AirShaper

For information on tidal turbine hydrodynamics check this link: https://youtu.be/c3VaPgTJh88


Let’s focus on these flat roof systems. 
Penetrating the waterproof coverage for anchoring purposes isn’t always an option, many operators just put ballast of weight on the mounting system to keep things down. That avoids a possible leakage problem but adds a new one: extra weight. 

A decade ago, when no norms were available yet to determine the right amount of ballast to keep the panels down, some applied more safety than others. And with the financial crisis in full force back then, there was yet another incentive to get the total weight below the capacity limit of the roof to get projects approved and profitable. So sadly, some panels flew away.

Nowadays though, through extensive wind tunnel testing & simulations, norms have been formed and it’s clear & simple: follow the norm. Still, those norms allow for optimization, as they often take the aerodynamic behavior of the system into account. So prior to final wind tunnel testing & certification of a system, it makes a lot of sense to integrate aerodynamic simulations into the R&D phase to optimize the mounting systems.

To illustrate this, we’ve analyzed a single free-standing panel in an airflow of 40 m/s, a pretty decent storm. Under headwind, the vertical lift on the panel is around 240 kg, so the weight of the panel itself, around 20kg, is not nearly enough to keep it down.

This happens because the panel behaves like a wing with ground effect: the air hits the bottom of the panel, creating a high pressure pushing it upwards. At the top, the air separates as it jumps over the panel, creating a large suction effect again pulling the panel upwards. Even when the wind hits the panel under a large angle, the lift force can still be as high as 100kg.

If we look at the same panel receiving headwind, but now surrounded by neighbors in an array, the vertical lift force increases even further. Why? The free-standing panel had an escape route for the air on both sides. But when flanked by two neighboring panels, the only way for the air is up, increasing the pressure build up. The panels on the second, third and fourth-row feature much lower lift values, and sometimes even downforce. That is why very often the ballast for the outer panels of the array is much higher than the ballast for the inner ones.

Now if we rotate the entire array by 45°, we see some other interesting effects. As expected, the panel at the corner feels the highest vertical pull, but it’s lower than the headwind case. As we move away from the corner, the lift on the front row panels decreases significantly. Nevertheless, values are still very high and too much ballast would be needed to keep them down. So to reduce wind loading, plates are usually installed to prevent the air from entering underneath the panel, which reduces the high pressure build up at the bottom side.

We’ve added such a plate to the isolated panel. The air now hits this backplate, pushing the plate itself downwards as the air jumps up. The lift on the total system has been reduced drastically for all angles and even features downforce at some angles. The solar panel itself, however, can still feel the suction effect in the wake of the plate.

To counter that, there are some innovative systems that feature an intended opening at the top of the backplate. The suction effect, which is the largest just at the top of the backplate, will now draw air from underneath the panel. This helps to both reduce the pressure below the panel and to reduce the suction effect at the top. The effect on the vertical forces is quite clear!

Studying the behavior of a system in clean airflow is just the beginning though. In real life, complex wind flow patterns around the building itself, influenced by the surrounding terrain and featuring wind guests, add multiple layers of complexity to the problem. So complementing simulations with wind tunnel testing and adding the right safety factors is key to keep your panels from flying.

Wind tunnel image courtesy of Peutz

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The AirShaper videos cover the basics of aerodynamics (aerodynamic drag, drag & lift coefficients, boundary layer theory, flow separation, reynolds number...), simulation aspects (computational fluid dynamics, CFD meshing, ...) and aerodynamic testing (wind tunnel testing, flow visualization, ...).

We then use those basics to explain the aerodynamics of (race) cars (aerodynamic efficiency of electric vehicles, aerodynamic drag, downforce, aero maps, formula one aerodynamics, ...), drones and airplanes (propellers, airfoils, electric aviation, eVTOLS, ...), motorcycles (wind buffeting, motogp aerodynamics, ...) and more!

For more information, visit www.airshaper.com

Renewable Energy - Solar Panels Can... Fly?

