University DRS project - TDH

Post here information about your own engineering projects, including but not limited to building your own car or designing a virtual car through CAD.
TDH
TDH
2
Joined: 10 Nov 2012, 21:17
Location: Belgium

Re: University DRS project - TDH

Post

Does anybody know if the Indycar races have considered the introduction of a DRS?

Or is DRS used in a different racing category than Formula One?


TUGrazRacer
TUGrazRacer
0
Joined: 08 May 2013, 13:49

Re: University DRS project - TDH

Post

Hello,

I am a team member of the Formula- Student Team of University of Technology in Graz, Austria and we are curently testing a new aerodynamic package for our racecar including front and rear wings. Since there are no restrictions regarding moveable aerodynamic elements we are planing to mount DRS to our rear wing.

Maybe you are interested in our project and can help us with some knowledge, in return we can offer you real- life test results including measured downforce, laptime improvement etc.

Here is a video to give you an impression of our team:
http://vimeo.com/54139647

in this video you can see us testing with the wings in Michigan, US for the upcoming event there this week:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51lVIe5k37c

Best regards

krisfx
krisfx
14
Joined: 04 Jan 2012, 23:07

Re: University DRS project - TDH

Post

It's used in DTM now :)

Also... Regarding wings on FSAE cars.. Is there actually an added benefit? Obviously your laptimes will be quicker, but you're producing quite a bit more drag and losing your fuel economy. I imagine you've probably got quite a high AoA to produce downforce at the low average speeds?

User avatar
Paul
11
Joined: 25 Feb 2009, 19:33

Re: University DRS project - TDH

Post

With active aero though, you can get the best of both worlds. Only real drawback is added weight, otherwise down-force producing elements can remain aero neutral in shape on straights, form air brakes in braking zones and provide exactly as much down-force as needed in any particular corner, in theory at least.

krisfx
krisfx
14
Joined: 04 Jan 2012, 23:07

Re: University DRS project - TDH

Post

Yeah, the active aero looks like a decent way of getting around that =] - FSAE cars look daft enough without wings. Adding them is pretty funny, though aha

User avatar
andylaurence
123
Joined: 19 Jul 2011, 15:35

Re: University DRS project - TDH

Post

Paul wrote:With active aero though, you can get the best of both worlds. Only real drawback is added weight, otherwise down-force producing elements can remain aero neutral in shape on straights, form air brakes in braking zones and provide exactly as much down-force as needed in any particular corner, in theory at least.
Not quite. Aero neutral isn't the same as zero drag. FSAE cars are very lightweight and there's no straights of note, so the improvement in performance tends to outweigh the loss in fuel economy, hence why everyone's running a big aero package these days.

TDH
TDH
2
Joined: 10 Nov 2012, 21:17
Location: Belgium

Re: University DRS project - TDH

Post

I really liked the quote on the back of the wing "There are no kangaroos in Austria".

I think formula student is a great initiative. In Belgium we got a team from Group T in Leuven. I wouldn't think a DRS has much effect on the car. Especially because the tracks are so narrow and I can't imagine a long straight.

I'm almost done with my project. I'm finishing off my model and my thesis is almost ready. I did a comparison between a closed and open DRS. For the design I took 2 NACA profiles and tested this profile separately. When I got my optimum AoA, I analysed a few possible DRS configurations. Both in an open and closed position. I will post my results soon.

krisfx
krisfx
14
Joined: 04 Jan 2012, 23:07

Re: University DRS project - TDH

Post

andylaurence wrote:
Paul wrote:With active aero though, you can get the best of both worlds. Only real drawback is added weight, otherwise down-force producing elements can remain aero neutral in shape on straights, form air brakes in braking zones and provide exactly as much down-force as needed in any particular corner, in theory at least.
Not quite. Aero neutral isn't the same as zero drag. FSAE cars are very lightweight and there's no straights of note, so the improvement in performance tends to outweigh the loss in fuel economy, hence why everyone's running a big aero package these days.
Yeah, this is true, I read in Race Car Engineer that aero is worth about 8 seconds of track time (could be wrong), which outweighs the actual fuel economy in the long run anyway, and because there's no parc ferme as such(again could be wrong), you can literally move all your wings to give as little drag as possible on your economy run

TDH
TDH
2
Joined: 10 Nov 2012, 21:17
Location: Belgium

Re: University DRS project - TDH

Post

So my project finished and I have found some time to write my findings.

