Rain and snow - ad hoc wind tunnel testing?
 

Hi,

I've noticed when passing or being passed in a rain storm that I can often see the air flows around the wheel wells of other cars. The worst flows are when the air spills out of the top of the wheel well going forward in the direction of travel. As soon as it pops out into the on coming stream, it stops and flows backwards. The second is the flow at the tire-road surface that flows out following a parabolic path.

So I began to wonder if anyone might have tried a USB or firewire camera to take photos in rain or snow storms that might reveal air flow around parts of a vehicle at relatively high speed?

Bob Wilson

light snow is a good indicator of airflow, but as someones once pointed out to me over here, raindrops have more mass so their path after hitting part of the car might not be directly linked to the airflow... light watter spray on a very rainy day might be a more clear indication of what's going on, but you have to be carefull before drawing conclusions