Quote:
Originally Posted by Frank Lee
The same things that have always been suggested and proven to work.
Cap on the tow vehicle if it's a pickup. The closer it matches the trailer height the better.
Boattail that isn't angled too steep to be effective.
Minimized gap between tower and trailer.
Radiussed leading edges on trailer, keeping in mind that more radius than necessary has the effect of enlarging the gap tween tower and trailer, and taking interior volume away. I forget the formula for calcing radius size but it's here somewhere.
That tail just has the appearance of being so trunciated that it would mostly exist well within the turbulent zone, thus affecting flow how? Perhaps there is some benefit from it's side panels allowing some reduction in trailing wake but really the 3-4 mpg claim mystifies me.  |
Sounds basically like what I and others already said, esp. the parts about leading edge radius, since my horse trailer idea is just one leading edge with as big a radius as the trailer width will allow, increasing storage volume forward and over the tongue while decreasing the truck/trailer gap into the bargain. Truncated tail as seen in OP works, may not be totally optimum, but pretty much anything to thwart con Karman vortex street in wake will help. But, if it sticks out too far aft, gets into legal problems, etc..
NASA et al have worked the truncated truck tail issue with fold-out flexible panels in Kamm tail effect. Cheap. Works. Maybe not as elegant and refined as a German sailplane, but evidently worth the effort.
OP's trailer would next benefit imho most by
adding leading edge radius forward over tongue, wheel skirts and/or pizza pans on wheels, maybe belly pan to fair axle.
BTW, has anybody done a flexible Coroplast belly pan attached to trailer axle, that moves up and down with the axle? On lots of trailers, the axle is a draggy I-beam thing hanging in the breeze. Why not fair it with Coro, maybe attached with zip ties?
As