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27 Jul 2014
Bite Size Tech: Williams FW36 Cooling options - Hungaroring


Having utilised the louvred shark fin configuration for the first time in Germany and running the appendage for much of Free Practice you'd have thought Williams would have continued it's use throughout the weekend.  Just to throw a spanner in the works though the team returned to their usual louvre-less engine cover for Qualifying.  That's not to say that cooling isn't still an essential element that the team were looking to concentrate on though, with the team returning to their use of their leading edge sidepod vents (circled).

The idea of course is not only to cool the powerunit but to further utilize wasted airflow by energizing the sidepods top surface, increasing the airflows speed over the sidepod (Coanda effect).  The Gurney trim around the periphery of the engine covers outlet was retained in order to pull the airflow through, lowering temperatures.
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26 Jul 2014
Bite Size Tech: Williams FW36 roll hoop winglet - Hungaroring

Williams arrived in Hungary having overtaken Ferrari in the constructors championship (in Germany) and wanting to keep the momentum going.  Their success this season has largely been down to a very efficient design, whilst Valtteri Bottas' talent has shone through too.  The team knew that Hungary is a very different challenge requiring as much downforce as can be found and so had a few new components to bridge the gap, as Red Bull would clearly be much quicker owing to the circuit characteristics (lower top speed and more conducive to downforce).
As we can see above, the team have introduced a small winglet that sits astride the roll hoop, something that Ferrari introduced early on in the season.  The idea of the winglet is to set up longitudinal vortices that not only disturb the rear wing, delaying separation, increasing downforce and reducing drag but also makes the wing work over a wider speed threshold and creating more balance in yaw.

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25 Jul 2014
23 Jul 2014
Bite Size Tech: Force India VJM07 Snorkel-less Engine Cover - Hockenheim


Force India had a significant upgrade package in Austria refining what had already turned out to be quite a nice package for the 2014 season.  The update package was however first scheduled for Silverstone and so with the team bringing it forward there were still some lingering components to come through over the next few races.  At the post Silverstone test the team assessed a new engine cover which repositioned one of the oil coolers, deleting the cooling snorkel and saw the introduction of an enlarged shark fin.
Now whilst this option was available to the team for Germany and was trialed during Free Practice the team opted for something a little different.  They retained their original engine cover (above) but deleted the snorkel inlet and associated internal pipework, having already relocated the cooler.
The previous specification with snorkel inlet can be seen above


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Bite Size Tech: Ferrari F14T rear end changes - Hockenheim

Ferrari once again took some sideways steps in Germany with the re-introduction of a much larger cooling outlet at the rear of the car (above).  The use of the cooling outlet also bought about a return of the dual rear wing support pylons, which does seem a little counter productive given that the last time the team used such a large cooling outlet it was in tandem with the singular pylon.  I'd therefore suggest that the team were moreover looking for a consistent/well known baseline, as the team looked to race the car without FRIC for the first time.  We know that FRIC allowed for aerodynamic consistency which is something that Ferrari have been unable to achieve successfully compared to their rivals.  That however doesn't mean to say that their package hadn't been keyed toward peak performance with it, just they were unable to enjoy it to the level their rivals were.
As we can see above (arrowed) the team also added some small fins to the skid blocks trailing edge, these fins create vortices which help to keep the airflow attached, creating better stability.  These vortex generating fins may have simply been a rudimentary quick fix owing to the FRIC ban to overcome some instability or part of their planned upgrades.  Other teams have also run these this season including Red Bull, Lotus and McLaren

EDIT

As pointed out to me Ferrari have been using these Vortex Generators for the last few races

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21 Jul 2014
Bite Size Tech: Red Bull RB10 - Differing Configurations - Hockenheim


Red Bull's pace compared to the Mercedes powered cars this season must be difficult to internalize for the team.  Their aerodynamic prowess has not simply vanished overnight and they arguably still have the best 'chassis' in the field, however to try and make up the deficit during the race, they are having to give both drivers a selection of parts to cater for their needs.

