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General Aerodynamic Principals

Drag

A simple definition of aerodynamics is the study of the flow of air around and
through a vehicle, primarily if it is in motion. To understand this flow, you can

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visualize a car moving through the air. As we all know, it takes some energy to
move the car through the air, and this energy is used to overcome a force
called Drag.

Drag, in vehicle aerodynamics, is comprised primarily of two forces. Frontal

pressure is caused by the air attempting to flow around the front of the car.
As millions of air molecules approach the front grill of the car, they begin to
compress, and in doing so raise the air pressure in front of the car. At the
same time, the air molecules travelling along the sides of the car are at
atmospheric pressure, a lower pressure compared to the molecules at the
front of the car.

Just like an air tank, if the valve to the lower pressure atmosphere outside the
tank is opened, the air molecules will naturally flow to the lower pressure area,
eventually equalizing the pressure inside and outside the tank. The same
rules apply to cars. The compressed molecules of air naturally seek a way out
of the high pressure zone in front of the car, and they find it around the sides,
top and bottom of the car. See the diagram below.

Rear vacuum (a non-technical term, but very descriptive) is caused by the

"hole" left in the air as the car passes through it. To visualize this, imagine a
bus driving down a road. The blocky shape of the bus punches a big hole in
the air, with the air rushing around the body, as mentioned above. At speeds
above a crawl, the space directly behind the bus is "empty" or like a vacuum.
This empty area is a result of the air molecules not being able to fill the hole
as quickly as the bus can make it. The air molecules attempt to fill in to this
area, but the bus is always one step ahead, and as a result, a continuous
vacuum sucks in the opposite direction of the bus. This inability to fill the hole
left by the bus is technically calledFlow detachment. See the diagram below.

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Flow detachment applies only to the "rear vacuum" portion of the drag
equation, and it is really about giving the air molecules time to follow the
contours of a car's bodywork, and to fill the hole left by the vehicle, it's tires,
it's suspension and protrusions (ie. mirrors, roll bars). If you have witnessed
the Le Mans race cars, you will have seen how the tails of these cars tend to
extend well back of the rear wheels, and narrow when viewed from the side
or top. This extra bodywork allows the air molecules to converge back into the
vacuum smoothly along the body into the hole left by the car's cockpit, and
front area, instead of having to suddenly fill a large empty space.

The reason keeping flow attachment is so important is that the force created
by the vacuum far exceeds that created by frontal pressure, and this can be
attributed to the Turbulence created by the detachment.

Turbulence generally affects the "rear vacuum" portion of the drag equation,
but if we look at a protrusion from the race car such as a mirror, we see a
compounding effect. For instance, the air flow detaches from the flat side of
the mirror, which of course faces toward the back of the car. The turbulence
created by this detachment can then affect the air flow to parts of the car
which lie behind the mirror. Intake ducts, for instance, function best when the
air entering them flows smoothly. Therefore, the entire length of the car really
needs to be optimized (within reason) to provide the least amount of
turbulence at high speed. See diagram below (Light green indicates a
vacuum-type area behind mirror):

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Lift (or Downforce)

One term very often heard in race car circles isDownforce. Downforce is the
same as the lift experienced by airplane wings, only it acts to press down,
instead of lifting up. Every object travelling through air creates either a lifting
or downforce situation. Race cars, of course use things like inverted wings to
force the car down onto the track, increasing traction. The average street car
however tends to create lift. This is because the car body shape itself
generates a low pressure area above itself.

How does a car generate this low pressure area? According to Bernoulli, the
man who defined the basic rules of fluid dynamics, for a given volume of air,
the higher the speed the air molecules are travelling, the lower the pressure
becomes. Likewise, for a given volume of air, the lower the speed of the air
molecules, the higher the pressure becomes. This of course only applies to air
in motion across a still body, or to a vehicle in motion, moving through still air.

When we discussed Frontal Pressure, above, we said that the air pressure
was high as the air rammed into the front grill of the car. What is really
happening is that the air slows down as it approaches the front of the car, and
as a result more molecules are packed into a smaller space. Once the
air Stagnates at the point in front of the car, it seeks a lower pressure area,
such as the sides, top and bottom of the car.

Now, as the air flows over the hood of the car, it's loses pressure, but when it
reaches the windscreen, it again comes up against a barrier, and briefly
reaches a higher pressure. The lower pressure area above the hood of the car
creates a small lifting force that acts upon the area of the hood (Sort of like
trying to suck the hood off the car). The higher pressure area in front of the
windscreen creates a small (or not so small) downforce. This is akin to
pressing down on the windshield.

