We were honored to have Henry Tuit Farquhar from General Motors present at the SIMULIA Americas Users Conference, May 1-2, 2024 in Novi, Michigan.

This presentation was also shown during the EuroMed SIMULIA Conference 2024, on June 11–12, 2024  in Milan, Italy at the Politecnico di Milano.

Slide animations

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Abstract

In the context of vehicle electrification, improving vehicle aerodynamics is not only critical for efficiency and range, but also for driving experience. In order to balance the necessary trade-offs between drag and downforce without significant impact on the vehicle styling, we see an increasing amount of active aerodynamic solutions on high-end passenger vehicles. Active rear spoilers are one of the most common active aerodynamic features. They deploy at high vehicle speed when additional downforce is required [1][2].   
For a vehicle with an active rear spoiler, the aerodynamic performance is typically predicted through simulations or physical testing at different static spoiler positions. These positions range from fully stowed to fully deployed. However, this approach does not provide any information regarding the transient effects during the deployment of the rear spoiler, which can be critical to understanding key performance aspects of the system. 

In this paper, we propose a methodology leveraging Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations utilizing the Lattice Boltzmann Method (LBM) enabling the accurate simulation of transient aerodynamics forces during deployment of a rear spoiler on a production level passenger vehicle. The simulation results are then compared with full-scale wind tunnel physical test data as a validation of the approach. 

This capability enables engineering teams to provide information to guide design decisions and can be generalized to model other types of active systems on cars such as active grilles and front splitters.

Presenter Bio

Henry Tuit Farquhar is currently an Aerodynamics Engineer at General Motors. In his current role, Henry has been responsible for the aerodynamic performance of various battery-electric vehicles as well as G.M.’s Aero Competitive Benchmarking. Henry joined the Aero group following his completion of the TRACK rotational program, where he completed roles as a Body Structures CAE Engineer, Induction, Exhaust, and Thermal CAE Engineer, and Performance Parts Project Engineer. Prior to joining General Motors, Henry received his B.S. in Aerospace Engineering at the University of Maryland where he was Aero Lead for Terps Racing, the university’s Formula SAE team.