RBR is illegal (apparantly)

[Andrewmcm]

Every racing car is illegal. The scrutineers just haven't figured out why yet, and the engineers wouldn't be doing their job if their cars weren't pushing/over the edge.

[wedge]

Every racing car is illegal. The scrutineers just haven't figured out why yet, and the engineers wouldn't be doing their job if their cars weren't pushing/over the edge.

Nice one! In all my time of following motorsport I never really thought of it like that!

[ioan]

Funny how people see slots where there are no slots.
Also funny how it's fine for the exhaust to blow in a certain way and direction as long as it is Sauber or Mercedes or evenMcLaren but not for RBR.

One more week to go, and then we'll see who's been doing a good work and who's been only running their mouths.

[ioan]

Every racing car is illegal. The scrutineers just haven't figured out why yet, and the engineers wouldn't be doing their job if their cars weren't pushing/over the edge.

Exactly.

[CavallinoRampante]

It's quite simple how it works... the bottom element is clearly folded back, behind the wing.
This acts like a turbulator on airplane wings, and it's most effective at low speed, generating more downforce, separating the laminar flow of air.

At high speed, the pressure pushes against the turbulator and it flexes enough to change airfoil shape to a thinner shape, and that equals less air resistance.
Quite clever if you ask me, but hardly legal if it flexes too much.

The design should actually work even if no flex takes place, I can see where at high speed the laminar flow is pushed far back as to not use the full airfoil of the bottom element. That would also produce less air resistance.

[Knock-on]

Interesting post. You remind me of a former member but are much more erudite

I think running a 3:1 aspect ratio is what RBR have done isn't it?

[CavallinoRampante]

Hi Knock-on, thank you for the "erudite" , I am just an engineer who has a hobby of designing competition model airplanes, a hobby I share with the good old Rory Byrne.
As far as aspect ratio, it would be nice to have the measurements, due to perspective on the pictures, I can't really measure the wing.
I can just see that Newey did an awsome job, that's really thinking out of the box, right there: simple, sturdy.... genial....
Now if this year the teams are still allowed to open up their rear wings on the straights, and if you find a picture from the rear of the new RB with the wing open, I'd understand a few more things. I'd like to see where the hinge-line is located, and the airfoil shape it forms when the slot is open.
The only wrong thing I see with it is that it's easily copied and implemented...

[CavallinoRampante]

about turbulators:

The additional drag, which arises from laminar separation bubbles, can be eliminated, by avoiding them or by reducing their size, using one of the following measures:

1. natural transition by shaping the airfoil geometry in such a way that the transition occurs already in front of the main pressure recovery region, where the bubble might occur, or by[/*:m:13ir3zz4]
2. forced transition by artificial disturbances, e.g. a turbulator. This device will usually be attached just before the region of laminar separation and has to introduce enough disturbances to cause transition into the turbulent state, before the laminar separation can occur.[/*:m:13ir3zz4]

A small drag increase in the high speed regime is the cost which has to be paid for the bigger improvements at low "flight" speed.

If I were to do it, I'd play on the fact that you can open up the wing on the straigts, making the turbulator fold closed on the straights, so you'd have more downforce at low speeds without the drag penalty at high speed.
I bet that's how the RB wing works, but I haven't seen any pictures to prove or disprove that assumption.

[Zico]

about turbulators:

The additional drag, which arises from laminar separation bubbles, can be eliminated, by avoiding them or by reducing their size, using one of the following measures:

1. natural transition by shaping the airfoil geometry in such a way that the transition occurs already in front of the main pressure recovery region, where the bubble might occur, or by[/*:m:k82hus3a]
2. forced transition by artificial disturbances, e.g. a turbulator. This device will usually be attached just before the region of laminar separation and has to introduce enough disturbances to cause transition into the turbulent state, before the laminar separation can occur.[/*:m:k82hus3a]

A small drag increase in the high speed regime is the cost which has to be paid for the bigger improvements at low "flight" speed.

If I were to do it, I'd play on the fact that you can open up the wing on the straigts, making the turbulator fold closed on the straights, so you'd have more downforce at low speeds without the drag penalty at high speed.
I bet that's how the RB wing works, but I haven't seen any pictures to prove or disprove that assumption.

Sounds absolutely spot on to me..

Fellow Aero student? Edit- just saw your earlier post. I'm into RC flying also and would love to know more about your competition planes but I guess its a bit off topic.

[wedge]

This forum could do with an aerodynamicist to explain this concept a little deeper.

Or you could try a different forum

(though half the time you feel like a feckless undergraduate!)