Imperial International Journal of Eco-friendly Technologies
Vol.- 1, Issue-1(2016), pp.12-17
A Review of Aerodynamic Fundamentals in
Automobiles
*
Kartikeya Akojwar
*
Mechanical Department, Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology, Bhopal
*
Email Id:- akojwarkartikeya@gmail.com
Abstract
Automotive engineering has rendered a lot of scope to a
blend of branches of study. One of them is the aerodynamic
study of vehicle dynamics and its importance in design
considerations of various automobiles. The history of
aerodynamics dates back to a couple of centuries. Seeing
birds fly, man had always wanted to explore the domain
which was only limited to the flying species. Having
developed a lot of concepts and models and the world
witnessing a variety of aero-enthusiasts who were either
chauffeurs or airmen, the success of aerodynamics was
enormously celebrated by the people. With the advent of
engines driven vehicles, aerodynamic parameters became an
important point of research. Hence vehicle shape and
aesthetics gradually developed; which is evident from the
evolution of vehicle design in the previous century. Applied
aerodynamics gradually nurtured the automotive industry
which has resulted in today`s sleek and streamlined vehicle
designs. The work on vehicle aerodynamics have led to
increase in automotive efficiencies as a result of decreased
drag forces and near edge vortices. This review paper
discusses the importance of aerodynamics in vehicle
dynamics, its history from simple carriages to race cars and
various aerodynamic parameters attributing to vehicle
performance.
Keywords: Aerodynamics, Design considerations,
Automobile design
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I. Introduction
Automotive aerodynamics is the field of study of
aerodynamics of all road vehicles. This study gained
popularization with the instigation of automotive racing
which relied a lot on improvement in the vehicle`s
performance by reducing the aerodynamic drag force.
Aerodynamics is a study of fluid flow and drawing
conclusions based on the aerodynamic forces generated as a
result of this flow. Hence it a part of fluid mechanics wherein
study of only one fluid is done, which is air. In fluid
mechanical terms, road vehicles are assumed to be bluffed
bodies in very close proximity to the ground. Their geometry
in detail is extremely complex with the flow around the
internal and external recesses and cavities and rotating
wheels adding to this complexity. The fully three
dimensional flow over the vehicle with turbulent boundary
layers, flow separation is common and may be followed by
reattachment. Also being a close to ground conveyance, its
flow analysis becomes even more complicated. Large
turbulent wakes are formed at the rear when the vehicle body
ends and the air rejoins the free stream. These turbulent
wakes in many cases contain longitudinal trailing vortices.
The avoidance of separation or, if this is not possible, its
control are among the main objectives of vehicle
aerodynamics. In addition to this it is also important for
vehicles to produce down force to improve traction and better
the cornering abilities. Also among its other goals are
reducing drag and wind noise, minimizing noise emission
and preventing undesired lift forces and other causes of
aerodynamic instability at high speed. As is typical for bluff
bodies, drag which is the key issue for most road vehicles is
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Vol.- 1, Issue-1(2016), pp.12-17
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mainly pressure drag. This is in contrast to aircraft and ships Negative lift is an important parameter which is to be
which suffer primarily from friction drag. Automotive employed in road vehicles. While the process of weighing
aerodynamics differs from aircraft aerodynamics in a number the relative importance of a set of needs from various
of ways. disciplines is generally comparable to that in other branches
of applied fluid mechanics, the situation in vehicle
First, the characteristic shape of automobiles is much less aerodynamics is unique in that an additional category of
streamlined compared to an aircraft. Second, the vehicle arguments has to be taken into account: art, fashion,
operates very close to the ground, rather than in free air. aestheticsand taste. In contrast to technical and economic,
Third, the operating speed are lower and hence drag is these additional arguments are subjective in nature and
reduced considerably as aerodynamic drag varies as the cannot be quantified. The automobile market today is ruled
square of speed. Fourth, a ground vehicle has fewer degrees
of freedom than an aircraft, and its motion is comparatively
lesser affected by aerodynamic forces. Fifth, passenger and
commercial ground vehicles have very specific design
constraints such as their intended purpose, high safety
standards and certain regulations and certifications. With
regard to automobile geometries, road vehicles comprise a
large variety of configurations. Passenger cars, vans and
buses are closed single bodies and on the other hand trucks
and race cars can be of more than one body. The shape of
road vehicle is not primarily determined by the need to Fig 1- Basic shapes used to design a blend of vehicles.
generate specific aerodynamic effects as in the case of
by lavish designs and aesthetic value of a vehicle. While
airplanes where efforts are put in to reduce the frictional drag
design gives technical requirements a form that is in accord
and increase lift force. Unlike such design basis as in
with fashion, the fundamental nature of fashion is getting
airplanes, a road vehicle`s shape is primarily determined by
adapted to ever changing modernization. Consequently,
functional, economic and aesthetic arguments. The
although vehicle aerodynamics is getting better and better, it
aerodynamic characteristics are not usually generated
is not progressing towards a single ultimate shape as in the
intentionally, they are the consequences of other than
case. To the contrary, it must come to terms with new shapes
aerodynamic considerations, but not the reason, for the
again and again. There is no question; however, that
shape. These “other than aerodynamic characteristics” place
aerodynamics does influence design.
a number of constraints on vehicle aerodynamicists. For
example, the size constraints of a road vehicle limits the
length and width of the vehicle. Also the necessity to
accommodate the mechanical components of a vehicle like
the engine, steering assembly, brakes, suspensions and the
transmission line places severe constraints on the shape
designing parameters. Furthermore, mass and cost
constraints, packaging constrains and market niche freezes
the physical dimensions of the vehicle.Of course,
aerodynamicists do not just work to analyze the aerodynamic Fig 2- Streamlines passing over a generic car design.
parameters of a vehicle configured by mechanical engineers.
Hence there is indeed some work space for aerodynamicists II. Successful and unsuccessful approaches to
to work on designing automobiles. Depending upon the type, aerodynamics designs
purpose and configuration the objectives of aerodynamicists
vary widely. Low drag is desirable for all automobiles.

