EFFECT OF SPOILER DESIGN ON HATCHBACK CAR
Ashpak Kazi1*, Pradyumna Acharya2, Akhil Patil3 and Aniket Noraje4
1,2,3,4
Department of Automotive Engineering, School of Mechanical Engineering, VIT University,
Vellore, Tamil Nadu, India, 632014
Abstract- The aerodynamic aspects of automobiles have received more interest recently. Detailed
knowledge of vehicle aerodynamics is more important to improve fuel efficiency and enhance
stability of vehicle at high speed cruising. Additionally it provides improved external aesthetics.
There are different ways to improve the aerodynamic performance of a car like using spoilers, air
dam, diffuser etc. This paper deals with effect of addition of spoiler on Volkswagen Polo car in terms
of coefficient of drag and lift. Main purpose of spoiler is to generate down force or negative lift.
More down force is good but at the same time drag produced must be minimum. It is more important
to maximize the down force to drag ratio. The VW Polo car was analyzed for two cases namely with
and without spoiler. Creo 2.0 was used for modeling and Ansys Fluent 15 was used for CFD
analysis. Validation was done with ahmed body. k-ω shear stress transport turbulence model was
used for simulation. The results showed the effect of introduction of rear spoiler on drag and lift.
Keywords- Spoiler, k-ω turbulence model, polyhedral mesh, Ansys fluent 15, Creo 2.0
*
Corresponding Author : Ashpak Kazi
I. INTRODUCTION
When vehicle is running at speeds greater than 100 kmph it leads to uncontrollable lift and
pitching moments hence high drag is produced. Lift is generated due to high velocity low pressure
air flowing at the top of the vehicle and low velocity high pressure air flowing at bottom of the
vehicle. This causes reduction in tire grip with ground which in turns causes difficulty in vehicle
handling and makes it unstable. The term spoiler used in automobiles is also referred to as an
inverted aircraft wing. An aircraft wing produces positive lift which in turns helps aircraft to take off.
Spoiler generates the negative lift as air passes around it which is also called as down force. This is
because spoilers are inverted hence they push the vehicle down against the ground and rather than
decreasing the drag, spoilers increase the drag. When vehicle moves through air, their body
experiences aerodynamic forces and moments from the air. The force on the vehicle in the direction
opposite to moving direction is called drag. The force perpendicular to the drag and normal to the
ground is called lift. The higher the drag force is, the more the horsepower is required. Obviously, a
vehicle achieves higher mileage when the drag on the vehicle is reduced. The drag and lift forces can
be expressed in a non-dimensional form. The drag and lift coefficients are defined, respectively, as [3]
CL=
Where is the air density, U is the vehicle velocity, A is the frontal projected area of the vehicle.
When driver turns the vehicle without spoiler at a high speed Newton’s first law comes into
picture as vehicle tends to move in its own direction even during cornering. When vehicle is moving
at high speed it has strong momentum in the direction of motion at the same time vehicle has less
grip with road due to the positive lift. This causes difficulty in turning. When vehicle with spoiler
takes a turn it generates down force which pushes the vehicle down. This generates extra load on the
DOI:10.21884/IJMTER.2016.3065.THKRO
192
International Journal of Modern Trends in Engineering and Research (IJMTER)
Volume 03, Issue 09, [September– 2016] ISSN (Online):2349–9745; ISSN (Print):2393-8161
tire which makes them have a good grip with road and hence better handling. Spoiler generates the
down force that causes good grip with road. There is no need to increase in vehicle weight for better
handling. Spoilers help in maintaining the traction at very high speed and provide the vehicle
stability. Installing the rear spoiler on vehicle not only increase the traction but also increases the
braking stability because of the down force generated by it. This braking stability makes easier
brake timing even at high speed and make safe ride. Many car owners install spoilers as an
aesthetic accessory and they do a very good job by providing the stylish look and make them look
cool. This idea first introduced in the 1970s, when Porsche launched the 911 Turbo models, which
featured whale tail spoiler on the back.
III. OBJECTIVE
The main objective of this project is to study and analyze the effect of rear spoiler on drag
and lift of hatchback.
IV. METHODOLOGY
A. Modeling of VW Polo with and without spoiler and ahmed body is done using Creo 2.0 as
modeling software.
B. Validation of solver settings for Ansys fluent 15 by performing simulation for drag analysis on
Ahmed body.
C. CFD analysis for drag, lift, velocity and pressure contours of VW Polo without spoiler.
D. CFD analysis for determining drag, lift, velocity and pressure contours of VW Polo with spoiler.
E. Comparison of results of both cases.
V. MODELING OF VW POLO IN CREO 2.0
Modeling of Volkswagen Polo with and without spoiler is done in Creo 2.0 modeling
software. The dimensions of Volkswagen Polo car are obtained from internet source and accordingly
modeled (Source:http://www.volkswagen.co.in/en/models/polo/polo-variant.html)
VI. MODELING OF AHMED BODY IN CREO 2.0
Modeling of Ahmed body with rear slant angle of 300 is done in Creo 2.0 modeling software.
The dimensions of Ahmed body are obtained from internet source and accordingly modeled.
