Charanya Ravi shares her experience working as a vehicle dynamics engineer at Williams

I was studying aeronautical engineering at Imperial College London when, between my third and final years, I came to Williams for an industrial placement in the aerodynamics department. After graduation I came back to a permanent role in the vehicle dynamics department.

Vehicle dynamics is a part of the vehicle performance group and is tasked with understanding car behaviour. We use a variety of computational simulations and rig tests to analyse and simulate on-track performance and to highlight beneficial characteristics in order to drive car development in the right direction.

The vehicle dynamics team is very small, which means I get to be much more hands on with everything that is happening in the department. I get involved in a wide range of projects, something which is really beneficial for me as I am in the infancy of my career. The beauty of vehicle dynamics is that we get to work with so many different departments - aero, design office, R&D and race engineering to mention but a few. Thanks to this kind of exposure, I don’t feel fixed to one department for the rest of my career, being involved in so many different departments gives me varied experience, a greater understanding of the car and many valuable transferable skills.

One of my regular tasks is to run pre-event simulations ahead of races and tests. The race engineers provide a base set-up which is usually representative of the car at the beginning of the upcoming event, and I put it through the paces in a range of simulations to test different aero and mechanical options. This provides an indication to the race team on the likely performance of the different options, which in turn enables them to go into the event better prepared, armed with an idea of which direction will most likely be best rewarded in lap time performance.

We also are greatly involved with suspension design, working closely with the design and stress engineers. Based on the suspension analysis performed in the department, targets are established for any new suspension designs and we work in an iterative process with the design engineers to lead to the final design. When the parts have been made, we have the opportunity to complement the simulation results by designing and performing physical tests on various rigs to get an even better understanding of their characteristics.

During the off season, we make the most of the short time without fixed deadlines to perform any major updates to our resources since, come the end of December, we are fully focused on the new car deployment and immediately trying to understand the car's strengths and weaknesses to get an initial overview for the season ahead.

We made a big step forward as a department last year with a restructure which has led to this current formation of a dedicated department to vehicle dynamics. We have seen from the increased resources that the difference we make as a department is increasing, and we know there is more to come as we continue to push the boundaries of what we can achieve. To give an example, the computational time taken to run a set of pre-event simulations has more than quartered with the introduction of more tools and automation. These have given us the possibility to run multiple iterations in the same amount of time if required. We can be more reactive to upgrades or changes the race engineers wish to make and the more results we can get, the better prepared the team goes into the event.

The new vehicle dynamics department has also played its part in the overall development rate in the team performance last year. One of the changes is that we now work much more closely with the aero department than ever before, everything is more collaborative and integrated which has helped produce more pertinent results and helped ensure the development of the car is always in the right direction.

The skills in the department are varied. Everything we do is quite numerical and analytical, so those need to be strengths of anyone looking to a career in this area. Sometimes the differences you are looking for can be minute and so being meticulous and attentive to detail is key.

I had studied aeronautical engineering but I think any background in mechanical, aero or automotive engineering would provide the necessary basic theory and principles, if vehicle dynamics is a field you want to get into. Due to the variety of people we work with, it greatly helps to have an adaptive personality and to be comfortable working with a wide range of people. Having an overall understanding of the car before starting helps, which for me was gained through my industrial placement experience in aerodynamics.

Last, but certainly not the least, in vehicle dynamics everyone needs to be happy solving problems of any kind, as you will do plenty of that!

Charanya Ravi via, Williams