SAE TECHNICAL

PAPER SERIES

2000-01-0491

A New Aerodynamic Approach to

Advanced Automobile Basic Shapes
Alberto Morelli
Torino Technical University

Reprinted From: Vehicle Aerodynamics

(SP1524)

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2000-01-0491

A New Aerodynamic Approach to

Advanced Automobile Basic Shapes
Alberto Morelli
Torino Technical University
Copyright 2000 Society of Automotive Engineers, Inc.

ABSTRACT

1/ ), in those special cases where the goal was a speed

record or a low energy consumption, etc., /2/. Otherwise,
for about two decades the production motorcars maintained the look of a horseless carriage, with the driver in
open air position. Their Cx exceeded the value of unity, /
3/. In the 10s Renault, /4/, introduced a limousine with
the driver inside the passenger compartment and the Cx
dropped down well below one. This good result, however,
came as a fall-out of the new solution, aiming at a more
comfortable position for the driver.

Aerodynamic basic shapes are generally intended as non

wheeled bodies moving at a small distance from the
ground, effective and suitable for automobile applications.The shape is furthermore designed to comply with
requirements other than aerodynamic accomodating
occupants, luggage and mechanical parts within as small
as possible overall dimensions. However, even though
the basic body drag coefficient can be as low as 0.05, the
addition of wheels may increase the body drag, by two to
three times.

2. SHORT HISTORICAL ACCOUNT ON

AERODYNAMIC IMPROVEMENTS

The new approach starts from the definition of aerodynamic criteria such as total lift close to zero, the pitching
moment sign and value consistent with road holding and
stability, a reduced sensitivity to side wind, gradual variation of the cross sections, etc.. Then, the presence of the
wheels is taken into account in order to reduce their aerodynamic interference with the body, and to manage the
wake mechanisms in order to recover the kinetic energy
of the flow without fitting the body with a solid diffuser: in
fact, this would increase the car length without contributing much to the usable space.

It was only from the early thirties that Jaray introduced

the composite shape. Fig. 1, appearing in his patent
(see also /3/, pag. 39-46), shows the method consisting
of combining the elements taken from the typical bodies
used in aeronautics: the airship main body and the
aeroplane wing section. Both the elements are cambered, following the previous experience carried out by
Klemperer, /5/, aimed at demonstrating the beneficial
effect of a curved camberline on streamlined bodies
when located close to the ground, as is the case of automobiles disregarding the wheels.

Theoretical and experimental work leading to a new

shape particularly short in the rear part and able to
improve both the accomodation of passengers in the rear
seats and the visibility outside - at present a major drawback of actual cars - are shown together with aerodynamic drag benefits.
Other advantages resulting from the application of the
method are finally discussed.

1. INTRODUCTION
The attempt of introducing aerodynamic body shapes
dates from the beginning of the automobile era (1890, /

Figure 1.

The Jaray composite basic shape

is conventionally called form drag coefficient.

0.70
Cx
0.60

(1)
(2)
(4)

0.50

(5)

(3)

0.40

(6)

(7)

(9) (10)

(12)
(13)

(8)

(20)

As supplementary information, we remind that Cf has a

small value ranging from 0.02 to 0.03, i.e., less than 10 %
of the Cx of actual contemporary cars.

(11)

(14)

0.30

(15)

(16)

0.20

Coming back to the application of the Jaray composite

form, we remark an average improvement of Cx of 0.15,
i.e., more than 20 % less with respect to the 0.65 values
of the early 30s.

(19)
(18)

(17)

(21)

0.10
0.00
1930

Figure 2.

1940

1950

1960

1970
Year

1980

1990

2000

Cx vs. time. 1) FIAT Balilla 2) FIAT 1500 3)

FIAT Topolino 4) Lancia Aprilia 5) FIAT
500 C 6) FIAT 600 7) FIAT 850 8) AlfaRomeo Giulia 9) FIAT 124 10) FIAT 127
11) FIAT 132 12) FIAT Ritmo 13) FIAT
Panda 14) FIAT Uno 15) FIAT Tipo 16)
Lancia Thema 17) FIAT Tempra 18) FIAT
Punto 19) FIAT Brava 20) Kamm car 21)
FIAT Tipo3.

Fig. 2 shows Cx vs. time from 1930 to 2000 as measured

in the same full scale wind tunnel (except car n. 20). Most
of the models are FIAT Group cars having aerodynamic
characteristics in line with the European production models.

Figure 3.

It can be seen that Cx dropped down by more than one

half in the six decades considered. It can be also
remarked that the progress was obtained by two steps.