At Hockenheim this meant that both drivers ran with different specification rear ends, with Daniel seemingly able to cope with a little less wing and more tail happy RB10.  As we can see in the image below Daniel ran the older specification singular mounting pylon, which mounts to the underside of the mainplane, less AoA on both the mainplane and top flap, whilst the endplates only featured 3 louvres (which of course reduce drag).
Meanwhile Sebastian (below) ran with much more rear wing angle, resulting in him also needing to run their two tier upper Y100 winglet / Monkey Seat.  The winglet / seat is used to not only create more aerodynamic consistency and balance for the driver, but also overcome the main wings higher angle of attack.  The endplates on his RB10 also featured 4 louvres in the endplate, which help to reduce the tip vortices (drag) generated by the additional AoA.  He also utilsed the newer swan neck style single mounting pylon, which enables the mainplane to operate more effectively (especially in yaw).
Both drivers used the wider leading edge endplate tyre wake slots introduced at Silverstone.
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Bite Size Tech: Lotus E22 - Front Wing - Hockenheim


Lotus have really struggled to realise the potential of the E22 this season with issues from the Renault power unit causing their fair share of these.  However a complex asymmetric design was also bound to be fraught with issues too and makes aerodynamic changes even more difficult.

In Hockenheim the team arrived with a new front wing, looking to gain balance and performance.  The old wing above can be seen above whilst close images of the new wing are scarce, Giorgio Piola did manage to grab a shot of it in a similar orientation whilst it was in the garage (shown below)
As we can see the changes may not seem widespread to begin with but they will certainly have an effect, the main change is the loss of the endplates leading edge slant, whilst a small section of the front/top edge of the endplate has been more outwardly turned than the rest of it.  This is something we have seen Enstone do before with the E21's wing featuring a similar design during 2013.  The positioning of the outwardly turned section also coincides with the cascades position and will help to pull outwardly on it's flow regime.

Meanwhile at the rear of the Endplate the bottom section has been removed, allowing airflow to traverse from the flapped region across the footplate.  Of course both changes have been made to entice the airflow around the front tyre, creating a stronger flow structure that can impact the tyres wake, increasing the floor/diffusers performance.
The new configuration was tested by both drivers throughout Free Practice but only Pastor used it for qualifying and the race (below).  As we can see above the team ran flo-viz on the wing during Free Practice to correlate its credentials.

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Bite Size Tech: Williams FW36 louvred shark fin engine cover - Hockenheim


The FW36 has been a revelation this season with not only the switch from Renault to Mercedes for 2014 now seeming an inspired decision (most probably due to the Toto Wolff connection) but with the car proving to be exceptionally efficient.  Over the last few seasons Williams have struggled to keep up with the development of EBD (Exhaust Blown Diffusers) whether it be the original floor mounted ones with a lack of technical prowess from the Cosworth unit, or with Renault when trying to employ the 'Coanda' exhausts.  They not only struggled to model the phenomenon in CFD and the Wind Tunnel but also replicate any kind of consistent performance during GP weekends.

A return to none floor/diffuser exhaust driven regulations with the introduction of the centreline exhaust has re-invigorated the Grove based squad, whilst the arrival of Pat Symonds and a technical restructuring has also paid dividends.

With less exhaust influence the Williams team have thrived in a more aero efficient formula whilst making shrewd decisions on packaging and gear ratio selections, which are of course much heavily regulated this season.  Initially it seemed this could be their Achilles heel with short ratios meaning they are always visibly in top gear (8th) much quicker than other teams, however as the season has progressed and their knowledge of the suspension setup/engine mapping has matured the team have made significant strides.  Aerodynamically the team haven't been massively eager to affect widesweeping changes either instead opting for setup changes to suit each circuits characteristics.  (Lest we forget this is a team that have produced around 10 different front wings during each of the 12/13 seasons to try and affect performance with little to no performance step)

The teams most frequent changes have come in the form of cooling options with the team having used what we term a 'conventional' cooling funnel for some of the early season races, before returning to their lowline larger outlet with aspirator in China.


