Formula One is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. Dassault Systems works with essentially every Formula 1 (F1) team and in F1, every fraction of a second matters. One of the sport's most exciting engineering innovations is the Drag Reduction System (DRS), a moving flap on the rear wing that opens to reduce aerodynamic drag and increases top speed by about 5% on straights. While drivers get a burst of speed for race-winning passes, the car's DRS must be closed before the corner or the car won't be able to turn properly due to a reduction in downforce. Downforce is an aerodynamic force that pushes the car onto the track, allowing for higher cornering speeds.
As passionate F1 fans, we really wanted to build a 1:10 scale RC F1 car. With this car, our plan was to fully model it in SOLIDWORKS, simulate airflow in SIMULIA and finally test on the track with embedded sensors. The primary goal was to validate our SIMULIA results with the physical testing and correlate the results to actual F1 data. We wanted to show that by using the wing with DRS open, the velocity of the car would be faster on a straight and with DRS closed, the velocity would be slower on a straight.
Let's dive into how this was done!
Design and Simulation
The RC F1 car was assembled in SOLIDWORKS Connected. Our model was designed off of the Open RC project. We further developed it by modeling several different rear wings and modified several internal components. 3DEXPERIENCE SOLIDWORKS allowed us to work together efficiently, even when we were not in the same room.
The images above show two assemblies, one with DRS open and one with DRS closed, modeled for the pressure coefficient when moving forward at around 26mph. Red indicates positive pressure (pushing force) and blue indicates negative pressure (pulling force). In Fig. 4 (DRS closed), the top of the wing is almost entirely red, with a small area of blue underneath (Fig. 5). By contrast, Fig. 6 (DRS open) shows very little red, meaning less air pressure on the rear wing. The simulations predict that with DRS open, there is reduced pressure and therefore less drag which allows the car to reach higher speeds.
Fabrication
The entire car was 3D printed, except for just a few components. The top of the car and the chassis were printed with PETG-CF filament from Bambu on a Bambu X1C printer. Even the tires were printed using a TPU filament. To gather telemetry data from the car, we used two ESP32 Arduino Nano boards, an IMU (MPU-6050), and a Hall effect sensor. The combination of these sensors yielded an onboard telemetry system.
ESP32 Arduino Nano - This was our chosen microcontroller. The board has a built-in wifi protocol to send data in real-time up to 100 meters. We used two of these boards, one as a transmitter located in the car and one stationary board connected to our computer.
IMU - Inertial measurement unit. We used one IMU sensor to record G-Force data.
Hall Effect sensor - We incorporated a hall effect sensor and a small magnet located on a gear connected to the car's motor to record the car's speed
ChatGPT was used extensively to assist in programming and system architecture. It proved to be a very useful tool. Furthermore, the 3DEXPERIENCE platform was critical for us to create, share, save and access core data.
The Boston 3DEXPERIENCE Lab FABLAB was instrumental in making this project a success! We used the FABLAB exclusively to prototype and build the car.
On the Track / Conclusion
Now for the fun part! We took the car out on a sunny day with one goal in mind, go as fast as possible. We ran a few laps with each rear wing configuration, DRS opened and DRS closed. After recording the data using the embedded system, we saw that there was a 4.77% increase in speed when DRS was enabled going from 27.23 mph to 28.53 mph. This correlates with the on average improvement in speed of 5% as a result of DRS that actual F1 cars experience, which is exactly what we wanted to see!
Acknowledgments:
We want to give a shout out to a few people that were essential to the success of this project.
We would also like to thank Sal and Chin-loo / the Lamas for their help in creating the SOLIDWORKs assembly, allowing us to simulate and make design changes to the parts.
We would also like to thank Michael Sacks for supporting us with the SIMULIA flow simulation. He really showcased his mastery and inspired us to explore the power of SIMULIA.
Here are some posts on the platform to learn more about how Dassault Systemes is involved in Formula 1:
If you got this far, thank you for taking the time out of your day to read this post! Neel Rao was a summer intern who did a truly incredible job with this project! Kudos to Neel and best of luck to him as he finishes his mechanical engineering degree! Feel free to connect with him on LinkedIn: Neel Rao.
Always Fast, Never Furious.🏎️🏎️
Sean Farrell and Neel Rao
