1.

Viscous
SoDrag
why is the viscosity of air important?
Because when the air passes over a car’s body, it is being constantly
sheared
If you park a car on a dirt road, the car will soon be covered with a fine
layer of dust. When you drive off, watch the surface of the bonnet.
Despite it being covered in dust, the dust particles will largely remain in
place. But why doesn’t the dust get blown away by the airflow over the
car? The answer is that the air in contact with the body isn’t moving.
That is, the tiny molecules of air closest to the body are not sliding over
the paintwork
As you get further away from the car body surface, the airspeed gets
greater and greater, until when you’re far enough away from the
body, the airspeed is the same as the car’s forward speed

3
Therefore, because the layers of air are travelling at different speeds,
they are sliding over one another – or to put it another way, particles
of the fluid are constantly moving past one another. This was our
definition of viscosity - the ease with which particles of the fluid move
past one another
Incidentally, this area of low-speed flow attached to the surface of the
car is called the boundary layer
The boundary layer has another impact on drag. As you move towards
the rear of the car – even one with attached flow from nose to tail –
the boundary layer gets thicker. In other words, the number of air
molecules getting dragged along with the car become more
numerous
So? The reason it’s relevant relates to pressure on the bodywork.
We’ve already said that the wake behind the car is a region of low
pressure, pulling the car backwards. But what about the fact that
the car is running into air molecules at the front? Doesn’t that cause
a pressure build-up? It sure does

4
the region of highest air pressure – at the stagnation point, where
the air is literally stopped dead. Clearly, if we could apply this same
pressure at the back of the car, the two pressures would cancel
each other, reducing drag

Interference Drag
Interference drag is that that comes about because vehicles are not
single bodies without appendages. And unfortunately, when different
shapes are combined to form a practical vehicle, the total drag is always
greater than the sum of its parts

5
 1.b
What is a Wind Tunnel?
a facility that provides a
controllable flow field for
investigating various flow
phenomena and testing
aerodynamic models
 a tool used in aerodynami
research to study th
effects of air moving pas
*** solid objects
Advantage: experiments can be performed under
well-controlled flow circumstances compared to
open environment experiments
AE 412
Elements of a Wind Tunnel

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  straightens the airflow
*** The less turbulence
there is, the better the
wind tunnel will simulate
actual flying conditions
 usually includes a
honeycomb flow
straightener and wire mesh
smoothing screens that
produce a smooth airflow;
effective at reducing
swirling currents in the
tunnel airflow AE 412
*** purpose: take a large volume of
low-velocity air and reduce it to a
small volume of high-velocity air

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  models of wings or planes are
placed here
*** As airflow is brought to
the desired velocity,
sensors measure forces,
such as lift and drag, on
the test article.
Lift is the force on the wing opposite the
force of gravity. Lift holds a plane in the
air.
Drag is the force on the wing in the
direction of the airflow. An engine must
overcome this force to move a plane
through the air.
AE 412
2.B Classification of tires according to seasons
3.b
4.A
4.b
5.B Influence of windshield angle
8.b
8.c