I did both a theoretical study and made a practical realization of a DRS. You can find the results here:

Theoretical (ONLY DUTCH): http://doks.khbo.be/doks/do/record/Get; ... 838ca102b1 This should be published shortly

Practical: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set ... 817ade2fe6 This is the facebooklink of one of my sponsors (http://www.allcarmodels.com). Fantastic scale models by the way.

A review of my project:

The goal was to make a complete guide through the drag reduction system. The most important part being the CFD analyses of the system.

I got in touch with officials of the WSbR and the "inventor" of the DRS (Jullian Preston-Powers). So got an insight of the original goal of the DRS.
We had two aims by introducing this system
- Performance increase at low cost
- More work for the driver to better train them to F1
- Strategy during the races
- Increase of the overtaking possibilities.
It worked on the four points, so we are happy with that.

Francois Champod - Competition director at Renault Sport Technologies
The results of my CFD analyses were the following:

I used a NACA profile to determine the best angle of attack. For me this was an AoA of 10° for the first section and an AoA of 14° for the second section. When I tested this configuration I found a 13% difference between an open and closed DRS.

Translated to speed, this means when you can drive 300km/h with a closed DRS, you can drive 322km/h with an open DRS.

For my practical realization, I relied on sponsors.
I am very grateful of them and hearing their comments, they are pleased with the result.
The entire piece is made of carbon fiber and the paint was done by the official sponsor of the McLaren Mercedes F1 Team, AkzoNobel. The paint they used is the closed you can get to the official F1 paint.

If there are any questions regarding my project feel free to ask.

luminado
luminado
0
Joined: 19 Aug 2013, 09:38

Re: University project

Post

mep wrote:Hi Tom,
In my opinion when you manage to do some CFD then you don’t need to talk about the used materials and manufacturing process anymore. That is just a totally different topic and has been done many times before. Just focus on 1 thing. On the other hand doing the CFD can be challenging if you have never done something like this before so be careful with that.
The rules you can get from the FIA homepage.
You don’t need to use exactly the same profile the F1 teams use. Have a look at some profile database available. Or check what Simon McBeath describes in his book “Racecar Aerodynamics”.
Nice suggestion. I was thinking the same thing when i read the whole post. One thing is that i am bit late to reply in this thread but I hope this would be OK.

TDH
TDH
2
Joined: 10 Nov 2012, 21:17
Location: Belgium

Re: University DRS project - TDH

Post

As you may have read in my previous post, I focused mostly on the aerodynamic side.

The aim was to make a thesis which included all aspects of the DRS. But such as mep suggested, I dropped the manufacturing chapter. I did some research regarding the materials used just to get an idea for my model. I used carbon fiber for my model and got it painted by the official paint supplier of McLaren F1 Team.

The results are here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set ... 817ade2fe6

User avatar
KeithYoung
24
Joined: 02 Jul 2003, 20:21
Location: USA

Re: University DRS project - TDH

Post

Was that big cylinder in the airstream of a wind tunnel?

TDH
TDH
2
Joined: 10 Nov 2012, 21:17
Location: Belgium

Re: University DRS project - TDH

Post

No the cylinder was only there for the demonstration of the mechanism. If the model would be tested I would have removed the cylinder. Unfortunately the model wasn't tested in a wind tunnel due to time and budget.

I must also say that all the material was sponsored so I didn't have the money or the choice for smaller parts. But in the end I can't say that I'm disappointed about the result. In essence I designed and build the whole thing all by myself with absolutely no money. All thanks to my sponsors.

n_anirudh
n_anirudh
28
Joined: 25 Jul 2008, 02:43

Re: University DRS project - TDH

Post

Monash university did this for their SAE car

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wKYK9WUHMk