Title: Flow field around the front wing of Formula One racing car model: BAR Honda 003 and MP4-21 under ground effect

Authors: Chia Sheng Lau, Sutthiphong Srigrarom

Addresses: School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 50 Nanyang Avenue, Singapore 639798, Singapore. ' School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 50 Nanyang Avenue, Singapore 639798, Singapore

Abstract: In Formula One racing, the front wing of a Formula One race car is crucial in generating downforce. Few types of front wings were introduced throughout the years. Two of them were the straight wing and the curved (U-shaped) wing. The difference in performance and flow structures between the two types of wings were experimentally investigated using scaled models with six-axes load cell, dye flow visualisation and PIV. Besides that, actual scaled wing model on track condition with moving ground was looked into using computational fluid dynamics (CFD). The effect of ground clearance on the generation of downforce and drag for both wings were studied. In general, the straight wing performs better than the curved wing with larger downforce generation with a greater penalty in drag.

Keywords: Formula One racing cars; straight front wing; curved front wing; ground clearance effect; aerodynamics; modelling; flow field; BAR Honda; ground effect; downforce generation; dye flow visualisation; PIV; computational fluid dynamics; drag; CFD; particle image velocity; Formula 1; F1.

DOI: 10.1504/IJAD.2010.031703

International Journal of Aerodynamics, 2010 Vol.1 No.1, pp.72 - 81

Published online: 21 Feb 2010 *

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