formula1 race-car aerodynamics

7/29/2019 Formula1 Race-car Aerodynamics

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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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