Quote:
Originally Posted by RobertSmalls
I was hoping to get the aerodynamics of the tail nailed down in SolidWorks COSMOS FloWorks, which can illustrate streamlines but can't tell you overall drag. I plan to run a few variations on a model of the car to check for flow separation in parallel flow and in gentle crosswinds, then build one a little bit more conservative than what the simulation tells me I can get away with. Here's an old model that's similar to an Insight:
I could make a much better model by importing the side, top, and frontal views of the car, then adding detail where necessary.
For construction, I really have no idea what I'm doing. Maybe an Al frame with the bottom half of the skin coroplast, and the top half acrylic. I'm sure you'll be going with foam and fiberglass. Will that be on a wooden frame? |
Since I didn't know any better at the time,for my CRX,I simply built a cardboard and masking-tape mock-up on the car,fiber-glassed it also on the car.When it was built up with multiple laminations and cured,I pried it off the car,soaked the cardboard out from inside,leaving a "slip-fit" tail which fit on like a glove and held with a few fasteners.
Because of the ovoid,compound"eggshell" curvature,no additional reinforcement was required.
A dual trailer type electrical umbilical allowed for all the lighting.
Dirt simple.