Cool Visualization Software Allows Users to See How Air Moves Around a Car

[cjforumadmin]

http://www.bangshift.com/blog/Cool-Visualization-Software-Allows-Users-to-See-How-Air-Moves-Around-Car.html

[Barry Donovan]

Re: Cool Visualization Software Allows Users to See How Air Moves Around a Car

that stuff is so silly.

"the air moves around the car".

why can't they leave it at that?

where there is car.. uh oh.. air moves around it. ???

decipher some bernoulli, throw on the roof racks, and go with it.

[IRONHEAD]

Re: Cool Visualization Software Allows Users to See How Air Moves Around a Car

thats cool. but doesn't alow for your subject to be a shadow, i.e. in a draft.. or how a side draft affects the overall. air movement..
great for a single car test where it run alone/
but in a pack everything changes.
this is why teams not test the cars in the tunnle with 4 to 6 other car in with it..
a change that looked good testing the car alone can really reek havoc in a pack at speed..

[Darren N.]

Re: Cool Visualization Software Allows Users to See How Air Moves Around a Car

Neato! Enter the world of CFD: Computational Fluid Dynamics. The mechanical engineering department at my school has a badass lab dedicated to CFD and related research projects. Undergrads, such as myself, aren't allowed to play in there :'(

Last summer I worked at a software developer and engineering analysis firm. I got to see Finite Element Modeling (FEM), Heat Transfer analysis and CFD. One of the neatest projects was a contracted job to do a flow analysis on the intake port of a cylinder head! While I have yet to learn much of the basics, I worked across from the engineer in charge of that project so I bugged him all summer long. "What's this do? What does this mean? What's with all the crazy colours?" :D

CFD has come a long way but from what I understand, conducting "real-word" simulations (i.e. complex conditions) is still not possible but folks are working hard to achieve it, though. For the moment it provides vital feedback for analyses done in isolated conditions.

FYI, Formula 1 has limited the number of hours of wind tunnel time that F1 teams can use to develop their car. The idea is that more folks can afford some engineers and CFD software so ideally the playing field is more equal. The reality for the moment is that no simulation at the moment can replace the wind tunnel or real-world testing.

Maybe some of the other engineering folk on BS.com have/do actually play with CFD... show yourselves! :P

[dieselgeek]

Re: Cool Visualization Software Allows Users to See How Air Moves Around a Car

thats cool. but doesn't alow for your subject to be a shadow, i.e. in a draft.. or how a side draft affects the overall. air movement..
great for a single car test where it run alone/
but in a pack everything changes.
this is why teams not test the cars in the tunnle with 4 to 6 other car in with it..
a change that looked good testing the car alone can really reek havoc in a pack at speed..

Why would anyone care about aero effects of being "in a pack" on a car that doesn't race in a pack? You post would be like me making fun of NASCAR because they're geared too low to go 250mph on the salt. I.e., doesn't make any sense other than give me a chance to bitch about something totally irrelevant.