Can someone explain this? An underbody diffuser smooths out airflow under the car. A flat surface increases speed. The top remains the same. This is the exact same as an airplane wing. Which is designed for LIFT. So how is it that a diffusor adds downforce? I don't get the physics of it.
diffuser question
- Thread starter TURBO2GO
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- 30 October 2011
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It dosent increase downforce, it decreases drag because of how it allows a very smooth surface for air flow over. Now if the bottom of the car is lowered closer to the ground, the air has a smaller space to travel through which in turn, speeds it up and creates lower pressure. So you are not creating downforce, you are decreasing up force. this then gets your car closer to the zero force/ downforce zone.
A flat bottom does smooth the air out under the car and the lower the car is to the ground, the faster the air will be which creates a low pressure as well. A diffuser slows the air down by expanding to a larger volume. This should also create a pumping effect which sucks the air under the bottom of the car even faster, creating an even lower pressure area and more df -which is often focused at the leading edge of the diffuser..
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But unlike a wing, a diffuser is reducing drag and not increasing it, right? So you are creating a low pressure zone under the car, increasing the net effect of downforce, but not creating drag. So it seems this would be a lot more ideal to do than a big wing and the first place you would want to concentrate on. Right?