For more Porsche videos:
- Porsche Taycan - part 1: https://youtu.be/K2jgsgihZ_w
- Porsche Taycan - part 2: https://youtu.be/kyHjWGnrByQ
- Porsche Taycan - adjoint shape optimization: https://youtu.be/cZAhPQFINZ8
- Porsche Taycan - rear wing optimization: https://youtu.be/-fBXwx_n10I

For more information on race car aerodynamics:
- Aero maps: https://youtu.be/u-GyTRblNmc
- Race car aerodynamics: https://youtu.be/GApwSjKYUpQ

In this video, we’ll be playing with the aerodynamics of the Porsche GT4 race car.

Some people are satisfied with buying a standard Porsche GT4 to go racing. And to be honest, I’d be quite ok with that as well, if I had the budget. But others get creative and start modifying their car to gain that extra bit of performance.

Volker Wawer is one of those people: he wanted to fit wider tires on his GT4 and that meant he needed to shield those tires using wider fenders. But these impact the airflow around the car, possibly blocking the air going into the side air intakes further downstream. As reduced pressure & airflow rate at the inlets translates into a loss of power, Volker wanted to check this using aerodynamic simulations.

There was one problem though: getting a 3D model from Porsche is not so trivial. As an alternative, there are near-exact 3D models made by skilled 3D drafters, which are available for purchase online. As these models are built for visualization purposes, they’re usually built using surfaces and feature quite a lot of gaps & holes. This causes aerodynamic software packages to crash, so we put a lot of effort into it at AirShaper to make our algorithms able to work directly with these so-called open surface models.

So we purchased a Porsche GT4 model and had the wider fenders modeled onto it. We launched 2 Detailed Simulations: the normal GT4 and the one with modified fenders, to clearly see the difference. And we found some interesting results.

To understand how the air flows around the side of the car, we released particles just upstream of the car’s front left fender and traced their path. This showed us that the air that eventually ends up at the side air intakes, doesn’t just come from air going around the side of the car. Part of the breathing air for the engine first rises on top of the front hood of the car, to then tumble down to the side flank of the car after the front wheel arch.

Interestingly, the new front fenders are able to sustain this high airflow on the front hood over a longer distance, reducing the amount of air that passes via the sides, where it loses momentum and gains turbulence at it passes over the front wheels. We measured the pressure at the air intakes for both cars and actually found a higher pressure for the car with the modified fenders.

It doesn’t happen too often, but in this case, Volker got both the wider fenders and a power boost for the engine. In racing, it’s impossible to fully isolate driver & car performance, but both must have been pretty good as he won his next race at the Nürbürgring.
That was it for this video on Porsche GT4 aerodynamics, thanks for watching and see you soon!

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The AirShaper videos cover the basics of aerodynamics (aerodynamic drag, drag & lift coefficients, boundary layer theory, flow separation, reynolds number...), simulation aspects (computational fluid dynamics, CFD meshing, ...) and aerodynamic testing (wind tunnel testing, flow visualization, ...).

We then use those basics to explain the aerodynamics of (race) cars (aerodynamic efficiency of electric vehicles, aerodynamic drag, downforce, aero maps, formula one aerodynamics, ...), drones and airplanes (propellers, airfoils, electric aviation, eVTOLS, ...), motorcycles (wind buffeting, motogp aerodynamics, ...) and more!

For more information, visit www.airshaper.com

Race Car Aerodynamics #2 - Improving the Porsche GT4

In this video, we’ll show you how aerodynamics can impact the performance, safety & environmental impact of your design!

Let’s start with aviation.
The most obvious field in aerodynamics.
Now the pinnacle of airplane performance is the Red Bull Air Race. Apart from big engines and big balls, aerodynamics determine who wins and who loses. Australian team Matt Hall Racing used AirShaper to optimize the airflow around key components of their plane. They won several races that season and nearly took the overall win!

Drones are another hot aviation topic 
Getting the aerodynamics right is crucial to fly as long and as far as possible on a single battery charge. For their latest model, the eBee X, senseFly ran several AirShaper simulations to optimize the vortex, or the corkscrew motion, of the air at the tip of the wings. By tweaking the vertical winglets together, we increased the aerodynamic efficiency by 30%! 

