Chord length for 2013 season

[usethi23]

I am doing my final year in engineering and my final year project involves designing the rear wing of a formula one car with respect to the regulations of the 2013 season. I looked at the design specification on the f1 website and couldn't really find much as to the limitations of the chord length. Is that something I should take arbritarily? If not then what would the specification of the chord length be? Thanks in advance for the help

[bhall]

Generally speaking, and relative to shorter chord lengths, longer chords create more downforce when closed, but they do so at the expense of weakened DRS potency when open.


Conversely, shorter chords maximize DRS effectiveness when open, but they do so at the expense of producing less downforce than longer chords when closed.


It's a judgment call, I suppose. But, I've noticed this year that teams have opted for longer chords, presumably to reclaim a bit of the downforce lost due to new regulations that reduce the overall size of the rear wing. Take that for whatever it's worth.

[usethi23]

The part you highlighted gives the chord length of the upper section relative to the lower section. Is there no other specification for the chord length? Shouldnt there be a limited range within which designers usually work?

[turbof1]

The maximum gap opened by the drs is increased (I believe 15mm?), and the main plane had to be 20mm higher. I think that resulted in a bigger chord.

[bhall]

Right on.

The part you highlighted gives the chord length of the upper section relative to the lower section. Is there no other specification for the chord length? Shouldnt there be a limited range within which designers usually work?

It's all there in the regulations. For example:

From 730mm above the reference plane to the car's maximum height of 950mm above the reference plane (defined by Article 3.6), you have a zone where two closed sections of bodywork are permitted, and those two closed sections of bodywork will be your wing elements. (A "closed section," by the way, is a piece of bodywork located completely within a given area of reference. For context, an "open section" is a piece of bodywork that spans across two or more areas of reference.)

Every part of the rearmost and uppermost closed section - a.k.a. the flap - has to have a shorter chord length than the closed section immediately below it, the main plane.

You need a 10mm to 15mm gap between the trailing edge of the main plane and the leading edge of the flap.

When DRS is activated, that gap can increase to 50mm.

You need two slot-gap separators along the trailing edge of the main plane positioned so that neither are more than 355mm away from the car's center line and so that no part of the trailing edge is more than 200mm away from a slot-gap separator.

And so on and so forth...

What you do within those constraints, and a few others, is totally up to you. So, just look through the regulations and make a box that defines the limits they describe. Then fill that box with the best goddamn wing this world has ever seen.

[usethi23]

Ahhhh ok I misread that part. Being fairly new to this, its easy sometimes to not fully undestand something but just skip it. That helped a lot though. Thanks bhallg2k !!