Masters Project in F1

[akmenon]

Hi All,
I will be doing my masters dissertation on Aerodynamics and i am quite interested in pursuing in the F1 direction. So, I was wondering if any of you F1 enthusiasts have any ideas on what I could focus on? This is mainly a research based project and I could also study the effects of changing something in the car. I need a topic where i can get sufficient data as this project has to be done in detail!
Also, I only have 9 months to complete the thesis.
Thanks in Advance!
Regards.

[flyboy2160]

Investigate the effect on the diffuser flow of the now common chassis exhaust vents that extend aft at the level of the rear suspension.

[trinidefender]

Hi All,
I will be doing my masters dissertation on Aerodynamics and i am quite interested in pursuing in the F1 direction. So, I was wondering if any of you F1 enthusiasts have any ideas on what I could focus on? This is mainly a research based project and I could also study the effects of changing something in the car. I need a topic where i can get sufficient data as this project has to be done in detail!
Also, I only have 9 months to complete the thesis.
Thanks in Advance!
Regards.

If you are doing it on aerodynamics and looking for sufficient data then F1 is probably not the right place to look I'm afraid. As much as many on this forum, including myself would like to help, it is very hard to get hard hard numbers of various aerodynamic wings and such used by F1 cars. I will help where I can but you might want to look at the SAE cars as well as there is a lot more open source information in that racing world.

Anything specific you want to know?

[NoDivergence]

Investigate the effect on the diffuser flow of the now common chassis exhaust vents that extend aft at the level of the rear suspension.

Even the diffuser itself is a supremely complex device. Plenty of people have done entire doctorates on diffuser in ground effect and have spent their whole careers looking at that. Adding in exhaust flow IMO is insanity for a masters thesis in 9 months.

How about a generic rear wing study on multi element configurations using this year's McLaren's wavy trailing edge on the primary airfoil and leading edge of the secondary airfoil in 3D?

[trinidefender]

Investigate the effect on the diffuser flow of the now common chassis exhaust vents that extend aft at the level of the rear suspension.

Even the diffuser itself is a supremely complex device. Plenty of people have done entire doctorates on diffuser in ground effect and have spent their whole careers looking at that. Adding in exhaust flow IMO is insanity for a masters thesis in 9 months.

How about a generic rear wing study on multi element configurations using this year's McLaren's wavy trailing edge on the primary airfoil and leading edge of the secondary airfoil in 3D?

I like this idea. It is quite relevant to formula one so fulfils your requirement and lots of information on the subject is already available. With that I would add maybe the whole idea about how airflow structures form along the rear wing concerning spanwise flow above and below the wing. As the rear wing is essentially 'closed' on one side is would be quite interested to see the results of some research there.

[MadMatt]

Continuing on the rear wing subject, you could also emphasis the study of the vortices generated at the tips of the rear wing and methods to reduce that phenomenon!

[mep]

Influence of the wheel wake on the aerodynamics of the car. You could focus on the influence on the diffusor for example. Then try different tire shapes; such as deformations under vertical and cornering loads. Ideally you come up with a solution how to keep the tire wake away from the diffusor. This will bring you straight into F1 because they love that kind of stuff.
Keep us updated for which topic you go!

[Jersey Tom]

How about a manufacturing / geometry sensitivity study? For aggressive airfoils how much deviation from the ideal shape will have significant impact on performance, stall angle, etc? Could do the same for positioning of multiple elements relative to each other.

Or if you bracketed extremes of ambient conditions for temperature and humidity etc, how does resultant change in viscosity of air affect when and where flow separates?

[MadMatt]

Tom I've tried changing ambient conditions on my Pikes Peak study where I simulated sea level conditions (temperature, air density and viscosity), bottom of the course, and top of the course. My conclusions were that the loss of downforce and drag is directly proportional to the air density loss and that only the wheels slightly gained downforce proportionally compared to the air density reduction (I don't know if I explained it clearly).

[NoDivergence]

Side note to the wheel wake (which is quite simply the most complex CFD job on the entire car, and still isn't quite done right for some F1 designs- turning wheels and tire deformations are highly comlex),

how about studying the effect of debris in the front wing of a F1 car. We hear it all the time (rubber in the slot gaps). Make a generic three element front wing, see what happens when you start blocking portions of the slot gap. Try different geometries of blockage, rectangular, circular, elliptical etc of the same total area/volume. Then move this geometry around to see what kind of 3D effects this has if it's towards the endplate of the wing or the inner side.

Determine how much downforce is lost based upon the type of blockage and the area. Determine the trend for downforce loss vs blockage area and categorize it by type of geometry, and location. If you still have time afterwards, try to modify the wing configuration to see if you can mitigate the effect with similar downforce but less sensitivity to debris. Justify why this wing geometry change helps do so. If you want, you can also study the drag effect.

This would be an excellent master's project. Plenty of people have done icing studies and contamination effects on wings. I'm not sure of many in academia studying something like this. I'd have done it myself if I didn't get a Masters already

[RagingBullx]

Sorry I am a bit biased but how about looking at ways to maintain flow attachment at the rear of an aircrafts (b737) fuselage - essentially a narrowing cylinder at a cruise angle of attack. It would benefit the world a bit more and would definitely be transferrable to the world of f1 in some respect! I would be very interested in seeing the results of that.

[akmenon]

Hi All,
I will be doing my masters dissertation on Aerodynamics and i am quite interested in pursuing in the F1 direction. So, I was wondering if any of you F1 enthusiasts have any ideas on what I could focus on? This is mainly a research based project and I could also study the effects of changing something in the car. I need a topic where i can get sufficient data as this project has to be done in detail!
Also, I only have 9 months to complete the thesis.
Thanks in Advance!
Regards.

If you are doing it on aerodynamics and looking for sufficient data then F1 is probably not the right place to look I'm afraid. As much as many on this forum, including myself would like to help, it is very hard to get hard hard numbers of various aerodynamic wings and such used by F1 cars. I will help where I can but you might want to look at the SAE cars as well as there is a lot more open source information in that racing world.

Anything specific you want to know?

Yeah that's what i figured! I tried doing some literature reading but couldnt find any relevant data whatsoever!

Side note to the wheel wake (which is quite simply the most complex CFD job on the entire car, and still isn't quite done right for some F1 designs- turning wheels and tire deformations are highly comlex),

how about studying the effect of debris in the front wing of a F1 car. We hear it all the time (rubber in the slot gaps). Make a generic three element front wing, see what happens when you start blocking portions of the slot gap. Try different geometries of blockage, rectangular, circular, elliptical etc of the same total area/volume. Then move this geometry around to see what kind of 3D effects this has if it's towards the endplate of the wing or the inner side.

Determine how much downforce is lost based upon the type of blockage and the area. Determine the trend for downforce loss vs blockage area and categorize it by type of geometry, and location. If you still have time afterwards, try to modify the wing configuration to see if you can mitigate the effect with similar downforce but less sensitivity to debris. Justify why this wing geometry change helps do so. If you want, you can also study the drag effect.

This would be an excellent master's project. Plenty of people have done icing studies and contamination effects on wings. I'm not sure of many in academia studying something like this. I'd have done it myself if I didn't get a Masters already

I'm a little skeptical about choosing something complex since the 9 months that i have will also include other theory modules! Ideally, I would love something wherein i can find solid data while still maintaining the level required for a masters project!