Fun with OpenFoam
 

I'm playing with OpenFoam again. This is the motorBike tutorial . It shows a motorcycle air flowing past it at 20m/sec . The streamline colors indicate velocity. The surface colors of the motorcycle and rider however indicate pressure difference in Pascals from air pressure at MSL.

I'm still tying to figure out how to get a model of my car in there.

Boy, do I wish the flow had ever been that smooth on any motorcycle I ever rode.

Tuft tests and real world experience for decades tell me that typical motorcycle aerodynamics are as chaotic as the dog's breakfast.

That is a snap shot in time. If I had the time ( as well as CPU power and Disk space ) to make a movie you would see the buffeting and the changing turbulence. Also note that this is the simpleFoam solver, I can use a more complex and accurate solver to get better results.

As for now I'm just happy to get it all working. Snap shots of my car are to come soon. (I'm running the simulation right now)

here is the first picture. The air color is velocity. The car color is pressure.

I wish I had a better model of my car but this will let me learn the software better.

More pictures to follow

http://ecomodder.com/forum/attachmen...0&d=1339194888

You're getting me excited about OpenFOAM! Feel the envy...(wink)

unfortunately, after not getting the correct CD value of 0.36 and correcting errors I discovered that this digital model isn't the same as my car. It looks to be a w124 and not a w126 body :( off to find the right model now.

here is an update.

I still haven't been able to get a model of my car that I can use in OpenFOAM (I did find one for GTA IV but I can't convert it using blender) . I did however find a more accurate model of the w124 car and plugged it in and the CD dropped from 0.51 to 0.46 . I also had a major impact on the way the air flowed around the rear of the model. I can conclude from this 10% drag drop that accuracy of your model counts!

I'd really like to try out OpenFOAM, but haven't a clue how to operate the thing, nor do i know how to use linux very well. Care to make a tutorial?

I probably will try to but I'm still learning OpenFOAM. Once I get some accurate data I will make an attempt.

If you do up a 2006 corolla ce I will be your friend