Case Study: Tokyowheel achieves significantly improved wheel aerodynamics and rapid design iteration with SimScale

Tokyowheel optimized the aerodynamics of its carbon racing wheels with SimScale

Tokyowheel, a Japan‑based maker of carbon racing wheels founded in 2010, needed to optimize wheel aerodynamics quickly and affordably to stay competitive and expand globally. To replace slow, costly physical prototyping and enable remote work, Tokyowheel adopted the SimScale cloud CFD platform to run aerodynamic analyses and evaluate multiple rim profiles early in the design process.

Using SimScale, Tokyowheel uploaded CAD models to a virtual wind tunnel, employed snappyHexMesh and an MRF rotating region, and ran simulations across multiple yaw angles to extract drag forces and surface data. SimScale runs averaged about 30 minutes on 16 cores, enabling iterative convergence to a significantly more aerodynamic wheel profile; the program delivered higher accuracy versus other CFD tools and helped Tokyowheel test 10 design versions in hardware while cutting prototyping costs by about $40k.

Tokyowheel

Joel Cy Scott

Lead Engineer