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Using a prototype of terrain car as example, a process of flow simulation around a vehicle with rotating wheels is described by using a professional CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) software. The influence of the wheels motion on main aerodynamic characteristic of the car, drag, is studied in two ways, commonly used in wind tunnels [10], respectively with the moving wall approach and with the aid of the rollers for the wheels rotation. The conclusions are demonstrated by the results using the relative drag increment and by the computergraphics visualizations. There are also presented some considerations concerning the importance of the rotating wheels in aerodynamics of the road vehicle and the opportunity to simulate it in a virtual environment. The present contribution is a companion paper by Huminic & Chiru (2004).

Because the aerodynamic loads, which are acting on the high-speed vehicles, play a significant part concerning the dynamic behaviour of the latter, the aerodynamics is one of the most important design considerations for cars such as Indy or Formula 1. The goal of this study is to investigate the contributions of the main structural components of a racing car on total drag using the facilities offered by a professional CFD code. The results show solutions for the optimization of the body of vehicles from an aerodynamic point of view, even in a very early design stage, the design process being accelerated.