DE VELO PMENT AERODYNAMICS
Automotive Aerodynamics
AUTHORS
Dr.-Ing. Thomas Schütz
is Head of Aerodynamics R&D for
Concepts and Motorcycles at the
BMW Group as well as a freelance
journalist and he is a lecturer
for vehicle aerodynamics at the
Technical University Darmstadt
(Germany).
Dipl.-Ing. Sven Klußmann
is Head of Aerodynamics at the
BMW Group in Munich (Germany).
Dr.-Ing. Ralf Neuendorf
is Head of Aerodynamics for Rolls-
Royce, Middle and Upper Class at the
BMW Group in Munich (Germany).
48
in 2020
© BMW
For years to come, the legal CO2 limits become stricter step by
step. Improvements of aerodynamics of a passenger car help
manufactures to reaching these goals more easily. BMW face
up to environmental sustainability and explains with the BMW 7
Series as an example which aerodynamics measures have which
components in order to achieve a cD value of 0.24.
CUTTING FLEET EMISSIONS The BMW Group has firmly anchored
IN HALF environmental sustainability as a priority
for long-term thinking and responsibility
The impact of aerodynamics on new along the entire value chain. In particu-
passenger cars is becoming increasingly lar, the systematic optimisation of aero-
important due to their influence on the dynamic drag of the BMW range to keep
essential characteristics of an automo- their promise to cut the fleet emissions in
bile. With more limited resources and Europe in half of 1995 levels by 2020 [1].
the need for competitive electrified
powertrains, more focus is applied to
CO 2 TARGETS FOR 2020
energy demand respectively fuel con-
sumption. Increasing fuel costs, stricter The contribution of the automotive
exhaust gas emission laws and the regu- industry to the successful implemen-
lation of CO2 emissions due to the climate tation of global climate targets has
policy will force all OEMs to pursue a been discussed for many times yet. For
reduction of aerodynamic drag more uni- several years and in many markets, legal
formly than before. This is also in order requirements for fleet consumption have
to succeed in a competitive environment. been raised to a level that can be more or
less achieved by the vehicle manufactur-
ers. But in the coming years, these legal
limits become stricter step by step. This
development is shown in FIGURE 1 for
four example markets. By comparison,
the BMW fleet consumption was in rela-
tion at a CO2 value of 147 g/km in 2015
[2]. Presumably from 2018 the EU direc-
tive 70/220/EWG, including the New
European Driving Cycle (NEDC), will be
replaced by the new type approval test
procedure, WLTP which will also intro-
duce a new driving cycle. The legal lim-
its initially remain unaffected.
CO2 emissions are caused by the pow-
ertrain overcoming non-motor related
driving resistances in conjunction with
the efficiency loses of the drive train.
Depending on the considered vehicle
and the underlying driving cycle, aero-
dynamics is usually the second highest
influence after the engine/powertrain.
FIGURE 2 (top) shows an example of the
total energy consumption of a BMW 7
Series. The proportion of the aerody-
namic sub-system is about 20 %, which
is more important than the influence of
the rolling resistance or weight impact
by accelerating. FIGURE 2 (bottom) pre-
sents the three non-powertrain related
driving resistances. The relative influ-
ence of aerodynamics will rise due to
the new driving cycle and will grow
with increasing electrification with using
50 % energy regeneration by about 10 %.
The chosen example is the lower end of a
range, typically for small city cars which
have an aerodynamic CO2 contribution
of over 50 % [3].
The aerodynamic drag force FD is calcu-
lated according to [4] using the air density
12I2016 Volume 118
ρa, the vehicle velocity vv, the projected
vehicle frontal area Ax and the aerody-
namic drag coefficient cD with Eq. 1:
Eq. 1 FD=__1 ·cD·AX·ρa(νv)2
2 vehicle development, in particular, the
From the beginning of aerodynamic
activities the cD value has become the
role of the principle variable. This can be
described as the efficiency of the vehicle
geometry and can be easily compared
since the other variables remain constant
under standard conditions. Ax represents
a scaling factor based on the vehicle size
while the quality of the vehicle shape
remains unaffected.
GUIDE VARIABLE DRAG
COEEFICIENT THROUGH THE AGES
At the beginning of the vehicle produc-
tion, the cD values were between 0.5
and 1.0. Then in the 1950s, aerody-
namic shape design was en vogue for
the first time. However, particularly
good aerodynamics remained reserved
for few “icons”. After falling below
cD = 0.30 in the early 1980s, new best
drag coefficients could be reported by
