The document discusses aerodynamic optimization techniques used in the design of Formula 1 cars. It covers the history of aerodynamic development in Formula 1, from early focus on drag reduction to modern emphasis on generating downforce. Key aerodynamic factors in F1 car design like wings, underbody tunnels, and bargeboards are examined. Computational fluid dynamics, wind tunnel testing, and on-track testing are described as the main methods used by F1 teams to develop aerodynamics. The document concludes that aerodynamics are crucial for high-speed stability and performance in Formula 1.

1. AERODYNAMIC OPTIMIZATION TECHNIQUES IN
DESIGN OF FORMULA 1 CAR
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Guided by: Prof. Tedy Thomas
Nehru College of Engineering and Research Centre
Presented by:
Ramachandran S
(NCAOEME078)

2. ABSTRACT
The major performance gain in a Formula 1 car is its Aerodynamic
performance, as engine and mechanical tweaks to the car only provide
marginal gains. Thus, it has become the key to success in this sport,
resulting in teams spending millions of dollars on research and
development in this field each year. Even though the aerodynamics in
formula 1 is at a advanced stage, there is potential for further
development. This study, thus, focuses on the various techniques that
were and are used by in the design of an F1 car by different teams on
the front and rear wings for achieving the best lap times possible
around a particular track.
Department of Mechanical Engineering, NCERC

3. Introduction
• Engineered with perfection, the loud and aggressive Formula One (F1)
racecar is the ultimate racing machine.
• Its reputation has been defined by its amazing speed and handling
characteristics, which are for the most part, a product of its
aerodynamic features.
• Vehicle traveling at high speed must be able to do two things well i.e..
reduce air resistance and increase downforce.
Department of Mechanical Engineering, NCERC

4. Literature Survey
1. Atsushi OGAWA ET.AL., said about formula One vehicles are fitted
with a variety of aerodynamic devices. This produces complex mutual
interference in the air flows around the vehicles, generating highly
nonlinear flows. The clarification of these aerodynamic phenomena
helps to enable efficient optimization of aerodynamic devices. This
paper provided some examples of findings regarding the air flows
around Formula One vehicles obtained using wind tunnels and CFD.
Department of Mechanical Engineering, NCERC

5. 2. PrasadGaware ET. AL., explained on aerodynamics as a branch of
dynamics which relates with studying the motion of air, particularly
when it interacts with the solid object. Aerodynamic is a combination
of fluid dynamics and gas dynamics, with much theory sharedbetween
them. In this paper different forces acting on a formula 1 car (drag
force, lift force).Measurement of forces is done by computational fluid
dynamics CFD and wind tunnel testing WTT.
Department of Mechanical Engineering, NCERC

6. 3. Triya Nanalal Vadgama ET.AL., A modern Formula One (F1) Racing
Car has almost as much in common with an aircraft as it does with an
ordinary road car. Aerodynamics has become a key to success in the
sport and teams spend millions of dollars on research and development
in the field each year for improving performance. The aerodynamic
designer has two primary concerns: i. The creation of downforce, to
help push the car’s tyres onto the track and improve cornering forces,
ii. To minimise the drag that occurs due to turbulence and acts to slow
down the car.
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7. 10%
7%
6%
6%
5%
5%
4%
4%4%
49%
ESTIMATED F1 Team Budget Split
R&D
Manufacturing
Race Team
Capital Expenses
Drivers
Test Team
Hydraulics
Rent, Bills, etc.,
Sponsor Chasing
Engine
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8. • The graphic above shows how much a team spend money on. As the
engine is pretty expensive, R&D costs cover 10% of the costs, where
Manufacturing covers 7%. Aerodynamic development costs is
included in R&D.
• This means the second most expensive factor in a Formula One team
is Research & Development. That’s why engineers have to be careful
with calculations and CFD simulations and use Wind Tunnels quite
effectively. As Wind Tunnels are pretty expensive to run.
Department of Mechanical Engineering, NCERC

