The newly formed Red Bull Powertains continues building the network of partners with which to face the great adventure of the 2026 power unit. In January, the Milton Keynes team formalized the marriage with Ford, which will bring its experience on hybrid powertrains and software as a dowry of management deriving not so much from motorsport, as from the electrified models in the range. At the beginning of April, however, a new reality became part of the project. Red Bull Ford Powertrain indeed confirmed the partnership with ADTAdvanced Design Technology, a company specialized in the design and optimization of turbomachinery, in particular turbines and compressors.
State-of-the-art software
The turbocharger is a fundamental component in the competitiveness of an engine. In fact, the turbine collects the exhaust gases and exploits their thermal and kinetic energy to produce work, which is used to make the compressor rotate. This in turn compresses the air entering the engine, increasing the average pressure in the cylinders for the benefit of mechanical efficiency. The more effectively the turbine and compressor interact effectively with the flows to transmit work, the more competitive the engine is.
In traditional design approaches, the various turbocharger blades are virtually sliced into multiple two-dimensional sections, in order to study their geometry. From these we then derive the three-dimensional model of the blade, the study of which can be completed with a three-dimensional fluid dynamics analysis using CFD. ADT, on the other hand, put it precisely TURBOdesign Suitea design software capable of working directly with three-dimensional objects, incorporating specific CFD analyzes for turbomachinery.
This feature is the basis of the 3D Inverse Design technology, which reverses the design approach of the turbine and compressor. In fact, in traditional techniques, the designer specifies the angle of incidence of the blade and its thickness for the various sections. With 3D Inverse technology, however, the design inputs are the loads at the base and outside tip of the blade. The software then sifts through several possible configurations, running an automatic optimization of the shovel based on what the objectives are. In addition to allowing you to evaluate countless different configurations, working directly in the three-dimensional field also allows for a more accurate study of aspects such as shocks, flow detachment points, speed relative to sound (Mach number) and more. All this translates into a more efficient turbocharger.
Speed is the key point
No one can better explain the potential of the TURBOdesign Suite software Professor Mehrdad ZangenehManaging Director of ADT and professor of thermo-fluid dynamics at University College London: “Turbochargers have very complex fluid dynamics and three-dimensional effects, such as the pulsations of the exhaust gases at the turbine and the shock structures in the compressor. TURBOdesign has a unique positioning that allows designers to check the three-dimensional flow fields and the design of the blades using the 3D Design Inverse technique and the load on the blade. This makes the code extremely suitable for applications that require high performance, starting with the integration of power unit development and analysis tools, allowing rapid development cycles to find the optimal solutions in the shortest possible time”.
Ben Hodgkinson on the other hand, Red Bull Ford Powertrains technical director, underlines how the possibility of rapidly evaluating numerous configurations was the factor that led to the partnership with ADT: “Developing an engine, a turbocharger and a new power unit in general from their initial conception opens up a world of possibilities. The ability to being able to explore as many options as fast as possible it’s what makes the difference in the first place. TURBOdesign enables our engineering team to efficiently develop high-performance turbochargers from initial concept and engine matching to detailing and three-dimensional component optimization. TURBOdesign’s unique 3D Inverse technology has been identified as the fastest and most efficient way to quickly generate high performance impellers, responding to the main mechanical and aerodynamic requirements”.
The challenges of 2026
Red Bull Powertrains is approaching 2026 with very little experience in the construction of turbines and compressors, other than that based on the notions leaked from the collaboration with Honda. However, the next power units will be different from the current ones, also as regards the turbocharger. Firstly, by regulation it will no longer be possible to create split-turbo architectures, i.e. with turbine and compressor spaced apart to reduce the heat absorption of the fresh air from the exhaust gases. Furthermore, the MGU-H will disappear, which is why on the one hand the compressor can no longer be artificially accelerated by the electric motor and on the other it will no longer be necessary to sacrifice combustion to have more residual energy in the exhaust gases with which to recharge the battery. The last big unknown is the flow rate of the exhaust to the turbine and of the air through the compressor. In fact, the maximum flow rate of injectable fuel will go from the current 100 kg/h to around 73 kg/h, a change which would also suggest a reduction in the flow of air and exhaust gases. However, this will greatly depend on the oxygen content of the synthetic gasolines and biofuels that will be developed, which will determine how much oxygen and therefore how much air will need to be taken from the outside to allow combustion.
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