Physics in Formula One

[woodca04]

Sorry to bother you but i am writing an a level physics paper on the physics involved with formula 1. I think i have covered aerodynamics pretty well but i am struggling with other areas of physics. I would be very grateful if anyone could give me an idea of where other physics is involved in formula 1 and maybe a link where i could research it. Thanks very much.

[nae]

brakes

slip angle of tyres in all directions

the madness of 19,000 rpm engines

the deceleration and acceleration of a piston at top wack

kers (kinetic energy recovery system)

the suspension going over a saw tooth kerb

the energy dissipated in a crash, by the nose cone or the tyre wall

[Gecko]

Hello!

Probably the most important aspect is basic mechanics (power, accelleration, drag, cornering, grip ...), physics of friction (grip friction circle which ballances cornering with braking and accelleration), then thermodynamics (your classic heat engine). On the side of electromagnetism, you will now have a KERS variant where you have electrical generators and electric motors (the two are very similar and in fact some can in principle be used for both purposes) as well as batteries and capacitors involved. That way you are basically covering all areas of classical physics, which should make for a pretty neat paper.

I believe you already know this reference, but I am putting it just in case

http://phors.locost7.info/contents.htm

it covers just the mechanics and friction side of things but explains it well. A lot of the other stuff is covered well even on Wikipedia.

[bazanaius]

I think Gecko summed it up pretty well.

Cars in general are fantastic because they integrate pretty much every facet of classical physics in one place.

I'd start with F=ma and work from there...
Then hit the thermodynamics of the engine, cooling system.

[woodca04]

Thanks very much. This has really helped. Thanks gecko, i didnt have that ink and it covers it really well.

[Gecko]

Cool, glad to help

[Belatti]

I'd start with F=ma and work from there...

That is only true if the term "m" is a constant, but we all know it is not.
So, start with:

P (momentum) = m (mass) * V (speed)

[yzfr7]

Sorry to bother you but i am writing an a level physics paper on the physics involved with formula 1. I think i have covered aerodynamics pretty well but i am struggling with other areas of physics. I would be very grateful if anyone could give me an idea of where other physics is involved in formula 1 and maybe a link where i could research it. Thanks very much.

Not sure what are you aiming specifically, but here goes some books of vehicle dynamics. Some more general, some more into racing. It was a good starting point for me...

race car vehicle dynamics - Milliken

fundamentals of vehicle dynamics - Gillespie

the physics of racing - Brian Beckman
http://phors.locost7.info/contents.htm

vehicle dynamics, fundamentals and modelling aspects - Georg Rill
homepages.fh-regensburg.de/~rig39165/skripte/Vehicle_Dynamics.pdf

This last link has the lecture notes from the course from Georg Rill. I attended a three day course by him when he came to the university where I studied. I must say the man knows the lot about vehicle dynamics, both theoretically and practical. He worked in projects for Ford, MAN and others. It was a shame it was only three days long, but it was quite intensive. And some very nice talks during the intervals about simulators and such.

[Ciro Pabón]

I'm too busy to google for car physics or racing physics, but's that's all you need. You'll get (eventually) to Race Sims forum on car physics, it's better than Beckman's series.

Sorry to sound pedantic. Anyway, it's not P= m*v when you wish to model a car (or you will make a mess of yourself). It's better to start with the Hamiltonian:



That, or you could try the LewisHamiltonian...

[Belatti]

I don´t know how exactly do they model cars, but:

A lot is known about solutions of these equations, yet the exact general case solution of the equations of motion cannot be given explicitly for a system of more than two massive point particles.

This is from the same wiki-link you Ciro gave us.

As you Ciro said (many many times) Engineers needs to model cars for practical purposes rather than Physics theorical purposes, so simplifications are welcome as long as results get along.

The finite element model I (with lots of help) made in the Uni for a 40 passanger bus was based in P=m*V differentials and square section beams bending theories. The test results where in line with the FEA predictions

[Miguel]

Sorry to sound pedantic. Anyway, it's not P= m*v when you wish to model a car (or you will make a mess of yourself). It's better to start with the Hamiltonian:

Humorous note 1:

Mmm... I always thought that Hamiltonian always derived his set ups from the work done by his teammate Mr. Lagrangian, even after the major stakesholder (Schrödinger, Heisenberg, Dirac and the youg Richard) decided to fire him.

Humorous note 2:

F=ma is strictly false. You may want to try the Ehrenfest Theorem if you want to "get" more accurate results.

OT note 1:

If you take into consideration relativistic effects, the movement of just two charged particles is only solvable to second order in v/c. So no more reduced mass joy.

Now more seriously:

I don't really know what level is the OP targetting, but some stuff on Center of Mass importance, plus some more on Inertia and wheelbase may be enough.

[Ciro Pabón]

Miguel, as usual, you left me a couple of "leguas" (and leagues) behind.

Now that I have some time to look through my list of favorites, the links I can recommend are:

- Ruud Van Gaal page on old Usenet discussions about car physics (it has documents in Word on inertia tensors, braking forces, turning, antidive, differentials, torque inertia between wheels and engine)
- An introduction to Pacejka curves
- Richard Chaney pdf on rigid body dynamics (it includes a program in C)
- Erik MacKenzie thesis (PDF, 2.5 Mb). It has a good explanation of Lagrangian equations.
- University of Buffalo tyre model.

[Miguel]

Miguel, as usual, you left me a couple of "leguas" (and leagues) behind.

Yeah, tough day today. It's 2 am here and I'm still fighting with my pet system, so I found an escape valve there. I can be very pedantic at times, although the relativistic stuff was just for curiosity's sake.

- An introduction to Pacejka curves
- University of Buffalo tyre model.

Mmm... nice links Ciro. The thesis one could be useful one rainy day, especially since appendix C contains some real-life data on BF Goodrich tires (very lenient, it seems). I'm lucky to be surrounded by knowledgeful people, so I will abuse your confidence and ask you how good is Pacejka's model. I've heard a certain sim (Live for Speed) uses a non-pacejka model for the tires, so I assumed not everything is settled in that camp. Please bear in mind that my knowledge on tires is... erm... yeah, there is a model with a ton of parametres.

[Ciro Pabón]

Yeah, tough day today. It's 2 am here and I'm still fighting with my pet system, so I found an escape valve there. I can be very pedantic at times, although the relativistic stuff was just for curiosity's sake.

I toast to that (brindo por eso!). I'm still reading about Ehrfenst Theorem. Thanks.

Did you forget to mention quantum dynamics? I would like to see the physics of a wave model of the car... perhaps you can work a little from 2 am to 5 am (it's your "free time", I imagine ).

[riff_raff]

woodca04,

F1 is mostly an exercise in physics and chemistry, with a healthy dose of economics and psychology thrown in for good measure! After all, some one needs to convince sponsors to shell out 10's of millions of dollars so you can go have fun.......

Heat transfer, thermochemistry and chemical kinetics, metallurgy, dynamics and kinematics, tribology, electromagnetism, solid state circuitry, logic and software design, fluid mechanics of compressible flows, etc. These are all areas of science and physics that one must be literate in just to design an F1 engine!

Take your pick.