CFD-Driven Shape Optimization of a Racing Motorcycle

In motorsport applications the adoption of a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulation is a well-established practice. This analysis is very useful to understand and optimize the aerodynamics performance of the prototypes. By means of specific algorithms it’s possible to define one or more control parameters and so changing the geometry of the fairing to optimize an engineering value. These algorithms are largely used in other fields such as the hydrodynamics one but they are not largely used in motorsport, especially in motorcycles. The motorcycle considered in this study is a prototype participating in the Moto2 World Championship, the middle class of the MotoGP World Championship. Starting from tests, carried out in the wind tunnel, a baseline model was firstly created to get a correlation between experimental and numerical results and so used for a subsequent process of shape optimization. With the main objective of reducing the overall drag, a set of control points was defined on the existing geometry to deform the surface of the front fairing. These points have been used by the optimization algorithm to find the shape that reduces the overall drag. The optimized geometry made it possible to obtain the desired drag reduction.