User:Albinomonkey/F1 Aerodynamics
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This is just a test page for a proposed article. Words like this are undesired (or unresearched), but I can't think of a better one at the time.
Aerodynamics is one of the most important aspects of Formula One car design. The aerodynamicist has two primary concerns when designing the car: creating downforce, to hold the car to the ground to improve cornering; and minimising drag, which slows the car down. Modern F1 teams use expensive wind tunnels and computational fluid dynamics systems to analyse the effectiveness of an aerodynamic design for a car. In these analyses, every surface of the car, including suspension and the driver's helmet must be considered. Even an advertising sticker can affect the airflow, and placing a badge on a crucial element could produce a two-to-three percent difference in air pressure. Disrupted air flow can cause turbulence, which will produce drag to slow the car. F1 cars often have small 'winglets' before the rear wing, which 'clean up' complex air flow in order to maximise downforce. At 100-110kph, a Formula One car generates 600kg of downforce, and at 200kph, it produces 2000kg.
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[edit] Front wing
The front wing is vital to the entire car, as it is the first part to come in contact with the air, and must be able to leave it relatively undisturbed, whilst producing sufficient downforce for grip on the front tyres. The main aim of the nose cone is simply to produce as little turbulence as possible, allowing the air to travel smoothly over the other parts of the car. The tip of the nose cone is the area of highest pressure on the car, where the air comes to a stop. The front wing of a Formula One car is held by two vertical connectors, which also act to shape the airflow underneath the car. The front wing consists of either two or three components, all of which are shaped and angled to produce the most downforce with the least amount of drag. Each component is adjustable, such that its angle of attack can be altered to suit different circuits, or even during a race in order to deal with understeer or oversteer. Whilst covers over the wheels are banned by the regulations, there is some emphasis on endplates, which sit on either end of the front wing, styled to direct airflow over the wheels such that there is less turbulence as it travels over the rest of the car. Modern endplates often have smaller wings protruding from the outside, producing a small amount of extra downforce and aiding the correction of airflow.
[edit] Early years
In the first years of Formula One, there was very little design emphasis on aerodynamic features. With front-engined cars, the nose was often used as an air intake for the radiators. The Cooper T43 in 1958 was the first Formula One car with the engine placed behind the driver (Cooper had previously run a rear-engined Formula 2 car in 1957), and became a trend after Stirling Moss won the 1958 Argentine Grand Prix, allowing for more innovation in the front end of the cars. One of the most influential and famous designs was that of the Ferrari 156, dubbed the "sharknose" for its distinctive pointed nose. Whilst most teams did not pay a large amount of attention to their aerodynamic package, the Ferrari won 5 of the 7 races, including a 1-2-3-4 finish at Spa Francorchamps. The 1962 season then saw several teams adopt this concept, and aerodynamically defined noses became common in the field in later years. The first front wing designs appeared mid way through the 1968 season on the Lotus 49B and Matra MS11, and quickly became a trend in the sport due to their ability to make the cornering speeds of the cars much faster. Early front wings were rather simple, usually just two relatively flat sections that came out from either side of the nose. ...to be expanded - describe specific cars
[edit] Development
As the effectiveness of front wings became apparent, they developed quickly, with several different designs emerging. Cars of the early 1970s had much more complex front wings, with many employing a "shovel" type wing, integrated with the nose of the car. One of the most famous examples is that of the Lotus 72, which had a completely flat nose that followed the plane of the front wing. With the banning of ground effect in 1983, the design of front wings became even more important. By the mid-1980s, wings became multi-planed, usually with two horizontal aerofoils above each other.
At the beginning of the 1990s, front wings became much deeper, and teams began to experiment with many different shapes to reduce potential air vortices and disruption to airflow over the rest of the car. The 1991 Jordan 191 perhaps showed the first of these developments, with a unique upwards bend in the centre of the wing, allowing air to travel much more smoothly underneath the car, while the top of the wing had a curve on either side of the nose, producing downforce more effectively. The 1992 season was a big step forwards in front wing design, with the Benetton B192 and Ferrari F92A both displaying the first upright struts, connecting the front wing to the nose of the car, whilst allowing more air to travel undisturbed beneath the car. Whilst this trend did not catch on immediately, after Bennetton won both the 1994 and 1995 World Championships, most teams used the idea in the 1996 season. Ferrari's F310 used just one connection from the nose, but this meant that the air was disrupted through the centre of the car, and they returned to two connectors with the F310B in 1997. Front wings remained relatively similar for the remainder of the 1990s, with only slight changes in connectors, and small alterations in front wing shapes appearing.
In 2000, Ferrari produced the F1-2000, the first of modern car with a "droop nose", which attempted to produce cleaner airflow over the top of the car, and reducing the effect of the high pressure area at the tip of the nose. After the car won both the drivers' and constructors' world championships for that season, many cars since have employed the same design.
[edit] Current trends
In recent years, the front end of the car has been heavily influenced by the choice of front suspension geometry. Sauber first introduced the idea of a twin-keel suspension system in 2001, in an attempt to restrict the disturbance to the air that goes underneath the car to the diffuser that is caused by a single-keel. However, apart from the structural draw backs of this design, one of the main problems that must be overcome is the fact that the nose and connectors typically interfere with the air flowing between the keels, effectively nullifying the original advantage provided by the system. As a solution, teams have attempted to redesign their front wing systems, such that the amount of disturbance is reduced. In 2004, McLaren used a very pointed, small nose, whilst Williams tried to effectively remove the nose section, attaching the front wing with tusk-like structures.
In 2005, the rules for front aerodynamic design were altered in order to produce less downforce on the cars. One of the changes was raising the front wing of the car, which meant that the teams had to redesign their front wings in order to create this lost downforce. Many of the teams, including B.A.R, McLaren and Williams introduced a significant "dip" in the middle of the wing, so that while the ends of the wing are the correct distance off the ground, the centre creates almost the same amount of downforce as previously. In pre-season testing, Sauber introduced an extra plane that runs seperately from the centre of the nose to the endplates of the wing, whilst Ferrari added a small area of extra wing planes, attached to the bottom of the front wing.
[edit] Regulations
As with most regulations regarding the bodywork of the cars, the dimensions of the front wing and nose are defined mainly by the areas in which no bodywork is allowed, effectively creating a "box" within which any bodywork may sit. ...to be continued: list specific dimensions, changes from 2004.
[edit] Side pods
Info about the side air intakes
[edit] Engine cover
Info about the shape of the engine cover (mid wings)
[edit] Rear wing
Info about the rear wing and endplates
[edit] Diffuser
Info about the diffuser
[edit] Issues
Turbulence from other cars, tyres, suspension. Air hitting the lower part of the tyre could lift the wheel,witch will leave less tracktion
