Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
DOI 10.1007/s00348-008-0499-z
RESEARCH ARTICLE
Received: 29 October 2007 / Revised: 9 March 2008 / Accepted: 22 March 2008 / Published online: 13 April 2008
Springer-Verlag 2008
Abstract This paper details a quantitative 3D investigation using LDA into the interaction aerodynamics on a subscale open wheel race car inverted front wing and wheel.
Of primary importance to this study was the influence of
changing wing angle of attack and span on the resulting
near-field and far-field flow characteristics. Results
obtained showed that both variables do have a significant
influence on the resultant flow-field, particularly on wing
vortex and wheel wake development and propagation.
1 Introduction
Current open wheel race car performance depends heavily
on the effectiveness and efficiency of its aerodynamics.
Appendages such as inverted wings, diffusers, barge boards
and splitter plates are currently used to enhance performance, but the physics and mechanisms through which this
is achieved, particularly via various component interactions, remains poorly understood. From a design
perspective, the ultimate goal of the designer is to contribute to the downforce produced by a race car while
minimizing drag. This enhances the mechanical grip of the
tires on the track, allowing the vehicle to corner at speeds
which would otherwise be impossible. On modern open
S. Diasinos
Toyota F1, Koln, Germany
e-mail: s.diasinos@unsw.edu.au
A. Gatto (&)
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
School of Engineering and Design,
Brunel University, UB8 3PH Uxbridge, England
e-mail: alvin.gatto@brunel.ac.uk
wheeled race cars, approximately 30% of the total downforce produced originates from the front wing (Metz 1987;
Dominy 1992). However, the close proximity of the front
wheels to the front wing can have a significant influence on
this performance metric (Katz 2006; Agathangelou and
Gascoyne 1998).
Surprisingly, very little information relating to open
wheel/inverted wing interaction exists in the open source
literature. This is most probably due to the sensitive nature
of this information in the extremely competitive and lucrative businesses at the pinnacle of motor racing, particularly
Formula 1. There are however, an ever increasing number of
investigations appearing in the literature concerned specifically with investigating an inverted wing or wheel in
isolation (Zerihan and Zhang 2000; Katz 1986; McManus
and Zhang 2006). Two such investigations for the isolated
wing case were conducted recently by Zerihan and Zhang
(2000) and Ranzenbach and Barlow (1996). Independently,
they both found that a downforce loss phenomenon can
occur with a small, subsequent reduction beyond a critical
ride height. This was later found to be fundamentally caused
by the development of severe adverse pressure gradients on
the wing undersurface as the ride height was reduced. Zerihan and Zhang (2003) followed up this work with an
additional 3D experimental analysis, using LDA, to determine the effect of varying ride height and front wing angle
of attack (AOA) on the overall wake structure, together with
the formation and displacement of tip vortices. Results from
this analysis showed that as the wing approached the
ground, the region of separated flow and the size of the wake
increased, moving towards the ground plane as it travelled
downstream. With subsequent further reductions in ride
height, the vortex strength was found to increase up until a
critical ride height at which a loss of downforce, and consequently wing tip vortex strength, occurred.
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Fig. 4 Comparison of
stationary and rotating isolated
wheel results
1975; McManus and Zhang 2006), this increased entrainment for the stationary case was found to be due to the
decelerating flow on the rear surface of the wheel being
energized by the entrained main streamwise flow around the
sides. This promotes the central region of attached flow as it
is directed down the rear face of the wheel and toward the
ground. Additionally, this characteristic of flowfield, and
the subsequent bi-furcation of the flow as proximity to the
ground increases, clearly implies the existence of a downstream stagnation line on the ground plane (Fig. 4f).
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4 Conclusion
An investigation into the effect of changing wing span and
angle of attack on the interaction aerodynamics of a sub-
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scale inverted wing and wheel, in ground effect, is presented. Experimental results obtained using 3D LDA are
presented and were used to show various component
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References
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