Aerodynamics also play a key role in performance sports, like cycling or skiing. We used a 3D scan of a speed skier to improve the aerodynamics of his stance & equipment. We helped him take his personal record from 198 km/h to a whopping 214km/h! At those speeds, aerodynamic forces dominate anything else!

But what about safety? 
Let’s have a look at the Sunfold, a free-standing container equipped with solar panels at the top to capture and store energy! Tiger Power uploaded a 3D model of their entire system into AirShaper and analyzed the forces and the moments caused by the wind to see if would tip over. 

Luckily, it didn’t!

The next step is to put all that renewable energy to good use, like efficient road transport. We benchmarked the Tesla Semi versus an optimistic generic truck and found a reduction in aerodynamic drag of around 20%! That’s over 5.000$ of fuel savings each year for a conventional truck, not to mention the reduction in emissions!

So whether you’re cycling at 30 km/h, transporting cargo at a 100 km/h or racing at 300 km/h, aerodynamics matter big time.

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The AirShaper videos cover the basics of aerodynamics (aerodynamic drag, drag & lift coefficients, boundary layer theory, flow separation, reynolds number...), simulation aspects (computational fluid dynamics, CFD meshing, ...) and aerodynamic testing (wind tunnel testing, flow visualization, ...).

We then use those basics to explain the aerodynamics of (race) cars (aerodynamic efficiency of electric vehicles, aerodynamic drag, downforce, aero maps, formula one aerodynamics, ...), drones and airplanes (propellers, airfoils, electric aviation, eVTOLS, ...), motorcycles (wind buffeting, motogp aerodynamics, ...) and more!

For more information, visit www.airshaper.com

Why aerodynamics matter! - Performance, Safety, Environment

In this video, we will analyze the aerodynamic features of the Tesla Semi truck.

Emissions
First, some context. Lately, heavy-duty transport has been facing increasing pressure: in Europe, trucks, buses, and coaches together produce around a quarter of all road transport CO2 emissions.

On the power consumption side, efforts are made to reduce aerodynamic drag, as it is responsible for more than half of the power required to drive a truck at highway speeds.
Truck aerodynamics

But improving truck aerodynamics is not easy: typically, trucks and trailers are bulky objects that have been stretched to make use of every cubic centimeter that is allowed by road regulations, such as maximum length, height & width. It’s not hard to see that trucks are not exactly super streamlined, but exactly how bad is it?

Aerodynamic efficiency is expressed via the drag coefficient Cd. If you want to learn more about the drag coefficient, just watch our separate movie on this. In short, lower is better with the Tesla model 3 at 0.23 and a conventional truck between 0.5 to 1. So when Tesla claimed 0.36 for their Tesla Semi truck, we jumped up and wanted to know more.

3D model
We called Elon Musk and asked him to send us a 3D model of the truck within 2 weeks. But he’s not too good with deadlines and we didn’t want to wait, so we asked our partner engineering agency Voxdale to build a 3D model for us instead.

Results
And believe it or not, we got a drag coefficient of 0.35 for the Tesla Semi truck! You can argue that we didn’t use the exact geometry for example, but even compared to our optimistic conventional truck it featured a 20% drop in aerodynamic resistance! That’s over 10% reduction in fuel consumption or 5000 liters of fuel per year!

Let’s start at the front: the vertical frontal face of the boxy conventional truck causes a huge pressure build-up on this entire surface, as the air needs to take a 90° turn to get around the cabin, either over the top or around the sides.
To provide smoother escape routes for the air, the Tesla Semi’s cabin features a strong backward inclination angle and large smooth corners around the sides of the cabin. This allows for a much more gradual evacuation of incoming air and thus a lower pressure buildup.

On road cars, the mirrors make up 2 to 5 % of total drag. On trucks, they are much bigger and Tesla decided to simply replace them with tiny camera’s mounted on aerodynamic wing-shaped beams! It’s quite easy to spot this difference by looking at the wake caused by both mirror setups!

