Less Drag Equals Better Gas Mileage
November 10th, 2008 by Dr. Ryan HartmanReducing the drag imposed on an automobile by air flowing over its surface has potential to improve gas mileage. This idea should not be surprising because auto engineers have been studying the problem for decades. In fact, engineers and scientists have been studying this problem for over 100 years because it impacts automobiles, airplanes, and especially marine vessels.
As a car accelerates and decelerates, the air flowing at the surface cannot keep up. Consequently, flow transitions from laminar to turbulent, which ultimately requires more work from your engine. This means that aggressive drivers will likely suffer from lower fuel efficiency simple due to driving behavior. Optimizing, however, the conditions under which laminar flow is maintained could reduce gas consumption. Mechanical engineers at MIT have recently solved this problem through theoretical predictions. Read more about this 100 year old problem at MIT
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Tags: gas mileage
March 12th, 2009 at 9:44 pm
Drag is only a partial answer. The real drag is caused by the weight of the cars. The airline industry and the cycling industry have already figured it out. By changing from steel as the main material for building an airplane and a racing cycle, they are using carbon fiber.
If we used carbon fiber instead of steel in our cars we would gain mileage just from the difference in weight.