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One purpose of this study is to figure out the optimal yaw angle that will generate the most speed while our vehicle is cornering. The second purpose is to research and decide on an optimal aero-body of the car to achieve our goal of increasing speed.
An experiment conducted on a vehicle aerobody was done in a wind tunnel testing out different pitch angles. The yaw and pitch angles being defined as the direction of the wind relative to the direction that the front of the car was pointing. The way that they tested it was by keeping a consistent yaw angle of 60 degrees when testing out pitch. The took a pressure reading for each aerobody model (10, 20, 30 degree pitch respectively) and were able to come up with a Reynolds number for each model. A Reynold’s number being defined as:
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They then plotted the Reynolds number against the coefficient of drag for each model. Shown here:
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This shows that a 30 degree pitch angle produces the least amount of coefficient of drag. Therefore a 30 degree angle would be optimal.
A similar experiment was done to get an optimal yaw angle. This time the pitch was kept consistent and the yaw angles of 50, 60 and 70 degree models were experimented on. Using the same definition of Reynold’s number a similar graph was produced:
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This shows that a 50 degree yaw angle may be optimal when attempting to reduce drag.
Sources:
Basic overview - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GEQwWGUEBI