If the roof spoiler is too wide or too high, this can leave a large wake and create unnecessary drag, as we can see at the top of our conventional truck. If it’s too low or narrow, the air will hit the square front of the trailer, causing local pressure to build up and separation downstream. Tesla made sure the Semi cabin fits nicely with its trailer: they were able to do so by extending the side spoilers all the way to the trailer and by leaving just enough space in top view for the trailer to rotate.

The wheels. Covering the front wheels is quite difficult, as they need room to turn in corners, but the rear wheels of the Tesla Semi have been shielded to create a smoother airflow.
Should they stop there? Of course not! The trailer itself can be optimized a lot as well, with side skirts and flaps at the rear for example. There’s plenty of after-market equipment already out there. 

You can argue that in the end, it’s the CO2 emission per unit of cargo that matters and that the Semi’s longer cabin reduces the available cargo space in its wake. But then again, this depends on local regulations and it’s not a coincidence that the European Union is increasing the allowable length.
 
They have already triggered others to come up with innovative concepts, like the Ford F-Vision, for example.

Credits: 
Tesla: https://www.tesla.com/
Mercedes: https://www.mercedes-benz.com/en/
Ford: https://www.ford.com/

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The AirShaper videos cover the basics of aerodynamics (aerodynamic drag, drag & lift coefficients, boundary layer theory, flow separation, reynolds number...), simulation aspects (computational fluid dynamics, CFD meshing, ...) and aerodynamic testing (wind tunnel testing, flow visualization, ...).

We then use those basics to explain the aerodynamics of (race) cars (aerodynamic efficiency of electric vehicles, aerodynamic drag, downforce, aero maps, formula one aerodynamics, ...), drones and airplanes (propellers, airfoils, electric aviation, eVTOLS, ...), motorcycles (wind buffeting, motogp aerodynamics, ...) and more!

For more information, visit www.airshaper.com

Truck aerodynamics - Tesla Semi Explained

For part 1, check this link: https://youtu.be/RLHMN7B0ax8
For part 2, check this link: https://youtu.be/2W5Q2mllmxI

In this video, we’ll be discussing glider plane design.

This time we interviewed the people at Friendship Systems, our partner company specialized in variable geometries for flow analyses. 

They have developed an interactive 3D web app to design a glider plane. It includes a first theoretical indication on the aerodynamics after which the 3D model can be sent directly to AirShaper for a full-blown 3D flow analysis.

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The AirShaper videos cover the basics of aerodynamics (aerodynamic drag, drag & lift coefficients, boundary layer theory, flow separation, reynolds number...), simulation aspects (computational fluid dynamics, CFD meshing, ...) and aerodynamic testing (wind tunnel testing, flow visualization, ...).

We then use those basics to explain the aerodynamics of (race) cars (aerodynamic efficiency of electric vehicles, aerodynamic drag, downforce, aero maps, formula one aerodynamics, ...), drones and airplanes (propellers, airfoils, electric aviation, eVTOLS, ...), motorcycles (wind buffeting, motogp aerodynamics, ...) and more!

For more information, visit www.airshaper.com

Airplane design #3 - Glider plane design

For part 1, check this link: https://youtu.be/RLHMN7B0ax8
For part 3, check this link: https://youtu.be/0jOAAZOvSuM

In this video, we’ll be discussing the basics of flight dynamics.

1. Introduction
To fly an airplane in a straight leveled line involves a horizontal balance between aerodynamic drag & thrust force and a vertical balance between aerodynamic lift and gravity. To make an airplane take off, follow curved trajectories and land, involves a whole lot more and is the domain of flight dynamics.

2. Roll, Pitch, and Yaw
The main parameters used to describe this three-dimensional orientation are the roll, pitch and yaw axes of the plane, all running through the center of gravity.

- The roll axis, also called the longitudinal axis, runs from nose to 
  tail.
- The pitch axis, also called the transverse axis, runs from left to 
  right.
- The yaw axis, also called the vertical axis, runs from top to 
  bottom.
 