In Germany the team opted to race another iteration of the shark fin configuration, with additional cooling louvres placed along its length. (This had also been tested in China during Free Practice)  The team also added a small gurney trim around the periphery of the lower cooling outlet, that will have a negligible drag penalty, but increase the cars cooling capacity.
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20 Jul 2014
Bite Size Tech: Lotus E22 - Additional Cooling - Hockenheim


Lotus have really struggled to realise the potential of the E22 this season with issues from the Renault power unit causing their fair share of these.  However a complex asymmetric design was also bound to be fraught with issues too and makes aerodynamic changes even more difficult.  With temperatures rising at Hockenheim the team decided to install and trial some additional cooling inlets under the roll hoop.


It's unclear what the team were looking to cool, whether it be an oil cooler that the team had also moved or whether it was simply just additional cooling for the powerunit.  The team didn't race these additional inlets however, as, as we know any additional apertures results in increased drag and so the team clearly took the decision that the cooling advantage either wasn't required in Germany or didn't supersede the drag component.

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19 Jul 2014
Bite Size Tech: McLaren MP4-29 NEW tubercles inspired Rear Wing - Hockenheim


McLaren arrived in Germany with a new rear wing with a few new distinguishing features:


The endplates have each been treated to two rows of canards, which rather than being one longitudinal canard are serrated for further efficiency.  This is a design that has been prevalent on the Lotus for some time, with airflow rolling off the canard at the endplates trailing edge creating vortices, which makes for an altogether more targeted flow structure in the region.  The canards form part of the 20mm allowance for the endplates and so the endplate around them has to be narrower to accommodate them.  The serrations are used so that the airflow works in the same manner whilst the car is in yaw, otherwise the vortex would rapidly break down as the car changes direction, leading to a loss in stability.  Of course the team have opted to angle both rows of canards upward to further maximise the whole wings airflow structure, creating upwash that vicariously leads to an increase in diffuser performance too.

The team have also re-designed their Mainplane and Top Flap with the introduction of tubercles to the trailing and leading edges of each respectively.  Tubercles are the wave patterns formed on the edges of the wing profiles, with the pectoral fins of humpback whales being most widely associated with their use.


The tubercles on a humpback whales fins are seen as one of the primary reasons for their maneuverability, with them increasing the efficiency of the fins span (Research conducted around 10 years ago concluded that a humpback style fin produced 32% less drag and 8% more lift than a conventional straight edge fin).


In the case of McLaren it's interesting that they've opted to place some on the trailing edge of the Mainplane skewed to the placement of the top flaps leading edge ones (like a zip).  I believe this is to mainly help the upper profile, vicariously boosting the performance of both.

As two profiles are required by the regulations and inevitably a singular profile would lead to stall issues, the design and use of tubercles for the rear wing have required further investigation than simply applying the humpback knowledge. We also have to consider that DRS plays a role in how Formula One designers approach rear wing design, with implications in performance both when in use and when closed.

Starting with the Top Flap as this uses the conventional knowledge carried over from the humpback, the tubercles create a Venturi effect with the airflow being constricted by the protruding "knuckles" and allowing the airflow to pass by the shorter sections, creating narrower flow channels, that pull on the constricted flow.  Much like the use of Vortex Generators on a sidepods leading edge this results in a wing that produces a wider operating window, meaning the team has much more scope in terms of angle of attack.  The tubercles also reduce drag, with tip vortices curtailed by their destabilization of the airflow.


