Wheel covers

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J-Raid
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Joined: 18 May 2009, 20:31
Location: Spain

Wheel covers

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Although not strictly complying with the open wheel racing definition per se, and not being the same as the rim shields currently used, I've started working on some designs of how to best cover a F1 wheel. The reason is that I'm working in improving overall F1 car, and clearly aero drag due to wheels is a very important factor (I've heard it accounts for 65-70% of F1's total drag).

So, working with Solid Works 2008 (which is the one I'm most into), I've created some designes. Though, note that I avoided extending the cover over the wheel's with (unlike for example Mclaren shields). It will interesting to see what comments/suggestions, ideas and designs you can come up with, especially aimed to get a design which would be best at reducing drag, but not being to dangerous to the other car in case of close racing.

So far here are a couple of basic designs (I know they still need some developing, but I tried to do some basic yet original):
Spec1:
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Spec2:
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Image

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RacingManiac
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Re: Wheel covers

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Jersey Tom
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Re: Wheel covers

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Most certainly not 60-70% of total drag.
Grip is a four letter word. All opinions are my own and not those of current or previous employers.

wesley123
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Re: Wheel covers

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Best would be to fill both sides of the wheels completely, so you cant see the tire either, i think by that the tire turbulent flow to the side gets stopped and also the brakes get blcoked so no air can fill in there, it would work great on indy as there arent any brakes needed(except for pit entry) so cooling there wont be a problem
"Bite my shiny metal ass" - Bender

Conceptual
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Re: Wheel covers

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RacingManiac wrote:have you seen this?
http://www.mulsannescorner.com/allardj2x.html
It is depressing to see how stagnant racing has become if this is an early 90's car.

Over regulation has seriously destroyed the technology war, and that is a shame.

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J-Raid
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Re: Wheel covers

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RacingManiac wrote:have you seen this?
http://www.mulsannescorner.com/allardj2x.html
Yes, but I was thinking of something more F1'ish, I mean with independent covers, not directly attached to bodywork

@Jersey Tom, perhpas not as much as 70%, but certainly over half of the total. I recall those fogures from someone of a team, Sam Michael I think.
Bear in mind that 4 big and rounded objects, and rotating at high speed in the wrong way, which is what wheels are in open racing, and by far the most dragy object. They really mess up with the flow all over the car.

They are far less efficient than a wing, let alone a diffuser.

ANyway, my purpose is thinking of something to improve the situation. I have some other designs in the pipeline, one of them designed with similar shape to "race against the clock" cyclists helmets

@wesley, yes, first I though about covering both sides, but scrapped it, as I still want to allow easy tyre changes, and also still allow some image of open wheel racing intact. So, I would rather just cover the inside, with the outside either being covered by rim shields or by nothing at all (afterall teams are set to ban rim shields from next year). As well, external covers can both make the car wider (hence less room for overtaking) and even dangerous (punctures or bodywork damage) when close racing.

So, looking for your challenges and so on ;)

gridwalker
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Re: Wheel covers

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If we're disregarding the rules regarding bodywork surrounding the wheels, why not drop skirts down at the rear of the teardrop shaped cowling to form a diffuser shape behind the wheels : you could then feed this with air scoops at the sides of the structure ...

I don't know how effective this would be, but it could be worth exploring.
"Change is inevitable, except from a vending machine ..."

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J-Raid
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Re: Wheel covers

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A design evolution, with a couple of profiles, and endplate, at the rear to better conduct the airflow and even generate a bit of downforce (not much though). The design is a bit wierd, as I was aiming for some original rather than effective one, however next ones should be more effectivity-aimed.
Image

More to come, including side covered ones.
If anyone could run some CFD with them...

Jersey Tom
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Re: Wheel covers

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J-Raid wrote:@Jersey Tom, perhpas not as much as 70%, but certainly over half of the total. I recall those fogures from someone of a team, Sam Michael I think.
Bear in mind that 4 big and rounded objects, and rotating at high speed in the wrong way, which is what wheels are in open racing, and by far the most dragy object. They really mess up with the flow all over the car.
I highly doubt it's anywhere near 50%.

