Spectral/hp element simulation of flow past a Formula One front wing: Validation against experiments

Emerging commercial and academic tools are regularly being applied to the design of road race cars, but there currently no well-established benchmark cases study aerodynamics car wings in ground effect. In this paper we propose a new test case, with relatively complex geometry, supported by availability CAD model experimental results. We refer case as Imperial Front Wing, originally based on front wing endplate McLaren 17D car. A comparison different resolutions high fidelity spectral/hp element simulation using under-resolved DNS/implicit LES approach fourth fifth polynomial order is presented. The results demonstrate good correlation both wall-bounded streaklines obtained oil flow visualization PIV results, correctly predicting key characteristics time-averaged structures, namely intensity, contours locations. This highlights resolution requirements capturing salient features arising from type challenging providing an interesting for traditional emerging high-fidelity simulations.