What Is the Best Advanced Aerodynamics Book for Car Design?

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For advanced aerodynamics in car design, recommendations include Anderson's "Intro to Aerodynamics" and his "Computational Fluid Dynamics" book, which provide a solid foundation in the principles of aerodynamics. While some suggest starting with aeronautical engineering texts, others argue that automotive-specific books are sufficient given prior knowledge from fluid mechanics. The discussion highlights the importance of understanding computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and its practical applications, although concerns are raised about its accessibility leading to potential misuse by untrained individuals. The conversation emphasizes the need for a strong grasp of underlying concepts to avoid meaningless results in CFD simulations. Overall, a combination of foundational texts and targeted automotive aerodynamics resources is advised for effective learning and application.
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Hi
Actually I am doing Mechanical engg. I want to study now aerodynamics. For the fundamentals of fluid mechanics I already have a book (okkishi, munson) but what book would you recommend for going advanced or deeper in lift, drag , downforce, stability. Actually I want to apply these concpets on aerodynamic design of cars so can u recommend a very good book relating to that.
 
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That's a good book, I have it. Find an SAE book on aerodynamics specific to cars.

Edit: Since we get asked this question so often, I think I'm going to buy a book on this subject and read it.
 
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Don't you think if i read aerodynamics books of aeronautical engg. first that would clear all concepts in general rather than just cars and then i would take an sae book on cars specifically and apply the principles better on cars and more effectively.
can u suggest me any book.
 
I really don't see why you would need an aeronautical engineering book for general concepts. You should have had sufficient exposure with Young & Okkishi to move on to an automotive aerodynamics book. Besides, real aerodynamics is highly empirical testing, not solving the NS equations for explicit solutions (which is not possible the majority of the time: hence CFD).
 
If you want a sound knowledge of the concepts involved, I would read Anderson's "Intro to Aerodynamics" book. Anderson has a very deep knowledge and insight into the physics of aerodynamics that you won't find in many other books. Too many "fluid dynamics" books get bogged down in endless mathematical gobbledygook.
 
As I said, I've read both books. The one he has is sufficient.
 
so i should start cfd also because I haven't till now. So any good books on cfd also?
 
Why do you want to jump into CFD, a graduate topic? Look, just buy a book on automotive aerodynamics and read it. If you get stuck, reference back to your Okkishi book. Jeez guy, stop making life hard on yourself. If you want to do some CFD work, you're not going to write your own CFD code, you will likely use software, ala Fluent, Flow Works, STAR, or the like.

Here, try finding some of these books in the Library: https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_...tive+aerodynamics&x=25&y=23&tag=pfamazon01-20

Also, try to find some SAE publications that you can read through.
 
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yeah, i meant software like ansys.
If i will not start learning cfd how will i experiment with different surfaces to be added to car.
 
  • #10
Without proper instruction and training, CFD won't teach you that. You'll just end up with poor results that you draw incorrect conclusions from.

I like Cyrus' recommendation.
 
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  • #12
Brian_C said:
Plenty of engineers without graduate degrees use CFD
They sure do!

and need to understand how it works.
That's the problem. CFD has become usable by anyone, and is inherently a black box.
Import the geometry
Free mesh with no controls; whatever it doesn't matter
Specify whatever boundary conditions I can; hell I don't need to know if they're well posed
Um...randomly choose a turbulence model
Start
oooooo, look at those streamlines!

Read the parts of Anderson's aerodynamics book relevant to incompressible flow, then take a look at his "Computational Fluid Dynamics" book.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0072373350/?tag=pfamazon01-20
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0070016852/?tag=pfamazon01-20
GREAT books!
 
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  • #13
minger said:
They sure do!That's the problem. CFD has become usable by anyone, and is inherently a black box.
Import the geometry
Free mesh with no controls; whatever it doesn't matter
Specify whatever boundary conditions I can; hell I don't need to know if they're well posed
Um...randomly choose a turbulence model
Start
oooooo, look at those streamlines!GREAT books!
I am reviving this thread because I have some questions minger raised... What your saying is that CFD has become a blackbox and relatively untrained ppl can use it for specific problems.

I am an entering graduate student in the field of CFD and what you said concerns me. What type of research or skills does an up and coming CFD researcher bring to the table? What are the skills required to excel at the forefront of aerodynamics CFD research? My concern is that I am going into a field that can already be advanced my untrained people using blackboxes...
 
  • #14
Btwestyo said:
I am reviving this thread because I have some questions minger raised... What your saying is that CFD has become a blackbox and relatively untrained ppl can use it for specific problems.

I am an entering graduate student in the field of CFD and what you said concerns me. What type of research or skills does an up and coming CFD researcher bring to the table? What are the skills required to excel at the forefront of aerodynamics CFD research? My concern is that I am going into a field that can already be advanced my untrained people using blackboxes...

I think that minger's comment was done with sarcasm.

Sure, almost anyone can put numbers into a CFD program and they will surely get a result. But if you don't understand what the program does, you will probably end up with meaningless results.

Garbage in --> Garbage out

I found this wiki link about guidelines for turbomachinery CFD that might enlighten you about what CFD can do and cannot do (yet) and how difficult it can be to choose an appropriate CFD simulation to solve a problem. And that's only for turbomachinery.
 
  • #15
Btwestyo said:
What are the skills required to excel at

curiosity
 
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