Scuderia Ferrari SF70H

[jagunx51]

Does anyone have some info about the strip in the floor and why they measuring the temperature there? I found only some speculations. From them the most reliable seem to be piping for the gearbox cooling...

Here is another speculation: Cables from/to batteries.

Cables to where? MGU-K/H are mounted to the ICE...

edit: adding picture

[Mr.G]

Can it be heating the floor to make it bend? I don't understand the shape, if it was for cables/piping why do it i such odd shape? You can make it shorter.

[PhillipM]

The only thing I can think it's they're the hydraulic lines to the accumulators in the sidepods and they've put them in the floor to let the airflow cool them - perhaps instead of using a seperate small oil cooler.

Or, they've painted some black lines on the floor and stuck some spare temperature strips on there to send the other teams on a wild goose chasse?

[Mr.G]

The only thing I can think it's they're the hydraulic lines to the accumulators in the sidepods and they've put them in the floor to let the airflow cool them - perhaps instead of using a seperate small oil cooler.

Or, they've painted some black lines on the floor and stuck some spare temperature strips on there to send the other teams on a wild goose chasse?

It was on the launch pictures too...

[Vanja #66]

Hey guys, long time no see! I've had a lot of thought about those beautiful SF70H sidepods and I think I have them figured out... Please note the think word.

First off, they are obviously very aggressive and seemingly contradict a lot of what we think is going on with conventional designs. With such an opening on top, perpendicular to the flow at first look, it really makes you wonder... Well, naturally, it can't be perpendicular and it has to fit in the bigger picture of the whole design. This picture started it all (all of the original pictures can be found previously in this thread):



What we see inside is a set of flaps in a position seen when airplanes land - maximum lift and therefore maximum bending angle of the flow once it passes trailing edge. There are two flaps in fact, you can just see the leading edge of the first one, so it's not a continual surface starting from the leading edge of the outer flap. This is expected, in front of the radiator you need to build up the pressure using an intake and this creates adverse pressure gradient in this area - so you need flaps and slots to energize the flow and keep it attached. There are more elements in front of the radiator there, but they aren't interesting at this point. The top element of sidepod opening (and yes, I think we should be looking at this as the actual opening, not as flow conditioners) seems to be almost parallel to ground level or at a slight angle. This is very unusual as this would normally create flow separation since the airflow coming to the sidepods is already bent up by the front wing (putting the sidepod at a high angle of attack so to speak). Last year, SF16-H had very thick top leading edge of the sidepods as a first step to counter this potential separation.



This year the roles are reversed, it's the lower edge that is a lot thicker, perhaps event thicker than the top one on SF16-H.



This suggests that the airflow should be coming to the sidepod parallel to the ground or perhaps even at a negative angle. FIA restriction on nose camera mounting is not a problem for Ferrari with this concept and you can see how different their position is now.

Look at the picture above again and you can see that the first set of winglets on the chassis is almost parallel to the top of the tub (and so almost parallel to ground level), while the one closer to the sidepods is at a relatively high AoA and is turning the airflow downwards. At the back, in the sidepod, you can see those two flaps in a similar position.



On this picture you can see even better how the angle of winglets changes from front to back. At the front there are two of them with a slot energizing the airflow and keeping it attached. Tip vortices probably aren't too strong.



Now looking at this picture you can see how it all falls into the big picture, with these winglets turning the airflow near the chassis, i.e. in the boundary layer. From experience I know how tricky it is keeping the flow attached in the bottom part of the sidepod intake next to the chassis, as you have a boundary layer, airflow bent up by front wing and bent a bit sideways by cockpit expansion in the chassis. Last two years I was a leading aerodynamicist in Formula Student team from Belgrade, last year we designed and made our first radiator intake. This area was very unstable in CFD and on track we had some separation. However the intake was a success as the avg water temperature was some 5-6 deg C lower than the year before, event with a 20% smaller radiator surface area.





It's a whole different world compared to F1 of course, but the principles are the same. We also left an opening to separate the boundary layer next to our bodywork, similar to the small opening with a mesh SF70H has in the sidepod. Finally, flow conditioners/brackets on the outer edge of the sidepod opening are there to keep it in check. Seeing them this twisted suggests just how much the flow changes near the actual opening.



The one thing I'm not sure about is whether this sidepod upper flap is separated and slotted, or is it a single piece extending outboard. These two pictures seem to tell a different story:





In the end, to put it simply, this is what I think is going on:



And here I drew up what could be happening overall. A long shot, yes, but we are here to discuss.



With this concept Ferrari could have provided quite a larger amount of air to the back of the car coming from under the sidepod opening. Also, top sidepod opening is in a position where the flow starts bending downwards on the sidepod top surface so the lower pressure that is created there has a smaller effect (in contact with a smaller surface). So Ferrari could have made two big steps in this area - maximizing the amount of air going to the top of the diffuser and minimizing the lift created on top of the sidepods.

