To wrap up this short series of posts on 2022 sidepod designs via CFD, I'm presenting the visualization on RB18-like sidepods. To note ahead, the flow around the sidepods and on the floor is overall better than on tub-pods and micro-pods, which might make the numerical results somewhat better than with the previous two simulations. I'll be posting previous results for direct comparison between different designs and I'd like to reiterate that we should only take these as rough visual aid in understanding how different sidepods are managing the flow in different way.
You can see that there is a lot less separation on RB sidepods than previous simulations. However, overall pressure distribution is not that different, even if it is slightly better in this RB simulation.
Also an important note, this has come to my attention only now. The fact that Ferrari and RB have pushed lower inlet leading edge so far forward has major influence on the flow on top of the floor and leading edge, especially the treatment of floor leading edge separation (induced by front wing upwash). However, it seems RB influences the pressure build-up a lot less in this area, as expected considering how streamlined the undercut geometry is.
The outwash of RB sidepods is less than tub-pods in these simulations, which is not surprising taking into account very streamlined geometry. This left the rear tyres with less turbulence ahead of them and consequentially more drag than tub-pods. This is also visible on v-plot at 0.3m from ground.
Top view comparisons show how very different geometries, yet not too different pressure distributions the 3 cars exhibit. Of course, this depends a lot on person's view on what's different and what not.
Lastly - the v-plots:
RB18-like sidepods generated a flow field ahead of rear tyres closer to micro-pods, but there is some drag reduction on rear tyres. Overall, this latest model generated both drag and downforce just in the middle between tub-pods and micro-pods. Does this mean anything? Not really on it's own, since there are a lot of other areas which are very different on these 3 cars, other than tub-pods creating a significant separation hitting the rear tyres.
In my view, these retracted sidepods seem to be aimed at significant conditioning of the flow between the rear tyre and diffuser ramp. Without more accurate geometries of the 3 floors, it's impossible to quantify just how all these areas work on the 3 cars.