Aerodynamic Numerical Simulation in the Process of Car Styling

With the development of automotive industry of China, more and more new cars are brought out. Then more and more stylists and engineers will take part in car styling to design new car. In the process of car styling, Car aerodynamics is important to its performance. Especially for more excellent handling and stability performance, more aerodynamic analysis and optimization should been done. At first it was introduced that the process of car styling in this paper. The functions of aerodynamics in the process were indicated. Secondly some ways of aerodynamic analysis were put forward. The first one is wind tunnel test and the second one called virtual wind tunnel test. The virtual wind tunnel test is one of the best modern ways of aerodynamic design which apply in the fields of aerodynamic research widely. It was based on computational fluid dynamics. The details of the virtual wind tunnel test simulation were narrated in this paper. Applying the virtual wind tunnel test aerodynamic drag coefficient, velocity contour and pressure distribution were got. Some advices to reduce aerodynamic drag of the design car were put forward. In one word, it is one simple, effective, convenient and fast way for aerodynamic design in car styling process using virtual wind tunnel test.