Guys;
I think maybe we are getting some of our aerodynamic principles reversed.
>From what I remember of my aero-engineering, the frontal area is not the main
>issue.
The main drag happens BEHIND the obstacle.
EXAMPLE: The old JENNY birds had wires all over the place. In theory, these
should cause very little drag, cuz they were so small and presented so little
frontal area. BUT, they proved to produce a jaw-dropping amount of drag.
Then, somebody had the (non-intuitive) idea to put big, fat, fariings on all
the wires. This increased the frontal area by at least an order of ten. But,
the resulting drag DECREASED, hugely. See, it was not the little frontal area
that was the problem. It was the mess of burbled air that the wires caused
behind them. The fairings smoothed this out. So, after that, designers faired
in the wires.
Wind flows over a wing most easily from the front. If you try to force the
BACK edge of a wing through the air, it will flip over for the same reason.
Same thing happens in water. If anybody happens to get their hands on my book
on boating, I point out, there, that, essentially, a single length feet of bare
rope can cause more actual drag than a full-sized boat of about the same
length. (Boat Officer's Handbook, Naval Institute Press)
CONCLUSION: In theory, the fairing, in fully extended configuration, should
cause much less drag than the snubbed nose wheel or the unfaird, extended nose
strut.
Dave Winters
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