media information 2016 www.highpowermedia.com FOCUS : COMPUTATIONAL FLUID DYNAMICS The interaction between external aerodynamics and powertrain cooling is essential in any aerodynamically designed racecar (Courtesy of Exa Corporation) “Whereas in the past, 2D or 1D simulations were STEVE MILLER: YASUHISA ARAI: often used to minimise Ilmor’s new directions Honda’s man in the F1 hot seat computational effort, 3D THE COMMUNICATIONS HUB OF THE RACING POWERTRAIN WORLD THE COMMUNICATIONS HUB OF THE RACING POWERTRAIN WORLD ones are now common” GOING INCREASINGLY Along with this basic input information, a set of boundary FUTURE DIRECTIONS conditions such as inlet air pressure/velocity and temperature is also DeltaWing’s shoe-horned I4 turbo needed, as well as a target goal or parameter of interest – outlet air RADICAL pressure, for example. A conventional CFD study would then compare Aston Martin’s V8 several designs of, say, port shape or valve geometry, solving the problem for each design option and comparing the results in order to Le Mans GT engine select the best candidate design(s). BLACK GOLD Software and implementation Focus on high- In the simplest case, CFD simulations are concerned only with steady- performance oils STILL A state problems, and work with idealised fluid properties. The equations that need to be solved for such a scenario are relatively simple and allow very efficient computational runs, so a lot of design candidates WONDER can be compared quickly. Indeed, for an initial look, such a simplified model of a much more complex unsteady (turbulent flow) problem is 24-HOUR MATERIAL? often worthwhile if some of the design candidates can be ruled out immediately or promoted to more detailed analysis. STAMINA Focus on titanium Solving higher-order equations that describe turbulent flows, those with a transient behaviour or involving compressible fluids, Le Mans Prototype How’s it flowing? are naturally more computationally expensive, although modern report 2015 solvers can process such problems on up-to-date hardware almost as HONDA efficiently as steady-state problems could be solved in the past. consuming, however, as a prototype must generally be constructed for Advances in CFD techniques and accuracy are closely linked to the Although still a fairly recent development, CFD is leaping ahead in its power, every design that is of interest, and then the physical testing conducted available processing power. Whereas in the past, 2D or 1D simulations VERSUS – which of course requires not only investment in the relevant were often used to minimise the computational effort required, affordability and ease of use, as David Cooper explains equipment but incurs overhead costs in order to maintain and operate 3D simulations are now common, as they provide more accurate CHEVROLET it. The alternative then is to turn to computational methods in order to results and a greater appreciation of the flow behaviour, and can be omputational fluid dynamics (CFD) is a process for solving bring a measurable performance benefit. Various methods of doing so predict the effect of the design variable in question. processed as quickly as a 1D or 2D model. There are also some cases Dispatches from the partial differential equations associated with fluid are available: for example, flow benches or visualisation techniques CFD is a relatively recent field, but it has seen some incredible (such as combustion chamber turbulence) that are asymmetric and so flows in a continuum (the Navier-Stokes equations are such as shadowgraphs or particle image velocimetry allow an engineer advances over the past few decades in the techniques used and can only be studied properly using 3D simulations. the IndyCar engine war most commonly solved). It is an exciting field, in that such to either ‘see’ the flow of air or fuel in the engine or to measure the the accuracy of the results that can be obtained. The fundamental The increase in processing speed is mainly thanks to the advent Ca direct link can be drawn between the complex pure mathematics so difference in inlet port pressure drop, say. principle is to divide a domain or continuum of interest into discrete of 64-bit computing, particularly multi-core processors or high- many of us struggle to remember, and a direct practical solution to an These techniques ultimately allow us to judge how effective a design elements or cells that can be solved using the relevant equations and performance computing clusters with large numbers of processor engineering problem. is, compare it with one or more alternatives and select the best option one of various finite element or finite difference-type approaches. This cores and large quantities of RAM. Depending on the application and AUGUST 2015 JUNE/JULY 2015 The study of fluid dynamics is essential to developing any effective for a given application. Designs that survive these assessments then requires not only a knowledge of the domain’s geometry – for example the type of simulation to be run, software can also take advantage racing powertrain. While one immediately thinks of the behaviour of continue to dynamometer testing and ultimately on-track testing or the inlet port, valve and combustion chamber geometry – but also the of graphics processing units (GPUs) rather than conventional CPUs the air-fuel charge through the engine, there are many other aspects of racing, where their benefit is ultimately determined. properties of the fluid of interest, such as the density and viscosity of and can be scaled to use up to 36,000 cores at around 85% of the www.highpowermedia.com the powertrain where understanding the fluid dynamics involved can The realities of such empirical testing are expensive and time- the air, fuel or oil. efficiency of running on a single core. t www.highpowermedia.com USA $25, UK £12.50, EUROPE e18 USA $25, UK £12.50, EUROPE e18 64 65 the history editorial Component focus Launched in Summer 2003 At the heart of this authoritative publication are Engine dossier Revisited just once every 3 years the and published 8 times a year, in-depth research insights that probe significant At least one and more often than not two focus acts as an excellent source of Race Engine Technology contemporary projects, with informed analysis ‘dossiers’ will appear in every issue of RET. reference – topics covered include: is the brainchild of Ian Bamsey, backed by professor peer review and critique. 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