Welcome to the Inside Track with ARC. The Auto Research Center is a specialized research facility serving the motorsport, production, commercial, government and bicycle industries. The ARC global headquarters is located in Indianapolis, Indiana which hosts a 50% scale wind tunnel, 7-post, drivetrain test rig, bicycle test facility and CFD cluster center. ARC offers a wide range of solution packages to further speed and efficiency.
As the saying goes at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, speed is found inches from the wall, but as those who run there know, aerodynamics is the key to speed. The aerodynamics of a car close to a wall is drastically different from normal free stream running. The importance of wall simulation is not just limited to ovals, but anytime a car comes close to a wall, such as on turn in or exit of a street course. Understanding this phenomenon is crucial to creating useful lap simulations and for driving simulators. Currently the phenomenon is looked at exclusively through CFD, however, validation has proven difficult.
ARC is investing in the capability to physically measure these effects in the ARC wind tunnel. A physical wall will be able to dynamically move, yaw and curve, yes, curve, from the wind tunnel control room and ensure the boundary layer will be correct. This will allow our customers to improve their correlation to simulation and track results.
ARC will be the first commercially available facility in the world to offer this and is on track to be available for use later this year.
To learn more about ARC's offerings for the Motorsports Industry, visit the ARC website.
On January 27th, ARC Aerodynamic Bicycle Test Facility hosted Bike Fitter Appreciation Day at its Indianapolis headquarters. It proved to be a very busy day with many bike fitter companies and cycling enthusiasts stopping by to get a firsthand look at the facility. Bike fitters who attended got to experience the facility and received videos of their install to help grow their own business.
The ARC Aerodynamic Bike Testing Facility (ABT) located in Indianapolis, IN USA provides competitive cyclists, triathletes, manufacturers of gear, clothing and bikes the advantage of increasing their speed and efficiency with the most accurate commercial bicycle testing facility. The equipment allows a range of testing with or without the rider, with six component balance resolution as accurate as 0.25 Watts.
To learn more about ARC's offerings for the Cycling Industry, visit the ARC website.
Adjoint is the optimal solver to use for internal flow and shape optimization. Using sophisticated flexible modeling techniques, adjoint automatically shows the best direction to morph for aerodynamic targets. Adjoint solvers are becoming more common, but most are first order steady state accuracy and only a few second order.
Streamlines Solutions, the joint venture between ARC and ENGYS Ltd. have introduced the world's first Quasi-Transient Solver available for use. This accuracy increase by using a quasi-transient is immense and will further allow companies to quickly optimize their designs.
Adjoint is useful at any stage of the design cycle. During early styling designs it not only identifies areas that are very aerodynamically sensitive, but suggests areas where styling can be freely applied. Adjoint provides a detailed look at small scale movements that will provide the most benefit, once the overall body design has been locked down with only small millimeter changes allowed.
To learn more about ARC's offerings for the Production Vehicle Industry, visit the ARC website.
ARC is proud to have been selected to join CALSTART, a prestigious group of 150 companies dedicated to expanding and supporting a clean transportation industry. ARC is uniquely placed within this group and shares many common goals for a greener future and sustainability of our planet.
Many aerodynamic drag reductions have been found in the ARC wind tunnel and through ELEMENTS CFD simulation. These drag reductions provide greater fuel efficiency and means less natural resources are needed from our planet. In addition, the hybrid drive optimization tools at ARC have provided greener emissions in the transportation industry.
To learn more about ARC's offerings for the Commercial Industry, visit the ARC website, call 317-291-8600 or email at sales@arcindy.com.
Keeping its commitment of being fully involved in the commercial trucking industry, ARC will be attending the 2016 TMC show on February 29th to March 3rd. ARC will participating in many of the events and conferences throughout the show. The complete show schedule can be found at trucking.org. Check ARC's twitter account @arc_indy for updates during the show.
To learn more about ARC's offerings for the Commercial Industry, visit the ARC website, call 317-291-8600 or email at sales@arcindy.com.
Can I develop the energy management controller for a hybrid drive using the ARC drive train dyno?
The ARC drive train dyno was originally designed to accommodate various types of drive trains. This flexibility allows us to easily adapt it to test hybrid drive systems. The advanced secondary control technology used on our dyno allows for both absorption and regeneration of power at the drive wheels, thus a complete drive cycle can be tested on our dyno.
The drive cycle can be created manually or by using data previously recorded on an instrumented car. Thus the efficiency of the hybrid drive system through the complete cycle is measured. This allows our customers to try different energy management strategies in the controllers to fully optimize their performance. Also, because the ARC dyno simulates the power input from the engine, the hybrid system can be tested in isolation without the need for an engine. This allows development of systems by customers who are interested in developing bolt on solutions for various engines.
TECH ZONE is an additional area of our newsletter where each month a customer question will be answered by the related expert at ARC. Please send in any questions you might have, from wind tunnel test instrumentation, CFD workings,to tuning your shocks. Ask your questions at techzone@arcindy.com
