Hoerner: Fluid-Dynamic drag

[JulianEdgar]

I've been reading Fluid Dynamic Drag by S F Hoerner.



I bought the 1958 edition second-hand but the 1965 edition is still available new (see Vman 455's post below).

It is very, very interesting. It has a chapter on cars but I don't think I learned anything much there - it is largely of historic interest only. (Although he lists different top speeds of a car with different drag coefficients and the same engine power, allowing me to compare it with throttle-stop testing.)

But stuff where I think I can learn a lot includes his discussion of aircraft and airships. Why? Well, his theory and examples extend back to the 1920s and so the speeds he is talking about, and the use of piston engines, means that a lot of topics such as cooling systems, ducts, surface roughness and low drag shapes are directly applicable to cars.

The book is packed with information - as in, there are hundreds of diagrams, graphs and tables (no photos). A lot of the diagrams and graphs are very small - I will need to use a magnifying glass on some when I really want to see what is being described.

There are a lot of equations but the maths itself is almost all just multiplication/division/powers - basically, no calculus. But he loves using symbols, and because he is also using Imperial units (pounds/feet/mph) in the examples, I found a lot of the equations hard to understand. I think for some of the equations, I might just write them out in full.

For people who are really visual, a lot of the diagrams are self-explanatory eg showing drag of different ducted cooling systems.

If you buy the book secondhand, it's a hardback with good quality paper that, at least in the copy I got, has stood the test of time really well eg no yellowing. Prices seem to vary a lot.

[Vman455]

For US buyers, Hoerner's daughter maintains a website and sells copies of the book in English or French for $110 here. (I'm not sure if she ships internationally or not).

[JulianEdgar]

Oh wow, I didn't even realise that there was a later edition, let alone that new-old-stock was still available. I've updated my post.

[oil pan 4]

Reading stuff from 1958 is something I thought the other guy was into.

[Piotrsko]

There seems to be a lack of publication for maybe 20+ years after the War, possibly because funding stopped so not much innovative stuff. In that case, there was lots of data trickling through society as evidenced by Bonneville or others. When they started messing with shuttle design in the late 60's that theoretical funding was reallocated. I could be wrong but it's my observation.

[aerohead]

I took mine to the copy center and photo-enlarged graphs onto a 11-inch, by 17-inch format.
It's a lot easier than a magnifier. It's permanent. And it's no copyright infringement, as long as it's just for personal use.

[aerohead]

Some universities will have it in the reference section. They cannot be removed from the library, but they can be copied there. And you can pre-scan the text, and only copy specific material of interest.