Car preliminary design study

After completing the wing test project, I started a preliminary design of the car to overview the estimated performance of the vehicle. I though it was important to make this study at that point, since will indicate me if the car will deliver scale able F1 performance and find out if any other test is necessary on engine, clutch or other areas.

A first iteration of the surface was modeled in CATIA to be used as a DMU (digital mockup). The RB model created is a combined version of the 2010-2013 cars. They all have followed a rather steady evolution, than a revolution. This is why the outer surface has not changed significantly  As always  it is on the details that one can notice the differences.

I started the modelling with the legality box, based on the FIA F1 rules. This model is used to check that the car is within the constrains of the FIA. I used different colors depending on the section of the car.
The next step was to create the surface model of the car body, which means just the outer surface. Only the left section of the car is modeled to save CAD time. The model is then closed to create a solid which is used for the CFD analysis.

 The solid model was split for the front and rear sections. Each model is then independent and transferred into the CFD software.This model is used as well as a digital mock-up. It is used to locate the main components of the car, i.e. chassis, engine, radiators, rc servos, electronics and so on.

Using the generative surface design tools from CATIA the different car sections can be extracted to create separate assemblies. Each assembly is linked to the surface model and any changes to the surface or trimming features are associative to the assemblies.

At this point, the DMU was left on hold, in order to make the CFD analysis, weight estimation and dynamic simulations. With this three steps, an estimation of the performance has been obtained.