Computational Analysis of Benzing Airfoils for Optimization in a Wing Configuration for a Formula SAE Car

Abstract

Wing selection plays a crucial role for race cars as it generates the most downforce. This is essential to maintain traction which leads to faster lap timings, and maintain efficiency in the performance of the race car. In this paper, the numerical simulation of a Formula SAE (FSAE) Car is performed. The FSAE car is restricted by regulations in terms of the geometry of the front and rear wing configuration. Hence, it becomes necessary to optimize the selection of airfoils in order to get the best out of the wing configuration. It is also essential to observe the tradeoff between the downforce generated and the drag produced in a racecar for optimal performance. This serves as the primary motivation of this research paper. The focus is on Benzing airfoils, which show considerably better performance in terms of downforce production in a race car than conventional airfoils. The wing configuration utilized in this research paper consists of a single mainplane and two flaps.. The freestream velocity of the flow is in the range of 0–60mph (0–26m/s). The 122 series of Benzing airfoils is utilized for the mainplane and the 153 series of Benzing airfoils is utilized for the flaps for manufacturing reasons. Nine different combinations of Benzing airfoils were utilized wherein it was noticed that an appropriate selection of the airfoils for the mainplane and flaps with a fixed angle of attack difference, leads to a 12–15% increase in downforce amongst the Benzing airfoils itself. Similarly, it was also observed that an optimal configuration would lead to a 12–15% decrease in drag in comparison too poor performing airfoil. The Be 153-055 airfoil acts as an excellent flap within the limits of computational error. Data from an on-track test is used in order to verify the approach utilized in this paper in order to validate if the approach used in this paper would be feasible. It is observed that the Benzing airfoil does improve the average cornering speed of the car by around 10% in comparison to the previous configuration of S1223 airfoil as the main plane and the goe 477 airfoil as the flap.