Where most road cars get into trouble is the fact that there is a large surface
area on top of the car's roof. As the higher pressure air in front of the wind
screen travels over the windscreen, it accellerates, causing the pressure to
drop. This lower pressure literally lifts on the car's roof as the air passes over
it. Worse still, once the air makes it's way to the rear window, the notch
created by the window dropping down to the trunk leaves a vacuum, or low
pressure space that the air is not able to fill properly. The flow is said
to detach and the resulting lower pressure creates lift that then acts upon the
surface area of the trunk. This can be seen in old 1950's racing sedans,

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where the driver would feel the car becoming "light" in the rear when travelling
at high speeds. See the diagram below.

Not to be forgotten, the underside of the car is also responsible for creating lift
or downforce. If a car's front end is lower than the rear end, then the widening
gap between the underside and the road creates a vacuum, or low pressure
area, and therefore "suction" that equates to downforce. The lower front of the
car effectively restricts the air flow under the car. See the diagram below.

So, as you can see, the airflow over a car is filled with high and low pressure
areas, the sum of which indicate that the car body either naturally creates lift
or downforce.

Drag Coefficient

The shape of a car, as the aerodynamic theory above suggests, is largely

responsible for how much drag the car has. Ideally, the car body should:

 Have a small grill, to minimize frontal pressure.

 Have minimal ground clearance below the grill, to minimize air flow
under the car.
 Have a steeply raked windshield to avoid pressure build up in front.
 Have a "Fastback" style rear window and deck, to permit the air flow to
stay attached.
 Have a converging "Tail" to keep the air flow attached.

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 Have a slightly raked underside, to create low pressure under the car, in
concert with the fact that the minimal ground clearance mentioned
above allows even less air flow under the car.

If it sounds like we've just described a sports car, you're right. In truth
though, to be ideal, a car body would be shaped like a tear drop, as
even the best sports cars experience some flow detachment. However,
tear drop shapes are not condusive to the area where a car operates,
and that is close to the ground. Airplanes don't have this limitation, and
therefore teardrop shapes work.

What all these "ideal" attributes stack up to is called the Drag

coefficient (Cd). The best road cars today manage a Cd of about 0.28.
Formula 1 cars, with their wings and open wheels (a massive drag
component) manage a minimum of about 0.75.

If we consider that a flat plate has a Cd of about 1.0, an F1 car really

seems inefficient, but what an F1 car lacks in aerodynamic drag
efficiency, it makes up for in downforce and horsepower.

Frontal Area

Drag coefficient, by itself is only useful in determining how "Slippery" a vehicle

is. To understand the full picture, we need to take into account the frontal area
of the vehicle. One of those new aerodynamic semi-trailer trucks may have a
relatively low Cd, but when looked at directly from the front of the truck, you
realize just how big the Frontal Area really is.

It is by combining the Cd with the Frontal area that we arrive at the actual
drag induced by the vehicle.

Aerodynamic Devices
Scoops

Scoops, or positive pressure intakes, are useful when high volume air flow is
desireable and almost every type of race car makes use of these devices.
They work on the principle that the air flow compresses inside an "air box",
when subjected to a constant flow of air. The air box has an opening that
permits an adequate volume of air to enter, and the expanding air box itself
slows the air flow to increase the pressure inside the box. See the diagram
below:

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NACA Ducts

NACA ducts are useful when air needs to be drawn into an area which isn't
exposed to the direct air flow the scoop has access to. Quite often you will see
NACA ducts along the sides of a car. The NACA duct takes advantage of
the Boundary layer, a layer of slow moving air that "clings" to the bodywork
of the car, especially where the bodywork flattens, or does not accellerate or
decellerate the air flow. Areas like the roof and side body panels are good
examples. The longer the roof or body panels, the thicker the layer becomes
(a source of drag that grows as the layer thickens too).

Anyway, the NACA duct scavenges this slower moving area by means of a
specially shaped intake. The intake shape, shown below, drops in toward the
inside of the bodywork, and this draws the slow moving air into the opening at
the end of the NACA duct. Vorticies are also generated by the "walls" of the
duct shape, aiding in the scavenging. The shape and depth change of the
duct are critical for proper operation.

Typical uses for NACA ducts include engine air intakes and cooling.

