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This paper describes how computational fluid dynamics (CFD) has recently been used to design the directional stability components of the American Challenger racecar. Under development by Bill Fredrick, the missile-shaped, rocket-powered car is intended to break the World Land Speed Record, achieving a top speed greater than 800 mph. Designing a transonic car presents many unique challenges that are almost never encountered by land vehicles or aircraft. Previous papers [1, 2] on this project have described the use of the CFD++ flow solver in the selection of a rear strut profile and the positioning of the canard to achieve the desired pitching characteristics and aerodynamic loading. Following completion of these phases, the directional stability was examined at several sideslip angles and through a large range of speeds. As with previous phases of the design, maintaining desirable aerodynamic performance through both subsonic and transonic flow regimes is difficult.

Computational Fluid Dynamics CFD is no longer the domain of just specialists. It is also being used by engineers and scientists in many disciplines who are interested in CFD as a tool to investigate other things and not as just an end in itself. The realization of this fact drives developers to produce user-friendly CFD products that automate most of the problem set up and solution process. The CFD++ software suite is a unified-grid, unified-solution, unified-computing CFD simulation capability that was designed from the outset to be effective from the user's perspective. The details are explained in this paper.