Brunel Solar Team Cuts Wind Resistance and Carbon Emissions
How the Brunel Solar Team solved critical bottlenecks in their aerodynamic optimization process, freeing up construction time on their new car Nuna 13.
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Photos by Hans-Peter van Velthoven & Jorrit Lousberg
The Challenge: Outdated Infrastructure Limiting Championship Potential
The Brunel Solar Team from Delft Technical University holds seven world championship titles, making them the most successful solar racing team globally. As they prepared for the 2025 Bridgestone World Solar Challenge—a grueling 3,000 km race across Australia—their aerodynamic optimization process hit critical bottlenecks.
Their Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations, essential for reducing wind resistance on their latest solar car Nuna 13, were severely constrained by outdated on-premise hardware. The team’s existing setup relied on aging equipment and labor-intensive shell script management that demanded constant attention from valuable aerodynamics engineers during crucial design phases.
The Mission: High-Performance Computing for Aerodynamic Excellence
The team needed a robust High-Performance Computing (HPC) environment capable of processing multiple design iterations efficiently while maintaining simulation accuracy and data integrity. This required either virtual machines or cluster computing, plus a streamlined pipeline solution to handle extensive CFD calculations that would determine their competitive edge.
The stakes were high: in solar car racing, every fraction of aerodynamic improvement could mean the difference between victory and defeat in Australia.
The Solution: Hybrid Cloud Architecture with Sustainable Impact
Leafcloud implemented Infrastructure as Code using Terraform to deploy and manage VMs, integrating Slurm for workload management and CFD computation scheduling. The architecture featured precise network configuration for large dataset transfers, strategic storage planning for simulation results, and built-in scalability for varying computational demands.
The hybrid setup connected an on-premise Slurm master server with multiple Slurm nodes running on Leafcloud VMs. When idle VMs became available, necessary CFD files transferred automatically to the correct nodes. After completion, the local master server stored results for quick engineer access, while RClone created additional backups on Leafcloud’s S3-compatible object storage.
Monitoring systems tracked resource utilization and job progress throughout the process, ensuring maximum efficiency during the time-critical design phase.
The Impact: Championship Performance with Environmental Benefits
The new infrastructure delivered crucial aerodynamic improvements, reducing wind resistance by several percentage points—improvements that could prove decisive in Australia. The streamlined CFD processing enabled the team to complete their most innovative car design in record time, freeing up valuable months for construction and testing phases.
But the benefits extended beyond racing performance. The computational workloads generated heat that provided free hot showers for residents in a care home—heat that traditional data centers would have wasted energy and money to eliminate. This demonstrates how high-performance computing can deliver both technical excellence and environmental value.
The improved CFD pipeline positions the Brunel Solar Team for success at the upcoming Bridgestone World Solar Challenge, where their aerodynamic innovations will face the ultimate test on the Australian continent.
Ready to optimize your computational workloads while reducing environmental impact? Traditional cloud computing doesn’t have to mean compromising on sustainability. Leafcloud’s innovative approach delivers the performance you need while turning waste heat into community benefits.
Start your sustainable cloud journey today or schedule a consultation to discuss how we can help optimize your infrastructure—just like we did for the world’s most successful solar racing team.
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