Red Bull RB10 Renault

[RicerDude]

2014 Australian Grand Prix, Friday - 14.03.2014
http://i.imgur.com/5QxhvTt.jpg

Maybe, I have missed a discussion of this issue but what do you think guys about absense of gills in endplates above a rearwing (where "Infinity" sing is placed)? Earlier we could see this only in extremely low-df configurations for Monza or Spa with a much narrower, almost flat rearwing.

The purpose of the gills is to reduce the draggy turbulent air behind the car but it also reduces the pressure on top of the wing. Maybe this is just a max-downforce configuration?

[dren]

2014 Australian Grand Prix, Friday - 14.03.2014
http://i.imgur.com/5QxhvTt.jpg

Maybe, I have missed a discussion of this issue but what do you think guys about absense of gills in endplates above a rearwing (where "Infinity" sing is placed)? Earlier we could see this only in extremely low-df configurations for Monza or Spa with a much narrower, almost flat rearwing.

The purpose of the gills is to reduce the draggy turbulent air behind the car but it also reduces the pressure on top of the wing. Maybe this is just a max-downforce configuration?

Doesn't it also help eliminate the slower boundry layer on the inside of the horizontal piece?

[taperoo2k]

I still don't buy this. For Ferrari we can argue with the shape of the nose, ok...but for Merc there is no reasonable explanation for anything like guiding the air. And if the camera would be in an upgoing stream it would not be in a "streamline" shape and produce drag and lift.

Different aero philosophies from Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull makes it difficult to compare them at this stage. As far as Merc goes, the camera mounts must have an effect otherwise why bother ? Same for Red Bull placing the front camera into the nose section, rather than on the outside.

For me the air running through the suspension is more or less useless for "designing" downforce. It has an effect, but it is very hard to work with it. So Merc has put the camera as high a possible by the rules, right in front of the front suspension, in order not to produce even more "dirty" air and to keep it as far away as possible from the front wing upwash.

Well it's how it all works together as a package, you can't isolate one bit from another and call it useless. Unless you know what is going on precisely with the airflow over the car.

So for me the mandatory cameras are just a problem, not a help. RedBull has completely solved this problem with their solution.

That depends if they are deemed legal, as the other teams will likely protest it, while trying to copy it for later in the season just in case the FIA deem it legal. I think it's classic Newey, pushing the rules to breaking point. We shall just have to wait and see if the other teams protest after qualifying or the race.

[Owen.C93]

No slots in the end plates above the rear wing anymore, but there are small slots on the back side of it which I haven't seen before.

[SectorOne]

Nice find, i´m not even gonna ask how you found those tiny things.
Pressure-bleeding holes or what is their function?

Edit: had a better look now and i´m not sure those are holes. The pattern "in the hole" is identical on both sides only reversed vertically.

[shady]

They look like slots, possibly to help extract air under the RW. Boundry layer on the RWEP close to the RW itself... looks intriguing. Anyone else want to venture a guess?

[SectorOne]

the problem with it being a hole is that if the right hand side is correct and the white bit is for example part of the infiniti logo you´d have trouble explaining the left hand side where the same pattern occurs but since it´s a hole you won´t see any logo from that angle.

I´m guessing it´s an indentation where the horizontal pattern is actually just carbon fiber.
The white bit i do not know what it is.

[PlatinumZealot]

Looks as if it is to reduce separation.

[trinidefender]

Those slots below and behind the rear wing do the same job as the RWEP slots that the other teams use of reducing wake vortecies and turbulence created by the rear wing helping to reduce drag. This is achieved by the slots helping to equalise the pressure on the outside of the RWEP and the inside of the endplates underneath the rear wing.

To understand how vortecies are formed look at the edge of an aircraft wing. One side of the wing has high pressure and the other has low pressure. Energy (in this form as air pressure) always moves from high to low. Therefore the high pressure air from one side of the wing swirls/rolls around the wing tip onto the low pressure side. This swirl continues as the airflow leaves the back of the wing and the vortex is formed.

Now if you can equalise the pressure on both sides of the wing, at the tip at least, then the swirl is 'killed' or in this case by equalising the pressure on both sides of the end plates by the use of the slots then the vortex will not form or be much weaker.

[SectorOne]

I´d appreciate a counter argument to my statement if possible.

[trinidefender]

I´d appreciate a counter argument to my statement if possible.

I'm not sure what you meant in your previous post. Try to re-explain yourself and maybe I can help.

[Owen.C93]

I´d appreciate a counter argument to my statement if possible.

The 2 pics are of a crop of the image posted above. The outside of the endplate is indented like a NACA duct. Hope that helps.

[flyboy2160]

if you look at owens' picture with the flow vis, you can see a small pattern in the rear wing side support skins where they are shiny. this happens when you co-cure (cure with the skin still a prepreg) very thin composite skins over honeycomb core using a semi-soft caul sheet. the core cells are perpendicular to the skins. the pattern is the edges of the cells 'showing' through.

the medium grey horizontal lines (not the bright silver rectangles) in the open slots look exactly like the edges of aluminum honeycomb core.

and yes, there is honeycomb core with very small holes in the cell walls, but they are so small that you can't really pass air quickly through them. they allow the honeycomb internal volume to vent as a manufacturing aid and for space applications.

i can't imagine why those slots are open like that. normally, in a sea-level reasonable temperature environment, the construction can easily take care of internal pressure buildup from temperature deltas.

[SectorOne]

I´d appreciate a counter argument to my statement if possible.

I'm not sure what you meant in your previous post. Try to re-explain yourself and maybe I can help.

The look of this slot is identical to both sides with the only exception that it´s vertically reversed (i.e. the white bit is on the bottom or top)

It is physically impossible for this to be a hole since the angles shown do not correlate with reality.
If the right hand slot is actually slot it would show what´s "behind it". Problem is that the hole on the left side is pointing away from the car and shows no bodywork whatsoever except some mechanic´s legs.

Therefore it´s physically impossible for the two holes to show identical patterns if they were holes or slots.
Problem is they do show identical patterns, only vertically reversed. And this is the fundamental issue.

[Owen.C93]

I´d appreciate a counter argument to my statement if possible.

I'm not sure what you meant in your previous post. Try to re-explain yourself and maybe I can help.

The look of this slot is identical to both sides with the only exception that it´s vertically reversed (i.e. the white bit is on the bottom or top)

It is physically impossible for this to be a hole since the angles shown do not correlate with reality.
If the right hand slot is actually slot it would show what´s "behind it". Problem is that the hole on the left side is pointing away from the car and shows no bodywork whatsoever except some mechanic´s legs.

Therefore it´s physically impossible for the two holes to show identical patterns if they were holes or slots.
Problem is they do show identical patterns, only vertically reversed. And this is the fundamental issue.

Still not sure what you mean. Here's an annotated pic of the indented slots where the air enters from outside the endplates.
http://i.imgur.com/5XqXu3K.jpg