The influence of cornering on the vortical wake structures of an inverted wing

The aerodynamic performance of inverted wings on racing-car configurations is most critical when cornering; however, current wind tunnel techniques are generally limited to the straight-line condition. The true cornering condition introduces complexity because of the curvature of the freestream flow. This results in an increase in the tangential velocity with increasing distance from the instantaneous centre of rotation and causes the front wing to be placed at a yaw angle. Numerical simulations were used to consider an 80% scale front wing when steady-state cornering with radii ranging from 60 m to 7.5 m, and yaw angles ranging from 1.25° to 10°. The changes to the pressure distribution near the endplates caused the wake structure to become highly asymmetric. Both the primary longitudinal vortices and the secondary longitudinal vortices differed in strength, and the vortex core positions shifted in the vertical direction and the spanwise direction. The change in the position became more substantial further downstream as the structures tended toward the freestream direction. The effects on the wing surface pressure distribution resulted in the introduction of yawing and rolling moments, as well as a side force and an increase in drag. The results demonstrate the importance of evaluating the cornering condition if that is where a good performance is most sought after.