HyTech Racing Formula SAE-EV car track context for the side-aero development campaign.
Snapshot
- Team/Program: HyTech Racing FSAE-EV
- Focus: Side-aero aerodynamic performance and component-level load shifts
- Compared configurations: Base vs HT106-N0172
- Primary KPI set: Total CL, total CD, CL/CD, aerobalance, component contributions
Motivation and objective
- Improve overall aerodynamic performance from HT09 learnings into HTX side-aero direction.
- Evaluate side-aero concept impact without depending only on track/wind-tunnel availability.
- Support future optimization targets (yaw/pitch behavior and endplate design).
CFD setup approach
- Used a deliberate CFD setup with fixed definitions between compared variants:
- Half-car formulation for efficient iteration
- Controlled domain and boundary-condition definitions
- Explicit turbulence/flow-physics model choices
- Meshing strategy and convergence criteria gates
- Force and residual histories were tracked to confirm stable reporting windows.
Numerical data (from side-aero report)
| Metric | Base Case | HT106-N0172 |
|---|---|---|
| Total CL | 4.1367 | 4.2383 |
| Total CD | 1.4749 | 1.4964 |
| CL/CD | 2.8046 | 2.8323 |
| Aerobalance | 50.73 | 50.41 |
Component contribution table (Base / HT106-N0172)
| Component | CL (Base / N0172) | CD (Base / N0172) | % of Total CL (Base / N0172) | % of Total CD (Base / N0172) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aux Wing | -0.082 / 0.0202 | -0.016 / 0.0055 | -0.20% / 0.48% | -0.11% / 0.37% |
| Floor Shoulder / Curve | 0.5080 / 0.5261 | 0.0308 / 0.0344 | 12.28% / 12.41% | 2.09% / 2.30% |
| RearWing E1 | 0.9184 / 0.9635 | 0.1995 / 0.2031 | 22.2% / 22.7% | 13.53% / 13.57% |
| Body Curve | 0.9445 / 0.9669 | 0.1268 / 0.1245 | 22.8% / 22.8% | 8.60% / 8.32% |
Results and engineering takeaways
- HT106-N0172 improves total CL and CL/CD relative to the base case.
- Total CD increases slightly, but efficiency trend still improves (higher CL/CD).
- Component-level breakdown helps identify where load gains are coming from.
- Convergence/force-history plots support confidence in the reported comparison window.
Validation and reproducibility notes
- Same reporting metrics used across compared variants for clean A/B interpretation.
- Residual and force histories are included with results to make quality checks explicit.
- Setup choices (domain, BCs, turbulence model, meshing, convergence criteria) are documented for reruns.