Quote:
Originally Posted by freebeard
Here's a sketch I did for someone with a pickup truck. The idea is that the [conveyor belt/mudflap] material is only fastened along the legs of the U. My thinking is that only bounded on two edges it can deform and rebound more easily.
The angle could be increased to make a more upright wheel spat. |
You will have to lead my by the nose on that one..
Looks like a attempt to "boat tail" the mud flap?
Wouldnt a standard aero mudflap design work more efficienctly? (Designed to allow 75% of air to pass through the mudflap, thus reducing frontal area effectively..I consider a truck as having 12 mudflaps, each around 300x500mm size..(2sqm!!) which equates to around 50% of the frontal area of the truck...
If you consider the aeroflaps pass 75% of air through them, that reduces 2sqm of frontal impact area to around 0.5sqm...
Obviously this frontal impact area is NOT as severe as the front of the truck, as the air hitting it is "slower" due to being indirect..however even if the air is 50% velocity...it would have a huge impact..
Looks like around 1.5% improvement on the tractor, and 2% or so on the trailer just using them..
Now a boat tailed flap on the aero flaps...hmmmm...on a normal car/small truck might be beneficial.
I am looking to reduce amount of air under the truck (Using a front air dam under the bumper), and relive the amount behind the wheel wells..AND prevent air coming in from the sides with wheel covers...I doubt boat tails on mudflaps could be used?
Possibly missing something however !!