Having accomplished such an important improvement in

drag, the manufacturers seemed to be skeptical about
further reductions and Cx remained practically
unchanged (Cx 0,5) for about three decades, even
though prototypes like the Kamm car, Fig. 3, proved a Cx
= 0.37 with a hatch-back rear end (K tail) much more
practical than the Jaray shape as far as the accomodation of passengers and baggage in the rear is concerned.
Kamm justified the benefit in drag by a better flow separation in the rear part of his body, not mentioning at all the
abatement of lift, /6/.

The first step occurred in the thirties by the introduction of

the Jaray composite form, which, by the way, became
fashionable.
Let us consider the Cx as the sum of two terms:
Cx = Cf + ( Ci + Cs ).

(1)

The first, Cf, friction drag is the viscous drag coefficient.

The second, (Ci + Cs), is usually called the pressure
drag coefficient , being associated with the pressure, p,
distribution on the body surface. From a conceptual point
of view, it is useful to subdivide the pressure drag into two
components: Ci and Cs. Ci, induced drag coeff., as it is
well known in aeronautics, is associated with the lift. To
be precise, therefore, the word induced should be followed by the words: by the lift. However, as the lift, like
any transverse force, is generated by vortices adherent to
the surface and shedding longitudinally from the body, it
is more common to associate the word induced to such
explicative words as: by vortex shedding.

The weak point of the Jaray composite shape was probably the lift, by both its influence on road holding qualities
and on the induced drag coeff., Ci. Fig. 4 and 5 show the
wake maps behind a FIAT 127 (1971, Cx = 0.48) and a
FIAT UNO (1983, Cx=0.34) /7/. In the relevant period a
second step in drag reduction is achieved, accounting for
Cx 0.15 over an initial value of Cx 0.48 , i.e. about
30 % : this was mostly obtained by the abatement of the
induced drag coefficient, Ci. /8/.

Cs, determined by the difference:

Cs = Cx - Cf - Ci

The Kamm prototype

(2)

The first way is concerned with lower losses of energy

along the streamlines where the mutual exchange of
kinetic and pressure energies are the main cause of the
anticipated flow separation from the body surface.

Figure 4.

FIAT 127 (1971) wake maps

Keeping in mind that at present most of the European

production automobiles have drag coeff. ranging from a
minimum of 0.26 to a max. of 0.36, the following Table
gives an approximate subdivision of the Cx components,
/9/.
Coeff.
Cx
Cf
Ci
Cs

Min.
0.26
0.02
0.02
0.22

Max.
100
7.5
7.5
85

%
0.36
0.03
0.06
0.27

Figure 5.

FIAT UNO wake maps

The second way that aims at reducing Cs throughout a

reduction of Cf looks very theoretical for the moment. For
example, a reduction of viscosity by feeding a noble gas
in the boundary layer through a porous surface would
result in a retarded flow separation but is very unpractical. A more attractive way could be based on the use of
special (heavy) paints /10/. Anyway, no practical attempts
have been made to date in this direction as far as we
know, due to lack of knowledge of the physical process, /
11/.

%
100
8
17
75

The form drag coeff., Cs, representing 75 to 85 % of the

total drag, is by far the predominant part. Therefore,
important reduction in drag can only be achieved by substantial reductions of this component.

Fig. 2, n. 21 represents the FIAT tipo 3 prototype (1984,

Fig. 6) on which both a reduction of the induced drag, to
almost zero, and the form drag, led to a Cx lower than
0.18. The reduction of form drag was obtained using the
promising technology that we propose to call fluid tail
technique (FTT). The prototype had a notch-back rear
end followed by a fluid- tail, /7/, as shown by the visualization of Fig. 7.

3. REDUCTION OF THE FORM DRAG COEFF.

Cs
Two ways can be envisaged in principle:
a. direct
b. indirect.

4. THE FTT TECHNIQUE

A. the flow separation line must be substantially transversal with respect to the body direction of motion.

The direct way indicated in the previous 3, is usually

realised by streamlining the body down to its rear end.
The body camber as indicated in ref. /12/, leads to a drag
coefficient of bodies moving close to the ground even
lower than 0.05, i.e. comparable to axially symmetric
streamlined bodies in free air. However, the car length
would result too long in the rear part, in contrast with the
need for the space required by passengers and baggage.
In fact, at present the notch-back solution seems to be
progressively substituted by the hatch-back configuration.

B. the flow separation line must coincide or be very

close to the perimeter of the base.

