Developing the Competitive Edge
NASCAR Sprint Series
Project Overview
With NASCAR having just recently switched vehicle designs for the Sprint series, BMI has been exploring the aerodynamic characteristics of this new car. With the Sprint Series car only in its infant stage, there is a great deal of knowledge to explore to gain a full aerodynamic understanding.
To provide an accurate solution BMI has been developing a complete 3D model of the car though both laser scanning and available cad data. This includes modeling the:
- Floor pans
- Exhaust system
- Tires (rotating)
- Frame members
- Engine
- Airduct
- Rear panels
- Fuel tank
With the aerodynamic analysis BMI will be able to establish an overall aerodynamic map of the vehicle including wing positions, splitter heights, airduct designs, drafting positions, weather conditions and more.
Additional Project Details
BMI performed full Viscous Navier Stokes analysis:
- @6,000,000+ grid points required (per car - drafting solutions are much larger)
- 4-6 hours to converge on computing cluster
- Moving road & rotating wheels to represent track conditions (more accurate than rolling road wind tunnel)
- Detailed analysis of results by experienced engineer required
Project Results
A great deal has been learned about the Sprint Series car. This project is on-going and continues to increase in detail as well as the variety of simulations
Project Images
At A Glance
Project Goal
Use computational fluid dynamics to create an aerodynamic profile map of the Sprint Series car.
The Techniques
- High order surface modeling techniques (Boeing code)
- Moving floor and rotating wheels
- Complete Flow Visualization
- Navier Stokes Analysis (NASA code)
The Results
Project is still underway