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Centuries ago when automobiles were just invented and
horse carriages soon started disappearing with engine
replacing the horses, the vehicle design wasn’t a big issue.
People then were more fascinated by the fact that an
automatic machine had been invented which could power a
vehicle or a carriage. So carriages initially were simply
meant to accommodate the driver and the passengers and
protect them from wind, rain or mud. But then gradually with
the advent of aeronautics and aerodynamics becoming a topic
of vast research, people started applying the concepts of
aerodynamics to automobiles also. Hence begun the
development of various aerodynamic designs of automobiles
which proved to perform better compared to their
counterparts. Then the only motive was to reduce the drag
forces on the vehicle and thus designing an aerodynamically
fit vehicle. For both airships and aircrafts streamlined shapes
were developed which lowered drag significantly and
increased the cruising speed of the vehicles with given
engine power. Figure_ shows the initial attempts to designing
with streamlined bodied vehicles. These attempts were
purely aerodynamic results applied onto automobiles. But
then with a specified array of space requirements for
automobiles, these pure aerodynamic concepts weren’t of
much use to the automotive industry.
Fig 3- Some examples of initial efforts at vehicle designs.
Fig 4- Some more examples of aerodynamics integrated
vehicle designs.
Consequently a lot had to be taken care of before fixing a
particular vehicle shape. Here given below are a few
approaches to vehicle designs. Some of them were successful
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Vol.- 1, Issue-1(2016), pp.12-17
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and garnered a lot of public appreciation and whose credit
actually goes to the initial failures and unsuccessful vehicle
models. All these approaches are elaborately pictured below.
Fig 5- The development in the shapes of
vehicle body and the transition from
completely streamlined to bluff car bodies.
III. Development of car designs from viewpoint
of aerodynamicists
After the initial failures, aerodynamicists understood that
automobiles being completely different from airplanes, they
had to be designed as per their design requirements and
considerations. Consequently aerodynamicists started
making vehicle models based on aerodynamic concepts and
automobile designing considerations. Hence the main motive
behind making an aerodynamically fit vehicle design was to
reduce the overall drag force acting on the vehicle so as to
improve its performance and efficiency. As a result for a
given power limitation and design considerations, iterative
study of various vehicle design was done to analyze models
and make necessary changes to minimize the drag.
The detailed descriptions of all the events which ultimately
led to the fascinating aerodynamic models of today are
mentioned in Kieselbach`s and Hucho`s entry on history of
aerodynamics in the automotive industry. The main
highlighting milestones which are worth noting and which
deserves the actual credit for the development of
aerodynamics in automobiles are as follows:
1. The observed change in the flow around a half
body of revolution when bought close to the
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ground as automobiles are. This led to the basis for 5. Introduction of add-ons like wings on the rear parts
the conventional half body designs of automobiles. of fast moving vehicles, underbody air dams,
This was mentioned by Kempler in 1922 and was smooth fairings and aerodynamically shaped
an important conclusion from the perspective of fenders, headlights and other parts.
aerodynamicists in automotive sector.
2. The truncation of car`s rear end proposed by
KoenigoFachsenfeld in 1936 and by Kamm in
1934 induced compactness to the vehicles and a
smooth flow around the body. For a half body of
rotation the flow at the end would give rise to
vortices in the wake which would further add on
the drag forces. Therefore the rear end was
truncated to prevent vortex formation in the wake.
3. Induction of the concept of detailed optimization
by Hucho in 1976. The concept of detail
optimization a body detail or a specific contour is
rounded off or tapered by no more than what is Fig 7- Pictorial depiction of the concept of detailed
required to obtain minimal drag forces. Following optimization.
this philosophy based on distinguishing drag as
minimum, jump or saturation, optimized design IV. Vehicle attributes affected by vehicle
with significantly reduced drag in hard-edged cars aerodynamics
without altering their design is possible.
4. Deciphering of follow patterns in details at the rear Let us now discuss one by one various vehicle
end of the car is another important point of attributes namely, driving performance, maximum
consideration which will be discussed in attainable velocity, economic fuel consumption and
subsequent topics. factors affecting a car`s ability to accelerate.
A. Driving performance

