Active Aerodynamics - Senior Design Project

Project Statement: Creating a rear mounted car wing for the Wash U Racing FSAE car, which has at minimum one adjustable wing element. The design must have at least two positions: an “up” configuration for cornering which maximizes downforce, and “down” configuration for straightaways which minimizes aerodynamic drag. The key to our design will be to minimize the amount of energy that is required to switch between the two positions and to maintain a single position. It is required for the improvements in downforce and reduction in drag to provide more benefit than the added weight to the vehicle. Performance Goals: 1. Weigh less than 4lbs 2. Actuate in less than ¾ second 3. Withstand 60 lbs of downforce 4. [Simulation] Create statistically significant increase in downforce in the ‘up’ configuration 5. [Simulation] Create statistically significant decrease in drag from the ‘up’ configuration to the ‘down’ configuration