Bumper Air-Curtain Duct
A bumper duct that channels air through the fascia to form an air curtain around the wheel and tire — validated in the wind tunnel.
- Company
- Honda
- Year
- 2025
- Discipline
- Aerodynamics
- Sheet
- 1 of 7
The problem
On an electric vehicle, every bit of drag costs range — and the spinning wheel and tire are one of the messiest sources of turbulence on the car. The front bumper is the first chance to manage that airflow before it reaches the wheel.
The approach
I designed an air duct that pulls air in through the bumper and releases it as a thin, fast "curtain" across the face of the wheel, pushing the oncoming flow around the tire instead of into it. The duct had to live inside a fascia that also meets styling intent, pedestrian safety requirements, and manufacturing constraints.
To get answers quickly, I 3D printed duct variants and led the wind tunnel sessions to measure the aerodynamic effect of each design on the full vehicle.
The result
The testing gave the team hard data on the duct's aerodynamic impact to carry forward into the program. The vehicle program is unreleased, so specific numbers and geometry are not shown here.