Spoilers

Spoilers are used primarily on sedan-type race cars. They act like barriers to
air flow, in order to build up higher air pressure in front of the spoiler. This is
useful, because as mentioned previously, a sedan car tends to become
"Light" in the rear end as the low pressure area above the trunk lifts the rear
end of the car. See the diagram below:

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Front air dams are also a form of spoiler, only their purpose is to restrict the
air flow from going under the car.

Wings

Probably the most popular form of aerodynamic aid is the wing. Wings
perform very efficiently, generating lots of downforce for a small penalty in
drag. Spoiler are not nearly as efficient, but because of their practicality and
simplicity, spoilers are used a lot on sedans.

The wing works by differentiating pressure on the top and bottom surface of
the wing. As mentioned previously, the higher the speed of a given volume of
air, the lower the pressure of that air, and vice-versa. What a wing does is
make the air passing under it travel a larger distance than the air passing over
it (in race car applications). Because air molecules approaching the leading
edge of the wing are forced to separate, some going over the top of the wing,
and some going under the bottom, they are forced to travel differing distances
in order to "Meet up" again at the trailing edge of the wing. This is part of
Bernoulli's theory.

What happens is that the lower pressure area under the wing allows the
higher pressure area above the wing to "push" down on the wing, and hence
the car it's mounted to. See the diagram below:

Wings, by their design require that there be no obstruction between the

bottom of the wing and the road surface, for them to be most effective. So
mounting a wing above a trunk lid limits the effectiveness.

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Aerodynamic Design Tips

 Cover Open wheels. Open wheels create a great deal of drag
and air flow turbulence, similar to the diagram of the mirror above.
Full covering bodywork is probably the best solution, if legal by
regulations, but if partial bodywork is permitted, placing a
converging fairing behind the wheel provides maximum benefit.
 Minimize Frontal Area. It's no coincidence that Formula 1 cars
are very narrow. It is usually much easier to reduce FA (frontal
area) than the Cd (Drag coefficient), and top speed and
accelleration will be that much better.
 Converge Bodywork Slowly. Bodywork which quickly converges
or is simply truncated, forces the air flow into turbulence, and
generates a great deal of drag. As mentioned above, it also can
affect aerodynamic devices and bodywork further behind on the
car body.
 Use Spoilers. Spoilers are widely used on sedan type cars such
as NASCAR stock cars. These aerodynamic aids produce
downforce by creating a "dam" at the rear lip of the trunk. This
dam works in a similar fashion to the windshield, only it creates
higher pressure in the area above the trunk.
 Use Wings. Wings are the inverted version of what you find on
aircraft. They work very efficiently, and in less aggressive forms
generate more downforce than drag, so they are loved in many
racing circles. Wings are not generally seen in concert with
spoilers, as they both occupy similar locations, and defeat each
other's purpose.
 Use Front Air Dams. Air dams at the front of the car restrict the
flow of air reaching the underside of the car. This creates a lower
pressure area under the car, effectively providing downforce.
 Use Aerodynamics to Assist Car Operation.Using car
bodywork to direct airflow into sidepods, for instance, permits
more efficient (ie. smaller FA) sidepods. Quite often, with some
for-thought, you can gain an advantage over a competitor by
these small dual purpose techniques.

Another useful technique is to use the natural high and low

pressure areas created by the bodywork to perform functions. For
instance, Mercedes, back in the 1950s placed radiator outlets in
the low pressure zone behind the driver. The air inlet pressure

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which fed the radiator became less critical, as the low pressure
outlet area literally sucked air through the radiator.

A useful high pressure area is in front of the car, and to make full
use of this area, the nose of the car is often slanted downward.
This allows the higher air pressure to push down on the nose of
the car, increasing grip. It also has the advantage of permitting
greater driver visibility.

 Keep Protrusions Away From The Bodywork.The smooth

airflow achieved by proper bodywork design can be messed up
quite easily if a protrusion such as a mirror is too close to it. Many
people will design very aerodynamic mounts for the mirror, but will
fail to place the mirror itself far enough from the bodywork.
 Rake the chassis. The chassis, as mentioned in the
aerodynamics theory section above, is capable of being slightly
lower to the ground in the front than in the rear. The lower "Nose"
of the car reduces the volume of air able to pass under the car,
and the higher "Tail" of the car creates a vacuum effect which
lowers the air pressure.
 Cover Exposed Wishbones. Exposed wishbones (on open
wheel cars) are usually made from circular steel tube, to save
cost. However, these circular tubes generate turbulence. It would
be much better to use oval tubing, or a tube fairing that creates an
oval shape over top of the round tubing. See diagram below:

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