b'Automotive | Engineer InnovationDriving with downforce, drag andtunnel, the nature and extent of danger. The dynamic between gripphysical testing is restricted by and drag dictates design preparationFormula One regulations. The use of for each race in the Formula Onecomputational fluid dynamics (CFD) calendar. A large rear wing createssoftware is critical and, for over 15 the downforce required for tightyears, the company has been using cornering at Monaco. For Monza,Simcenter STAR-CCM+ software. where too much downforce would slow the car on fast straights, aAs the use of strong, lightweight slender rear wing is needed. carbon fiber is critical to a racing cars aerodynamic performance, Renault Good grip enables the car to goSport Formula One Team also uses faster but downforce also producesthe Fibersim portfolio of software drag, which must be overcome byfor composites engineering from engine power, says Peter Machin,Siemens PLM Software. This is used Head of Aerodynamics at Renaultto manage the design, analysis and Sport Formula OneTM Team. Themanufacture of fiber-reinforced ultimate goal is to generate a verticalcomposite parts.force and push the tires into the ground while minimizing drag. Correlating data from different sourcesThe workflow of a Formula One carPaul Cusdin, Head of CFD for Renault design is a 365-day-a-year process.Sport Formula One Team, says, Our Throughout the season, surfaces arechallenge is to ensure that the continually being adjusted tocomputational domain correlates accommodate the track, the driverwith data captured from the wind and climate conditions. tunnel, so we can ensure that every design upgrade will actually match up Our car could be seen as anwith reality.aerospace prototype, says Luca Mazzocco, Head of TechnologicalThe focus is not only on speed; CFD Partnerships, Renault Sport Formulais used for thermal simulation One Team. We need to deploybecause an overheated car is a innovation race-by-race if we want topotential danger and must be called be a credible challenger, and that caninto the pits. On the other hand, be on a weekly basis and on 21there are clear restrictions on how different tracks around the globe. much cooling can be applied to the engine during a race. CFD is also 70% of a cars performance stemsused to simulate the action on the directly from its aerodynamictrack, particularly when another behavior. Incremental improvementsvehicle directly in front is creating are made on a day-to-day basis asturbulence that not only makes it stiffness, weight and costdifficult to overtake it but could lead effectiveness are balanced. Notto a critical loss of downforce in one surprisingly, aerodynamics is thepart of the car. largest department at Renault Sport Formula One Team; it commands theAnother major question for the CFD biggest budget and its supercomputerexperts at Renault Sport Formula One produces 60 terabytes (TB) of dataTeam is how to get the most from the each week. tires. It is not easy to model the geometry and wake behavior of tires Aerodynamics involves both physicalin a wind tunnel, especially in testing and simulation. Aside fromhighspeed corners when tire shape the inherent limitations of a windfluctuates. Another consideration is 63'