On the near wake of a Formula One front wheel

Abstract

Velocity measurements were made in the near wake of the front wheel of a Formula One car using a laser Doppler anemometer. Tests were carried out on a 50% scale in a closed-return three-quarter open-jet wind tunnel. Three configurations were investigated to determine the effect of both the car and an external wheel support strut on the wheel wake. In each of the configurations the test Reynolds number, based on the wheel diameter, was 6.8 × 105. Three components of the velocity were measured at two planes less than than 1.0 D (where D is the wheel diameter) downstream of the wheel axis. These data were used to visualise the extent of the wake, the flow structures present and also the streamwise turbulence intensity. The presence of the car was found to alter significantly the structure of the wheel wake when compared with an isolated wheel. In addition, the external support strut was found to have less impact in the presence of the car than previous isolated wheel studies have suggested. No previous such studies appear to have been published in the open literature.