Quote:
Originally Posted by Stubby79
That's probably a lot more to this than seems obvious to someone uneducated about it, such as myself.
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The basic purpose of the low aerodynamic drag game is to make air move the least amount possible.
Remember the air is still, not moving, you are moving through it. Anytime we make the air move it requires energy, the more we move it/energize it, the more energy it takes to do it. We can all agree on that?
I think the main point people miss is that as you push through the air, there is an ideal shape to make it as easy as possible for the air to get out of the way, and then return to a calm state as soon as possible. That is fairly easy to understand right?
What the (Thee) Template ©® represents? It is a shape that
for a given size vehicle, it will
move the least amount of air if the uppermost point on the template is scaled to be at the uppermost part of the vehicle, and the base of the template is at the bottom of the wheels.
The reason it does not scale, is because a vehicle of a given height is going to have to move the air up and out of the way in order to pass under it, as the air moves along the top back of the car, it will be energized the least and return to being still air again the soonest if the shape of the vehicle follows the curve of the rear of the template.
If the car shape is steeper in back, then the air will drop faster to return to calm, and by going faster will have more energy, thus more drag. If the shape is shallower, the air will have a longer opportunity to become entrained in the air being dragged along by the skin of the car, and be made to move more again, thus use more energy....which we see as drag.
If you just use the scaled Template ©® on design elements and called the vehicle optimized, then the top shape would be as aerodynamic as the bottom shape here.....
Annnnnd I don't think anyone is going to say that is true. Am I right?
But we can all agree that the top shape is better that the bottom here.....
So yes, the template can help optimize elements....but, that's NOT what it is intended to be used for. You could use a 9 iron to putt with, or play tennis with a baseball, or use a crescent wrench to pound nails, but, you'd be doing it wrong.
Thank You...Please drive through.