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Old 06-19-2017, 10:25 AM   #26 (permalink)
Shepherd777
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Quote:
Originally Posted by aerohead View Post
Bob,if you can locate a Tesla S take a gander at what they've done under the nose with the leading edge of the front wheel hour-glass openings.
They've got angled fairings to create this 'jump' and re-attachment beyond the rearward termination of the opening.
The scale of the fairing,with respect to the size of the opening may suggest something about 'sizing' and angles.
This is 'underbody' flow,and it's complicated with the ground plane,but it would be a beginning point perhaps.
Hey Phil -

Thanks much for the input. I eyeballed some images of the Model S but it was not blatantly obvious to the feature that you are referring to. Like you said, I'll have to see this in person to get a feel for it.

I did find a cool image of the Model S steering tire wheel well.



They also have a cool video on the mirror drag. According to Tesla rear-view mirrors are said to increase aerodynamic drag between 3 to 6 percent. Wheels can generate an additional 20% of drag.

“One of the objectives with the Model S was to minimize the airflow around the front wheels and to line up the airflow so it hits the front wheels head on. We needed to avoid air hitting at an angle, as often the side of the tire acts like a bucket that catches the air, producing significant drag. This was an area where we made a huge improvement from the initial concept designs to the final design.”

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Bob Sliwa
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