air and surfaces of the object. Aerodynamics is the study of these forces,
generated by the motion of air, usually aerodynamics are categorized according to the type of
flow as subsonic, hypersonic, supersonic etc.

It is essential that aerodynamics be taken in to account during the
design of cars as an improved aerodynamics in car would attain higher speeds and more fuel
efficiency. For attaining this aerodynamic design the cars are designed lower to the ground and
are usually sleek in design and almost all corners are rounded off, to ensure smooth passage of
air through the body, in addition to it a number of enhancements like spoilers, wings are also
attached to the cars for improving aerodynamics. Wind tunnels are used for analyzing the
aerodynamics of cars, besides this a number of softwares are also available now days to ensure
the optimal aerodynamic design.
3

INTRODUCTION






When objects move through air, forces are generated by the relative
motion between air and surfaces of the body, study of these forces generated by air is called
aerodynamics. Based on the flow environment it can be classified in to external aerodynamics
and internal aerodynamics; external aerodynamics is the flow around solid objects of various
shapes, whereas internal aerodynamics is the flow through passages in solid objects. The
behavior of air flow changes depends on the ratio of the flow to the speed of sound. This ratio
is called Mach number, based on this Mach number the aerodynamic problems can be
classified as subsonic if the speed of flow is less than that of sound, transonic if speeds both
below and above speed of sound are present, supersonic if characteristics of flow is greater
than that of sound and hypersonic if flow is very much greater than that of sound.
Aerodynamics have wide range of applications mainly in aerospace engineering ,then in
the design of automobiles, prediction of forces and moments in ships and sails, in the field
of civil engineering as in the design of bridges and other buildings, where they help to
calculate wind loads in design of large buildings.

4

AERODYNAMIC FORCES ON A BODY









FIGURE-01




LIFT

It is the sum of all fluid dynamic forces on a body normal to the direction of
external flow around the body. Lift is caused by Bernoullis effect which states that air must
flow over a long path in order to cover the same displacement in the same amount of time.
This creates a low pressure area over the long edge of object as a result a low pressure region
is formed over the aero foil and a high pressure region is formed below the aero foil,
it is this difference in pressure that creates the object to rise

F=(1/2)Cleve
2
A equation -1


CL= Coefficient of Lift, dependent on the specific geometry of the object,
determined experimentally
d= Density of air

V=Velocity of object relative to air, A=Cross-sectional area of object, parallel to wind
5

DRAG

It is the sum of all external forces in the direction of fluid flow, so it acts
opposite to the direction of the object. In other words drag can be explained as the force
caused by turbulent airflow around an object that opposes the forward motion of the object
through a gas or fluid.

F=(1/2)Cod
2
Aequation 2


Where: CD= Coefficient of Drag, dependent on the specific geometry of the object,
determined experimentally.
d= Density of air.

V=Velocity of object relative to air.
A= cross section of frontal area.
Since drag is dependent on square of velocity it is most predominant when
object is traveling at very high speeds. It is the most important aerodynamic force to study
because it limits both fuel economy of a vehicle and the maximum speed at which a vehicle
can travel.


WEIGHT

It is actually just the weight of the object that is in motion.i.e. the mass of the
object multiplied by the magnitude of gravitational field.This weight has a significant effect
on the acceleration of the object.


THRUST

When a body is in motion a drag force is created which opposes the motion of the
object so thrust can be the force produce in opposite direction to drag that is higher than that
of drag so that the body can move through the fluid. Thrust is a reaction force explained
by Newtons second and third laws, The total force experienced by a system accelerating in
mass m is equal and opposite to mass m times the acceleration
experienced by that mass.
6

HISTORY & EVOLUTION OF AERODYNAMICS



Ever since the first car was manufactured in early 20
th
century the
attempt has been to travel at faster speeds, in the earlier times aerodynamics was not a factor
as the cars where traveling at very slow speeds there were not any aerodynamic problems but
with increase of speeds the necessity for cars to become more streamlined resulted in
structural invention such as the introduction of the windscreen, incorporation of wheels into
the body and the insetting of the headlamps into the front of the car. This was
probably the fastest developing time in automobiles history as the majority of the work was to
try and reduce the aerodynamic drag. This happened up to the early 1950s, where by this time
the aerodynamic dray had been cut by about 45% from the early cars such as the Silver Ghost.
However, after this the levels of drag found on cars began to slowly increase. This was due to
the way that the designing was thought about. Before1950, designers were
trying to make cars as streamlined as possible to make it easier for the engine, yet they were
restricting the layout of the interior for the car. After 1950, the levels of aerodynamic drag
went up because cars were becoming more family friendly and so as a consequence the
shapes available to choose were more limited and so it was not possible to keep the low level
of aerodynamic drag. The rectangular shape made cars more purposeful for the family and so
it is fair to say that after 1950 the designing of cars was to aid the lifestyle of larger families.



