PPTX
Design & reverse-engineering deck
PPTX · 9.7 MB
The project
A small gravity-car project combining aerodynamic body development, fabrication, component modeling, and structural analysis. The work followed the design from a packaging envelope to a physical car and an assessment of its behavior.
My contribution
My contributions included comparison of wind-tunnel and simulation results, structural analysis using transferred CFD pressure, and models or drawings for the phone holder, wheel, battery chamber, and coupling. Other teammates led body surfacing and mold machining.
From question to method
- Developed and assembled the car within a defined envelope as a team.
- Compared measured and simulated drag, identifying speed mismatch and test-rig vibration as sources of disagreement.
- Transferred CFD pressure loads into a linear-static shell model of a 0.03-inch ABS body.
- Produced component models and drawings to connect the assembled design with its individual parts.
Inside the project
In motion
Gravity-car test footage.
Results & perspective
The project produced a physical gravity car, detailed component documentation, and a structural response model. The aerodynamic comparison showed substantial disagreement, which made experimental setup and model assumptions a central part of the analysis.
What I took from it
A model is useful when its limitations are understood. Working through the mismatch between wind-tunnel and CFD results helped identify what a better test would need to control.