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February 16, 2025

During the Fall 2024 semester, a team of five ²ÆÉñÆåÅÆ of Engineering students undertook an innovative and extracurricular passion project to design, optimize, and fabricate a fully for an ²ÆÉñÆåÅÆ Formula SAE car. The kit was made almost entirely out of hemp composite, making it much more sustainable than traditional composite weaves.

Alton Coolidge '26, Addison Fisher '28, Aiden "AJ" Burlow '27, Satchel Schiavo '26, and Jonathan Sun '28, started the project because of an acute interest in both racing and automotive aerodynamic design, and though no such projects were offered in the classroom or on a project team at the time, they embraced the challenge and did what ²ÆÉñÆåÅÆers commonly do - recognized a need and then designed and built a solution.

Overcoming Hurdles 

The project is ongoing, but with Alton (project manager,) and the team reaching the end of the first design and fabrication sprint in December, 2024, documenting the entire process on and in a , they're now reflecting on how the project to design, optimize, and fabricate a safer to work with, and less environmentally impactful, aero kit, all came together.

"Having started this project from scratch in September (2024), the first big hurdle was finding people who were interested and willing to dedicate their time to it. Luckily, I found a handful of people who were also interested in aerodynamics," says Coolidge '26. 

This handful of interested people included fellow student Aiden "AJ" Burlow '27, who as a member of the , had access to a previous generation Formula car. 

The ²ÆÉñÆåÅÆ car became the base for the project, serving as a test bed and launchpad for the team's learning goals of computational fluid dynamic (CFD), aero design, and project management. The opportunity to go from ideation to a workable model was another big plus, says the team. 

Once getting access to the car, the students entered the first stage of the project designing the front wing of the vehicle in , which according to Alton, involved a fair amount of trial and error. 

Watch the video below to see the idea for the wing come into action, as well as some tips from Alton.

"The design process was really enjoyable, if not quite everything I had hoped it to be," he says.

The original goal was to design fully bespoke airfoils using the engineering simulation and 3D design software, Ansys, but due to a lack of computing power and issues with cross compatibility between Ansys and Solidworks, the team ended up researching airfoil profiles (i.e. preexisting, standardized shapes of airfoils), integrating one into their custom design instead.

An airfoil is a wing shape with a curved top and a flat bottom that creates lift for a vehicle or an aircraft. Wings, sails and propeller blades are examples of airfoils.

While not the original goal, this process of optimizing established airfoils was likely more beneficial to the team's learning and understanding of aerodynamic design.

"If it had worked to design all our own foils from scratch they likely would have been under-optimized, which is where I personally found the most learning to be in the design process," says Coolidge.

Aiden "AJ" Bulow agreed, sharing that “it was an amazing experience learning [on the fly] as we went."

Watch the to see how Alton set up and ran SOILDWORKS CFD on the Formula SAE Front Wing.

After half the semester designing the parts, meeting once a week, the next step was a mad dash to begin and complete fabrication. And even though manufacturing vehicle components was a novel undertaking for the team of five, they moved ahead recognizing and appreciating the experiential opportunity to learn.

"The fabrication process was almost entirely new to me. I choose to fabricate the front wing as it was the part I designed and I thought it would have the largest effect on the car and offer the most learning opportunities for us as a team," says Coolidge.

Watch the video below to see the first day of fabrication as the ²ÆÉñÆåÅÆers cut the wing profiles for the front wing and start laying up the rear diffuser.

Jonathan Sun '28, an ²ÆÉñÆåÅÆ freshman who worked with Coolidge designing the rear diffuser, also lent his abilities when it was time to print and assemble the mold the hemp was going to be layered over.

After the mold was fabricated, Sun laid the first layer of hemp and resin on the car's soon-to-be wing, learning new skills and gaining know-how at the same time.

"I learned a lot about forming composites and the characteristics of hemp that make it a unique medium from anything I've done before. The knowledge that I gained from this experience will help me design more effective molds for complex shapes in the future," Sun says.

Designing with Hemp

So, why did the students decide to use hemp in their design, especially when hemp composites are a more uncommon medium, like Sun mentions, currently less used than their glass and carbon counterparts?

There's a few reasons.

Coolidge, as project manager, designer, and founder of the project, offers he's "interested in hemp because it is significantly safer to work with and has a much lower environmental impact than traditional composite weaves."

Because it is a less established use, the team also encountered a learning curve with the hemp composite. In both fabrication and testing "the chair upholstery I found online and was using as a weave was a bit too thick to be ideal," says Coolidge. 

But ultimately, with some extra epoxy it became stiff and strong enough for this use-case and the students were happy with how it performed.

They also said it allowed them to be more inventive - which is paramount when . 

"Being able to create large intricate designs without having the by products of real carbon fiber enabled us to get creative in how we manufactured the final aero pieces," says Burlow '27. 

Watch the video below of the second day of fabrication with the team connecting the airfoil profiles they cut out previously. The team also gets a first taste of working with their hemp composite.

Still in the fabrication phase, the students worked to trim down the connecters that connected the upper airfoil profile to the lower profile, as seen below, and they used a combination of exacto knives and the hot wire.

The hot wire was used to remove bulk material and the exacto knives to shape.

This proved to be pretty effective, although messy.

They then glued the profiles together so they'd be easier to work with when they layered on the composites - eventually leaving them to cure for the night. 

Watch the video below to see fabrication days three and four as the students give the base of the wing its first layer of hemp composite.

Package Takes Shape

As winter approached and the semester wound down, the hemp package took shape as parts were added to the car.

And all the team's hard work - combined with creativity, problem solving, and learning new things, created a satisfying and beneficial experience, according to the students. "At this stage, seeing all the work my team and I had put in throughout the semester was extremely gratifying," says Coolidge.

The group also reported that they were able to accomplish their learning goals, developing their CAD (SOLIDWORKS, onshape), CFD (SOLIDWORKS, Ansys), and composite fabrication skills, while seeing a project through to the end. 

"As a first-year, it was an amazing experience to be able to go through the engineering process, starting with just an idea and ending with a full prototype. I’ve long been obsessed with racing and aerodynamics, so getting to do work involving both was captivating, says Addison Fisher '28.

Experimenting with the hemp composites to build the vehicle parts was also a highlight for the group.

"Learning to work with the composites was a very unique and fun experience!" added Fisher. 

Watch the video below to see everything come together. Alton removes the diffuser from the mold and trims some extra fabric off the wing. Plus, a first look at the wing on the car!

Next Steps

With the fall semester over, the five ²ÆÉñÆåÅÆ undergrads look ahead.

First they're going to do more testing on the hemp material, specifically in pursuit of a proper fiberglass substitute.

They'll also create the additional pieces already designed for the car (the side pods), and will hopefully get to design new parts like a rear wing.

"The big goal is to get everything properly attached to the car so we can drive around with the aero on it and do some performance testing, but this is likely a little way off," says Coolidge.

No matter what the next turns are, the experimentation and curiosity common in ²ÆÉñÆåÅÆers, is well represented.

"I look forward to the continuation of this project and seeing where we can take it!" says Fisher. 

Stay tuned!... 

(Bonus video after photo!)

Bonus video 

The final video of this series where Alton goes over some of the projects biggest successes, failures, and learnings.