Aerodynamic Gains Made Simple: Inside ION Racing’s Front Wing Development

The team

ION Racing is one of four formula student teams in Norway and is based out of the University of Stavanger. We are a multidisciplinary team consisting of over 60 students with the goal of competing at Silverstone in formula student UK (FSUK). Formula student is a competition where university students design, build, test and compete with cars propelled by either combustion or EV. The teams have one year to do this, so we need to deliver throughout the entire year on a tight time schedule.

Project Goal and Motivation

The main goal of this project was to evaluate different front wing endplate designs for the formula student car and comparing these designs against the existing setup. The aim was to determine if morecomplex designs could meaningfully enhance performance enough to justify additional manufacturing complexity and cost.

Specific Design Problem

The primary design issue involved turbulence generated by the front wing elements positioned directly in front of the wheels. The existing endplate design was flat, inexpensive, and easy to produce. The objective was to find an alternative endplate design capable of effectively directing airflow around the wheel, reducing drag while maintaining crucial pressure zones around the elements.

Simulation Setup

Simulations were conducted using AeroCloud through a web browser, which made setting up and running simulations quick and easy. To maximize report details, different car subsystems were imported separately, allowing detailed results especially for the front wing. Models were stored in NablaFlow’s cloud-based catalog, enabling efficient reuse of files and maintaining consistency, with the front wing as the sole changing factor during testing.

Initial Expectations

Initially, some changes in airflow were expected from the altered endplate designs, though the magnitude of the impact on overall car performance was uncertain.

Simulation Results

Testing various endplate designs against a baseline (flat endplate with a curved front edge) revealed notable findings. Curving the rear edge inward provided a 3.6% improvement in front wing downforce. However, the most effective overall results emerged from a minimalistic endplate design, nearly removing the endplate entirely only keeping enough to secure the flap. This design slightly decreased front wing downforce by 0.47% but increased total car downforce by 2.79%. The wing’s drag decreased by 12.17%, although the total car drag slightly rose by 1.27%. Ultimately, this minimalistic design improved the downforce-to-drag ratio by 13.32% for the wing and boosted the overall car ratio by 1.51%.

Designs Changes

Starting next season, it would be interesting to explore minimalistic endplate designs further, particularly assessing their impact during cornering conditions.

Obstacles and Overcoming Strategies

A Formula Student season is short and packed with work, putting a lot of pressure on both time and resources across the project. One area that became much easier was the simulation process. Normally,CFD work is time-consuming and complicated, but thanks to NablaFlow, it was reduced to just a few clicks. AeroCloud made it fast and simple to run simulations and view clear results, which helped save time for other parts of the project.

Achievements and Future Steps

This project helped show that even small changes to the endplates can affect how the car performs. Designs with complex shapes like bottom lips and curved edges didn’t offer enough performance gain to be worth the extra cost and effort. On the other hand, simple and minimal designs worked well and should be tested more in the future.