car manufacturers for each model
generation.
Today’s most efficient group of vehi-
cles have a drag coefficient range from
0.22 to 0.25. An example is the BMW 7
Series (G11 type, model year 2015) with
a value of 0.24. The most recent example
of an aerodynamically optimised pro-
duction-based study is the research vehi-
cle “BMW Vision Next 100” with 0.185 as
coefficient. The reasons for the rapid aer-
odynamic progress are due to the ever-
growing knowledge base and experience
of the engineers and the increased
sophistication of the testing technology
and computational simulation in the
multi-million Euro investment in wind
tunnel technology and the intensive
cooperation of OEMs with the research-
based universities [4, 5].
Based on the aforementioned BMW 7
Series, this aerodynamic progress is dis-
played in FIGURE 3. From the 1990s the
drag coefficient was gradually reduced
step by step in each generation from 0.34
to the specified value of the G11 series.
The development from the predecessor
and the current vehicle has achieved
nearly a 20 % improvement [6].
AERODYNAMIC CONTRIBUTIONS
The aerodynamic drag can be divided
based on the physical cause. These drag
contributions are distinguished by the
vehicle aerodynamics engineers as the
following, FIGURE 4:
– basic shape and proportions
– wheels and wheel housing
– underbody
– cooling air and functional openings.
Well into the 1990s, aerodynamic opti-
misation focussed mostly on the vehicle
basic shape. In the past 20 years, the
sources for drag from wheel and wheel
housing, underbody and cooling air
pathway have become more significant
and have been further improved.
The measures by which the aerody-
namic drag of a vehicle can be optimised
are various and are connected to the
FIGURE 1 Chronological develop-
ment of the predetermined legal
CO2 fleet limits in the markets
of USA, European Union, Japan
and Canada (© BMW)
49
DE VELO PMENT AERODYNAMICS
drag components. FIGURE 5 (top) shows
a number of measures used by BMW
7 Series. The Active Air Stream grille
is an innovative cooling air shutter that
opens the cooling air pathway in the
front grille as required for the engine
or brake cooling. The system closes to
reduce aerodynamic drag when cooling
air is not required. Thus, the contribu-
tion cooling drag can be eliminated
almost completely. Furthermore, this
an example of the successful transfer
FIGURE 3 Development of the cD value for the BMW 7 Series from 1990 to 2015 measured in the wind
tunnel Aschheim and in the Munich Aerodynamics Testing Centre (AVZ) (© BMW)
50
of pre-development technologies into
series production development at BMW.
The Air Curtain optimises the flow
around the front wheels and reduces
the turbulent wake and vortices. This
works in conjunction with the improved
shape design of the aero wheel. The Air
Breather vents the wheel arch and guides
the air to flow smoothly back into the
exterior flow. All three measures reduce
the drag component of wheels and wheel
housing.
FIGURE 2 Share of aerodynamics in the total energy
consumption for a BMW 740iA (top); share of
air drag in the total non-motor drag in the NEDC
(bottom left), in the WLTP (bottom centre) and
in the WLTP taken into account 50 % energy
regeneration efficiency (bottom right) (© BMW)
The exterior mirror strut is located in
region of accelerated flow. By mounting
the mirror lower on the chrome feature
instead of the conventional position,
the aerodynamic drag can be further
improved by locating the mirror attach-
ment in a region of lower local velocity.
Using a nearly circumferential separa-
tion edge along the rear of the trunk lid,
the tail lights, the side bumpers and dif-
fusor panel the turbulent fluctuations in
the recirculation region can be reduced
and, thereby a higher pressure recovery
can be achieved. These two measures
further improved the basic shape drag.
Finally, the underbody drag component
could be reduced by an evolution from
previous concepts. In FIGURE 5 (bottom
left) the main components of the under-
body structure are marked. Almost all
drag producing elements can be covered
with plastic parts. Small details such as
streamlined screw holes and structures,
sealing between the underbody panels
and improving the shape of parts already
known from predecessor vehicles have
all contributed to the aerodynamic devel-
opment success. Overall, the new BMW
7 Series combines all state of the art
measures to achieve a drag coefficient of
0.24. FIGURE 5 (bottom right) presents the
historical development from a rough to
almost smooth under floor.
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12I2016 Volume 118 51
DE VELO PMENT AERODYNAMICS

