Quote:
Originally Posted by JulianEdgar
If you want a rule of thumb, better in fact not to go for complete covers. Saying otherwise simply goes against the evidence. And that does in fact seem to me to be a myth busted.
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Sure, we could go with a rule of thumb like that. But "the evidence" is considerably more nuanced than you are allowing for some reason. In this article, the conclusion was not presented as universal for all vehicles. The authors knew their findings were dependent a little on the vehicle. Their study tried to account for how ventillation drag and air flow drag interacted. All vehicles are different in that respect and use different methods to ventillate the wheel wells. Results will vary and we're not in a good position, with street cars and street testing conditions, to know precisely what works best. So, you go with a reasonable rule of thumb. A solid pan is still a good intervention. Personally, I have been thinking of ventilating my design in a way similar to this study, but I have too many unfinished projects!
EDIT: however, the study we're discussing suggests that all designs (except thick radius) perform more poorly than smooth covers. A rule of thumb for the thick radius seems supported, but that is not quite what COCyclist made. A rule of thumb for anything other than smooth covers or thick radius would not find support in this study, it seems to me.