An abandoned tunnel and laser light to improve the aerodynamics of the Red Bull team

Using technology that was only recently available in the realm of Formula 1, the Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe team, in collaboration with Specialized and optical measurement specialist LaVision, has tested Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV), which will allow them to gain a better understanding of the cyclist's aerodynamics in order to seek even more improvements.

Red Bull makes wind visible using a laser

An abandoned railway tunnel in Catesby, a small English town located southeast of Birmingham, a laser, and helium are the ingredients with which Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe and Specialized aim to revolutionize the science of aerodynamics applied to cycling, thanks to a technique that has only been used in Formula 1 until now, which allows for a detailed visualization of the airflow over the bike and the cyclist, thus achieving an instant view of how the air interacts, where turbulence is generated, etc.

Currently, the optimization of the aerodynamics of the cyclist and the bike follows different steps. The first of these, usually reserved only for the design of bikes and components, is computer simulation using CFD or Computational Fluid Dynamics software. The designs obtained through CFD are validated in the wind tunnel, or if the simulated data is not corroborated, the data obtained in the tunnel is used to feed back into the CFD software and refine the design.

 

 

 

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Once the design is validated, the final step is to optimize the aerodynamics of the bike/cyclist combination, which involves long and uncomfortable sessions for the athlete in the wind tunnel or tests in a velodrome using a trial-and-error system, meaning a configuration is tested, its numbers are measured, a modification is made, and it is checked if there is an improvement, and so on until the position is fine-tuned to the maximum. A slow and tedious procedure.

Now, Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe seeks to go much further in aerodynamic optimization thanks to the use of Particle Image Velocimetry, which allows for the complete visibility of the airflow circulating around the cyclist, something that until now was only possible in a very limited way in the wind tunnel using a directed steam jet at a part of the bike/cyclist combination.

In this way, the performance engineers of the Austrian team are able to instantly check where turbulence is generated, how the airflow interacts as it passes through the different elements, or how large the void is that remains after the cyclist passes, which generates resistance.

To apply this technique in fully controlled conditions, Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe has turned to an old railway tunnel in the English town of Catesby. A tunnel with the right surface for cycling. In it, the cyclist pedals through where a jet of microbubbles of helium has been injected. From the other end of the tunnel, a laser beam is projected that makes these microbubbles visible, which, as the cyclist passes through them, are displaced along with the airflow, providing real-time images of the interaction between air and cyclist similar to those normally generated by CFD.

Although this is currently just a test to check the potential of the PIV technique, Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe performance engineer Dan Bigham expressed his enthusiasm: “We want to understand what is really happening, not just whether something is faster or slower. With this PIV test, we are finally delving into aerodynamics, making visible what was previously invisible in cycling. We are bringing Formula 1 technology to two wheels and generating knowledge that will transform this sport.”