FIGURE 4 Components of the air drag of

passenger cars, including specification
of the physical causes and presentation
of selected measures for design
(© BMW)

AERODYNAMIC VISION FOR THE On the exterior, the „Alive Geometry“ backwards at higher velocities. Due to the
YEAR 2020 is an assembly of movable wheel housings extension of the vehicle, this produces a
and an active rear extension, which ensure higher pressure recovery of the flow in the
The aforementioned stricter CO2 fleet optimised aerodynamics when activated. wake. The optimal location of the flow
limits require to further optimise the By covering the front wheel arches, an separation is responsible for a particularly
driving resistances in the future. An evo- attached flow along the side wall of the low induced drag. As shown in FIGURE 6
lutionary approach can be formulated on vehicle is ensured. The cooling of the a drag coefficient of 0.185 can be obtained
the basis of the previous development brakes is achieved by slots in parallel to a by combining these measures. In total a
and the BMW 7 Series in order to main- low-loss wheel cover flow. At the rear of drag reduction of 25 % can be reached
tain its proportions and interior size. In the vehicle, a rear spoiler lip can be moved compared to today’s technology.
terms of conventional vehicle concepts,
there is basically still potential for
improvement. Starting with a value of
cD = 0.24 a ∆cD of up to 0.01 can be
achieved by closing further gaps at the
underbody. The use of camera-based
mirror replacement systems also has
drag reducing potential since a signifi-
cantly smaller camera wing replaces the
mirror attachment. Recently at the CES
2016 exhibition, the i8 mirrorless was
presented as an example of a vehicle
with a camera mirror system which had
a cD improvement of almost ten thou-
sandth. With other active aerodynamic
systems the cD value can be further
reduced, as they have recently been
shown in some prototype studies for
example.
BMW has recently chosen a revolu-
tionary approach to further reduce the
air drag of the entire vehicle using mod-
ern lines and the latest technology: the
research vehicle “BMW Next 100”. The
proportions of the elongated body, which
allows a new interior concept, show a
greenhouse with flush optics, thus with-
FIGURE 5 The BMW 7 Series with selected aerodynamic elements (top) and its underbody structure with
out setbacks transverse to the flow. This aerodynamically optimised components (bottom left) and the historical development from a rough to
is the basis for a low drag coefficient. almost smooth under floor (bottom right) (© BMW)

52
 FIGURE 6 The BMW study “BMW Next 100“ with “Alive Geometry” in the exterior (top left) and their contribution to an air drag coefficient of below 0.19 (right),
the BMW i8 mirrorless, exhibited at CES 2016 (bottom left) (© BMW)

REFERENCES
[1] Krüger, H.: Nachhaltig Wirtschaften. In: Sustain-
able Value Report 2015, BMW Group
[2] N. N.: Fakten auf einen Blick. https://www.bmw-
group.com/verantwortung, access 04 April 2016
[3] Schütz, T.: WLTP – On the increased importance
of aerodynamics and impact on development proce-
dures. In: Documentation Volume 1. 16 th Stuttgart
International Symposium, Stuttgart, 2016
[4] Schütz, T. (ed.): Hucho – Aerodynamik
des Automobils. 6 th edition, Wiesbaden:
Springer-Vieweg-Verlag, 2013
[5] Schütz, T.: Progress in CFD Validation in
Aerodynamics Development. In: ATZworldwide 113
(2011), No. 6, pp. 30-34
[6] Dillmann, G.; Prys, G.; Klinkert, C.; Sauer, J.;
Otasevic, A.; Steinbock, R.: Efficient Driving. In:
ATZextra The New BMW 7 Series, November 2008,
pp. 48-54

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