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Old 11-08-2012, 07:54 PM   #10 (permalink)
serialk11r
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Sven7 View Post
I would say no, because forms such as planes in free airflow achieve much lower drag than those in ground effect. Could you extend that relationship to include highway barriers as a sort of double ground effect? Maybe. On a day that isn't windy, is the barrier really doing anything for you? I doubt it.
But cars aren't streamlined, so it's a bit different. Depending on the design of the car, I think it's possible that if you have a "tunnel effect" then forcing more air to go over the top of the car could be a good thing depending on how the rear end of the car is designed. A lot of cars have little side tapering so the tunnel effect could cut down on trailing vortices and such too.

Quote:
Put low pressure areas in front of your car and high pressure areas behind it as often as possible. This is why we like to drive in the wakes of other vehicles- they are lower pressure areas that help "pull" our cars along. If someone is following very, very close (inches) behind you they can actually lower your drag a very small amount as well, but this has little practical application outside NASCAR. Aerohead has a thread on this with illustrations.
If the person behind you is following at just inches away, then their car is pretty much filling in your entire wake! You sure it's just a small effect? When driving my mom's SUV, if I get tailgated (that would be following at a bit under 1 car length, typical for California) my speed will go up a few mph while holding the throttle in the same position.
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