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Old 12-26-2012, 09:57 AM   #1 (permalink)
ryannoe
Not Ordinary Engineering
 
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Prius Aerodynamics tuft test vids (no rain on rear glass = flow separation?)

***Can you believe I mispelled Prius in the title? LOL Sorry.***

Hey all,

I picked up a 2012 Prius two months ago. I studied aerospace engineering in college and understand the purpose of the Kamm-tail as an effective yet shorter tail for production vehicles...

However, I've been driving the vehicle and paying some attention to the rear glass and have noticed two things:

1. The flat rear glass (the vertical piece) has dust collection on it meaning there is some recirculation.

2. The kamm-tail glass remains dry when driving in the rain. I understand the angles and relative forward motion of the vehicle makes it impossible for rain to impact the rear glass but there are no streams pouring down it either indicating there is no attached flow.

I have not completed a tuft test, though I'm debating that effort.

Do we have any experts who have tackled this yet? Are there any manufacturers who tackle this? If not, I might.

Thanks guys!

Ryan


Last edited by ryannoe; 12-26-2012 at 10:10 AM..
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