CFD study on the effectiveness of including a drag reduction system in a FSAE racecar

Abstract

The University of Leeds Formula Student Racing Team has recently included an aerodynamic package in the car that will be taken to an international student racing cars competition. The aerodynamic package consists of a diffusor that acts together with a set of two wings, one on the front and the other in the rear. Front and rear wings have been designed by the aerodynamicists of the team, so this project is focused to be a development of the rear wing, analysing the effects of the inclusion of a Drag Reduction System (DRS) in the car. A Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) commercial package has been used, ANSYS® FLUENT™ in this case, so that the numerical approach for the different flap positions could be compared. Simulations with the same set up and equal mesh controls have been launched with the only difference of a 2˚ step in the flap angle of attack. The evolution of the force coefficients obtained allowed to make a prediction of how beneficial a DRS would be for the performance of the Leeds Formula Student race car at certain race conditions. From the results obtained, it can be concluded that a 65% reduction in the drag coefficient produced by the rear wing could be achieved for a given speed of 16 m/s, which is representative of the velocity a racing car of this type can reach. The simulations were run in free flow conditions and out of the ground effect, so further analysis can be made of this system for future inclusion in the car. However, this project provides with a valid approach of the effects this system would have.