Aerodynamic optimization of a solar powered race vehicle

Aerodynamic optimization was performed on Tesseract, the MIT Solar Electric Vehicle Team's 2003-2005 solar car using Wind Tunnel 8 at Jacobs/Sverdrup Drivability Test Facility in Allen Park, MI. These tests include angle of attack and ride height optimization, as well as vehicle-level details such as wheel fairing length, surface finish, sealing, and rear-view mirrors. These tests achieved a net reduction in drag, an increase in stability due to lift force reduction, and valuable knowledge of boundary layer conditions which will be used in future designs.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Mechanical Engineering.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2006

Author dc:creator

• Augenbergs, Peteris K

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• J. Kim Vandiver.

• Mechanical Engineering.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/36295

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/36295