The Mainplane also features tubercles (marked above in yellow) but this time on the wings trailing edge, now although this is counter intuitive to what we have just learnt in terms of the humpbacks tubercles, we must consider that there are two pressure sides to a wings profile and one cannot work without the other.  I'd suggest the trailing edge tuburcles are a means to increase the speed of airflow dispatched by the mainplane, allowing the lower pressure side (the back) of the top flap to work more efficiently with the high pressure side.  Furthermore we must remember that the wing operates in different modes, with DRS.  The opening and closing of the DRS flap during a lap can lead to instability as the airflow tries to re-attach, this can be a problem under braking and turn in, which the team and drivers would of course like to avoid.

Some smaller changes have also been made to the rear wing support Y-Lon, whilst the centralised V groove, used to cut drag has also been reduced in size.  These changes are both supportive of the new tubercles which increase the wings efficiency, the change to the Y-Lon has been made in order to reduce it's effect on the mainplane (especially in yaw).  Whilst the span reduction of the V groove is due to the increased L/D that the wing now has.
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18 Jul 2014
11 Jul 2014
10 Jul 2014
Bite Size Tech: Force India VJM07 new engine cover - Silverstone test

Force India have been going quietly about their business all season, making strides against some of the more established teams. Their ability to control tyre wear has also stood them in good stead whilst they awaited a large raft of upgrades scheduled for Silverstone. With the programme moving more swiftly than anticipated they were able to bring most of these forward to Austria and so the VJM07 carried most of the parts used there in Silverstone. However as part of their continued assault on the old guard the team tested a new engine cover in the post GP test.


The new Engine Cover (right) makes much more use of the centralised rear wing support pylon's lower section that encapsulates the exhaust. The conical element is placed and shaped in such a way that the exhaust draws the airflow from surrounding areas through it, making it easier to shrink wrap the rest of the engine cover, with airflow being pulled through and over the cover and sidepods. Apart from being slimmed considerably the cover features an enlarged shark fin, to come inline with the size regulations in the area. 

Meanwhile the inlet snorkel that used to sit astride the top of the engine cover just aft of the airbox is also deleted. The snorkel fed a cooler that sat just behind the turbo's turbine and has likely been re-located, with the bodywork being shrunk in that region too. Having avoided using the cockpit cooling chimneys early in the season, these return to help cool the car.
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Bite Size Tech: Ferrari F14T front brake ducts - Silverstone

Ferrari still seem a little at sea with their developments, not sure if they should flip a coin, throw a six or simply stick with what they've got. Whether they're still having correlation issues between their wind tunnel, CFD and actual track components is questionable but key areas of development seem under both constant change, back to backed for correlation and then they revert to the older components. The reduction in width of 75mm either side of the Front Wing in 2014 has led to them turning their attention to their front brake ducts


At Silverstone the team arrived with an enlarged section of bodywork that straddles the front of the brake assembly, taking airflow collated by the scoop and re purposing it to energise the air flowing around the wheel's face. The idea is to mitigate the effect of how the airflow spills off the wheels outer face and inevitably makes controlling the wheels wake more difficult. Ferrari have tried several solutions to this since the start of the season, including using a blown (hollow) wheel nut arrangement. The problem for the team is that not only do you rob Peter to pay Paul by taking airflow via the scoop and injecting it into the wheels airflow pattern, creating some drag in the process.

It is difficult to model the region due to the combination of many flow regimes and tyre deformation having an impact on the the wake, getting it right however will provide a welcomed boost further downstream, making the effort worthwhile.
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Bite Size Tech: McLaren MP4-29 Dog-Legged 'Tyre Squirt' slot - Silverstone

McLarens problems have been symptomatic of the decisions they made when they first conceived their 2014 challenger. It's a difficult task as the initial layout of a car can be make or break, re-developing mass sections of car, especially when it relates to cooling like McLaren not only requires physical changes to coolers but re envisaging of aero components. In the case of McLaren their vision was centered around a need to have enough cooling (internal space), packaging the larger exhaust Mercedes HPP had specified and of course the gearbox designed and catered for their 'wishbone suspension'.