Figure 6.

C. the perimeter of the base must be circular or elliptical; in any case no angles must be present.
D. similar fluid dynamic conditions as pressure and
velocity vectors must apply at any point of the perimeter.

Figure 8.

Flow field of motion around a flat plate

Figure 9.

FIAT PUNTO 75 wake maps

The FIAT TIPO 3 prototype

The experimental observation of a wake behind some

elementary body shapes, as bullets, for instance, shows
the formation of a ring vortex stationary with the bodys
base. This phenomenon can even be observed on a circular flat plate, Fig. 8. The ring vortex acts like a diffuser
progressively reducing the core of the wake.

Figure 7.

Flow visualization of the wake behind a notchback car (FIAT TIPO 3)

In order to reproduce this effect, the following conditions

should apply, as shown by a number of experiments (see
also ref. /13/) at the appropriate Re numbers.

These conditions are not usually met on actual cars. The

disturbance caused by the wheels do not allow the flow
separation lines to meet together from the underbody to
4

The shape of the outlets (one for each rear wheel) is 350
mm width and 20 mm thick in order to cover a thin layer of
the upper part of the wake caused by the wheels , so
reproducing the continuity of the boundary layer all over
the perimeter of the base. After some adjustments, the
device proved effective as shown by the maps of Fig. 13
and 14.

both sides of the car: see for example the maps of Fig. 9,
as measured in the wake 100 mm behind a FIAT PUNTO
75 saloon car.
In order to overcome this drawback, a new device was
designed, tested and introduced on a similar car (FIAT
PUNTO 55). The detailed description of the device is
presented in ref. /21/. We give here only a short summary.

Figure 12. FIAT PUNTO 55 fitted with modified

aerodynamic device

Figure 10.

Figure 11.

5. AN EXAMPLE OF FTT. FIRST RESULTS.

Fig. 10 and 11 show a modified rear wheel and relevant
wheel-arch of a FIAT PUNTO 55. The wheel is fitted
with a centrifugal fan addressing adequate flow rates
into built-in ducts, D inside the wheel arch, A. The flow
enters through the intake I and exits through the outlet U
also visible in Fig. 12.

Figure 13. Total velocity and micro drag maps in a

transverse plane 270 mm behind the car of
Fig. 12
5

4. room for mechanical parts including the wheel location in seminternal compartments;

As a consequence, the Cx of the car modified as shown

in Fig. 12, dropped down from 0.327 to 0.268, i.e. by 18
% as measured in full scale wind tunnel. Coast-down
road tests indicated a benefit in drag by over 20 %. /21/.

5. compliance with safety standards and recommendations;

6. parking manoeuvrability;
7. body struts encumbrance;
8. other limitations due to functionality requirements
(doors opening, baggage access etc.).
T
h/2

hG
c

b/2

Figure 15. T : transverse section; h : camberline.

Fig. 15 shows schematically the modifications of a box
shaped body in the case of a front drive transaxle saloon
car taking into account the limitations listed above. It can
be remarked that the space required to accomodate the
payload (occupants + baggage) is less 50 % of the overall volume a x b x c of the box. However, Fig. 15 also indicates that the transverse area T of the body sections can
vary gradually from the front to the rear, achieving its
max. approx. at the rear end and the camberline
assumes the trend indicated h/2 in Fig. 15.

Figure 14. Vorticity in the centre line plane and in an

horizontal plane 500 mm over the ground,
behind the car of Fig. 12

6.2. AERODYNAMIC CONDITIONS ADOPTED IN THE

NEW BODY SHAPE The possibility to realize a fluid tail
offers the opportunity to design a new body shape. With
ref. to the papers /8/, /12/ and /14/, the aerodynamic criteria are confirmed or modified as follows.

6. POTENTIAL OF THE FTT METHOD

The FTT method has been tested by fitting the described
device on a conventional Hatch-back car (FIAT PUNTO
55). The research work is now continued with the objective of optimising and finding the methods limits..

A. Zero lift (Z=0);

B. Pitching moment coefficient, CM >or< 0 depending
on front or rear drive, respectively;

6.1. BODY DIMENSIONS For a given length c width b

and height a, the shape of max volume is, of course, the
squared box. The use of such a shape is subject to the
following limitations:

C. Gradual variation of the cross section area vs. x;

D. Low perimeter/area ratio of the cross sections;
E. Gradual variation of the shape of the cross sections
F. Low CN /CY ratio in order to reduce the side wind
sensitivity.

