formula1 race-car aerodynamics
TRANSCRIPT
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Aerodynamics of F1 race car
By Lokesh Patil
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INTRODUCTION
With much less of left to research in engine development Formula one
racecars are all about aerodynamics.Reducing air drag and gaining
downforce have become the key fields which almost define the technical
aspect of these race cars. The modelling is nowadays so complex that
some teams have more than hundred people employed to design aero
bits to improve the car's efficiency . All teams are continuously
introducing updates, even for gains as small as hundredths of seconds
per lap. Such small gains are currently designed and modelled with CFD
software, running on ever improving computer grids.These virtual
models are then manufactured and tested in wind tunnels.
F1 cars are mainly concerned with the following things:-
Gaining downforce(or negative lift)
Reducing aerodynamic drag
Maintain an cooling flow
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AERODYNAMICS IN F1 RACING
Aerodynamics is the science that studies objects moving through air. It isclosely related to fluid dynamics as air is considered a compressible fluid.
Nowadays, aerodynamics is the utmost important factor in Formula Onecar performance. It has even nearly become one of the only aspects ofperformance gain due to the very marginal gains that can currently be
made by engine changes or other mechanic component development. Thisdownforce can be likened to a "virtual" increase in weight, pressing the cardown onto the road and increasing the available frictional force betweenthe car and the road, therefore enabling higher cornering speeds.
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OVERVIEW OF AN TYPICAL F1 CAR
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MAIN FEATURES OF THE BODY FRAME
Front Wing and Nose cone assembly(Red bull F1 car)
1 Chassis
2 Central pill
ars
3 - Endplates
4 - Upperflap
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The front wings of the car can produce 25-40 % of the downforce.Front wingbasically comprises of the following elements
Mainplane Endplates Nose
Mainplane is the section that runs throughout the width of the car.It is generally
made of two adjustable aerofoils which are the main downforce producingparts.Here the main purpose of adjustabilty is two allow driver to have asuitable downforce and hence traction according to his need.For eg , on a rainyday due to loss of friction max downforce will have to be needed inorder tocompensate.The height of the wing f lap near the nose is reduced so
as to allow air passage towards the radiator. If the wingflap maintained it's height right to the nose cone, theradiators would receive less airflow and therefore theengine temperature would rise.
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Variations in Front wing
As desinging of F1 cars developed,the track of the front wheels reduced and
came closer to the chassis.This led to simultaneous development of the front
wing where its width also decreased along with changes in the endplates.
Figure below shows two main variations in the front design.
Many teams introduced sculpted
outside edges to the endplates to
direct the air around the front
wheels. This was often included in
the design change some teamsintroduced to reduce the width of
the front wing . The complexdesign process of front wing hasled most of the team withdifferent designs.
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NOSE CONE AERODYNAMICS
Alterations for nose cone height need some thinking about complete car
body.At first sight an higher nose cone would push less air up over the nose
causing less downforce,but surprisingly neither is its aim to do the same.
Rather the high nose cone is designed to let the incoming air directly pass
below it instead of bending it thereby reducing drag and also allowing the
front wing to expand its wingspan all over the width.
Also at the same time all the air that
goes below the nose is guided under
the car straight to the diffuser.Themore air you get under the floor and
the faster it can exit out of the diffuserthe more downforce will be generated.
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WHEELS-Largest drag producing elements
The wheels of the F1 car probably
induce the largest amount of drag
compared to any other parts.
Unfortunaltely,not much can be
done to cure it because of
regulation that does not allowthe tires to be covered.
Inspite of this,teams have
managed to solve this problem
to a little extent by desinging
the front wing such that it
deflects the incoming airaround the tires.
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SUSPENSION MEMBERS
In recent years, suspension members have been streamlined into an aerofoil
shape. According to the rules however, they are not allowed to producedownforce, and are simply shaped that way to reduce drag, and to keep the
flow heading for the sidepods relatively undisturbed.This is done to reduce the
drag on the suspension arms as the car travels through the air at high speed. In
the lower diagram, A, represents an unstreamlined suspension arm, the lower
one, B, a suspension arm with an aerodynamic covering. Both have roughly the
same cross sectional area, but the lower case has a drag force ten times less
than A.
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BARGE BOARDS
These devices were first seen in 1993 and their purpose is to smooth the airflow
around the car and into the radiator intakes. They are most commonly mounted
between the front wheels and the sidepods .Their main purpose is to direct
relatively clean air into the sidepods.Clean air is from the low section of the front
wing where airflow is fairly unaffected by the wing and far away from tires, which
may throw stones and debris in to the radiator.
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BRAKE COOLING INTAKES
Brake cooling is vital in todays Formula 1, because
of the extreme heat produced.Modern racecar
brakes can heat up until they are red hot.
