Introduction: Scope, historical developments, fundamental of fluid mechanics, flow
phenomenon related to vehicles, external and Internal flow problem, resistance to vehicle
motion, performance, fuel consumption and performance potential of vehicle
aerodynamics, engine cooling requirement, air flow to passenger compartment, duct for air
conditioning, cooling of transverse engine and rear engine.
Aerodynamic Drag of Cars: Cars as a bluff body, flow field around car, drag force, types of
drag force, analysis of aerodynamic drag, drag coefficient of cars, strategies for aerodynamic
development, low drag profiles.
Shape Optimization Of Cars: Front end modification, front and rear wind shield angle, boat
tailing, hatch back, fast back and square back, dust flow patterns at the rear, effects of gap
configuration, effect of fasteners.
Vehicle Handling: The origin of forces and moments on a vehicle, lateral stability problems,
methods to calculate forces and moments – vehicle dynamics under side winds, the effects of
forces and moments, characteristics of forces and moments, dirt accumulation on the vehicle,
wind noise, drag reduction in commercial vehicles.
Wind Tunnels For Automotive Aerodynamics: Introduction, principle of wind tunnel
technology, limitation of simulation, stress with scale models, full scale wind tunnels,
measurement techniques, equipment and transducers, road testing methods, numerical
methods.