investigation into the aerodynamic performance of a concept sports car

Transport aerodynamic optimisation has become an increasingly important field of study in response to emerging factors, such as new human needs and market demands. this paper provides a concept in-house built sports-car aerodynamic and shape optimisation. wind tunnel tests and numerical simulations have been set-up and conducted to understand the concept vehicle aerodynamic structure and needs for performance improvement. a computer-aided design model has been developed and implemented into the computational fluid dynamics (cfd) software of starccm+ for detailed analysis. a 1/4th full-scale fibreglass model has been manufactured for validation. the combined experimental and cfd analyses show that the original aesthetic design exhibits high rear-end lift-force. modifications have been assessed to improve the drag and lift forces for the front, middle and rear regions. several geometrical changes are introduced, including new rear-wing design. also, the front end, roof profile and various ducting modifications have been considered. the introduced design changes lead to optimised downforce of -560.18 n with negligible increase to the accumulated drag effects with cd ≤ 0.3.