Aerodynamics Department

Fairing Design Iterations

Above are the first fairing design iterations designed prior to Critical Design Review (CDR).

- Preliminary Fairing Design (1)

- Final Fairing Design (2)

Design	Velocity (mph)	Aerodynamic Drag Force (lbs)
1	33	6.26
	40	8.43
	45	10.84
2	33	5.68
	40	8.07
	45	10.21

The above pictures show the Computational Fluid Dynamics study for the diferent models. The CFD analysis allowed to choose which fairing had the optimum aerodynamic characteristics. Not only we were able to visually check for the smoothness of the flow and the presence of any vortices but also get numerical data of the pressures and forces that the fairings undergo. This allowed us to change and modify the different designs to make them as aerodynamically efficient as possible.

The above table shows the numerical values of the drag force. Both designs were tested at different speeds. It is clear that the second design is a better fit aerodynamically; that is why this is the final design that the team decided to use.