Also important is the plane’s orientation with respect to the relative wind vector, which is the combination of the velocity vector of the plane and the wind vector. Around the pitch axis, this is called the angle of attack. Around the yaw axis, this is called the sideslip angle. 

3. Leveled flight
During a leveled flight, the roll, pitch & yaw orientation stay constant. To achieve this static balance, the moments around all three axes must be zero, otherwise, the plane would start to change its orientation. 
For example, if the center of lift of the main wings is not aligned with the center of gravity, this can generate a pitch moment causing the plane to tilt its nose upward or downward. To neutralize this pitch-moment, lift or downforce can be generated at the tail. Keep in mind that the location of the center of gravity can change between flights and even during flights due to changes in cargo and fuel for example.

4. Dynamic flight
During dynamic flight maneuvers, the airplane changes its orientation.

To climb or descend, for example, the elevators at the tail can be lowered or raised. This will cause the angle of attack to change which will affect the lift and drag that are generated on the main wings for example. Mapping & understanding the correlation between angle of attack and lift is crucial to understanding & optimizing flight dynamics.
   
To achieve this, you can perform a wind tunnel test during which you monitor lift & drag values while gradually increasing the angle of attack from the lowest to the highest value of interest. Such a sweep procedure can also be performed digitally by changing the angle of attack over a series of aerodynamic simulations.

5. Horizontal sweep
The results are curves that plot the lift and drag values versus the angle of attack. This is quite similar to the 2D airfoil curves we saw in earlier videos, only now it’s the lift & drag of the full plane, taking aerodynamic effects like flow around the fuselage and wingtip vortices into account. 

Here as well, very steep curves could indicate that the plane is very dynamic but more difficult to fly. Such crucial information can then be used as input for the flight control strategy. 

6. Vertical sweep
A similar approach can be applied to a yaw maneuver, where the rudder at the tail is used to turn the plane left or right. Sweeping the sideslip angle beta again results in changes in the forces on the plane. In this case, however, the lateral force is of particular interest, as a sideslip angle will generate a sideways push on the plane.  

7.
This is only the tip of the iceberg in terms of flight dynamics: much of the airplane maneuvers involve a combination of pitch, roll, and yaw. Side winds can have a tremendous impact as well. And the speed of rolling, pitching and yawing also generates additional dynamic forces and moments that play a big role.

That was it for this short introduction on flight dynamics. Thanks for liking, sharing and leaving your comments below the video, thanks for watching and see you soon! Bye-bye.

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The AirShaper videos cover the basics of aerodynamics (aerodynamic drag, drag & lift coefficients, boundary layer theory, flow separation, reynolds number...), simulation aspects (computational fluid dynamics, CFD meshing, ...) and aerodynamic testing (wind tunnel testing, flow visualization, ...).

We then use those basics to explain the aerodynamics of (race) cars (aerodynamic efficiency of electric vehicles, aerodynamic drag, downforce, aero maps, formula one aerodynamics, ...), drones and airplanes (propellers, airfoils, electric aviation, eVTOLS, ...), motorcycles (wind buffeting, motogp aerodynamics, ...) and more!

For more information, visit www.airshaper.com

Airplane design #2 - Flight Dynamics

For part 2, check this link: https://youtu.be/2W5Q2mllmxI
For part 3, check this link: https://youtu.be/0jOAAZOvSuM

In this video on Airplane design, someone else will do the talking. 

Some time ago I met Yong Wook Sin who works at the Peugeot design center. 

As it turns out, even during his free time, he likes to create cool stuff, like a futuristic electric airplane. 

For the full interview, check out this link: https://youtu.be/h1j7D_f0JbU

He spoke about using CAD programs to make 3D designs for his ultralight solar plane and using aerodynamics to calculate the possibility of keeping the airplane in the air indefinitely.  

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The AirShaper videos cover the basics of aerodynamics (aerodynamic drag, drag & lift coefficients, boundary layer theory, flow separation, reynolds number...), simulation aspects (computational fluid dynamics, CFD meshing, ...) and aerodynamic testing (wind tunnel testing, flow visualization, ...).

