Following the complaints of a number of teams regarding the flexibility of the Red Bull Racing and Ferrari front wings, the FIA has moved to increase the requirements regarding the strength of the front wings to prevent them from flexing too much.
could it be the straight vertical rod of the RB supprting the top wingplane is just there to help bending the complete wing into that U shape with the help of the
wingendplates hinging outwards and downwards? this will produce a considerable pulling force on that rod..
Everybody seems to be assuming that the wing must be built with a linear deflection characteristic. However, there is no reason why you could not design a wing that met the regulation at 50Kg load, but at 55Kg went "over centre" to a lower position. Once the load was reduced it would snap back.
V10Mike wrote:Everybody seems to be assuming that the wing must be built with a linear deflection characteristic. However, there is no reason why you could not design a wing that met the regulation at 50Kg load, but at 55Kg went "over centre" to a lower position. Once the load was reduced it would snap back.
as you say ,snap ...but it does come back very smooth so at least the movement is dampened..
Snap, just like your pants/knickers. You can pull the elastic up to a point at which it no longer stretches. Release some of the excess load and it returns to normal linear elastic behaviour.
You could create a material that has strong elasticity inside and a rigid material on top, when 50KG is applied all is well, but above that and the strong material slips (similar to velcro in properties) and then the wing is only limited by the elastic strength, then as the load decreases it returns to normal shape and the strong material comes back together rigid.
No idea how to create such a substance, but that's one long shot of how to do it.
Motorsport Graduate in search of team experience ;)
something with a behaviour like this is quite easy to design imagine having a spar running along the wingspan wich is high and stiff in the inner section towards the mandated 795mm and very thin around the 795 mm area.Of course that spar would course a severe reduction in stiffness in that area ,and if you even make this spar very thin but with a lot of shape ,you could even design something like a stiff and suddenly soft behaviour as soon as too much vertical load is applied OR a bending load (!) is applied coursed by the drag of the wing ...no fuzzy materials involved.
the thin airfoils RedBull is using in their front wing will not offer much resistance from their outer skins ...
Well, i think that the central area between the pylons is stiff itself.Maybe fibre can be arranged at the extent of having the desired non linear behaviour,isn't it?Another thing to take into account is the downforce distibution along the span, particularly in the vicinity of the endplates, and its nonlinear increase as the endplates lower to the ground.The nonlinearity of the process has likely required the tests we saw on the redbull pics, but i can bet that Macca will deliver such a wing in a short time.As we say here in south italy, they definitely know all the rabbits dens.
"Adding power makes you faster on the straights. Subtracting weight makes you faster everywhere" Anthony Bruce Colin Chapman
Or maybe it has to do with the increase of the aerodynamic moment increasing with the speed and producing a torque that is cleverly employed by the wisely set fibers in the wing to lower a part of it. In this case you most likely would pass the kind of tests the FIA is requesting to comply.
"Adding power makes you faster on the straights. Subtracting weight makes you faster everywhere" Anthony Bruce Colin Chapman
Every time you see a new technology, magic is the first word that comes to the mind...i thought the same the very day i discovered the existence of the f-duct.
"Adding power makes you faster on the straights. Subtracting weight makes you faster everywhere" Anthony Bruce Colin Chapman
