How to Reduce Wind Resistance in Cars?
1 Answers
Methods to reduce wind resistance in cars include: 1. Flat underbody: A flat underbody not only reduces the resistance when air flows through but also minimizes the lift caused by turbulence. The ideal underbody consists of a complete lightweight underbody armor, but this is generally not cost-effective. Electric vehicles do not have an exhaust system, so their underbody design is naturally flatter. With reasonable component layout, they usually achieve better aerodynamic performance. 2. Utilize ground effect: Ground effect involves using baffles around the car body to divert the airflow that originally passes under the car to both sides of the body while reducing the entry of airflow from both sides into the vehicle's underside. This creates a low-pressure area between the car and the ground, resulting in a pressure difference between the car body and underbody, generating additional downforce. This enhances tire grip, reduces rolling friction, and improves energy efficiency. 3. Various airflow guiding devices: In areas where the car body's angle changes exceed 12 degrees (such as the rear), using spoilers, diffusers, and other guiding devices can improve the car's aerodynamic performance. Their general principle is to guide airflow more smoothly over the car body, preventing turbulence around it. 4. Enclosed wheel hubs: Those who often watch F1 races are certainly familiar with this design, which has existed for a long time but is rarely used in traditional car designs because enclosed wheel hubs significantly affect the cooling performance of the braking system. When a car is in motion, due to the effect of air, aerodynamic forces in three directions—longitudinal, lateral, and vertical—are generated around the car's center of gravity, affecting high-speed driving differently. Among these, the longitudinal aerodynamic force is the largest, accounting for over 80% of the total aerodynamic force. Therefore, the component of the aerodynamic force acting on the car in the direction of travel during straight-line driving is called air resistance.