(Source: www.CFDonline.com)
Figure 1. Dimensions of Volkswagen Polo
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Figure 2. Volkswagen Polo – Without spoiler
Figure 4. Dimensions of Ahmed body
Figure 3. Volkswagen Polo – With spoiler
Figure 5. Ahmed body with rear slant angle of 300
VII. VALIDATION OF SOLVER SETTING WITH AHMED BODY
Before starting the actual analysis of the car model for various parameters like drag and lift
coefficients; the solver settings required for analysis need to be verified for their correctness. So the
validation has been done using ahmed body by comparing the CD value with the paper by Ashish
sing et al.[2]. Ahmed model [1] is a simple generic ground vehicle model that represents all flow
physics developed by any ground vehicle when slant surface changes its angle. It has become a
benchmark for aerodynamic simulation tools. It is seen in previous literature that flow changes its
behavior from fully attached to fully separated for a critical angle near 30 degree. Figure 6. shows
the meshed model of the ahmed body in Ansys fluent 15. Tetrahedron mesh is converted into
polyhedral so as to reduce computational time without considerable loss of accuracy.
Figure 6. Meshed model of ahmed body
The inflation layer selected is around 20% with five layers and the number of cell elements
present were around 0.2 million. The results obtained regarding pressure and velocity contour are
shown in the figure 7. and 8. respectively. The gauge pressure found at the stagnation point is around
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1 kpa. Velocity contour shows zero velocity at the stagnation point and wake region behind the
vehicle.
Figure 7. Contours of Static Pressure (Pascal)
Figure 8. Contours of Velocity Magnitude (m/s)
The graph of coefficient of drag for the above meshed model of ahmed body is shown in
figure 9. CD obtained for the current solver settings is around 0.32 which is found to be nearer to the
results obtained in previous studies [2].
Figure 9. CD for ahmed body
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The table below shows the validated results for CD values at various slant angles. At an angle
of 30º drag seems to be under-predicted by both Open FOAM and CFD++ software and is closer to
the experimental results. Hence it is concluded that the current solver settings are correct for further
analysis of actual car model.
Table 1. Validation of result for ahmed body[2]
Slant Angle
Experimental result
Open FOAM
CFD++
25º
0.285
0.292
0.314
30º
35º
0.379
0.263
0.315
0.317
0.291
0.301
VIII. CFD ANALYSIS OF VW POLO CAR ON ANSYS FLUENT 15
The cad model was imported to Ansys fluent 15 and an enclosure which represents the wind
tunnel is created as shown in figure 10.
Figure 10. Enclosure
The enclosure volume was meshed using tetrahedron elements and to capture the boundary
layer effects an inflation of 20% was created near the car surface as shown in figure
11. and
12. for both with and without spoiler. k-ω sst turbulence model was used for the cfd analysis. The
analysis was done at steady state.
Table 2. Boundary Conditions
Boundary conditions
Sr. No.
1
2
3
4
Parameter
Inlet Velocity
Outlet Pressure
Inflation layers
Growth rate
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Value
40 m/s
1 bar
5
20%
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International Journal of Modern Trends in Engineering and Research (IJMTER)
Volume 03, Issue 09, [September– 2016] ISSN (Online):2349–9745; ISSN (Print):2393-8161
Figure 11. Meshed model
Figure 12. Inflation layer
IX. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The figure 13. shows the pressure contour of VW Polo without spoiler. It can be seen that the
maximum pressure was observed at front bumper, windscreen and rear view mirrors. Figure 14.
shows the velocity contours around the car and figure 15. shows the velocity vectors around the car.
It can be seen that the velocity is almost zero near the front bumper lower portion and at the wake
region. Because of the absence of rear spoiler the flow is attached to rear end of car for relatively
longer length, due to which the wake region formed is smaller and near to the rear end.
Figure 13. Pressure contours without spoiler
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Figure 14. Velocity contours without spoiler
Figure 15. Velocity vectors without spoiler
Figure 16, 17 and 18 shows the pressure contour, velocity contour and velocity vector for
VW Polo with spoiler. In this case it is seen that the flow separates at the spoiler and because of
which the wake region formed is larger.
Figure 16. Pressure contours without spoiler
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Figure 17. Velocity contours without spoiler
Figure 18. Velocity vectors without spoiler
The graphs for coefficient of drag CD and coefficient of lift CL for VW Polo without and with
spoiler are shown in figures 19,20,21 and 22 respectively.
Figure 19. CD without spoiler
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Figure 20. CL without spoiler
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Figure 21. CD with spoiler
Figure 22. CL with spoiler
The results for drag and lift coefficients for above two cases are shown in Table 3.
Table 3. Values of CD and CL
Sr. No.
Parameter
Without spoiler
With spoiler
% Change
1
CD
0.36
0.39
+ 8.33
2
CL
0.44
0.18
- 59.09
X. CONCLUSION
Based on the above analysis conducted on VW Polo with and without spoiler it is evident that
the spoiler has a major impact on performance of a hatchback. It is found that the coefficient of drag,
coefficient of lift, wake region is affected with the addition of spoiler. Following conclusions can be
drawn from the above analysis,
A. Coefficient drag was increased by 8.33% with the addition of spoiler.
B. Coefficient of lift was reduced by 59.09% with the addition of spoiler.
C. It is found that the flow was attached for a longer length of rear end of car without spoiler due to
which wake region was smaller. With the introduction of spoiler the flow was separated at the
spoiler which resulted in increased wake region.
XI. ACKNOWLEDGMENT
We would like to thank VIT University for providing us with the laboratory facilities
equipped with the required simulation resources, without which we would not have been able to
undertake this research study.
REFERENCES
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Aerodynamics. No. 2011-26-0107. SAE Technical Paper, 2011.
[3] Kim, I., Chen, H., and Shulze, R., "A Rear
Spoiler of a New Type that Reduces the Aerodynamic Forces on a
Mini-Van," SAE Technical Paper 2006-01-1631.
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