1. necessity for a ground clearance, hG;

2. non useable space due to:

The pitching moment coeff. should be positive in a front

drive car (for example : C M = 0.1) in order to maintain the
stability margin (understeering degree) unchanged at
varying speed. In fact, a positive CM value will cause a
load transfer from the rear to the front axle. The decrease
of the tire side stiffness in the front axle caused by the
tractive thrust is thus counteracted. Both effects depend

2.1. anthropometric characteristics of the human

body;
2.2. recommended positions of the occupants (driver
and passengers);
3. compliance with visibility rules and recommendations;
6

approx. on the square of car velocity, resulting in a compensating effect at any speed. As a consequence,
requirement A can be fulfilled with only two half waves in
the lift coeff. distribution vs. x, instead of three (see next
paragraph). This condition, together with points C and E,
aims at reducing the pressure drag both in the induced
(Ci) and the form (Cs) components.
On the other hand, point D aims at reducing the wetted
surface, therefore the friction drag (Cf).
In order to comply with point F, a progressively increase
of the car height vs. x (wedge shape), together with an
appropriate cross section evolution, is adopted.

7. DETERMINATION OF THE NEW BODY SHAPE

Figure 17. Basic body planview

The cross flow 2D method described in ref. /12/ was used

in the first stage. In fact, using the simple formula:

The lift distribution, Fig. 18, was imposed in order to comply with points A and B of paragraph 6.2.

h = ho exp ( x Fx dx )

(3)

Fx = (4/b2) . x Cz dx

(4)

where:

allows to determine directly the camberline h(x) of the

body, given its planview, b(x), and the lift distribution, Cz
(x).
Fig. 16 shows the reference system.
The planview b(x), Fig. 17, was designed on the basis of
the following considerations.
The mechanical components including the wheels
must substantially stay inside its contour;
The base must be perpendicular to the x axis (direction of motion);

Figure 18. Lift distribution and camberline

The width b(x) must increase as gradually as possible from the front to the rear, preferably without any
intermediate reduction.

Figure 19. Typical cross section shape

The shape of a cross section presented in Fig. 19, was
mainly designed taking into account the points 2 and 4 of
paragraph 6.1 and point F of paragraph 6.2. Locating
their centroids in the camberline, the basic body shape

Figure 16. Reference system

takes the form of Fig. 20. At the rear of this body, a short
segment is added assuming the function of interface
between the body and the fluid tail ( see Fig. 16 ). The
role played by this segment is substantially that
described in paragraph 4 from point A to D. In addition, it
works also as a first stage diffuser addressing the flow
towards the (virtual) tail camberline which is a straight
segment, Q, parallel to the ground plane. In fact, the fluid
tail does not cause any lift, provided the base is normal
to the cars its task being only that of reducing the base
drag as much as possible.

3 '
2 ' >> 3 '

B
A

Jetting

1min = 0

V1

V3
B
A

Figure 20. Basic body shape

1
3 = 3 ' 1max 0
2

V2
1
2 = 2 '+ 1max
2

Figure 21. Evolution of the jetting vortices. From the top:

1 - wheel rotating without fan; 2 - wheel fitted
with centrifugal fan; 3 - combination of 1 and
2

A second objective of the fluid tail is to minimise the

power needed to maintain the wake mechanism, i.e. the
stationary ring vortex. Therefore, the ring vortex core volume must be as small as possible, together with a high
Rankine radius. Otherwise, the effect would be as in the
flat plate of Fig. 8 , causing a high drag (Cx=1,17) even
though a fluid tail is present. This fact may be explained
by the remarkable dimension of the ring vortex as compared to the plate. Indeed, the separation line is the circumference of the plate where the flow separates in a
radial direction resulting in a mean diameter of the ring
vortex almost equal to that of the plate.

The last pair, of higher intensity than the others, have

been called jetting vortices.
When the wheel is partially enclosed in the wheel-arch,
the experimental research carried out at the Torino T.U.
showed the following results:
three out of the six vortices practically disappear;
those remaining are:
both the jetting vortices, even though their intensity
may not be equal, (Fig. 21).

8. AERODYNAMICS OF THE WHEEL AND

WHEEL-ARCH (WWA)

the external vortex shedding from the wheel axis.

Whereas the aerodynamics of the wheel has been investigated taking into account the presence of the ground
plane /15/, /16/, /17/, /18/, the interference of the wheel
with the body received less attention. On the other hand,
a simple addition of the wheels to a basic body proved to
cause a high increase in drag, two to three times the
drag of the body alone.

