Elio reverse trike aerodynamics

[NeilBlanchard]

The passing between the chassis and the well fairings gets compressed through the channel, and the 5 (or so) suspension elements are high drag shapes and there is intersection drag, too. The air is likely "popping" out after it emerges from next to the wheel fairing and it is already turbulent.

[rbrowning]

I agree that there will be turbulance between the two and the flow will get pretty crazy in there while cornering. But how much does the wheel actually articulate while at highway speeds where aero is so important? 10 degrees maybe? Probably not 30. When you have the wheel cranked over 30 degrees the wind is coming over the body sideways, not along it's length. The turbualnce over one fairing, over the body then over the other fairing would be horrific, if there was any velocity involved. But again, you are only going to see these manouvers at slow speed. Or you might see one heck of a rollover.

[NeilBlanchard]

Take a look at the Aptera and the Edison2 - the flow of air around the wheel pods when they are pointed straight ahead - is very likely to be asymmetrical. The chassis is larger and it is farther ahead, so the air will be moving slightly sideways. Ideally, the inside surface would taper more toward the outside, and the outside surface would be flatter.




Turbulence while turning is not the issue - it is that the air gets squeezed between the chassis and the wheels and that higher pressure air is moving over the high drag suspension pieces.

[aerohead]

Originally Posted by some_other_dave

I personally wonder about interference drag. The main body and the wheel fairings are close enough to produce at least some interference. And how well can you fair in an articulating suspension piece to give a smooth transition between the suspension arm and the body or wheel housing?

-soD

The body and wheel create their own independent supervelocity at the suspension junction do to their displacement,so the air here is faster than ground speed.
From Hoerner's bomb and drop-tank drag data,the best you could do would be the 'pylon' or 'Chute' style fairing around the naughty bits,as with Sylph and Edison 2.
Leading edge radii and junction radii can kill the horseshoe vortice drag component of the junction drag.Otherwise,we just have to live with the result,unless we enclose the whole thing as Mercedes found to be superior before WW-II.

[aerohead]

Originally Posted by rbrowning

Does it really matter how close the boat tail comes to the side of the body? You hopefully never crank the wheels to the stops at full speed. That is a tight space maneuver for low speeds where aero doesn't have such an impact.

The boat tails could be attached with articulation designed in,such that they displace away from the body during turns.