Driving performance of a car is generic term describing a

vehicle1s ability to be driven in the most effective and
efficient way. Given the growing market demand and a
blend of vehicle designs which supplement various
community desires, a vehicle can be designed accordingly.
Many factors lead to making an effective vehicle and hence
a compromise between a numbers of attributes is to be made
to obtain such a design. Consequently, if one of the factor if
favored, other parameters are surely going to be affected and
to be more precise, in a way sacrificed. Therefore a proper
balance is to be maintained between all the attributes so as
to obtain perfect automobiles as per public requirements and
vehicle specifications.For an automobile, the traction
generated at the wheels is an important parameter for
Fig 6- Evolution of car design from an aerodynamicist’s
determining its driving performance. This tractive force
point of view.
between the wheels and the road surface is given by,

FT = W + R + m(dV/dt) + mg
sinα Where, W=Air drag force,

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Here, Air drag (W) =
cwAρV2/2 and R=Rolling drag force,
According to the ground effect V=Velocity
the facing surface area is, A =
0.81 b*h α = slope of the road
So, PT=FT*V
PT = (W+R)*V [on plain road without acceleration]
As evident from the formulae, the driving performance of a
vehicle dictated by the traction force experienced by the
automobile depends on the air and rolling drag force, mass
of the car, velocity and road gradient are inherent attributes
dependent on the material, engine power plant and road
conditions, the other two parameters namely, air and rolling
drag forces are the main considerations for an
aerodynamicist.
Thus the rolling drag on a vehicle is given by, R = fr * G =
fr * mg
A study of the rolling drag force on a BMW 520i, is given
as follows,
Fig 8-. Variation of forces in relation with velocity.
The above graphs f r any vehicle helps in concluding a
proper value for the vehicle attributes and part details so as
to obscure the minimal sheer forces on the vehicle and
hence minimize the drag forces.
B. Fuel consumption
In the initial phase of development of vehicle aerodynamics,
the motive behind introducing aerodynamics in the
automotive industry was to use the power generated by the
engine in the most efficient way and ultimately increase the
velocity. But then during the 1970s a major setback due to
the oil crisis had compelled aerodynamicists to shift their
attention to designing more fuel efficient cars. Thus in an
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effort to do so, designing considerations had to be molded
accordingly. Also the market situations governed by the
demand and the supply of particular types of vehicles helps
in deciding the public`s opinion and their choices. The
vehicle fuel consumption is one such attribute. The demand
and the supply are basically the mechanical energy required
for propelling the vehicle and the efficiency with which the
energy is generated by the power plant and delivered to the
points of applications respectively. This seems to be
completely controlled by engine propulsion systems and
power plant designing; but aerodynamics also has a part to
play. The influence of aerodynamic factors on the demand
and supply chain is through drag forces which, in a way
affect the propulsion systems. Unlike aircrafts, ships or
trains, vehicles traversing on roads aren’t run on cruising
speeds. Road and traffic conditions doesn’t allow this and
hence fuel economy is an important parameter which
decides the vehicle`s performance. Rewriting the equation
for the traction force,
FT = W + R + m (dV/dt) + mg sinα, the corresponding
tractive power is, PT = FT * V
Now integrating it within a time limit, the tractive energy
required is, E =
This is the tractive energy which is required to be
supplemented by the fuel. Thus solving the definite integral
and expressing it in terms of the units of fuel consumed per
unit distance of travel.
C. Maximum velocity
Fig 9- Variation of maximum attainable velocity.
Unlike fuel consumption attributes which have become the
point of study only in the recent times, maximum velocity
has been a parameter which has been an expected and
desired quality of any vehicle. In the initial periods when
vehicles were just introduced in the markets, people were
excited not because they had a more efficient and effective
conveyance but to enjoy the thrill of such fast moving
vehicles. And gradually as time elapsed, globalization
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started bringing the world closer and it bought with it the
necessity to introduce fast moving vehicles. So maximum
velocity of any vehicle is an important parameter that
decides the vehicle`s performance.
V. Conclusion and discussion
8. Y Yoshida, S Muto, T Imaizumi, 1977, “Transient
aerodynamic forces and moments on models of
vehicles passing through cross winds.
9. P Aschwanden, J Mueller, U Knoernschild, 2006,
“Experimental study on the influence of model
motion on the aerodynamic performance of a race
car”, SAE papers, 2006.