We then use those basics to explain the aerodynamics of (race) cars (aerodynamic efficiency of electric vehicles, aerodynamic drag, downforce, aero maps, formula one aerodynamics, ...), drones and airplanes (propellers, airfoils, electric aviation, eVTOLS, ...), motorcycles (wind buffeting, motogp aerodynamics, ...) and more!

For more information, visit www.airshaper.com

Airplane design #1 - A Peugeot Designer's Vision

For part one, check this video: https://youtu.be/DqlDpUFcScc

In this video, we will explain how we teamed up with Bioracer to develop the next step in individual performance clothing for athletes.
 
Golf ball dimples:
First, let’s talk about why golf balls have dimples. Euh wait, wasn’t this about athletes? Patience, we’ll get to that in a minute!

Golf balls without dimples feature a laminar flow. As the air moves over the surface, a boundary layer of slower moving air grows thicker as it sticks to this surface. As soon as the flow goes beyond the halfway point and needs to contract, it becomes more & more difficult for the flow to stay attached to the surface and eventually separates. This creates a large wake behind the golf ball, which increases drag and slows it down.

When you apply dimples to the surface, or another way of increasing the roughness, the boundary layer becomes turbulent. It will mix with the surrounding air and retain more kinetic energy. This energy allows the airflow to stay attached further down the back of the golf ball, reducing the wake created in its path. These dimples may increase the friction drag a little but reduce the pressure drag so much that the golf flies roughly twice as far!
 
So does this mean we should cover every surface with dimples to make it more aerodynamic? Hm, not quite. Increasing surface roughness to create a turbulent boundary layer only makes sense in locations upstream of a location with separation. Otherwise, you’re only increasing the friction drag!

Cyclist flow
That being said, it’s time to move on to athletes. The flow around a cyclist, for example, is a complex combination of laminar & turbulent flows, that are attached in some regions and separated in others. So the location of where increase the surface roughness is critical.
 
Bioracer, a Belgian company that is well known for its high-tech sports clothing,  already offers clothing that features a smooth surface in some areas and a rough one in others. Like increased roughness at the upper arms for example, which are comparable to cylinders in shape and where it pays off to have the flow stay attached further down the back to reduce drag. 

Individual
This is not where it ends though: every athlete is different in terms of body shape and position on the bike. This means that the locations where the flow separates are different as well! To offer a highly individual approach to drag reduction, Bioracer and AirShaper went to the Bike Valley wind tunnel to experiment with roughness increasing materials in different locations.
The test specimen of the day was Ismaël Ben-Al-Lal, triathlete, and winner of the Taiwan Iron Man in his age group in 2018 and now prepping for the one in Hawaïi. After computing Ismaël’s aerodynamics using a 3D scanned model we uploaded to the AirShaper platform, we analyzed the results together with Bioracer. We sat down to define suitable locations for increased surface roughness.

For example, we didn’t make the entire surface of the upper arms rough, as is done on existing professional jerseys. Instead, we applied rough patches tailored to specific locations on Ismaëls arms & legs and the flow around them.

Over a series of wind tunnel tests, we indeed measured drops in aerodynamic resistance and we discussed possible layouts for Ismaëls next personal outfit. This simulation-based aerodynamics approach is our path towards highly individual performance equipment.

So that was it for this episode of custom aerodynamics! I hope you liked the video and if you have any questions, just leave them in the comments or get in touch with us directly to discuss your own project.

Thanks for watching, see you soon, bye bye!

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The AirShaper videos cover the basics of aerodynamics (aerodynamic drag, drag & lift coefficients, boundary layer theory, flow separation, reynolds number...), simulation aspects (computational fluid dynamics, CFD meshing, ...) and aerodynamic testing (wind tunnel testing, flow visualization, ...).

We then use those basics to explain the aerodynamics of (race) cars (aerodynamic efficiency of electric vehicles, aerodynamic drag, downforce, aero maps, formula one aerodynamics, ...), drones and airplanes (propellers, airfoils, electric aviation, eVTOLS, ...), motorcycles (wind buffeting, motogp aerodynamics, ...) and more!

