Proper orientation of the bristles to the airflow is important.
NASA (Bushnell et al) have been looking at this and compliant wall surfaces, at least for 30 years that I know of. Such compliant wall surfaces (bird feathers, seal fur, etc.) dampen oscillations of flow and von Karman vortices, so aid streamlining. Eskimo kayaks with seal skin covers may have taken advantage of this.
Recently, NASA has looked at bristles on trailing edges to quieten noise, and studied Barred owls' trailing edge feathers, for application to quieten airliners, etc.. See also serrated trailing edges on Boeing 787 engine nacelles.
For our purposes, such bristles may be useful for not just front air dams, but also to smooth flow under the car, at trailing edges of wheel fairings, etc..
You are on the right track. Thanks for sharing.
|