dren wrote:turbof1 wrote:It's the airflow underneath the wing that determines the direction of the vortex,
It's the airflow across the wing vs the wing shape. The high pressure will spill over towards the low pressure to equalize. The batwing is producing lift, the front wing is producing downforce. Since they are on opposite sides, the rotation will be the same.
I'm just not sure of the effect of feeding one vortex into a similar rotating one downstream. Does it combine and strengthen, or does it have an adverse reaction?
airflow flows from high pressure to low pressure. It equalizes, yes, but the shape on the underside of the wing makes it very important, more important then the shapes on top which can differ from the underside (for instance, right underneath the edge of the neutral section, there's a small flap/turning vane), for the shape of the vortex. Since the batwing and turning vanes only come afterwards, I'm emphasizing the wing for now. They have an impact on the vortex, but I'd like to take this one step at a time.
If the vortices co-rotate, they merge and keep atleast the vortex trail going. The Y250 vortex is a very powerful, but not very stable vortex, and dissipates quickly. Mercedes is apparently very keen on keeping it alive, given the batwing and now serrated turning vanes, which aid in airflow attachment which helps steering the vortex. It helps if the vortex is shaped with the an optimal vector towards the turning vanes. Vortices are fickle; if somewhere between the wheels and chassis a big enough unwanted pressure gradient builds up, it can break up the vortex or steer it away. it breaks up airflow structures and you can loose suddenly a bug chunk of downforce. Given the limitation on aero devices in the current rules, this very difficult to prevent. Mercedes tries to combat it very intensively given the amount and detailing of the devices.