Of the other three vortices, those from the top disappear

because the wheel-arch hampers the external flow to
attack the upper portion of the wheel. The axial internal
vortex creates a vortex, of high Rankine core radius (i.e.
of low intensity) inside the wheel-arch. Here the flow has
a total pressure coefficient much lower than outside. A
flow field of motion following the Coanda effect is, therefore, possible.

Cogotti /18/ and Mercker et al. /20/ showed that a rotating

wheel, in presence of the ground, originates a system of
three pairs of counterrotating longitudinal vortices in the
wake:

In fact, the research work also showed that it is possible

to reduce the intensity of the jetting vortices by fitting a
centrifugal fan to the rim of the wheel.
In order to obtain the flow mechanisms shown in Fig. 10
and 22 both the rim and the wheel-arch must be
designed accordingly.

a pair of them sheds from the top,

a second pair sheds from the wheel axis
the third pair from the bottom, attached to the
ground.
8

Cxw 0.5 the drag coefficient of an isolated wheel, the

interference coefficient, CxI, results:

In addition to the description of paragraph 5, it is

observed:

CxI = Cx - CxB - Cxw (Sw / S) . (4/3) =

the flow remains attached to the inside of the tire, by

Coanda effect, until the separation occurs in the point
S of the tread.

0,15 - 0.07 - 0.5 . (1/20) . (4/3) + 0.047

due to the shape of the wheel-arch, the flow is

reversed and partially addressed to the intakes B visible in Fig. 11.

(5)

The factor 4/3 stays for the number of wheels (4) multiplied by the area ratio of the wheel not covered by the
body (1/3).

approx., one third of the flow rate generated by the

fan is sucked by B and conveyed by the duct D to the
exits U.

Of course, a positive value means that adding the wheels

increases the total drag. The possibility to obtain beneficial effects on the drag by adding rotating wheels to the
body, as discussed in paragraph 8, can be expressed in
other words as achieving a negative interference coefficient.

the remaining 2/3 of the flow rate generated by the

fan, originates a vortex of circuitation G1 which
remains attached (again by Coanda effect) to the tire
tread, moving forward with its velocity until impacting the ground plane. Here the vortex splits into two
branches interfering with the two branches generated
by the jetting.

Summarising, fitting the wheels a centrifugal fan, against

the additional power required to rotate the wheels (see
ref. /21/), the following advantages are obtained:
1. A narrower wake by air suction from the wheel inlets
2. An important decrease in base drag by addressing a
part of the flow rate in the wake through inlets B,
ducts D and outlets U (Fig. 10 and 11)

Fig. 21 shows the reconstruction of the phenomenon as

observed during the laboratory tests: a noticeable reduction of the jetting vortices was obtained.
The fans were fitted to the (rear) wheels in order to feed a
fluid power to the rear wake, here establishing the conditions A and B of paragraph 4, able to originate the stationary ring vortex.

3. The remaining part of the fan flow rate induces by

Coanda effect a vortex over the tire tread interfering
with the jetting vortices of the tire. Their abatement is
beneficial in drag

It is worth mentioning that the air suction from the wheel

intakes is also beneficial for reducing the thickness in the
boundary layer on both sides of the car, and reducing the
width of the wake behind the wheel axis.

4. Point 1 and 3 also apply to front wheels. Here, the

wake can be deflected to a more longitudinal direction, merging into the wake of the rear wheels.
In the case of the FIAT PUNTO 55 motorcar, only the
rear part was modified, as shown in Fig. 12. Tests and
measurements both in full scale wind tunnel and on the
road, /21/, demonstrated that points 1 and 2 were certainly achieved. Point 3 may also have been achieved.
However, it was not possible to separate this contribute
from the others. The front wheels had no fans. As a consequence, point 4 was not checked. Nevertheless, the
acquired benefits are in the order of 5 kW less power for
motion to be compared with 240 W of extra power
required to drive the rear wheels. The ratio of power benefits over expenses is therefore about 20.

The flow rate per each fan is about 0.2 m3/s at 120 km/h.
A 3-dimensional Navier-Stokes Computational Fluid
Dynamics (CFD) investigation /21/ on the flow rate distribution at the fan outlets gave information on the effect of
the radius R (see Fig. 10) of the leading edge of the air
inlet. In order to direct the max rate of flow per degree
upwards, i.e. in the direction of the wheel arch inlets, B,
the radius must be small:
R 3 mm
A small radius also reduces the wheels external width.

