Optimal Configuration of a Rear Wing to Improve Stability and Aerodynamic Efficiency of a Sedan Using Computational Fluid Dynamics
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15282/ijame.22.4.2025.21.0998Keywords:
Rear wing, Sedan car, Aerodynamic efficiency, CFD, Negative liftAbstract
The rear wing mounted on a sedan's trunk is primarily designed to enhance the car's aerodynamics, particularly when driving at high speeds. This component generates a downward force, which increases ground adhesion, improving stability during driving. This study aims to determine the optimal configuration of a rear wing installed on the trunk of a sedan to improve its stability and aerodynamic efficiency. Using the mesh selected from the independence study, through Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) method, we compared the lift (Cl) and drag (Cd) coefficients, as well as the lift to drag ratio (Cl/Cd) for different rear wings shaped by NACA 4412, SD7032, E387, NASA SC(2)-0714, and S826 profiles to find their optimal configuration. The simulations include angles of attack (α) between 0 and 15° and vehicle speeds of 36, 72, 108, and 144 km/h. Subsequently, we studied the fluid behavior around the sedan with and without the rear wing. Then, the rear wing height ratios (b/H) that show the best aerodynamic performance were analyzed. Apart from the NACA 4412 profile, the profiles used here have not been previously analyzed in rear-wing applications on sedans, which adds to the value of this research. The results show that, at various driving speeds of the sedan, different rear wings achieve the best Cl. The suitable configurations are NACA 4412 at α = 9° (for 36 km/h speed), S826 at α = 7° (for 72 and 108 km/h), and NASA SC(2)-0714 at α = 10° (for 144 km/h).
References
[1] M. Fabian, R. Huňady, and O. Lagos, “Design modification of the combi-type body considering the impact on vehicle aerodynamics - Case study,” Manufacturing Technology, vol. 23, no. 6, pp. 801–809, 2023.
[2] H. Kumar, A. Pingua, and S. Gupta, “Effect of different wing profile and wing height on aerodynamic performance of a sedan vehicle,” in International Conference on Mechanical and Production Engineering, 2019, pp. 30–34.
[3] H. Eftekhari, A. S. M. Al-Obaidi, and S. Eftekhari, “The effect of spoiler shape and setting angle on racing cars aerodynamic performance,” Indonesian Journal of Science and Technology, vol. 5, no. 1, pp. 11–20, 2020.
[4] M. H. Roslan, H. Hasbullah, T. Ramesh, D. Hissein Didane, B. Manshoor, and H. A. Kabrein, “Effect of a spoiler on the aerodynamic performance of a race car on track using two different turbulence models,” Journal of Design for Sustainable and Environment, vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 28–37, 2023.
[5] D. S. Nath, P. C. Pujari, A. Jain, and V. Rastogi, “Drag reduction by application of aerodynamic devices in a race car,” Advances in Aerodynamics, vol. 3, no. 1, p. 4, 2021.
[6] G. Sivaraj, K. M. Parammasivam, and G. Suganya, “Reduction of aerodynamic drag force for reducing fuel consumption in road vehicle using basebleed,” Journal of Applied Fluid Mechanics, vol. 11, no. 6, pp. 1489–1495, 2018.
[7] R. C. Das and M. Riyad, “CFD analysis of passenger vehicleat various angle of rear end spoiler,” Procedia Engineering, vol. 194, pp. 160–165, 2017.
[8] T. P. O’Driscoll and A. R. Barron, “CFD analysis of the location of a rear wing on an Aston Martin DB7 in order to optimize aerodynamics for motorsports,” Vehicles, vol. 4, no. 2, pp. 608–620, 2022.
[9] S.-Y. Cheng and S. Mansor, “Influence of rear-roof spoiler on the aerodynamic performance of hatchback vehicle,” MATEC web of conferences, vol. 90, p. 01027, 2017.
[10] Statista, “Global car sales distribution by type 2023.” Accessed: Dec. 01, 2023. [Online]. Available: https://www.statista.com/statistics/276567/global-market-share-of-passenger-car-sales-by-vehicle-type/
[11] R. D. R. Mariaprakasam, S. Mat, P. M. Samin, N. Othman, M. Ab Wahid, and M. Said, “Review on flow controls for vehicles aerodynamic drag reduction,” Journal of Advanced Research in Fluid Mechanics and Thermal Sciences, vol. 101, no. 1, pp. 11–36, 2023.
[12] R. Bahoosh, M. Rohani, and M. R. Saffarian, “Numerical simulations of spoiler’s effect on a hatchback and a sedan car exposed to crosswind effect,” Journal of Applied and Computational Mechanics, vol. 9, no. 2, pp. 346–356, 2023.
[13] M. Z. Nawam, M. A. M. Rosli, and N. A. S. Rosli, “Simulation study on the effect of rear-wing spoiler on the open aerodynamic performance of sedan vehicle,” Journal of Advanced Research in Fluid Mechanics and Thermal Sciences, vol. 49, no. 2, pp. 146–154, 2018.
