Towards Balanced Aerodynamic Axle Loading of a Car with Covered Wheels—Inflatable Splitter

Maciej Szudarek, Konrad Kamieniecki, Sylwester Tudruj and Janusz Piechna
Additional contact information
Maciej Szudarek: Institute of Metrology and Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Mechatronics, Warsaw University of Technology, 02-525 Warsaw, Poland
Konrad Kamieniecki: Institute of Micromechanics and Photonics, Faculty of Mechatronics, Warsaw University of Technology, 02-525 Warsaw, Poland
Sylwester Tudruj: Institute of Aeronautics and Applied Mechanics, Faculty of Power and Aeronautical Engineering, Warsaw University of Technology, 00-665 Warsaw, Poland
Janusz Piechna: Institute of Aeronautics and Applied Mechanics, Faculty of Power and Aeronautical Engineering, Warsaw University of Technology, 00-665 Warsaw, Poland

Energies, 2022, vol. 15, issue 15, 1-28

Abstract: Generating aerodynamic downforce for the wheels on the front axle of a car is a much more difficult task than for the rear axle. This paper, submitted to the special issue of Energies “Future of Road Vehicle Aerodynamics”, presents an unusual solution to increase the aerodynamic downforce of the front axle for cars with covered wheels, with the use of an elastic splitter. The effect of the inflatable splitter on the aerodynamic forces and moments was studied in a DrivAer passenger car and a fast sports car, Arrinera Hussarya. Providing that the ground clearance was low enough, the proposed solution was successful in increasing the front axle downforce without a significant increase in drag force. The possibility of emergency application of such a splitter in the configuration of the body rotated by up to 2 degrees with the front end raised was also analyzed. An elastic, deformed splitter remained effective for the nonzero pitch case. The results of the calculations are presented in the form of numerical data of aerodynamic forces, pressure and velocity distributions, and their comparisons. The benefits of the elastic splitter are documented, and the noted disadvantages are discussed.

Keywords: fluid–structure interaction; inflatable splitter; computational fluid dynamics; CFD simulations; aerodynamic downforce (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/15/5543/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/15/5543/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:15:y:2022:i:15:p:5543-:d:876290

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().