Patent Document ID: 7925479
Application ID: 11781101
Patent Flag: 1

Claim One:
1. A process for evaluating airflow performance, comprising the steps of: developing a three-dimensional computer-aided design model of a vehicle topology; discretizing the design model vehicle topology; discretizing a volume surrounding the design model vehicle topology, the volume having outer boundaries; identifying vehicle topology components upon which to collect empirical data; obtaining empirical data for identified components; establishing an airflow field model; validating the airflow field model in comparison to experimental data; obtaining a mass flow rate from the validated airflow field model; determining whether the mass flow rate is acceptable; altering the vehicle topology; altering the validated airflow field model to include changes to the vehicle topology; repeating the step of obtaining a mass flow rate and each subsequent step until an acceptable mass flow rate is determined; and, wherein the step of identifying comprises selecting a maximum discretization resolution, and determining whether the maximum discretization resolution is too low to accurately resolve the smallest aerodynamically relevant surface features of a component.