CFD analysis of a funny car body

[flapjack]

Found this on SAE's website:

Design and CFD Analysis of an NHRA Funny Car Body

too bad it is $24 bucks for e-delivery. Nice to see the auto manufacturers step in and help with the design of the bodies. Wonder how much Ford and Chrysler put into the designs of the "Mustang" and "Charger" bodies.

 

[FC138fan]

"Budget constraints precluded CFD analysis until after the bodies were already being manufactured."

What is CFD analysis? What does CFD stand for?

If I'm understanding the abstract, they designed a Monte Carlo, went into production, then had to change it to an Impala, but they weren't able to do the analysis on the re-designed Impala because the money ran out?

 

[flapjack]

What is CFD analysis? What does CFD stand for?

Computational Fluid Dynamics. It is a way of simulating fluid flow (air is a fluid) numerically. Design the body in your favorite CAD program (well, one whose files will import into the CFD program) and run an analysis to see the airflow, without having to build a prototype and stick it in the wind tunnel.

 

[parrotwhisperer]

With advanced CFD programs like F1 teams have access to, an engineer can specify a "window" and CFD will optimize the design within the window. CFD runs zillions of calculations to optimize design. Just look at the front wing on an F1 car. CFD has the rules programmed in along with the design of the rest of the car and develops the wild design for the front wing. Ditto every component on the car.