> An airfoil that is insensitive to angle of attack?
Mayf:
RELATIVELY insensitive. I'm not much of an airplane guy (though I studied
them avidly as a kid) but I do remember that (for any given speed) certain
airfoil shapes stall with much less increase in angle of attack, compared to
other airfoil shapes. (Of course, here we would not be including assymetric
cross-sections, so I'm sure the differences would be limited.)
I completely agree with your analysis below, considering only the back end
of the bike.
In fact-- if you had a bike that operates at the traction limit-- like John
Noonan's, for example-- the tire would have no grip left to resist side
motion, and the ride might become very wild, very quickly.
Of course, you could counter that rear steering moment by extending the
FRONT bodywork.
BTW-- I also agree that profile models probably mislead as often as they
help, w/resp to lsr center of pressure. I think they probably give an
answer fairly close to correct SOMETIMES-- and one that is completely wrong
at other times-- due to the factors you mention-- ground plane interaction,
side curvature, etc.
Russ, #1226B
/// unsubscribe/change address requests to majordomo@autox.team.net or try
/// http://www.team.net/mailman/listinfo
/// Archives at http://www.team.net/archive
|