High-performance road-vehicle optimised aerodynamic design: Application ofparallel computing to car design

The HIPEROAD project has developed a software system capable of performing a semi-automatic optimisation of the shape of sport cars with respect to th eir aerodynamical properties. The system utilises an aerodynamic solver imp lemented on parallel MIMD systems, and features advanced tools for the evol ution and meshing of car surfaces. The system allows one to include aerodyn amic optimisation in the early stages of car design. It has been tested on a Ferrari auto model and full agreement between computed and measured aerod ynamical properties was found. The code has been used for designing an opti mised model with improved car safety. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. till r ights reserved.