This paper details an aeroelastic concept for an adaptive and passive wing, which is primarily aimed for use within automotive sector to reduce drag and fuel emissions. The work will also be of interest in the motorsport sector to improve performance and also some applications within aerospace and renewable energy sectors. The wind tunnel testing of a spring mounted symmetrical NACA 0012 wing in freestream is studied over 0° to 40° angles of incidence. General operation of the concept is verified at low angles in the prestall region with that of a theoretical estimation using finite and infinite wings. Three distinct regions are identified, pre-stall, near-stall and post-stall. The transient limitations associated in the near-stall region with variations in spring loading and flow velocities are discovered. It is identified as a periodic self-sustained oscillation with non-dimensional reduced frequencies in a range of 0.14 to 0.22. Furthermore, performance in the post-stall region along with pre-stall is reported and methods for the adjustment of the elastic element for a desired response are introduced. Evaluation is conducted with regard to an automotive application such as a rear wing on a high downforce race car. Typically a 25% increase in wind velocity in the pre-stall region results in a 3°-5° change in angle of incidence corresponding to a 25-40 % reduction of drag coefficient depending on spring stiffness. Reductions of 20° in angle of incidence with similar 25% increase in wind velocity are typically found in the post-stall region. Even larger reductions are found when transitioning through the stall region. This work provides a valuable insight for a novel concept, but we only recommend its use in the pre-stall region to achieve steady results. Use at higher angles is only recommended if transient effects are not important. Limitations to this proof of concept work are highlighted and future development work is suggested to achieve further increases in performance.

Porosity, porosity distribution, porous shape, porous size, thickness of shield, shield height &width, and shield orientation are the factors that influence the performance of porous wind shields. Among them, porosity is the most important factor in determining the performance of porous shields. However shield height & width have major impacts on the performance of shields. The remaining factors play less significant influences on the performance of the shield, but they remain researching interests to be further studied.

In the drive towards a sustainable bio-economy, a growing interest exists in the development of composite materials using renewable natural resources. This paper explores the life cycle assessment of processing of Flax fibre reinforced polylactic acid (PLA), with a comparison of glass fibre triaxial fabric in the production process. The use of hydrocarbon fossil resources and synthetic fibres, such as glass and carbon, have caused severe environmental impacts in their entire life cycles. Whereas, Flax/PLA is one of the cornerstones for the sustainable economic growth of natural fibre composites. In this study, the manufacturing processes for the production of Flax/PLA tape and triaxial glass fibre were evaluated through a gate-to-gate life cycle assessment (LCA). The assessment was based on an input-output model to estimate energy demand and environmental impacts. The quality of the natural hybrid composite produced and cost-effectiveness of their LCA was dependent on their roving processing speeds and temperature applied to both the Flax/PLA tape and triaxial glass fabrics during processing. The optimum processing condition was found to be at a maximum of 4 m/min at a constant temperature of 170 °C. In contrast, the optimum for normal triaxial glass fibre production was at a slower speed of 1 m/min using a roving glass fibre laminating machine. The results showed that when the Flax and PLA were combined to produce new composite material in the form of a flax/PLA tape, energy consumption was 0.25 MJ/kg, which is lower than the 0.8 MJ/kg used for glass fibre fabric process. Flax/PLA tape and glass fibre fabric composites have a carbon footprint equivalent to 0.036 kg CO2 and 0.11 kg CO2, respectively, under the same manufacturing conditions. These are within the technical requirements in the composites industry. The manufacturing process adopted to transform Flax/PLA into a similar tape composite was considerably quicker than that of woven glass fibre fabric for composite tape. This work elucidated the relationship of the energy consumptions of the two materials processes by using a standard LCA analytical methodology. The outcomes supported an alternative option for replacement of some conventional composite materials for the automotive industry. Most importantly, the natural fibre composite production is shown to result in an economic benefit and reduced environmental impact.

The flow-induced deformation of a membrane in a flow with a pressure gradient is studied. The investigation focuses on the deformation of aerodynamically loaded convertible car roofs. A computational methodology is developed with a line-element structural model that incorporates initial slackness of the flexible roof material. The computed flow-structure interaction yields stable solutions, the flexible roof settling into static equilibrium. The interaction converges to a static deformation within 1% difference in the displacement variable after three iterations between fluid and structural codes. Reasonably accurate predictions, to within 7%, are possible using only a single iteration between the fluid and the structural codes for the model problem studied herein. However, the deformation results are shown to be highly dependent on the physical parameters that are used in the calculation. Accurate representation of initial geometry, material properties and slackness should be found before the predictive benefits of the fluid-structure computations are sought. The iterative methodology overcomplicates the computation of deformation for the relatively small displacements encountered for the model problem studied herein. Such an approach would be better suited to applications with large amplitude displacements such as those encountered in sail design or deployment of a parachute.

Diffusers are typically used in motorsport to generate negative lift (downforce). They also reduce aerodynamic drag and so significantly enhance aerodynamic efficiency. The amount of downforce generated is dependent on ride height, diffuser ramp angle and its relative length to that of the vehicle length. This paper details a numerical investigation of the effects of ride height and diffuser ramp angle in order to find an optimum downforce and efficiency for the inverted Ahmed model. A short and long diffuser with ratios of 10% and 35% respectively to that of vehicle length are studied. The short diffuser produced lower maximum downforce and efficiency at a lower ride height and lower angle when compared to the longer diffuser. The long diffuser produced highest downforce and the best efficiency with a ramp angle of 25 degrees at ride height ratio of 3.8% when compared to vehicle length. Different ride heights were found to correspond to different diffuser ramp angles to achieve optimum downforce and efficiencies.