Temperature of the brake disc can reach upto
1000oC and can easily be destroyed at suchextreme temperatures.This is where aerodynamics
comes into play with the addition of small air
intakes to bring cooling air to the brakes.These
intakes actually change between races, since the
braking requirements of each track are quite
different.
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REAR WING
The rear wing is also among the major components that produces around 35%
of the total downforce while weighing just around 7kg.A typical rear wing
consists of two sets of aerofoils connected to each other by the endplates.The
upper airfoil usually consists of three elements producing most of the
downforce.The lower airfoil usually smaller produces comparitively less
downforce.However it creates a low pressure region just below the wing toaid the working of diffuser,thereby creating even more downforce.
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Rear wing is varied from track to track because of the trade off between downforce
and drag.More wing angle produces more downforce and more drag.So when thecar has to race at a track where there are many steep turns and less straight
paths,wing angle can be increased.
DIFFUSER
It is usually found on each side of the engine and gerbox and located behind therear axle.The diffuser consists of many tunnels and splitters.It is designed tocarefully guide and control airflow underneath the racecar. Essentially, it creates a
suction effect on the rear of the racecar and pulls the car down to the track.The
suction effect is a result of Bernoullis equation, which states that where speed is
higher, pressure must be lower.Therefore the pressure below the racecar must be
lower than the pressure at the outlet since the speed of the air below the racecarwill be higher than the speed of the air at the outlet.Racecar engineers must
carefully design the diffuser, since its dimensions are limited by the racing
regulations and its angle of convergence is somewhat restricted
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CHIMNEYS
Chimneys are an aerodynamic feature recently debuted during the F1 2000
season.Many of the top teams like McLaren, Ferrari, and BMW Williams haveexperimented their use.As seen in Figure the chimneys are mounted on the cooling
sidepods.The primary function of chimneys is to provide additional cooling to the
engine.The increase in speed of the air over the chimney creates a low-pressureregion that sucks out air from the sidepods to aid the radiators in cooling the
engine.
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THEORY
Aerodynamic devices such as wings and ground effect tunnels are able to create
down force by manipulating the speed of the local airflow and consequently the
pressure it exerts on these devices.According to bernoulli principle,velocity and
pressure can be related as follows
This suggests that by changing the flow velocity, the pressure on a given surface can
be increased or decreased, resulting in a net force being applied to the body.
The net force can be expressed mathematically as a pressure coefficient multiplied
by the dynamic pressure and the area of the wing.Resolving this into perpendicularcomponents yields separate expressions for the lift (vertical) and drag (horizontal)
forces and their coefficients as
The coefficients and are relative measures of how much lift and drag a particular
shape will generate.
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CFD TESTING
The flow around a model of the Red Bull Sauber C-20 Formula One (F-1) racing car isstudied in this example. Modern F-1 cars are capable of reaching speeds in excess of
350 km/hr. Cornering in these conditions is possible because of the large negative
lift, or downforce, generated primarily by wing structures at the front and rear of
the vehicle. When combined with wind tunnel tests, CFD can be used to understand
the effect that these wings have on the vehicle aerodynamics.
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To explore the complex flow around the F-1, a half-car model of the Red Bull
Sauber C-20 was simulated. An unstructured hybrid mesh was used for the
turbulent, 3D, steady-state simulation. A free stream velocity of 69.44 m/s (250
km/hr) was set at the inlet boundary of the solution domain. To complete the
simulation of the car motion, the ground plane was given a velocity equal to the
free stream velocity, and the tires were assigned a corresponding rotational
speed.
Modelling was done in CATIA and then imported in ANSA for meshing.
The surface mesh on the driver's helmet and cockpit area is shown below.
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Pressure contours on the surface of thecar in Figure 15 show high pressure
regions (red) at the upper surfaces of
the front and rear wings, indicative of
the strong downforce generated by
these components. Low pressure
regions (green) indicate areas wherethe air velocity is highest.
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CURRENT RESEARCH
Overtake maneuver is currently one
of the most researchable field which
teams are following.Teams are using
CFD and Wind tunnel technology to
the maximum extent so that their
car performs well aerodynamically,
even during the maneuvers.These
kinds of time dependent flow
simulations can ultimately bring
new insights into the aerodynamic
interactions of competing race
cars running at various conditions.
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REFERENCES
1.)www.F1technical.com ,Nose cone,Rear wing designing of F1 car
2.) www.F1country.com,Aerodynamic features of F1 car
3.)SAUBER PETRONAS ENGG ,Formula 1 external aerodynamics
4.)Larsson T., Sato T., Ullbrand B, Supercomputing in F1,
SAUBER PETRONAS Engineering AG
10.)CONTACTS
Lokesh Patil
E-mail- [email protected]
http://www.f1country.com/http://www.f1country.com/ -
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Questions?