High-performance road-vehicle optimised aerodynamic design:: Application of parallel 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 their aerodynamical properties. The system utilises an aerodynamic solver implemented on parallel MIMD systems, and features advanced tools for the evolution and meshing of car surfaces. The system allows one to include aerodynamic optimisation in the early stages of car design. It has been tested on a Ferrari auto model and full agreement between computed and measured aerodynamical properties was found. The code has been used for designing an optimised model with improved car safety. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. till rights reserved.