As tires are in constant motion and are fitted to the outside of the chassis, they also have a direct impact upon the overall aerodynamic performance of the vehicle, and require separate efficiency solutions. While the impact caused by flow around the tires can be considerable, it is still difficult to precisely analyze and optimize the design of the tire using conventional development procedures such as wind tunnel testing. "To address this challenge, we tried various simulation solutions on the market to accurately process our optimization approaches. But only Exa's PowerFLOW software was capable of simulating the rotating tire characteristics within a short time while still taking into account the small scale adjustments we were attempting. PowerFLOW also provided the required results within a very limited timeframe, which is crucial to comply with our swift lifecycle-development processes," says Dr. Yuji Kodama, General Manager, Research & Development Center, The Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd.

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