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Projecte llegit

Títol: An aerodynamic study of front winglets in racing motorcycles

Estudiants que han llegit aquest projecte:

Director/a: ALTMEYER, SEBASTIÁN ANDREAS

Departament: FIS

Títol: An aerodynamic study of front winglets in racing motorcycles

Data inici oferta: 10-12-2025     Data finalització oferta: 10-07-2026


Estudis d'assignació del projecte:
    GR ENG SIS TELECOMUN
    GR ENG SIST AEROESP
    GR ENG TELEMÀTICA
Tipus: Individual
 
Lloc de realització: EETAC
 
Paraules clau:
Aerodynamic optimization, lift and drag coefficient, stability control, pitch moment, computational fluid dynamics
 
Descripció del contingut i pla d'activitats:
This project will focus on the aerodynamic study of front winglets in racing motorcycles, with a primary emphasis on longitudinal stability, particularly their influence on pitch moments and the reduction of wheelie tendency, while also evaluating the overall aerodynamic performance (drag and downforce). The design framework will be hybrid, using typical MotoGP geometric limitations as a reference but allowing variations outside the regulations to enable a broader analysis and optimization. Several winglet configurations will be modeled by modifying parameters such as angle of attack, chord, camber, and other geometric variables that may affect their aerodynamic behavior. The methodology will combine theoretical analysis with numerical simulations using ANSYS, based on CAD models created in SolidWorks.
The results will be evaluated through aerodynamic coefficients and analysis of pressure fields and flow patterns. The final goal is to identify geometries that provide the best balance between stability and aerodynamic efficiency.
 
Overview (resum en anglès):
Front winglets have become a defining feature of modern MotoGP aerodynamics, as the additional downforce they generate over the front axle helps counteract the pitching moment that develops during hard accelerations, mitigating wheelie tendencies and allowing earlier throttle application out of corners. Consequently, this study aims to design and aerodynamically evaluate a set of front winglet configurations integrated into a racing motorcycle fairing. The work begins with a preliminary 2D phase in which several inverted airfoils commonly utilized in motorsport are simulated and compared, from which the Eppler E423 profile at an angle of attack of -6 degrees is selected based on its lift, drag, and efficiency characteristics.
The core of the study consists of steady-state RANS simulations performed in ANSYS Fluent using the k-omega SST turbulence model, at a freestream velocity of 50 m/s, representative of the acceleration phase exiting medium- to high-speed corners. A simplified Ducati Desmosedici GP17 geometry serves as the baseline, upon which four progressive configurations are built. The study evaluates the bare motorcycle, simple winglets, winglets with endplates, the same geometry at higher angles of attack, and finally a double-element winglet assembly.
Results reveal a markedly non-linear aerodynamic behavior. Notably, simple winglets, lacking endplates, reduce total downforce relative to the baseline due to strong wingtip vortices, which disrupt the flow that would otherwise remain attached along the side fairing. Conversely, adding endplates nearly doubles the winglet's own contribution to downforce, yet weakens this vortex enough that the turbulent front-wheel wake impacts the fairing more directly, again subtracting from the global downforce gained. The best overall trade-off is achieved by the single-element winglet with endplates at -10 degrees angle of attack, which generates a total downforce of 41.83 N (a 5.57 % increase over the baseline) while simultaneously lowering total drag to 193.56 N (0.54 % below the bare motorcycle), yielding a global aerodynamic efficiency of 0.2161 (a 6.14 % improvement). Ultimately, since winglets alone never account for more than 15 % of the total downforce, the results confirm that winglet optimization is only meaningful when assessed at the full-vehicle level.

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