9. APPLICATION OF THE WWA LAYOUT TO THE

BASIC SHAPE

10. ADDITIONAL BENEFITS

The flow generated by the built-in fans of the wheels give
additional benefits, some already obtained, others only
expected. They are as follows.

As no automobile can run without wheels, some of the

basic bodies proposed in the past take into consideration
their presence. However, as it can be noted for example
in ref. /3/ and /19/, the wheels are simply added to the
underbody and not rotating. As far as the drag is concerned, tests in scaled down models gave, in the best
cases:

10.1. VISIBILITY We call passive visibility the quality

of a car to be seen from other vehicles. For active visibility the quality to see outside the car.

Cx 0.15 .

10.1.1 passive visibility The width of the wake is

reduced at the wheel level by the suction of the fans, as
already observed in paragraph 6.1. Therefore, the mist
caused by the water splash when raining, will remain
closer into the lane where the car is running.

Taking into account that the frontal area of a wheel Sw, is

approx. one twentieth that of the body, and assuming

Therefore it is expected a quicker warming up of the tire

in the city and a cooling effect in highway traffic.

Furthermore, the fluid-tail moving stationary with the

vehicle creates a narrow wake behind it for the substantial absence of longitudinal vortices shedding from the
body.

11. CONCLUSION

Both effects result in a better visibility for overtaking cars.

The research work named 4A (Active Aerodynamics

Applied to Automobile) began in 1993 at the T.U. of
Torino, Dept, of Energetics, in close cooperation with
FIAT-AUTO - DT, Innovazione.

10.1.2 active visibility A major drawback of hatchback cars is the spray of dirt on the rear window coming
from the wheels wake requiring a frequent use of the
wipers.

The research aims at demonstrating the possibility of

reducing the form drag in automobiles having a large
base area (as hatch-back cars) by the formation of fluid
tails obtainable by addressing small power air jets in the
wake.

The effect is due to particles lifted from the ground by the

lower transverse vortex which is usually larger than the
upper one albeit of lesser intensity.
In the case of a fluid-tail, the transverse vortices have
similar dimensions and energy, as it can be seen in Fig.
14, thus performing no significant mutual mixture. On the
other hand, the wakes behind the wheel and behind the
body are kept separate as much as possible by the
active flow blown from the slots (U in Fig. 8). Therefore,
the content of dirt particles near the base of the body is
kept to a minimum and the rear window expected to
remain cleaner.

From a conceptual point of view, the result may be seen

as an achievement based on the interference effect
between the wheels and the body. To the purpose, a new
layout was adopted in the system wheel/wheel arch and
body base (Fig. 11).
In order to determine the potential of the procedure, a
theoretical method was adopted for the definition of the
camberline of a new basic body. The rear part of the body
is fluid acting as a diffuser, so improving the form drag
coefficient.

10.2 BRAKE COOLING With reference to Fig. 7, the

flow generated by the fan cools the brake before being
directed, with the aid of the wheel fairing W, into the arch
cavity.

In order to facilitate the formation of the fluid tail, an interface segment is added between the body and the fluid
tail.

Wheels incorporating built-in fans for a similar use are

claimed by many patents, as it is known. In our case it is
only an additional quality of the device.

The resulting profile of the proposed new basic body is

shown in Fig. 22.
In order to substantiate the method leading to a rational
definition of the new basic body shape, further experimental work is presently carried out.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The author is indebted to Dr. Ing. Nevio Di Giusto, FIAT
AUTO SpA, for his important support and suggestions
The author is also thankful to the following former students for the work done during the development of their
Degree Thesis

Figure 22. Approximate profile resulting from the

adoption of the new basic body of Fig. 20. is
a (solid) interface between the body and the
fluid-tail.

D. Barbero ; G. Ceruti ; A. Bertazzoni ; C. Giavani ;

A. Bianchi dEspinosa ; G. L. Di Oto ; F. Patalacci.
For his contribute to the research work Dr. Andrea Tonoli
of Torino T.U., Dept. of Energy.

10.3 TIRE TEMPERATURE Ventilation air temperature may influence the tire temperature, especially when
the wetted area is large. This is the case of air flowing out
of the fan outlets and remaining attached to the tire sides
and track, as indicated in Fig. 7. On the other hand, the
air temperature is dependent on the use of brakes, which
is more frequent when driving in town than on highways.

Special thanks are also due to:

Dr. Paola Bergamini and Dr. Ing. Bruno Bonis, FIATAUTO SpA.
Dr. Ing. Antonello Cogotti, Pininfarina SpA, for Wind
Tunnel testing.

10

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