Predicting Lift and Drag With SOLIDWORKS and SIMULIA
Drag forces due to air resistance are a key design factor for vehicles on the ground and in the sky. Current trends toward electrification have put even further emphasis on minimizing drag as a means to extend range or increase flight time when all other things are equal. This is relevant both for the designers of airframes and chassis, as well as suppliers of exterior-mounted third party equipment.
Performing predictions of lift and drag is a very straightforward process in SOLIDWORKS Flow Simulation and can be performed early on during design. This reduces the need for iterations of scale prototypes and wind tunnel tests and provides additional confidence in a design before committing to prototyping. Design variations can be quickly analyzed by cloning Flow Simulation projects between multiple SOLIDWORKS configurations.