In a recent tread the topic of fabric covered structures and flexing came up. An odd thought or open question popped into my head early on a Saturday morning after a stiff cup of coffee.
Background:
On some belly pans people have wondered about using metal screen under the exhaust pipes and mufflers. The thinking is that the screen is closed enough to allow most air to pass by it, yet allow heat radiation to penetrate outward.
This concept has been dismissed if I recall correctly because the exhaust/muffler would bake the underside of the car by not getting enough cooling airflow over the hot exhaust surfaces.
If most air passes over a tight weave metal screen, could then a metal or plastic screen be used as a fabric covering, lets say on an aero-shell over a pick up truck bed? This of course would have a lattice structure of some kind (wood, plastic, aluminum) under it, perhaps a 12-inch on center grid to secure to.
One advantage is that you can see though a screen, the other is that it's light weight, and finally it is low cost.
I can imagine that it is easy to work with and secure if proper seamstress-like measures are taken.
Cross winds would just pass thorough, but the main flow of air passing over the body would be at lower pressure and higher velocity, following the skin contours.
Just a wacky idea, please discuss.
One simple "hands on" experiment could be to take an old screen and a blow dryer and see at which angles of attack the air flow penetrates and when it deflects or aligns with the screen plane. The wetting of hands or using heat could make this a very "hands on" experiment indeed.
It might be the coffee talking, have fun with it.
