Automotive Aerodynamics - Comparison With Aircraft Aerodynamics

Comparison With Aircraft Aerodynamics

Automotive aerodynamics differs from aircraft aerodynamics in several ways. First, the characteristic shape of a road vehicle is much less streamlined compared to an aircraft. Second, the vehicle operates very close to the ground, rather than in free air. Third, the operating speeds are lower (and aerodynamic drag varies as the square of speed). Fourth, a ground vehicle has fewer degrees of freedom than an aircraft, and its motion is less affected by aerodynamic forces. Fifth, passenger and commercial ground vehicles have very specific design constraints such as their intended purpose, high safety standards (requiring, for example, more 'dead' structural space to act as crumple zones), and certain regulations. Roads are also much worse (smoothness, debris) than the average airstrip. Lastly, car drivers are vastly under-trained compared to pilots, and usually will not drive to maximize efficiency.

Read more about this topic:  Automotive Aerodynamics

Famous quotes containing the words comparison with and/or comparison:

    I have travelled a good deal in Concord; and everywhere, in shops, and offices, and fields, the inhabitants have appeared to me to be doing penance in a thousand remarkable ways.... The twelve labors of Hercules were trifling in comparison with those which my neighbors have undertaken; for they were only twelve, and had an end; but I could never see that these men slew or captured any monster or finished any labor.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

    When we reflect on our past sentiments and affections, our thought is a faithful mirror, and copies its objects truly; but the colours which it employs are faint and dull, in comparison of those in which our original perceptions were clothed.
    David Hume (1711–1776)