Formula 1 Wing Composite Lay-up Optimisation

VR&D Genesis has the capability to optimise the lay-up of composite materials for both ply orientation and thickness. This capability allows for the definition of discrete steps to be defined to the variation of orientation and thickess, which is a key requirement when optimising composite lay-ups. An optimisation has been performed on the lower rear wing section of a formula one car to demonstrate the capabilities of this process.

Design Objective

Minimise the mass of the lower wing section

Loading

500N force in forward direction applied to upper wing section.Lower wing section constrained at attachment to rear crush cone.

ConstraintsMaximum displacement of upper wing section of 1.5mm.Composite failure index of all parts must not exceed 1.

Design VariablesLower wing section sectioned into 7 designable regionsPly orientations are varied between ?0o to +90o in increments of 15oPly bundle thicknesses varied between 0.2 to 1.4mm in increments of 0.2mm

Optimisation Results Summary

The optimisation exercise performed on the rear wing section successfully demonstrates the abilities of GENESIS in the optimisation of composite material lay-ups.

The design study converged on a solution for the lower wing section with a mass of 1.10kg.

The optimisation process demonstrated through this example can be applied to any composite structure and can consider multiple load cases including:

• Linear Static
  
• Normal Modes frequency Analysis
  
• Linear Buckling Analysis
  
  
  
  
  
  

  Displacement of Optimised Rear Wing Design