CFD CDG/Wind tunnel Project

[Jonts]

Hi there

I am a student from South Africa doing a CFD simulation and wind tunnel test on the CDG wing for my final year mech eng research project.

I have seen that there are a couple of students that are running CFD simulations on the new CDG wing. This is a pretty monstrous task if done in detail, which seems unnecessary and seeing as though my project is due in October and I have another due in August, the schedule is rough!!

I would like to get some info on f1 cars in terms of estimating cd and cl values for a 2002 ferrari. Or any F1 car of this era. I need it to design my flexure for the tunnel. My CFD model will hopefully be verified by the tunnel data and then I will only use the CFD to generate further simulations. Bearing in mind that my objective is to find out whether the CDG wing has its merits for overtaking purposes or not, not what the best optimised solution is. I know that the tyres are essential and that they are modelled as rotating. I Know that meshing is the biggest issue in this project, any help? Can I model half a car eg left only, model from the driver back? All to simplyfy the model. Any help in this project will be much appreciated.

[miqi23]

Hi Jonts,

Yes you are correct, there are a lot guys who are interested in doing this project.

To be honest it depends on how much time you have got to carry on your project, what I find surprsing is that you are asking about F1 cars now! Trust me their is a lot to learn about these machines, any ways, you can start off by modelling a simple wing then analysing it, and after that studying the effects of the rotating wheel on it!

Simple as that, and dont try to compare your results with wind tunnel at all, thats another story! Infact you can compare some simple analysis of yours with wind tunnel data that are widely available like those of NACA aerofoils and from that you base every 3D result of yours to be hopefully accurate! These include the mesh practices you have used, Turbulence models, etc etc.

Hope this helps and Good Luck.

[Jonts]

I understand that there is a lot to learn, I know that I am by no means an expert, though I dont understand why you are surprised about my questions of the cars "now". I have taken details of the changes to the rules from 06 to 08 and have done quite a bit of reading. The cd and cl values aren't exactly freely available, are they? I need the wind tunnel testing as a requirement of the project. The project was only issued a couple of weeks back so I am right at the beginning essentially.

I seen that you reckon that isolating the wing is a good start, thanks. I am also interested inthe overall wake of the car, and modelling the so called "downwash" behind the car. Is there a higher pressure behind the car etc. I am very interested in your thoughts.

[miqi23]

If you go to the FIA website they have some CFD images of the difference between both the regulations. You should get a good idea of what you should be doing, however as far as the modelling of the whole car is concerned by your self then think about it twice because it can be a right pain in the arse!

Any ways, if you have any other question then please feel free to ask.

Thanks.