Benetton Formula 1 - The Race Is On with STAR-CD!

July 28, 2001

During the last two years, leading Formula One teams have beenracing to get aerodynamic design improvement through whole-car CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) simulation using CFD codes such as STAR-CD.

Benetton Formula 1 are using CFD techniques to gain more insight into the flowfield than can be achieved by wind tunnel measurements. In collaboration with CD (Computational Dynamics Ltd, a member of CD-adapco) Benetton Formula 1’s design engineers are using STAR-CD to "fine tune" the aerodynamics of their race cars.

The method starts by importing geometry of a CAD model of the car and then building a CFD mesh automatically using STAR-CD's engineering-based expert software tool "es-aero". The mesh exploits symmetry for half-car modelling with about 10 million cells. Thanks to scalable parallel computing, these large scale simulations can typically be completed overnight. By building up fine mesh layers from the CAD surface, an incredibly high flow resolution can be achieved. For example the flow for the leading edge of a Benetton front wing can be accurately resolved to within 1 millimetre!

This approach to high resolution CFD simulation provides results that capture the car's aerodynamic flowfield in extreme detail, including the effects of wheel motion and the thermal air-density affects of the cooling air leaving the engine bay.

The race is truly on at Benetton Formula 1 to use STAR-CD to push aerodynamic design of their F1 cars to new heights.

For details regarding applications outlined in this press release please contact CD-adapco