Although this was a good thing for families, it didnt take long before the
issue of aerodynamics came back into the picture in the form of fuel economy. During the
1970s there was a fuel crisis and so the demand for more economical cars became greater,
which led to changes in car aerodynamics. During the 1970s there was a fuel crisis and so the
demand for more economical cars became greater, which led to changes in car
aerodynamics. If a car has poor aerodynamics then the engine has to do more work to go the
same distance as a car with better aerodynamics, so if the engine is working harder it is going
to need more fuel to allow the engine to do the work, and therefore the car with the better
aerodynamics uses less fuel than the other car. This quickly led to a public demand for cars
with a lower aerodynamic drag in order to be more economical for the family

7


LIFT OR DOWNFORCE

One term very often heard in race car circles is Down force. Down force is the
same as the lift experienced by airplane wings, only it acts to press down, instead of lifting
up. Every object traveling through air creates either a lifting or down force situation. Race
cars, of course use things like inverted wings to force the car down onto the track,
increasing traction. The average street car however tends to create lift. This is because the
car body shape itself generates a low pressure area above itself.
For a given volume of air, the higher the speed the air molecules are traveling, the
lower the pressure becomes. Likewise, for a given volume of air, the lower the speed of the
air molecules, the higher the pressure becomes. This of course only applies to air in motion
across a still body, or to a vehicle in motion, moving through still air.
When we discussed Frontal Pressure, above that the air pressure was high as the air rammed
into the front grill of the car. What is really happening is that the air slows down as it
approaches the front of the car, and as a result more molecules are packed into a smaller
space. Once the air Stagnates at the point in front of the car, it seeks a lower pressure area,
such as the sides, top and bottom of the car.
Now, as the air flows over the hood of the car, it's loses pressure, but when it
reaches the windscreen, it again comes up against a barrier, and briefly reaches a higher
pressure. The lower pressure area above the hood of the car creates a small lifting force that
acts upon the area of the hood (Sort of like trying to suck the hood off the car). The higher
pressure area in front of the windscreen creates a small (or not so small) down force. This is
akin to pressing down on the windshield.
Where most road cars get into trouble is the fact that there is a large surface area
on top of the car's roof. As the higher pressure air in front of the wind screen travels over the
windscreen, it accelerates, causing the pressure to drop. This lower pressure literally lifts on
the car's roof as the air passes over it. Worse still, once the air makes its way to the
Rear window, the notch created by the window dropping down to the trunk leaves a vacuum or
low pressure space that the air is not able to fill properly. The flow is said to detach and the
resulting lower pressure creates lift that then acts upon the surface area of the trunk

8


FIGURE-02

Not to be forgotten, the underside of the car is also responsible for creating lift or down
force. If a car's front end is lower than the rear end, then the widening gap between the
underside and the road creates a vacuum or low pressure area, and therefore "suction" that
equates to down force. The lower front of the car effectively restricts the air flow under the
car. So, as you can see, the airflow over a car is filled with high and low pressure areas, the
sum of which indicates that the car body either naturally creates lift or down force.




FIGURE-03


9

WINGS & SPOILERS





What this wings or spoilers does is it prevents the separation of flow and
thereby preventing the formation of vortices or helps to fill the vacuum in the rear end more
effectively thus reducing drag. So what actually this wing does is that, the wing works by
differentiating pressure on the top and bottom surface of the wing. As mentioned
previously, the higher the speed of a given volume of air, the lower the pressure of that air,
and vice-versa. What a wing does is make the air passing under it travel a larger distance
Than the air passing over it (in race car applications). Because air molecules approaching
the leading edge of the wing are forced to separate, some going over the top of the wing,
and some going under the bottom, they are forced to travel differing distances in order to
"Meet up" again at the trailing edge of the wing. This is part of Bernoulli's theory. What
happens Is that the lower pressure area under the wing allows the higher pressure area
above the wing to "push" down on the wing, and hence the car it's mounted to.

The way a real, shaped wing works is essentially the same as an airplane wing, but
it's inverted. An airplane wing produces lift, a car wing produces negative lift or in other
words what we call us, down force. That lift is generated by a difference in pressure on both
sides of the wing. .



10

SOFTWARES



Now days a large number of softwares are developed for the analysis and
optimization of aerodynamics in automobiles. Earlier times the cars were worked directly on
wind tunnels where they prepared different shapes or cross sections and tested upon the cars,
during those times it was not possible to test the small areas that is for a small part of front
area etc. there testing were made for the entire cross sections, But with the
introduction of computational fluid dynamics i.e. the use of computers to analyze fluid flows
where the entire area is divided in to grids and each grid is analyzed and suitable algorithms
are developed to solve the equations of motion.Commonly used softwares are
ANYSYS,CATIA etc..


WIND TUNNEL TEST


A wind tunnel is a tool used in aerodynamic research to study the effects of air
moving past solid objects.It consists of a closed tubular passage with the object under test
mounted in the middle.The car is tested for aerodynamics by subjecting it to real world
conditions.the airflow in the wind tunnel may have smoke or other substances injected to
make the airflow lines around the object visible.

The images obtained from the tests in wind tunnel are captured on a computer.They
can be used to study airflow patterns on a vehicle highlighting areas of possible
improvement.Actual data from production ready models can be compared with pre-
production computer predictions which can help improve the accuracy of early design.


11

CONCLUSION

Earlier cars were poorly designed with heavy engines, protruding parts and
rectangular shapes due to which they consumed large quantities of fuel and became
unaffordable.All these factors lead to the development and need of aerodynamics in the
design of cars.Now it would be fair to say that almost all cars are tested for getting the
optimum aerodynamic configuration.




































12

References





http://auto.howstuffworks.com/fuel-efficiency/fuel-economy/aerodynamics.htm
http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/aerodynamics.aspx
http://www.rapid-racer.com/aerodynamic-upgrades.php
Competition Car Downforce: A Practical Handbook
by Simon McBeath
Race car aerodynamics:Designing for speed by Joseph Katz
History of aerodynamics by john D Anderson
Fundamentals of Aerodynamics by Mc Graw Hill