Welcome to the Inside Track with ARC. The Auto Research Center is a specialized research facility serving the motorsport, automotive 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 type packages to further speed and efficiency.
Radiator taping and blockers are one of the aerodynamic changes teams can make in a world of locked down designs and balance of performance regulations, optimizing radiator ductwork mean less inlet size is needed which increases aerodynamic performance. Traditionally, doing radiator ducting development takes many design and testing iterations. Internal Topology Adjoint CFD solver allows for constraints to be set on radiator ducting allowing for the best shape being found in one simulation. The simulation is validated with wind tunnel testing.
The constraints needed to do an Adjoint ductwork optimization are quite simple. The inlet, outlet locations, and allowable working space/box the ductwork can fit into are input to the Adjoint solver. Then, Adjoint will automatically morph the box into the best ductwork shape based on engineering requirements such as: specific pressures or swirl characteristics. Companies and teams who have already used Adjoint for that purpose, have been surprised by the findings, but found the gains were actually real. Lead times and cost of developing a cooling package is massively reduced, from a multiple test, several month program, to only a few weeks.
Watch a video of Adjoint ductwork morphing at work in HELYX®, the multipurpose CFD package and sister to the Automotive based ELEMENTS CFD package. Engys Ltd is the partner with ARC in the joint venture Streamline Solutions, the maker of ELEMENTS.
To learn more about ARC's offerings for the Motorsports Industry, visit the ARC website.
Electric vehicles are no longer a future technology. They are entering the long-term mature phase of development. One of the key challenges is the range and lifespan of battery technology. There are ways beyond just developing the internal battery technology to extend range and life.
Three major areas of development include; aerodynamics, thermal and rolling resistance testing. Aerodynamic drag reductions means less power is needed to propel the vehicle. Thermal testing, from analyzing temperatures in and around the battery, to ductwork optimizing cooler air feed helps to prolong the life of the battery. Rolling resistance, using a hybrid drivetrain dynamometer that replicates realistic drive cycles to reduce friction and increase battery range. A future area of testing will include measuring Lithium Ion degradation over the lifespan of the battery.
ARC has full aerodynamic, thermal and drivetrain testing capabilities to efficiently increase the range and lifespan of Electric Vehicles. From full consultancy programs to individual test days, ARC is ready to make the improvement easy. Read the ARC brochure for more on each technological area.
To learn more about ARC's offerings for the Production Vehicle Industry, visit the ARC website.
Putting the best aerodynamic part setup on your trucks helps improve your ROI by getting the best fuel economy possible. With aerodynamics being a tricky subject, each combination of tractor and trailer brands must be considered. The three main tools for selecting the best setup are; computational fluid dynamics (CFD), wind tunnel and on-track testing. Selecting the right test method will get the best results cheaper and faster.
CFD is best for flow visualization and early design development. Each CFD simulation is able to produce a vast amount of images, videos, and numbers to help understand the flow better and create new design ideas. CFD is great for creating a drag accumulation plot, showing which areas of the entire truck are producing the most drag. These become key target areas for development or purchasing parts to reduce drag on existing vehicles. CFD testing at ARC is done using ELEMENTS, a highly refined simulation package coded for automotive transportation purposes. It also includes the world's only publicly available quasi-transient Adjoint simulation.
Wind Tunnel testing is the most cost efficient method to determine the percent fuel economy savings. It is also the fastest way to test a large number of parts to optimize aerodynamic setup. Both the EPA and State of California have approved the ARC wind tunnel as an approved testing site for validation. Single day tests at ARC can vary from 6 to 12 hours at low costs compared to other testing. With the large number of tractor and trailer scale models available at ARC, fleets can get to their best setup without interrupting their fleet operations.
On-track testing is used extensively, as it puts actual trucks to the test. It measures the entire package, aerodynamics and drivetrain, to gain an overall efficiency, but is difficult to separate out the data. Fewer parts can be tested in a day and environmental conditions can make comparing runs difficult at times. ARC provides consultancy with test engineers and aerodynamicists to get the most out of on-track testing.
Durability of aerodynamic parts must also be considered. Having a part that gives great economy, but only lasts a few years will hurt your ROI. Parts tested on the ARC durability rig, give the confidence that they will last to provide real benefit.
Future key areas of aerodynamic validation testing include reaching upcoming GHG2 goals and optimizing the 33' trailer when it gains national government approval for all 50 states. In the case of GHG2, getting your aerodynamic setup right from the start will help reduce the time it takes to payback the cost of development parts. The EPA puts the payback time for GHG2 by 2027, but that can be reduced by having ARC help with selection.
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.
How does testing with a wall in a wind tunnel mimic real life conditions?
Race cars are rarely in full free stream conditions, even when out front leading. The proximity of walls has a large effect on aerodynamics. To do useful testing with a wall in the wind tunnel the full range of interaction of the car and wall must be realistic. The wind tunnel wall must be of a long enough length, boundary layer conditions need to be accounted for, yaw position adjustment available, and ride height maps should match track conditions to make the testing data useful.
The ARC wall rig, under development for public usage later this year, is using data collected from track testing to ensure the conditions will match. This valuable data will ensure all conditions will create the correct aerodynamic effects. By matching the rotation, boundary layer, wall surface texture, the tester can be certain the conditions and results will correlate to the track.
Using the wind tunnel wall rig system, aerodynamic shapes can be further optimized and improved in ways that balance of performance specifications do not look at, allowing for an advantage in a world of supposed equality. It will allow for a new range of behavior models in simulations and help with crash analysis for racing series.
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
