Essentially inverted aircraft wings, front and rear wings are utilized in motor racing to properly balance the car at high speeds. They also supplement the downforce generated by Venturi tunnels underneath the car to enhance tire traction. Additionally, the wings generate drag and pitching moment. Accurate determination of these aerodynamic quantities is critical in Indy car design.

Wing Geometry with Endplates

Local detail of the surface mesh

Traditionally, aerodynamic forces were measured in wind tunnels using scale models. Testing of this type can become expensive and time consuming since one-of-a-kind prototypes must be manufactured. Today, wind tunnel testing is supplemented by CFD. Widely used in the past in the aerospace industry, CFD has more recently been recognized in motor sports as a valuable tool. CFD, the "virtual wind tunnel", allows engineers at Team Rahal to simulate the aerodynamic forces on wings and complete car bodies using computer workstations. This allows the engineers to compare different designs without the expense of wind tunnel testing. Team Rahal has chosen FLUENT as their CFD analysis software. With its unstructured mesh capability and adaptive mesh refinement, Fluent 5.0 allows for highly accurate solutions for problems with complex geometry.

Pressure contours on the symmetry plane

Streamlines over the wing