[14] M. Abid, H. A. Wajid, M. Z. Iqbal, S. Najam, A. Arshad, and A. Ahmad, “Design and analysis of an aerodynamic downforce package for a formula student race car,” IIUM Engineering Journal, vol. 18, no. 2, pp. 212–224, 2017.
[15] J. Broniszewski and J. Piechna, “A fully coupled analysis of unsteady aerodynamics impact on vehicle dynamics during braking,” Engineering Applications of Computational Fluid Mechanics, vol. 13, no. 1, pp. 623–641, 2019.
[16] A. Al Saadi and A. Hassanpour, “Simulations of aerodynamic behaviour of a super utility vehicle using computational fluid dynamics,” Advances in Automobile Engineering, vol. 5, no. 1, pp. 1–5, 2016.
[17] J. Dušek, M. Chrust, and G. Bouchet, “Transitional Dynamics of Freely Falling Discs,” in Notes on Numerical Fluid Mechanics and Multidisciplinary Design, vol. 133, 2016, pp. 105–116.
[18] C.-H. Tsai, L.-M. Fu, C.-H. Tai, Y.-L. Huang, and J.-C. Leong, “Computational aero-acoustic analysis of a passenger car with a rear spoiler,” Applied Mathematical Modelling, vol. 33, no. 9, pp. 3661–3673, 2009.
[19] C. Fu, M. Uddin, and A. C. Robinson, “Turbulence modeling effects on the CFD predictions of flow over a NASCAR Gen 6 racecar,” Journal of Wind Engineering and Industrial Aerodynamics, vol. 176, pp. 98–111, 2018.
[20] M. Dickison, M. Ghaleeh, S. Milady, S. Subbakrishna, L. T. Wen, and M. Al. Qubeissi, “Investigation into the aerodynamic performance of a concept sports car,” Journal of Applied Fluid Mechanics, vol. 13, no. 2, pp. 583–601, 2020.
[21] M. P. Bambhania and J. Deepak, “Numerical simulation of two-dimensional ahmed body numerical simulation of two-dimensional ahmed body abstract,” International Journal of Fluid and Thermal Engineering, vol. 1, pp. 21-26, 2016.
[22] K. Koca, M. S. Genç, H. H. Açıkel, M. Çağdaş, and T. M. Bodur, “Identification of flow phenomena over NACA 4412 wind turbine airfoil at low Reynolds numbers and role of laminar separation bubble on flow evolution,” Energy, vol. 144, pp. 750–764, 2018.
[23] A. Buljac, I. Džijan, I. Korade, S. Krizmanić, and H. Kozmar, “Automobile aerodynamics influenced by airfoil-shaped rear wing,” International Journal of Automotive Technology, vol. 17, no. 3, pp. 377–385, 2016.
[24] J.-H. Xu, W.-P. Song, Z.-H. Han, and Z.-H. Zhao, “Effect of mach number on high-subsonic and low-Reynolds-number flows around airfoils,” International Journal of Modern Physics B, vol. 34, no. 14n16, p. 2040112, 2020.
[25] A. B. M. T. Hasan and M. M. Alam, “RANS computation of transonic buffet over a supercritical airfoil,” Procedia Engineering, vol. 56, pp. 303–309, 2013.
[26] J. Bartl, K. F. Sagmo, T. Bracchi, and L. Sætran, “Performance of the NREL S826 airfoil at low to moderate Reynolds numbers—A reference experiment for CFD models,” European Journal of Mechanics-B/Fluids, vol. 75, pp. 180–192, 2019.
[27] Airfoil Tools, “Airfoil Database.” Accessed: Dec. 30, 2023. [Online]. Available: http://www.airfoiltools.com/
[28] A. Kozelkov, N. Galanov, and A. Kurkin, “Numerical investigation of NASA SC (2)-0714 airfoil icing in a supersonic flow,” Fluids, vol. 10, no. 10, p. 260, 2025.
[29] F. Mallor, R. Vinuesa, R. Örlü, and P. Schlatter, “High-fidelity simulations of the flow around a NACA 4412 wing section at high angles of attack,” International Journal of Heat and Fluid Flow, vol. 110, p. 109590, 2024.
[30] F. Mallor, C. Sanmiguel Vila, M. Hajipour, R. Vinuesa, P. Schlatter, and R. Örlü, “Experimental characterization of turbulent boundary layers around a NACA 4412 wing profile,” Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science, vol. 160, p. 111327, 2025.
[31] G. F. Rosetti, G. Vaz, and A. L. C. Fujarra, “URANS calculations for smooth circular cylinder flow in a wide range of Reynolds numbers: Solution verification and validation,” Journal of Fluids Engineering, vol. 134, no. 12, 2012.
[32] H. Schlichting and K. Gersten, Boundary-Layer Theory. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 2000.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 The Author(s)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