9. HISTORY OF AERODYNAMIC
DEVELOPMENT IN F1
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10. First Steps
• Drag Reduction: Fast Circuits, Low power engines
1915 INDIANAPOLIS 500 1916 INDIANAPOLIS 500
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11. Racecar Evolution
• Downforce Research: Tire and engine tech are improved
• Extreme Solutions: Adjustable wings and Suction Fans
LOTUS TYPE 49
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12. 1970s and 1980s: Innovation of Ground
Effect and Its Ban
• By the mid 1970s 'ground effect' downforce had been discovered.
Lotus engineers found out that the entire car could be made to act
like a wing by the creation of a giant wing on its underside which
would help to suck it to the road.
• The ultimate example of this thinking was the Brabham BT46B,
designed by 50 | P a g e Gordon Murray, which actually used a cooling
fan to extract air from the skirted area under the car, creating
enormous downforce.
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13. • The so-called ‘ground-effect era’ lasted until 1982. Even before the
1981 season, the FIA had banned for safety reasons the use of movable
sideskirts on the underside of Formula 1 cars, in order to increase the
ground clearance and thus reduce the cornering speeds.
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14. • Wings, Reversed Wings, Body sealing an Underskirts
LOTUS TYPE 78
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15. • In 1977, Lotus came up with an innovative design again. It built Lotus
78, nicknamed ‘wing car’. Lotus 78 was the first car to have the
ground effect, and it started a revolution.
• Basically, what Lotus did with its design was that they turned their
complete chassis into a wing, increasing the downforce enormously
Department of Mechanical Engineering, NCERC

16. 1990s & 2000: Start of Aerodynamic Era
in Formula One
• Starting 2000s, aerodynamic development became the biggest area a
Formula One R&D worked on.
• Bargeboards started to have new friends as teams added several
different tuning vanes to the car. Bullwrinkles were introduced. Other
aerodynamic parts were fairings, forward tuning vanes, much more
complicated front and rear wing endplates, batman, earwing, many
side panels, aerodynamic mirrors, etc.
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17. • Modern Flat and Stepped Body
MCLAREN P4 1C JORDON STEPPED UNDERFLOOR
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18. AERODYNAMIC DESIGN FACTORS OF
A SIMPLE FORMULA ONE CAR
• As we have got through the theoretical part of Aerodynamics in
Formula One, it is time to apply the information we have discussed on
a Formula One car design.
• In current Formula One pre-season, no car is designed from a scratch.
Engineers always use teams’ previous car as a template. Then change
the design with computational methods, just like we are going to do.
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19. Drag
• Drag reduction is commonly not the main target of F1 aerodynamic
optimization.
• For low power F3,
electric e- Formula racing
its still a major factor.
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20. Downforce
• Vehicle stability and handling are primarily dictated by tyre
performance, but this performance is considerably related to
aerodynamic loads. ie., optimal loading of the tyres by control of font
and rear downforce can lead to:
• Improved braking performance
• Improved cornering speed
• Stability
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21. Downforce and Grip
• The tyre can transfer a force through its contact that is a function of
vertical load(linear).
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22. Braking Performance
• Increased downforce reduces braking performance
Braking distance to stop and braking time vs initial speed with and without downforce
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23. Cornering Speed
• Steady state turning leads to forces on the tyres which increase with
downforce and to centrifugal forces which increase with cornering
speed.
Maximum speed and cornering time vs track curvature R with and without downforce
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24. Body
• Bodyworks and particularly underfloor are the most
powerful aerodynamic devices
• Underfloor works as a Venturi in ground effect
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25. • Regulations ban underfloor shaped as an inverted wing (floor must be
flat between axles) but allows a rear diffuser that massively affects
the pressure under the vehicle
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26. Wings
• Wings are the most efficient aerodynamic device
• Open wheeled rear wings have a very small aspect ratio
• Wings are installed far- forward far- after to enhance their
balancing effect
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27. • Race car wings are designed to heavily interact with the surroundi ng
bodies: e.g. the rear bottom wing works in symbiosis with the
underfloor diffuser to pump air from the venturi
p!cuas . im-s11 enr:.:
p,'#.lll'.-,
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28. Barge boards and side boards
• Bargeboard is a vertical panel situated longitudinally, between the
front wheels and the sidepods
• Bargeboards act primarily as flow conditioners, smoothing and
redirecting the turbulent (or dirty ) air in the wake of the front wing
and the rotating front wheels
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29. • McLaren appear to have found a very neat solution for redirecting the
airflow over the rear wing and consequently allowing the flap to stall.
• Whilst they have been very tight lipped about the system, it is most likely
that the conduit from the front to rear of the car has a vent in the cockpit
that can be blocked by the drivers left leg, which is not in use on long
straights.
• Blocking the vent could direct enough airflow through the conduit to
disrupt the flow over the rear flap and induce a stall. This approach is
ingenious for two key reasons:
F Ducts
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30. Department of Mechanical Engineering, NCERC