As driving performance, fuel consumption, maximum Author`s Description

attainable speed, vehicle handling and ergonomic elements
in a vehicle are very important parameters which decides KartikeyaSudhirAkojwar, student of Mechanical Engineering at
the aesthetic and market value of the vehicle, aerodynamics Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology currently in third
and drag reduction factors are certainly important design year of studies. Keen learner of Aeronautical Sciences and a
passionate member of the Aeronautical Society of India, has
considerations. Also commercial vehicle companies these
worked on several projects on trainer planes and hovercrafts
days have shifted their focus from efficient and drivable being in the Aero Astro club of MANIT.
vehicles to sleek, fuel efficient and aesthetically fit vehicles.
Market research of the sales of such vehicles certainly show Email Id: akojwarkartikeya@gmail.com
the shift in the consumer’s choice of sleek and fuel efficient
Address: “Tara-Krishna”, JodDewal Ward, Pathanpura, Chandrapur,
vehicles. Therefore, the crowd`s inclination to cars like
Maharashtra-442402.
Jaguar XF, Spykar C8, PaganiZonda, Porche 908, Ford
Atmos, Ferrari 250 GTO, Lamborghini, Devaux Coupe,
Bugatti Veyron Vitesse, etcetera justifies that the market
value of such cars is much more than that of the nominal
commercial cars. So to support all the review points as
mentioned above, aerodynamics has a major role to play in
the automobile designing sector. Consequently factors like
drag reduction, avoiding vortices formation, shock waves
formation in the wake, boundary layer separation, etcetera
are of utmost importance for a vehicle to be made in a
complete sense.

References
1. Joseph Katz, 2006, “Aerodynamics of Race cars”,
Annual Review Fluid Mechanics, 2006. 38 : 27-63.

2. Prof. TamasLajos, 2002, “Basics of vehicle

aerodynamics”, University of Rome “La Sapienze”,
2002.
3. Dr. A. Henze, Prof. Wolfgang Shroeder, “Automobiles
and aerodynamics”, in Deutsch as “Fahrzeug und
Windradaerodynamik”, RWTH Aachen University.
4. Wolf-Heinrich Hucho, Gino Sovran 1993,
“Aerodynamics of road vehicles”, Annual Rev. Fluid
Mech. 1993. 25 : 485-537.
5. GregorSeljak, April 2008, “Race Car Aerodynamics”.
6. CorradoCasiraghi, Tatuus Racing, May 2010, “Race
car aerodynamics”, KTH- Royal Institute of
Technology, Stockholm, 2010.
7. A Morelli, P Nuccio, A Visconti, 1981, “Automobile
aerodynamic drag on the road compared with tunnel
testing”, SAE papers, 1981.

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