Endplate design

[astracrazy]

I've had a quick look and can't find anything. If there is something please point me to it.
But what is the difference between the two obvious design paths in endplate design and reasons, positives and negatives associated.

Heres one example where the endplate design seems to send air outside the wing



or this one where the holes allow air under the wing


i understand the whole idea is to send air around the wheels. its just the difference between holes in or slots out

[wesley123]

The wings dont rally have any different design paths. The McLAren wing however seems to more smoothly allow it to curve the air around the front wheel, which in turn allows the front wing to work better as it is longer in that area. The caterham one however seems more 'forced'

[Kiril Varbanov]

It is actually curious to note that this is the new front wing of Mclaren recently tested at Yas Marina, last week, which appears to be closer as design to Lotus FW, as opposed to the Caterham, whose design resembles more of Mclaren, especially with the outer blade that Mclaren has removed for this testing.

The undersides of the main plane are more nicely shaped now (MP4-27), for better flow attachment, whereas the previous iterations featured rough edges. The primary function of the endplates is to divert turbulent air away from the massive vortex ahead of the tires and to prevent what's called "unfavorable pressure gradients" in aerodynamics, a spillage pattern.

[astracrazy]

so on the mclaren, ferrari, red bull etc. they have slots for the air to go into on the endplate, whats the reason? Where the caterham etc doesn't they aggressively use the endplates to push air away

[turbof1]

Both essentially do the same and have the same philosophy: getting the air around the tyre. Design differences generally are there due different aerodynamics behind the FW. I remember that in 2009 McLaren did had a complete different approach, which didn't worked out at all. Since then they generally follow the same principle like everybody else, with perhaps a big exception: if I am correct they don't use the "endplateless" design: you will see that the flaps of the FW curl up at the endplates, effectively becoming part of the endplate itself. McLaren does not do that. I am not sure about the benefits of such an endplate partly formed by the wingflaps; I readed somewhere a vague explanation that it helps getting air around the tyre at the expense of the optimal pressure difference. What it certainly does is reducing the endplate to the regulated minimal cross section of the vertical bodywork (the actual endplate), in which it isn't much more then a support for the cascades. We did see Red Bull driving around just fine without it, meaning the endplate only has little value left.