Vehicle
Dynamics This year the vehicle dynamics department covers all the math behind the car. They determine how the car should behave in theory such that the other departments can make it all happen. This year the vehicle dynamics department covers aerodynamics, the geometry, the spring-damper-system, the control systems and telemetry as well. First let us say something about the aerodynamics. Under the car there will be a venturi tunnel, which creates a low pressure zone underneath the car. The benefit of this tunnel is the large area that can be used. The car will
DUT13 with aero
also have a front and a rear wing in order to generate more down force. The front wing will only be in front of the wheels such that it does not influence the Venturi. Because of the aerodynamics it is disadvantageous if the car rolls, pitches or heaves a lot. Therefore the suspension is this year will be much stiffer compared to last year. But in order to bound the vertical displacement of the car, the springs are stiff enough to prevent the car from much roll. Therefore this year the car does not need an anti-roll bar. Furthermore, the geometry of the car will be designed to counteract pitch
DU
Racing
Formula Stude during accelerating and braking. The control systems will contain a slip ratio controller and a yaw rate controller, which were also implemented on the DUT12. The slip-ratio controller is acting as a traction control system. The yawrate controller will control the cornering behaviour of the car. There will also be a sensor which measures the velocity in forward and sideward direction. Therefore, not only the slip can be measured more accurately, but also the lateral velocity (which you always have in corners). The data from this sensor is then used for the control of the car.