Talk Composites - The Forum for Advanced Composites

Racing car wing - slot gap separator thickness

http://www.talkcomposites.com/Topic18944.aspx

By magicaltrevor - 8/6/2015 4:03:44 PM

I'm in the process of making a foam wing, with a carbon tube down the centre, skinned in CF.  It's a dual-plane wing so there is effectively two aerofoils stacked on top of one another.  The plan is to use 2 or 3 separators which will stop the slot between the wings coming together and affecting the downforce.  The concern is that there is likely to be 100kg of downward pressure on the wing.

I'm prepared to make a sacrificial part and hang weights off it but before I do that I'm wondering what the general thoughts were.  

To make the question simpler(!), if you created a figure of eight from 2mm CF sheet and hung a 100kg weight from it then would it be strong enough?  If not then would you increase the number of 'figure 8's' or increase the thickness of the sheet?

Thank you in advance!
By Blackrat - 8/9/2015 7:09:06 PM

i think a picture will tell a 1000 words in this case

but to know if 2mm skin is thick enough ? how long is a piece of string BigGrin ?

whats the chord length and the thickness of the profile ?

you need to install a shear web which will take all the forces and spread the load down the wing onto the mounts

but 2mm skin is complete overkill imo on a foam core wing with a shearweb  ... you shouldnt need more than .7 - 1 mm