31. • The section of the main plain immediately adjacent to
the 50 cm-wide neutral section in the middle of the
wing is critical in generating airflow vortices that
influence how air passes to the rest of the car.
• What McLaren did for the first time in Austin was to
add two small slots in this area, one in the short-
chord main plain and another in the second element
of the wing (both slots highlighted in yellow). This
opens up a new area of development not before seen
in F1 racing and one which other teams will no doubt
be rapidly investigating.
McLaren Wonder Wing
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32. AERODYNAMIC DEVELOPMENT
METHODS
• There is a huge race going in Formula One also off-track
• Teams use a lot of different software and hardware to develop their
cars. For aerodynamics, Research and Development centres in each
team develop the cars in three steps.
• The three major ways teams develop their aerodynamics are
Computational Methods, Wind Tunnels, and On-Track Testing.
Department of Mechanical Engineering, NCERC

33. Computational Methods
• While developing aerodynamics of a Formula One car, the first step
teams take is making computational drawings and analysis.
• This includes Computer-Aided Drawing (CAD), Computational Fluid
Dynamics (CFD), and Computer-Aided Analysis (CAA). For
aerodynamic purpose, CFD Simulations are the most important part
of this design process.
• These CFD Simulations are simply based on two equations regarding
Fluid Mechanics: The continuity equation and Newton’s Conservation
of Momentum equation in their complex forms.
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34. Department of Mechanical Engineering, NCERC

35. Wind Tunnels
• After the computational methods, next step of developing the
aerodynamics of a Formula One car is wind tunnel.
• Wind tunnels are much more useful than computational methods in
result base, as it is a complete sample of the car running through the
wind. Wind tunnels give more correct results, but they are not used
as frequent as computational methods.
• Wind tunnels are very expensive. Running a wind tunnel, on the other
hand, is not cheap as well.
Department of Mechanical Engineering, NCERC

36. Department of Mechanical Engineering, NCERC

37. On Track Testing
• On-Track testing is the most efficient way to get information for
analysis in aerodynamic development of a Formula One car. Results of
testing is much more correct than CFD simulations or wind tunnels,
and the any kind of error rate is eliminated. Only errors in testing is
the weather, track, and driver conditions.
• But it’s also the less frequent one, as it requires a lot of money and
equipment. And since FIA allowed teams with less budget in 2010, it
limited on-track testing tremendously.
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38. • To visualize the streamlines of the wind flow for analysis after testing,
teams use flow visualization paint in testing.
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39. CONCLUSION
After detailed study of aerodynamics in F1 car, we can say that F1 car is
most aerodynamic of all the vehicles. The design is made such that it
cuts through the air with minimum air friction and channelize the air
flowing over up to the rear wings. It gives highly reduced drag and lift
force acting on the car body. It generates more amount of down word
force making the car stable at very high speeds. It is the pinnacle of
racing sport technology. Each team uses their own tweaks to increase
the performance within rules of FIA.
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40. REFERENCES
1. Ogawa, A., Yano, S., Mashio, S., Takiguchi, T., Nakamura, S., Shingai, M.:
Development Methodologies for Formula One Aerodynamics, Honda R&D
Technical Review 2009, F1 Special (The Third Era Activities), p. 142-151
2. PrasadGaware , Anwar Maniyar ,Vinod Sonawane ,Nishigandh Gorade
International Journal of Research in Advent Technology (IJRAT) Special Issue E-
ISSN: 2321-9637
3. Triya Nanalal Vadgama, Mr. Arpit Patel, Dr. Dipali Thakkar, “Structural analysis of
Formula One Racing Car”, International Journal of Engineering Research &
Technology (ISSN(P): 2394-2444,)