Quote:
Originally Posted by ChazInMT
Ya know, for someone who's been around a while you still aren't getting it. Believe what you want about the front end needing to be not flat, fact is, the air creates its own aero shape in the front. In the back of a shape, the air gets really stupid and needs much help. Intuition tells us the air gets "spilled out", fact is, it does not. Granted, an aero front end does help some, but not as much as the back. I'd say it's a 20/80 split at best, 20% front and 80% back as far as how much you can improve the aerodynamics of something by improving its shape.
We aren't saying the carriers would be optimal by reversing them, only better, because that nice aero taper on the "Front" would bring the air back together much more efficiently, if reversed, than the big wide flat back it has now.
I made a simple drawing to illustrate what I mean.
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Did you not look at the picture? The edges aren't even radiused. The back end is flat, with sharp edges, and an angle that would trap air like a parachute.
If your "what air is really doing" diagram was true, then there would be no benefit to radiusing corners. And a slant-back Hummer would have the Cd of a Prius. Nasa's aero truck with the big radius panels and trailer fairing wouldn't be any more aerodynamic than a regular truck.
Apply some common sense instead of just parroting things you read without understanding.