THE AERODYNAMICS OF SHAPES 

2-20-14

INTRODUCTION

THE PURPOSE OF THIS EXPERIMENT IS TO SHOW HOW AERODYNAMIC REAL-WORLD ITEMS ARE, THOROUGH EXPERIMENTATION.

AERODYNAMICS: THE STUDY OF FORCES AND THE RESULTING MOTION OF OBJECTS THROUGH AIR

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

HISTORY• SIR GEORGE CAYLEY OF ENGLAND (1773-

1857) IS RECOGNIZED AS THE FATHER OF MODERN AERODYNAMICS

• THE FIRST CAR WITH AN AERODYNAMIC DESIGN CAME ABOUT IN 1921. IT WAS CREATED BY GERMAN INVENTOR, EDMUND RUMPLER . IT'S NAME WAS THE RUMPLER-TOPFENAUTO, WHICH TRANSLATES INTO "TEAR-DROP CAR"

CONCEPTS• LIST OF IMPORTANT TERMS: AERODYNAMICS,

DRAG(AIR RESISTANCE), GRAVITY• OBJECTS IN MOTION HAVE TO DISPLACE THE AIR

AROUND THEM• ROUNDED NARROW SHAPES ARE THE MOST

AERODYNAMIC BECAUSE THEY PRODUCE THE LEAST DRAG. THEY DO THIS BY HAVING LESS SURFACE AREA FOR AIR TO HIT SINCE MORE SURFACE AREA, CREATES MORE DRAG

• DRAG DIRECTLY IMPACTS ACCELERATION BECAUSE AS AN OBJECT ACCELERATES IT INCREASES IT'S VELOCITY AND DRAG

RESEARCH QUESTION

WHAT KIND OF SHAPES ARE THE MOST AERODYNAMICS, AND WHY ARE THEY THE MOST AERODYNAMICS?

HYPOTHESESIS

THE FOLLOWING WERE THE SHAPES USED IN THE EXPERIMENT: A CONTROL (RECTANGULAR PRISM), A BULLET, A SUV (AUTOMOBILE), A SUPERCAR (AUTOMOBILE), A NORMAL WING, A P51 MUSTANG WING

AT THE START OF THE EXPERIMENT IT WAS HYPOTHESIZED THAT THE P51 WING WOULD BE THE MOST AERODYNAMIC

PROCEDURE: MATERIALS

• 7FT CLEAR PLASTIC TUBE

• A STOPPER FOR THE TUBE

• ZIP-TIES

• CLAY

• AN OVEN

• FISHING LINE

• PAPER CLIPS

• A STURDY TABLE OR BEAM

• CLAMPS

PROCEDURE: MAKING THE BLOCKS

• Divide the clay into 6 150 gram globs of clay• Shape the clay into your desired object

• Take 6 paper clips of equal weight, bend them, then place them in the back of the block

• Put the blocks on a cooking tray over parchment paper

• Bake the blocks at 130 °C (275 °F) for 15 minutes per 6 mm (1/4 in) thickness• Tie a 5 meters of fishing line to the paper clip in each block

PROCEDURE: SETTING UP THE TEST

• PLACE A SPONGE IN THE BOTTOM OF THE TUBE AND THEN A STOPPER

• MARK A FINISH IN THE AREA RIGHT BEFORE THE SPONGE

• MARK A START 175 CM ABOVE THE FINISH

• ZIP-TIE TWO LEVELS ON A PERPENDICULAR TO THE TUBE

• CLAMP THE TUBE TO A STEADY OBJECT SO THAT IT IS UPRIGHT 

• FILL THE TUBE WITH WATER (GO ABOVE THE START LINE AS THERE WILL BE SUBMERGED STARTS)

• MAKE SURE THE TUBE IS PERFECTLY VERTICAL USING THE LEVELS

PROCEDURE: THE TEST• GET A DIGITAL CAMERA TO TAKE A VIDEO OF THE BLOCKS' RUNS

• DROP THE CONTROL FROM THE START TO THE FINISH, DO SO 4 MORE TIMES (REPEAT THIS STEP WITH EACH BLOCK)

• GO INTO YOUR PREFERRED VIDEO VIEWING PROGRAM AND COUNT EACH RUN FOR EACH BLOCKS' NUMBER OF FRAMES FROM START TO FINISH

• FIND YOUR CAMERA'S NUMBER OF FRAMES PER SECOND

• # OF FRAMES/ FRAMES PER SECONDS= RUN TIME (SECONDS )