For more information, visit www.airshaper.com

Custom Aerodynamics - Bioracer meets AirShaper

Aerodynamic clothing plays an important role in reducing drag and increasing the performance of an athlete. We teamed up with Bioracer and used CFD and wind tunnel testing to develop aerodynamically efficient cycling gear

The importance of aerodynamic clothing

In this video, we’ll take a look at smart mobility and the role of aerodynamics.

1. Some context:
According to the United Nations, 60% of the world’s population will live in cities by 2030. With cities already congested and polluted today, this poses a massive challenge to urban mobility.

So we’ll need to rethink the way we transport ourselves and goods, around & within cities as a whole, something called “Smart mobility”. We found many different definitions on this, so here’s our attempt to summarize it:

Smart mobility aims to use new technologies like:
1. high-speed data connections, 
2. self-driving tech, new materials & propulsion methods to create 3. sustainable mobility. And very likely, this will be a 
4. combination of different transport modes, like taking the car to the city to continue locally on the electric step, for example.

2. Weevil
To improve flexible & efficient travel between and within cities, a consortium of industry experts from around Europe have created the Weevil project.

The weevil is a highly innovative three-wheeler with two wheels at the front and one at the back. There is even room for 2 people in tandem position.

This car solves the contradiction of needing a wide wheelbase for stability in corners and a small wheelbase to maneuver in tight traffic and parking spaces. They developed a suspension mechanism that allows the front wheels to move outwards at high speed and inwards at low speeds. 

3. Aerodynamics
So practicality is covered, but what about efficiency? Of course, it’s electric, but you want to get as far as possible on a single charge. Or, make the battery smaller & lighter for a given range. In any case, reducing the energy needed to move around is key: even at intermediate speeds of 80 km/h, aerodynamic drag easily makes up for more than half of the power the battery needs to deliver.

4. The benefits
Luckily, having 2 people sit in a row rather than next to each other, greatly reduces the frontal area of the Weevil.

Another benefit of this setup is the possibility to give the car an aerodynamic drop shape, which closes behind the passenger, to reduce the wake.
 
And the rear wheel of the car is tucked away nicely at the end of this drop shape to prevent it from creating highly turbulent air as the rear wheels do on a normal 4-wheeled car. 

5. The challenges
Also challenging for small cars is the fact that some components don’t scale down like mirrors and door handles. So it’s quite a challenge to keep their relative contributions to drag low. And with variable front wheel track width, the suspension is exposed to the external air. Therefore, the Weevil team paid a lot of attention to limit the drag penalty in wide track mode.
 
6. The design
Packaging all of this together in a good looking car is not an easy task. Luckily, with Masato Inoue, the former Chief Designer of Nissan who designed the Nissan Leaf, and Hexagon Studio, transportation design & engineering experts, the Weevil team managed to turn this concept into a stunning city car.
And there is yet another cool link between the Weevil project and aerodynamics: 25 years ago, Alberto Morelli studied new ways to reduce the aerodynamic drag of ground vehicles. And today, it’s his son, Massimo Morelli, who is handling all communications concerning the Weevil project.
 
So that was it for this video! I’If you liked it, please click the like button below and if you have any questions or comments, just post them below the video!

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The AirShaper videos cover the basics of aerodynamics (aerodynamic drag, drag & lift coefficients, boundary layer theory, flow separation, reynolds number...), simulation aspects (computational fluid dynamics, CFD meshing, ...) and aerodynamic testing (wind tunnel testing, flow visualization, ...).

We then use those basics to explain the aerodynamics of (race) cars (aerodynamic efficiency of electric vehicles, aerodynamic drag, downforce, aero maps, formula one aerodynamics, ...), drones and airplanes (propellers, airfoils, electric aviation, eVTOLS, ...), motorcycles (wind buffeting, motogp aerodynamics, ...) and more!

For more information, visit www.airshaper.com

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