Introduction/Background Theory

Any object moving through the air creates either a lifting force or a down force. In the field of aerospace it can be shown that the wing on an aircraft creates the lifting force necessary to allow the aerial vehicle to fly through the air. Certain relationships such as angle of attack and both lift and drag coefficients are very important parameters when analyzing the aerodynamics of the aircraft and in the end it affects the overall flight performance. Similar to aircraft wings, many race cars use spoilers (inverted wings) to force the car down onto the track which in turn increases traction for the vehicle and also overall performance. The spoiler located at the rear trunk on a sports car instead of providing lift on the vehicle itself, it creates what is known as down force. This down force is the same as the lift experienced by airplane wings with the exception being that it acts in the opposite direction to press down on the vehicle. Spoilers and wings are the most popular form of aerodynamic aid for a vehicle. These devices are able to perform very effectively and efficiently, generating a great deal of down force for a small penalty in drag force. The figure below illustrates the cross section of a car spoiler. Figure XXXX Spoiler Cross-section(Inverted Airfoil)

Figure 1: Spoiler Cross-section(Inverted Airfoil)

Modern rear spoilers for automobiles produce approximately 30-35 % of the total down force experienced by the car. On tracks with many turns, more down force is needed for better cornering and maneuvering capabilities, therefore the spoiler is set at higher angles of attack. Conversely, on tracks with long straights, the spoiler is at smaller angles of attack, thus reducing air drag and allowing the vehicle to reach higher top speeds. Spoilers like aircraft wings increase their lift coefficient as their angle of attack is increased. At a particular angle, flow begins to separate from the wing, this in turn causes a drop in the lift coefficient(down force) and creates an undesired condition known as the stall. The figure below depicts this condition. In the case of the car spoiler at a particular angle of attack it loses its effectiveness in creating down force and instead creates purely drag force which in turn hinders the performance of the vehicle.

Figure 2: Lift Curve Slope for Cambered Airfoil (CL Vs. AOA)

Figure 3: Airfoil Nomenclature

The figure depicted above shows the cross section of a cambered aircraft wing. Spoilers and wings for vehicles have the same nomenclature but inverted for the reasons described earlier. Like airplane wings, car spoilers work by differentiating pressure between the top surface and bottom surface of the spoiler. It has been proven through Bernoullis Theory that the higher the speed of a given volume of air, the lower the pressure that air has, and vice-versa. What the spoiler does is it makes the air passing under it travel a larger distance than the air passing over due to the curvature or camber of the airfoil. Because air molecules approaching the leading edge of the wing are forced to separate, part of the air going over the top of the wing, and the other part going under the bottom are forced to travel different distances in order to "Meet up" again at the trailing edge of the wing at the same time. This idea is part of Bernoulli's theory. What happens is that the lower pressure area under the spoiler allows the higher pressure area above the spoiler to push down, and therefore create a down force on the car it is mounted on. For this experiment we analyzed the performance characteristics of a spoiler in a wind tunnel. An investigation of the pressure distribution and down force created with respect to angle of attack was investigated.

Baseline Geometry Single-element case Span, b = Chord, c = Area, A NACA

Multi-element case Span, b = Chord, c = Area, A NACA The figure XXXX shows the selected airfoil from a known American high performance sports car of a Mustang 1994-1998.