• USE THE RESPECTIVE EQUATION TO FIND AVERAGE TIME, AVERAGE SPEED, AND PERCENT ABOVE OR BELOW THE CONTROL (IN TERMS OF SPEED)

THE TEST SET UP (VISUAL)

The Clamp

One of the levels

THE TEST IN ACTION (VISUAL)

• HTTP://YOUTU.BE/_FVS_NBR7SI

       

DATA (CONTROL AND BULLET)

CONTROL

• AVERAGE RUN TIME WAS 2.91 SECONDS

• AVERAGE SPEED WAS 60.05 CM/S

BULLET

• AVERAGE RUN TIME WAS 2.51 SECONDS

• AVERAGE SPEED WAS 69.78 CM/S

• 13.93% FASTER THAN THE CONTROL

According to Table 1

DATA (SUV AND SUPERCAR)

SUV

• AVERAGE RUN TIME WAS 3.14 SECONDS

• AVERAGE SPEED WAS 55.70 CM/S

• 7.82% SLOWER THAN THE CONTROL

SUPERCAR

• AVERAGE RUN TIME WAS 3.61 SECONDS

• AVERAGE SPEED WAS 48.45 CM/S

• 23.95% SLOWER THAN THE CONTROL

DATA (NORMAL WING AND P51 WING)

NORMAL WING

• AVERAGE RUN TIME WAS 2.27 SECONDS

• AVERAGE SPEED WAS 76.96 CM/S

• 21.96% FASTER THAN THE CONTROL

P51 WING• AVERAGE RUN TIME WAS 1.92

SECONDS

• AVERAGE SPEED WAS 91.15 CM/S

• 34.11% FASTER THAN THE CONTROL

DATA GRAPH

EXPERIMENT CONCLUSION (ANALYSIS)

• WINGS (AS A GROUP) ARE THE BEST PREFORMERS

• AUTOS ARE THE WORST PERFORMERS

• SHAPES WITH ROUNDED FRONTS ARE THE 3 BEST PERFORMERS

• SHAPES WITH FLAT FRONTS ARE THE 3 WORST PERFORMERS

EXPERIMENT CONCLUSION (EFFECTS AND POSSIBLE ADDIDITIONS )

A "GREENER" WORLD

• WIND POWER

• MORE EFFICIENT CARS

EXPERIMENT ADDITIONS

• SEE EXACTLY HOW AIR IS FLOWING WITH A WIND TUNNEL (OR SIMILAR TECHNOLOGIES)

• FIND OUT HOW MUCH BODY DESIGN IMPACTS CARS THAT ARE SIMILAR IN ALL OTHER FACETS

• EXPERIMENTING WITH WIND POWER

WORKS CITED

• GEORGE, PATRICK E. "HOW AERODYNAMICS WORK." HOW STUFF WORKS. HOW STUFF WORKS      INC., 1 JAN. 2013. WEB. 9 DEC. 2013. <HTTP://AUTO.HOWSTUFFWORKS.COM/      FUEL-EFFICIENCY/FUEL-ECONOMY/AERODYNAMICS.HTM>.

• HANSEN, MARTIN O.L. AERODYNAMICS OF WIND TURBINES. 2ND ED. LONDON: EARTHSCAN,      2009. PRINT.

• PRACTICAL AERO. N.P., N.D. WEB. 9 DEC. 2013. <HTTP://PRACTICALAERO.COM/      WP-CONTENT/UPLOADS/2010/04/NASA-SP-367.PDF>.

IMAGE CREDITS

• HTTP://EN.WIKIPEDIA.ORG/WIKI/WIND_POWER

• HTTP://WWW.HDWALLPAPERSPLUS.COM/ROCKET-PICTURES.HTML

• HTTP://WWW.MOTORAUTHORITY.COM/NEWS/1083620_HEAR-THE-LAMBORGHINI-VENENO-VIDEO

• HTTP://WWW.AVIATION-HISTORY.COM/THEORY/LAM-FLOW.HTM

• HTTP://WWW.CARSABLANCA.DE/BILDERSTRECKE/RUMPLER-TROPFEN-AUTO-10-30PS/2

• HTTP://WWW.THEBAKERSKITCHEN.NET/COOKIE-SHEET-PANS.ASPX

• HTTP://WWW.WALLSAVE.COM/WALLPAPER/1024X768/BULLET-MM-LUGER-GRAPHICS-CODE-MENTS-318260.HTML

• HTTP://PITT.EDU/~MAK270/L07_HW13.HTML