Quote:
Originally Posted by Frank Lee
I see you really do look forward to the solicited thoughts.  |
I've created multiple threads here, and each time people have responded with a genuine interest to expand my understanding if they thought I was going down the wrong path. I have the utmost respect and appreciation for people who actually take the time to help others, or to have an open dialogue about something... I'm sorry that you think I should look forward to people openly mocking my intelligence.
Dimpled or non-uniform surfaces work on spheres, ships hulls, motorcycle helmets, wheels, rims, the sides of tires, and the list goes on and on. The way the dimples work on a sphere, or a hull, or a wheel, or a flat surface, are all different. The commonality is that they cause turbulence, thus preventing the separation of airflow from an object, and thus greatly decreasing the wake of the object as it moves through water or gas. This is the same driving force behind turbulator race wings, vortex generators, and many other aerodynamic modifications used for racing and for drag reduction in general.
The reason you don't see them on a plane, is that planes are streamlined and their main source of drag is skin friction drag, as opposed to the drag caused by blunt or non-streamlined shapes. They do however, use vortex generators, which have similar goals... They impact the manner in which air over comes adverse pressure gradients, which directly relates to separation and boundary layers of flow.
And while my car isn't shaped like a golf ball, none of our cars are shaped like tear drops either... Guess I'll keep my questions and ideas to myself from now on.
~C