Formula One race cars get faster thanks to particle-image velocimetry and CFD

摘要

Rather than just running on simple oval tracks and always turning left, Formula Ones (F1) race on closed tracks -- sometimes even on blocked-off city streets -- and drivers must quickly brake, corner right or left, and accelerate along straightaways. To get a handle on normally hidden aerodynamic effects, Toyota Motorsport engineers rely on a wind tunnel equipped for particle-image velocimetry (PIV). Engineers then turn off all tunnel lights. A moving belt under the vehicle spins the wheels for more realistic load conditions. F1 aerodynamic studies typically use experimental data from PIV, computational results from a CFD package, and a CFD postprocessor such as Tecplot 360. Toyota Motorsport engineers can compare, say, a contour of a vorticity magnitude in the cross plane from the PIV data to what is coming out of the CFD code.