[bhall II]

That more or less mirrors my ideas--and I love it when that happens. =D>

The top element of sidepod opening (and yes, I think we should be looking at this as the actual opening, not as flow conditioners) seems to be almost parallel to ground level or at a slight angle. This is very unusual as this would normally create flow separation since the airflow coming to the sidepods is already bent up by the front wing (putting the sidepod at a high angle of attack so to speak)

What do you think about the idea that the top intake sort of mimics boundary layer suction? That would be much more efficient than using VGs to trip the boundary layer...

This year the roles are reversed, it's the lower edge that is a lot thicker, perhaps event thicker than the top one on SF16-H.

This suggests that the airflow should be coming to the sidepod parallel to the ground or perhaps even at a negative angle. FIA restriction on nose camera mounting is not a problem for Ferrari with this concept and you can see how different their position is now.

What else might that suggest?

[jonas_linder]

Vanja: awesome post, thank you! =D>

[Sevach]

[THRAK]

The one thing I'm not sure about is whether this sidepod upper flap is separated and slotted, or is it a single piece extending outboard. These two pictures seem to tell a different story:

https://imgr3.auto-motor-und-sport.de/S ... 010129.jpg

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b227/ ... rp2erx.jpg

The SF70-H's sidepods are definetely a goldmine for us to explore. Also, seems as the paintwork around the inlets has been done on purpose to confuse our ideas. Actually, there is a slot :

[Vanja #66]

That more or less mirrors my ideas--and I love it when that happens. =D>

What do you think about the idea that the top intake sort of mimics boundary layer suction? That would be much more efficient than using VGs to trip the boundary layer...

Yes, of course, much better! Other than that, if this is indeed what's going on I think there might be some high pressure on top of the sidepods. That back part of the opening (or what Scrabs is referring to as the actual sidepod leading edge) is exposed to airflow, so there must be a stagnation point there somewhere. Probably at the tip, but it creates some high pressure without doubt on top surface. If that point is a bit more rearward, well... all the better! Bigger surface under high pressure zone.

What else might that suggest?

http://i.imgur.com/BocGLcs.jpg

If you think that the angle of attack on the bottom sidepod edge is changing, then we agree on that as well. With these winglets obviously you have the most control of airflow near the chassis. Outboard the angle is less acute judging by the leading edge, but even so you already gain a big chunk of air for the coke bottle zone.

Vanja: awesome post, thank you! =D>

Thanks mate, appreciate it!

http://images.adrivo.com/images/950/q_8 ... 805874.jpg

I love the Karman Vortex Street on that picture!

The SF70-H's sidepods are definetely a goldmine for us to explore. Also, seems as the paintwork around the inlets has been done on purpose to confuse our ideas. Actually, there is a slot :

A goldmine indeed! I thought I've seen it already, but wasn't sure. Thanks!

[f300v10]

[bhall II]

What else might that suggest?

http://i.imgur.com/BocGLcs.jpg

If you think that the angle of attack on the bottom sidepod edge is changing, then we agree on that as well. With these winglets obviously you have the most control of airflow near the chassis. Outboard the angle is less acute judging by the leading edge, but even so you already gain a big chunk of air for the coke bottle zone.

Well, what I was mainly thinking is that it looks like Ferrari is using the upturned lip of the lower sidepod edge to slow down air flow, therefore to build pressure, such that cooling flow can be pulled through the radiator plenum by the low pressure behind it. The side-effect would be that the entire assembly becomes something of a wing. (To better visualize it, think of the outer turning vane as sort of "endplate.")

[BrunoH]

uff thats a lot of inner ducts.....

[thisisatest]

Does anyone think that the upper sidepod intake is taking advantage of the disturbance caused by the mirror and its stalk?

[Vanja #66]

Well, what I was mainly thinking is that it looks like Ferrari is using the upturned lip of the lower sidepod edge to slow down air flow, therefore to build pressure, such that cooling flow can be pulled through the radiator plenum by the low pressure behind it. The side-effect would be that the entire assembly becomes something of a wing. (To better visualize it, think of the outer turning vane as sort of "endplate.")

As far as I know, all teams build up as much pressure as possible in front of the radiator, mostly by intake's diffusive geometry. This could be another way of doing it, I agree. However, I don't think this is very influential on overall downforce as the same pressure (ideally) should be acting both the top and the bottom of intake and radiator along fore/aft axis. Think of a balloon, pressure inside is a bit above atmospheric, but it acts on the entire surface all the same so it doesn't effect its behavior in the environment. Unless you forget to wrap the opening...

Does anyone think that the upper sidepod intake is taking advantage of the disturbance caused by the mirror and its stalk?

I think mirrors are lifted so high up and moved inward (compared to SF16-H) precisely not to affect the airflow to that upper inlet.