Sustainable Aerodynamics Kit

Along with my passion for automotive design, I also care deeply about sustainability. Climate change is an ever-present, ever-evolving threat to Earth as we know it. A constant problem at Olin is our limited ability to use carbon fiber composites due to Olin lying on a protected watershed. Carbon fiber contains incredibly harmful materials, specifically when cut. To combat this, some friends and I set out to find an alternative to carbon fiber that was cheaper and more sustainable. We eventually settled on hemp fiber, which has similar properties, albeit less strong, while being much more environmentally friendly.

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We began by modelling the entire car and aerodynamic subsystems in Solidworks. We designed a front wing, undertray, and diffuser, inspired by Formula SAE and Formula 1 cars. We iteratively designed the components by simulating each one in ANSYS Fluent. Once finalized, we moved onto fabrication, in which we spent 4 nights applying our hemp fiber onto foam and wood skeletons for each component. Ultimately, this kit fell short on durability, but represented a great starting point for the future of aerodynamics at Olin College.