A Study on the effect of fairing designs of Go Kart on its performance using CFD analysis

Abstract

The primary purpose of the study focuses on the aerodynamic performance of Go Kart with optimized fairing designs using Computational fluid dynamics (CFD). CFD is a modelling technique for fluids which utilizes iterative methods to solve continuity and momentum equations as well as any other auxiliary equations depending upon the type of application. The computational simulations are carried out assuming the steady state viscous fluid flow using Reynolds-averaged-Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations and the standard shear stress transport (SST) k-ω. This paper studies the effect of the modified fairing on the overall aerodynamic performance of the kart such as the amount of drag force and down force generated at different speeds as well the coefficient of drag of the entire kart model (C_d). Three models with different fairing designs were created using CAD software SOLIDWORKS 2018 and analyzed using ANSYS Fluent, the latter two models having optimized fairing designs. The aerodynamic behaviour of the three models Fairing 1, 1.1 & 1.2 is observed at 60 kmph and the simulated result indicates improved aerodynamic performance by both optimized fairings. Fairing 3 in particular exhibits nearly 48% decrease in drag force and a 10% decrease in C_d. This can offer a significantly better performance and reduced fuel consumption compared to the original design.