Aerodynamics of Racecars

wb1424B
Assignment 2: A front wing in a car wake

The above picture is from a paper by Soso & Wilson on Aerodynamics of a wing in ground effect in
generic racing car wake flows that appeared in the Proc. I Mech E Vol. 220 Part D: J. Automobile
Engineering (2006). You can also find it on Blackboard. Read the article on slipstreaming and answer the
questions below in your own words.

Questions
1- Why do the authors consider only the front wing of the follower car? (What is their motivation?)
2- Based on their measurements the authors report vortices in the diffuser and wake. Sketch how and where
these vortices form.
3- Figure 7 shows the Cl- curve changing as a result of the presence of the leading car. The changes
(especially in the linear part) may be explained as a shift.
- What is meant by the shift?
- Why is this effect stronger when the wing is farther from the ground?
(hint: sketch average flow field behind the leader car)
4- The wings stall behavior is also affected (figure 7). This is explained in the paper as a change in the
boundary layer characteristics (page 7-8). What does that mean? And how can this change flow separation/
stall behavior?
5- A spanwise variation of the flow pattern over the front wing of the follower car was reported (in FC3
configuration). Discuss this variation and explain why this occurs.