I'm sure they create some non-trivial LIFT, but DRAG... think of the frontal area of the tire compared to driving the rest of the chassis through the air.

I could run the numbers...
Grip is a four letter word. All opinions are my own and not those of current or previous employers.

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J-Raid
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Re: Wheel covers

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I think you are understimatimg them.

They do have quite a large frontal aera compared to the whole one of F1.

As well, drag is not only about that area, but also about its Cx, which measures, lets say, the quality of the shape of the entire car.

ANd there is where wheels are really bad. For starting, a cilinder is far from ideal in that respect, especially the back half, as it will create a low pressure region very prone to create undesired and very draggy turbulences and vortex.

Image

To make it even worse they are rotating, with the upper part moving against the airflow, creating further friction.

All in all, while for example the new Mercedes E-class has a Cx of 0,26, the F1 cars in an average downforce confi are around 0,75 (although getting close to 1 at Monaco config)
WHat makes them different to cars, to have such a bad Cx?
Two things come on top: wings and wheels.

While wings certainly take a big part responsibility, they do have a good efficiency (ok, not as good as diffuser, but still have a correct shape, with a rounded leading edge, and sharp trailing edge. Only high attack angles make them really quite draggy).

On the other hand tyres, as explained before, are horrible.

The shapes of the F1 bodywork are more efficient than road cars too.

So most of it is coming from the wheels, though I can't recall the exact %. Bear in mind that Le Mans cars are quiet similar in wing sizes, yet have half the Cx of a F1. EDIT: I found that the wheels have a 60% of aerodynamic inefficency, and account for over 40% of the total drag of a F1. That seems very reasonable.

Also the fact that they generate lift, forces to use more wing angle to compensate, so furthermore drag as well.

Anyway, my point is not really about how much is the impact of tyres in the total drag, but rather how to reduce this impact by using covers for example.
Last edited by J-Raid on 31 May 2009, 17:20, edited 1 time in total.

timbo
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Re: Wheel covers

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Like the second approach. The way things seem to be in F1 aero you have to try to extract DF from everything around.

timbo
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Re: Wheel covers

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Jersey Tom wrote:
J-Raid wrote:@Jersey Tom, perhpas not as much as 70%, but certainly over half of the total. I recall those fogures from someone of a team, Sam Michael I think.
Bear in mind that 4 big and rounded objects, and rotating at high speed in the wrong way, which is what wheels are in open racing, and by far the most dragy object. They really mess up with the flow all over the car.
I highly doubt it's anywhere near 50%.
This is from Racecar-Engineering http://www.racecar-engineering.com/arti ... -ever.html
We are trying desperately to reduce the drag on the car but more than 75% of the drag comes from the tyres.

Skunk0001
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Giblet
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Re: Wheel covers

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I was just about to point out the T1, my PGR4 ride of choice.
Before I do anything I ask myself “Would an idiot do that?” And if the answer is yes, I do not do that thing. - Dwight Schrute

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Tim.Wright
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Re: Wheel covers

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From Peter Wrights book on the 2000 ferrari
Components         DRAG      |    DOWNFORCE   | L/D RATIO
               CD     %TOTAL | CL      %TOTAL |         
FRONT WING     0.123  13.2%  | 0.966   36.9%  | 7.859
REAR WING      0.297  31.8%  | 0.899   34.4%  | 3.029
UNDERFLOOR     0.099  10.6%  | 1.080   41.3%  | 10.911
FRONT WHEELS   0.150  16.0%  | -0.038  -1.4%  | -0.251
REAR WHEELS    0.187  20.1%  | -0.061  -2.3%  | -0.326
TURNING VANE   0.023  2.4%   | -0.020  -0.8%  | -0.889
OTHER          0.055  5.9%   | -0.210  -8.0   | -3.793
TOTAL          0.935  100%   | 2.617   100%   | 2.802
This puts the tyres at approx 36% of the drag. Bear in mind this was from 2000 and with one specific setup (front rh=16mm, rear rh=46mm, medium downforce) I could see todays numbers being higher as the rear wheels are no longer hiding under kickups etc.

On a side note it also shows why the diffuser is a big deal - along with the floor it contributes 41% of all down force with the smallest drag penalty.
Not the engineer at Force India