Design and CFD study of a double V Diffuser

Abstract

The goal of the project is to compare the performance of a conventional F1 diffuser vs. a double V diffuser (a technology pioneered by the BrawnGP team) through computational fluid mechanics (CFD). It is intended to highlight the differences between both devices and their respective advantages and disadvantages. The first step will be designing a conventional diffuser offering acceptable performance to use as baseline. Next, a double V diffuser will be derived from the reference configuration in order to study the effects of the modification. The analysis model will not include the complete car. Therefore, no absolute performance data can be obtained. Instead, only the relative differences between the two configurations will be assessed. The Fluent package of the Ansys suite will be used for the computations. A 3D solution is required to capture the behavior of a double V diffuser. To keep the computational cost within acceptable limits, a simplified treatment of the viscous effects is planned (e.g. using and inviscid solution supplemented with a boundary layer analysis).