F1 Nose Designs

[N12ck]

It isn't the V-nose aspect I am talking about its the sudden slope aspect, like why do they have their noses like this
(excuse the poor drawing)



Why do they have the front bulkhead at 625mm then slope the nose down suddenly (creating a lot of unnecessary disturbance and drag)

why don't they lower the front bulkhead down slightly lower and make it a gradual slope and still have the nose ending at the same height?

I cant see the advantage of the sudden slope on the nose other than possibly creating a low pressure zone underneath it,

Got any ideas?

Nick

[MIKEY_!]

The sudden slope on the upper surface will create a little more DF than a gentle slope (i think) and it will be further forward so it acts like a lever. The low pressure under the nose sucks air under the leading edge and probably gives a small DF gain (mostly offset by more air flowing over the FW centre section as well). Importantly that low pressure will devliver more air to the splitter than if that bulkhead was lower and the slope more gradual. Hope that helps.

[wesley123]

lol those drawings look like tentacles pressing a button

But OT: They dont do it with a more clean slope since it would also lower the underside of the bulkhead, thus reducing the volume under the nose

[Steven]

There are of course many other factors that come into play before having the eventual aerodynamic shape.

First of all, teams recently aimed to increase the area under the frontal bulkhead, now for aerodynamic reasons. However, the height and dimensions of the front bulkhead also limit front suspension geometries, and hence there may be a compomise, either upward or downward.

Anoter factor that could come into play if weight distribution (now a little less important due to it being nearly fixed) and CoG. A low nosetip may be interesting for putting ballast in that. I am however unsure if this is still allowed because of safety considerations.

That said, isolating the aerodynamic aspect of the nose, a sharp dive of the tip makes little sense. A more gradual slope with the same difference in height could as well generate the same amount of downforce.

[raymondu999]

The sudden slope on the upper surface will create a little more DF than a gentle slope (i think) and it will be further forward so it acts like a lever. The low pressure under the nose sucks air under the leading edge and probably gives a small DF gain (mostly offset by more air flowing over the FW centre section as well). Importantly that low pressure will devliver more air to the splitter than if that bulkhead was lower and the slope more gradual. Hope that helps.

That's what I said, pretty much:

As for the "upside down checkmark" shape of the 2009 Red Bull/2010 Mercedes n12ck mentioned, I believe what they were trying to do was introduce a low pressure zone right below that lowered nose, which would help suck more air through to then feed the diffuser. I think. Don't quote me on this

[N12ck]

There are of course many other factors that come into play before having the eventual aerodynamic shape.

First of all, teams recently aimed to increase the area under the frontal bulkhead, now for aerodynamic reasons. However, the height and dimensions of the front bulkhead also limit front suspension geometries, and hence there may be a compomise, either upward or downward.

Anoter factor that could come into play if weight distribution (now a little less important due to it being nearly fixed) and CoG. A low nosetip may be interesting for putting ballast in that. I am however unsure if this is still allowed because of safety considerations.

That said, isolating the aerodynamic aspect of the nose, a sharp dive of the tip makes little sense. A more gradual slope with the same difference in height could as well generate the same amount of downforce.

But surely that area is limited by the height of the nose itself mostly, the only thing I can think is a low pressure zone as has been suggested, but I would think this would starve the rear of the car due to limiting airflow,

[krisfx]

Spoke to senior aerodynamicists at red bull.

They said they think the way the nose is shaped really is just for preference in terms of how aggressive the slope is but can't really say why other designers do it and the only real reason for the V nose is to maximise cross sectional area and raise the bottom for better flow to the floor is what we talked about.

Don't quote on this, though