As we have seen, many of the other teams have moved toward a lower and longer line cooling outlet at the base of the car, whilst shrinking the cooling outlet around the exhaust. This creates another area of low pressure above the diffuser (slower moving airflow exiting from the rear of the car).
McLaren's 'wishbone wings' prohibit the team from following a similar path, requiring them to remove the wings and change substantial areas of bodywork. Under the old regulations this task would be large but not insurmountable, however the curtailment of CFD and Wind Tunnel time makes widesweeping changes fairly prohibitive as the teams cannot then concentrate on refinement too.


The team arrived at Silverstone with a new dog-legged slot ahead of the rear tyre, a solution we've previously seen Red Bull employ in the area. For those unfamiliar with the work done by these floor slots, their purpose is to manipulate the airflow dispatched by the tyre, especially as it deforms. The deformation of the tyre creates an inconsistent airflow pattern that literally squirts airflow laterally into the diffusers path. By injecting some of the airflow from above the floor into the lower airflows passage as it combines with the airflow dispatched by the tyre the 'tyre squirt' can be re-aligned. Minimizing tyre squirt is essential to creating more downforce with the tyre being worked (deformed) more under load (cornering).

The new solution from McLaren is used to better focus the airflow in the region and hopefully help the diffuser to operate over a wider spectrum.
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Bite Size Tech: Red Bull RB10 Rear Wing mounting pylon - Silverstone


Red Bull have made numerous revisions to their Rear Wing support pylon throughout the season, with Silverstone offering the backdrop for a further modification. Changes to the 2014 regulations, outlawing the use of a 'beam wing' has led to many differing design decisions by the teams, as they look for both structural rigidity whilst maintaining aerodynamic efficiency. In the case of Red Bull it was clear from the start that the team wanted to run a singular support pylon, minimising the effect the supporting element may have on the rear wing's mainplane and top flap.

Ferrari who made widesweeping changes to their rear wing pylon(s) in Barcelona also introduced a 'swan neck' style pylon which appears to have inspired the boys at Red Bull. The new pylon design mounted on the RB10 for Silverstone traverses the mainplane and mounts to the front of the DRS actuation pod. This is a sensitive area and relies on the teams follow strict dimensional criteria in order to place bodywork here, this is due to the changes made by the FIA when they outlawed the full length shark fin engine covers and the 'F-Duct'.


The idea behind such a design is to make the mainplane more efficient, as the pylon doesn't impinge upon the lower surface. The pylon being placed on the lower edge of the mainplane as used to be the case can lead to airflow separation, which results in a loss of performance. This is especially critical as the car is in yaw as any loss of airflow attachment results in imbalance for the driver, this results in him having to back out which of course further impacts performance.
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Bite Size Tech: Red Bull Racing RB10 - Front Wing amendments - Silverstone

Red Bull are never one to settle when it comes to the quest for performance and we often see huge changes from the car that starts the season to the one that ends it. Some changes however often appear very subtle, their change to the Front Wing's smaller, inner cascade for Silverstone is one such example.


For some time now the cascade has remained in a state of only minor flux with the leading and trailing edges seeing the most action in terms of adjustment. For Silverstone though the team completely split the already two piece element by creating a divide in the inner endplate (old one inset). On the face of it the change seems rather minor but just goes to show how the team believe even small changes can have much larger effects. The front wing after all is the first component to 'see' the airflow, with these smaller cascades helping to control the airflow around the front tyre and brake ducts.

The serration of the inner endplate is likely to aid the cascade in yaw, helping to attain the desired effect over a wider speed threshold. It's something that other teams have already done this season (Ferrari, McLaren etc) and so is just another area where Red Bull are making leaps forward by learning lessons from others.

Having introduced an inboard endplate control vane several races ago to help with the way in which the airflow interacts and traverses the front tyre, the team revised it's design for Silverstone (circled), adopting a Z shaped vane. The Z shaping makes the vertical section act like an endplate, increasing its aspect ratio whilst the uppermost horizontal section is shaped to define the trajectory the vortex the component induces.
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