PURPOSES OF AERODYNAMICS IN THE AUTOMOTIVE FIELD

While traveling on a straight road the force

opposing the vehicle motion is given by two
contributions:
-

The aerodynamic resistance [blue lines]

The resistance to the roll of the wheels
[red line]

Both increase in a non-linear way with the

speed.
The aerodynamic resistance can be
reduced through aerodynamic tools that
act reducing the CD coefficient.

As an example, the line 1 is referred to a recent class C car with C D0.34 (due
to an aerodynamic design) while the line 2 is obtained for an old car of the
same category for which CD0.44.
The two curves intersect at 120 km/h in the first case and at 75 km/h in the
second, justifying the low maximum speed of old-fashioned cars.

When the air impacts the vehicle, the aerodynamic forces are related to the
fact that the flow distribution is not homogeneous and symmetric on the
chassis. This generates friction and turbulences that guarantee a balance in the
rear part with respect to the front forces without which the resistance to the
motion would be neutralized.
Considering the aerodynamic efficiency, its importance is greater on small cars
than on sedans because its easier to obtain a better aerodynamic coefficient
on a short vehicle than on a long one.

The impact of the air generates three

forces in three different directions:
-

Frontal force (Fx)

Vertical force (Fz)
Lateral forces (in case of
asymmetries)

The vertical force is split into two components relative to the front axle and the
rear axle.
Both Fx and Fz can be obtained as the product of the relative form factor (C x or
CD and Cz or CL) and the air of the considered surface.

Referring to the shape of a wing

(which represents the body), v0 in
the speed of the air flow.

R: resistant
force,
opposite to
the motion
M: torque in case of unbalance
between front and rear forces
P: vertical force

If P is directed
upward
(positive), it is called LIFT while, if directed downward
(negative), it is called DOWNFORCE.

Depending on the kind of vehicle under analysis, we can have two different
purposes:
1) MAXIMUM REDUCTION OF THE FUEL CONSUMPTION WITH MAXIMUM
SPEED ON STRAIGHT
2) MAXIMUM INCREASE OF PERFORMANCES ON MIXED PATH
The first case (which is an old concept of 1930s) requires the minimum C x (CD)
because the aerodynamic efficiency directly influences fuel consumption and
maximum speed. The current minimum value for CD is 0.22 [Mercedes CLA].
CO2 emissions and maximum speed are indirectly connected through power, displacement and
weight of the car.

Note:
to increase the maximum
speed of 5 km/h we can both
add 35 CV to the engine power
or reduce the CD coefficient of
0.02.

The second case (lap time reduction, which is relatively new target from 1992)
requires the maximum aerodynamic efficiency.
The AERODYNAMIC EFFICIENCY is defined as

CL
CD

(lift-to-drag ratio where

the lift coefficient is negative).

As every efficiency,

is what we obtain over what we pay.

Note:
increasing the downforce the
braking distance reduces and
adding a rear spoiler we can
balance the trim of the vehicle
while braking.

The downforce also increases the

grid of the pneumatic on the
asphalt so that we can reach a
higher speed while curving.

The minimum lap time doesnt

coincide with the maximum
efficiency.
Decreasing CL we reduce the lap
time until a certain optimum
value above which it increases
again because, increasing CD, the
speed on straight reduces.
The
aerodynamic
efficiency
increases as the shape of the
vehicle makes the downforce
increase. At a certain point
decreases because of the drag
influence.
Generally, cars can support a little more than the maximum of the efficiency
near the minimum lap time!