I agree, this does not belong in the Unicorn Coral. Wood is the real thing, and dare I say it, sounds like an Ecomodder at heart:
Wood — who chairs the Society of Automotive Engineers' (SAE) Truck and Bus
Aerodynamic and Fuel Economy Committee and is a member of the American
Trucking Association's (ATA) Engineering and Technology Policy Committee and
the Technology and Maintenance Council (TMC) Future Truck Committee —
believes mounds of misinformation and factually incorrect statements are
severely damaging the move to make aerodynamics more acceptable and
understood.
Surprisingly, Wood says some of it is coming from the Environmental Protection
Agency's (EPA) SmartWay effort and the Department of Transportation's (DOT)
effort on fuel economy...
“The reason I'm interested in this topic is to reduce the number of false
aerodynamic assumptions or statements being made that imply that one size fits
all and there's no complexity to the function of aerodynamic technology..."
He started creating a list of facts to replace the factoids that were spreading through
the industry.
An example:
Fact: Smoothing the trailer surface will not create laminar flow or reduce friction drag.
Wood's explanation: Friction drag reduction can only occur by changing the boundary
layer from turbulent to laminar. However, at operational speeds a laminar boundary
layer is only possible in the first 10% of the trailer length. As a result, 90% of the
trailer will have a turbulent boundary layer with a constant friction drag level.
“My motivation drew out of the frustration from repeatedly hearing the same misleading
aerodynamic claims,” he says. “I'm not saying that it has been intentional, but they
could have heard it, and pretty soon it becomes a factoid — something that everybody
believes is true but is not really true because there's no basis for it or proof for it. It's
just a phrase people use. You hear those phrases get cycled back and people start
explaining the physics of their products based upon statements, which do not truthfully
describe the way the aerodynamics are working. I said, ‘This is getting out of control.
The fleets are going to start using these statements, and as a result, aerodynamics is
going to go by the wayside. Instead of people embracing aerodynamics, it's going to
decay.’”
Wood believes statements should be supported by published literature authored by
recognized experts. To be accepted and published by professional societies, a work has
to be supported by numerous published papers that support your findings.
Read lots more good stuff):
With misinformation and factually incorrect statements
swirling, Richard Wood is out to ease the turbulence