My F1 car - LegendaryM

[flynfrog]

that looks neat and all but adding all of that stuff to the body without any data is more than likely just adding drag. I would start with basic shapes for the wings diffuser ect and work from there. Its pretty hard to guess where you need strakes on the diffuser ect.

[ivano]

A bit strange question I guess, from a newbie.
Do you think one can take the 3D files from a racing game mod, convert them and run them in any CFD package? And if yes, then which CFD package?

[Giblet]

I don't know CFD software, but I know software, and in the end it should just be about converting from the game files to a standard 3d design format.

The sim racing world likely has a utility to do that. Swap models back and forth between the game and 3d studio or whatever app is the current standard.

I would imagine the CFD program is quite capable of importing standard 3d model type files. The only thing you will probably need is the file format converter.

[machin]

that looks neat and all but adding all of that stuff to the body without any data is more than likely just adding drag. I would start with basic shapes for the wings diffuser ect and work from there. Its pretty hard to guess where you need strakes on the diffuser ect.

Agreed, that's why I'm not keen on getting CFD done of my model.... for me, and probably LegendaryM, this is all just a fun "modelling" exercise not a "design" exercise... neither one of us is suggesting that our car is aerodynamically "perfect".... see my post above... we're just guessing at an approximate shape and then modelling something that looks "about right". LengendaryM has done a great job with some really neat features, but he'd be the first to admit that in real life the car would probably be a donkey without doing iteration after iteration to refine the position of winglets, sizes of inlets and exhausts, refining suspension geometry, etc etc....

What this exercise has done for both me and LegendaryM is allow us to fully appreciate the rules concerning the body shape, and show us what sort of features are possible within the rules, even if those features wouldn't be "ideal" in real life...

For example I've just added the "keel" section under my nose (just in front of the Tub)... I've modelled something that looks like it might help smooth the flow around the sides of the Tub, and in modelling this I had to consult the rules to make sure it fits within them, and now I can appreciate better what the real designers are having to work with when they design the real cars in this area of the car....

[pipex]

To get 3D data from a game or other program i remember hearing about a software called DirectX dumper or something like that. At least with that is possible to draw a car in 3ds Max.

This program could be used for that purpose i think http://www.sandboxsoftware.com.au/directx_explorer

Disclaimer: My knowledge of computer graphics is very limited.

[ivano]

It's not a problem to get the source 3d files:)
They're designed in 3ds Max or Maya, but I don't know if I can import such files into Ansys or any CFD package at all?
Has anyone done something similar?

[Callum]

The radiator inlets look massive compared to current F1.. maybe you could make them a bit smaller?

I guess that's at me? This car is my design for a 2010 car running to the budget cap... therefore it doesn't have the rev limit of today's cars and has more KERS storage and therefore it needs more cooling !!!!

Agreed, they do look big, especially next to something like the Brawn which has very small inlets.... in truth the whole car is full of guesses where sizes are concerned.... for example would the engine fit in? Is there enough room for a fuel tank? are the radiator outlets big enough? etc etc... the engine intake on my car is probably over-sized too.... basically its a car that would meet the rules shape/size wise, but is only otherwise "about right".. without fully designing the car and knowing heat-rejection figures, exhaust flow rates, etc etc, that's all these cars could ever be..... Maybe I could spend some time calculating sizes of these components based on the power output etc, but that's a whole heap of time that could be spent in the garage sorting out my real car!

haha:D very true, i didnt know it was for a 2010 car. I like both of your cars very much.

[machin]

i didnt know it was for a 2010 car

It wasn't meant to be... it was just a convenient excuse to avoid sitting at my computer to update the model !!!!

[LegendaryM]

New front wing - it is not finished yet and I'm busy over the weekend, and i have exams for the next two weeks.
I plan to add underwing strakes, similar to mclaren, and an upper element.

[autolover]

=D> ,It looks very good,wow,you can found a team in F1 if you have enough money:lol:

[LegendaryM]

Small Update: I added a small upper element onto the front wing;

[Shrek]

I've been thinking that maybe you should add a single wing profile to extend the upper element to the endplate that's farthest away (kind of like Williams has now)

[machin]

OK.... so the good chaps at CFDesign have taken my model and run some CFD... (in the end the opportunity was just too great to miss!). As you can see the model has been simplified slightly to aid meshing and reduce processing time, but otherwise its all there:-

Air and ground speed was set at 150mph... green is pressure neutral, red high pressure, blue low pressure:-

(Interesting thing here is that there really isn't much pressure difference above and below the floor... although obviously its over a big area...)




Side view:-
(This hints at why the brake Duct outlets on the front wheels are in the lower forward area... note the dark blue colouring in this area)



Flow lines around and over the car:-


Flow lines through the cooling ducts and engine inlet/exhausts...



I think CFDesign have done a really nice job on these, looks like they have some good software.....

[Callum]

These pictures are great! did you have to pay for the CFD to be done?

I wonder why there are low pressures on top of the suspension arms and around the air-inlet.

I'd have thought the air inlet to be an area of high pressure..but im no aerodynamisit

did they give any downforce levels??

[machin]

I wonder why there are low pressures on top of the suspension arms and around the air-inlet.

If you look at the flow lines (from above), you can see that between the wheels the air flow is fast (red) as the air has a smaller area to funnel through, hence static pressure in this region (i.e above the wishbobes) is low....

Same with the region beside the air intake... local high velocity results in low pressure....