It doesn’t matter whether it is brilliant inexperienced, yellow, blue or orange paint, flow-vis has turn out to be nearly the common means for groups to evaluate aero components.
Nevertheless, Alpine raised a number of eyebrows ultimately weekend’s Italian Grand Prix when it appeared to roll again the clock and do one thing a bit extra old-school with its aero testing.
As a substitute of utilizing flow-vis to examine on a revised low downforce Monza-specific beam wing, it fitted strips of yarn tufts throughout the rear of the brand new element, in addition to the rear wing essential aircraft (beneath).
Alpine A523 technical element
Picture by: Giorgio Piola
This use of tufts gave the impression to be one thing that had lengthy been consigned to grand prix racing’s historical past books, as F1 expertise and understanding of airflow has moved on significantly over time.
Nevertheless, there was an excellent motive for Alpine to go down this route, and all of it pertains to precisely what sort of aero understanding groups try to get from apply working.
Ferrari SF-23 rear wing with flow-vis paint
Picture by: Giorgio Piola
With flow-vis (see above), the knowledge that groups need to get is how the airflow is structured over your entire automobile, or how it’s impacted by a selected element.
Move-vis is a fluorescent powder that’s blended with mild oil, usually paraffin, earlier than it’s painted liberally on a selected a part of the automobile.
When the automobile is out on monitor, the flow-vis is moved by the airflow and spreads throughout the automobile – forsaking clear proof of stream buildings and likewise highlighting areas the place there has maybe been some separation.
When the automobile is returned to the pits, groups can then take photos of how the flow-vis has behaved, and that is then analysed by the aerodynamicists to attempt to higher perceive if components are appearing in the best way anticipated.
That is very a lot an after-the-event evaluation although.
What flow-vis doesn’t offer you is how the aerodynamics are working at a selected level out on monitor, or at a set velocity.
The advantage of the tuft testing, as Alpine carried out, is that it may be used to higher comprehend how airflow is reacting at each second out on the circuit.
Excessive-resolution cameras are fitted to the automobile to give attention to the tufts and these seize video footage of how the person strands are behaving when it’s working.
The course that the strands are flowing in will point out airflow course and strain adjustments – in addition to highlighting potential stall points – and will be in contrast at varied speeds and completely different corners.
If the tufts are doing precisely what is needed when flat out on the straights, however then are doing one thing completely undesired by low-speed corners, then this can be uncovered a lot better by tuft testing than with flow-vis.
The choice to go along with old-school tufts or fashionable flow-vis is due to this fact a easy selection between eager to know what the airflow is doing, or what it has achieved.
Alpine A523 diffuser element
Picture by: Uncredited