Quote:
Originally Posted by Cd
Am I missing something ? I read this as meaning that a fully covered wheel is best for low drag :
" Also, as predicted, the Fully covered rim design produced the lowest aerodynamic resistance, closely followed by the Thick outer radius cover."
|
The paper defines the term "aerodynamic resistance" as the linear drag acting on the car due to air flowing past it, and "ventilation resistance" as the force retarding the rotation of the wheels due to the way they move air in the wheel housing and between the wheel housing and the outside of the car. Obviously, for efficiency purposes we want the total energy cost of the wheel design, so they sum the two for the overall result.