Quote:
Originally Posted by Vekke
For me there is actually two different problems occurring:
1. The rotating wheels that create lots of turbulence. In all highly aerodynamic vehicles they are fully covered so the wheel "swirls" dont effect the outer surface flow. If we can stop that swirl as close to the wheel the original inside fender volume should not be so big problem. Like regular cars engine bay if you have a grill block is no problem even there is huge volume of air... Same priciples as dampening sounds etc fix the problem as close to where its generated and its easier thing to do.
2. That fender volume which is still open for air flow from specially under the car, underside is not totally smooth, so air can enter that fender at high surface area through the lower suspension arms etc. Wheels turn specially in the front so you cannot block it fully or can you? Of course you can if you are a engineer... Then then outer cover shell which is facing the cars outer surface has quite small clearance to the wheel well that it will not disturb much air flow of the outer car as its "flush" to body
I have looked the interesting aerodynamic car topic almost through and found that Dubonnet Dolphin actually had pretty similar structure.
http://www.autominded.com/3831_1936-dubonnet-dolphin/features#!prettyPhoto[Gallery]/3/
This is what I am shooting for with 20mm gap to tire:
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*The 1996 HONDA Dream 2 solar racer used 'lazy-susans' to support the front steering wheels.
The steering was accomplished just as the double cable pull on an outboard motor boat.There was virtually zero gap,anywhere around the wheels.
*Here is a link to a contemporary transit bus with wheel strakes as you envision for your car.There are a lot of bus concepts with these.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...s_BRT_Metz.jpg
*Build as light as you possibly can.When striking pot holes,the inertia of the housings will tend to have them deform and strike the tires during this instantaneous 'jerk' loading.
*The inner half will be required to handle the lion's share of the structural loads since the outer half will be removable.
*Striking a pothole on a driveway ramp,while the steering is racked all the way to either side will be the worst-case-scenario as far as clearance goes.
*What a fun project!
