[aerohead]

Hello all! As I was trying to track down the formulas associated with the "mechanism of flow separation" I ran across something I've experienced, on at least four occasions.Its mentioned within my text on aeroelasticity,and is supposed to be a phenomena of supersonic flight,although it seems that the sky has reserved a special version just for me.Its in the section on "surface skin panels",has to do with "panel flutter",and the term is "explosive fracture".And it dovetails a bit into basjoos discussion on the German V-2 rocket nose.And I'm going backwards here a bit so please forgive me.I had made a comment about the the V-2's nose potential accoustic signature.Actually,the early nose configuration was responsible for panel flutter which led to "explosive fracture",where the sheetmetal of the nose section guite literally exploded off the rocket.The article says this is different from "conventional lifting surface flutter".On four occassions,some of my creations "exploded" off the vehicle,once on the Dodge,and three times on the T-100.As I do not have a proper shop facility,and budget restraints create a situation where I'm working when the weather permits, streamlining my daily driver,I'm often in a position where I must operate the vehicle while I'm in the middle of cobbling something up.So where I'm going with all this,is that unless we all make our modifications robust enough,we run the risk of "losing" our modifications while testing or enjoying them.And this has potentially disastrous consequences! Since we don't have private test facilities (if you do you have a new best friend!)we have to share the road with everyone else.When your fabricating,please think about the other motorist driving behind you,and what it might be like,should some part of your car end up on their windshield.I have been relatively fortunate,that my structural failures occurred in situations of light road use.I did lose a hood blister off the Dodge and it crashed right into the cab of a following 18-wheeler,disintigrating on contact! It was pretty terrifying! And I thank the driver for not doing a "drive-by" with me.Please don't rely on luck.Its not in the do-it-yourself-manuals.Build it aero,build it strong,build it safe.End sermon.