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Fairing Well
From Shoebox to Bat Truck and Beyond – Aerodynamic Truck Research at NASA Dryden Flight Research Center
by Lane E. Wallace
Christian Gelzer
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Monographs In Aerospace History #45NASA SP-2010-4545
National Aeronautics and Space AdministrationDryden Flight Research CenterP.O. Box 273Edwards, CA 93523-0273
Fairing
Well: Fro
m S
ho
ebox to
Bat Tru
ck and
Beyo
nd
G
elzer
i
National Aeronautics and Space AdministrationNASA History Office
Washington, D.C.2011
Christian Gelzer
Fairing Well
Aerodynamic Truck Research at NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center
ii
iii
Table of Contents
iv
v
Acknowledgments
vi
Introduction
vii
viii
Chapter One
Drag
1 One only has to look at the agency’s publication or the list of patents held by the agency to grasp the extent to which this is true.
2 The NACA was founded in 1915 in response to lagging performance in the American aeronautics !eld when compared to European advancements. Despite the Wright brothers having been the !rst to "y, Europeans soon eclipsed Americans in the !eld, a reality driven starkly home by the events of World War I. The agency was transformed into NASA in 1958, in direct response to the successful Soviet launches of Sputnik I and II.
3 This bluntness is not restricted to the aft end of such vehicles. It appeared on the trailing edge of the ailerons and "aps of the X-2, for instance. The blunt trailing edges permit gradual sloping on the aft portion of these surfaces, which was bene!cial at supersonic speeds since it improved control effectiveness.
Drag
Chapter Two
Eddies and Currents
Eddies and Currents
Eddies and Currents
Eddies and Currents
Chapter Three
The Shoebox
The Shoebox
The Shoebox
Chapter Four
Word Spreads
Word Spreads
Word Spreads
DEVICE A
DEVICE E
Word Spreads
24
25
Chapter Five
Shifting the Paradigm
Shifting the Paradigm
Shifting the Paradigm
Shifting the Paradigm
Shifting the Paradigm
Shifting the Paradigm
36
37
Chapter Six
Technology Transfer
Technology Transfer
Technology Transfer
42
43
Chapter Seven
Depressed Cows
Depressed Cows
Depressed Cows
13 This may well be the !rst time that the tractor and trailer were conceived as integral objects strictly for aerodynamic purposes. Prior to this, the work of Dryden engineers had been focused exclusively on the tractor; truck manufactures were no different. Earlier efforts to meld tractor and trailer into seamless units were made for aesthetic rather than genuine aerodynamic purposes, since the trucks did not move fast enough to bene!t from the modi!ed shapes.
14 “Low-drag ground vehicle particularly suited for use in safely transporting livestock.” United States Patent 4,343,506 to Edwin J. Saltzman, 10 August 1982.
48
49
Chapter Eight
Laws Change; Physics Doesn’t
Chapter Nine
The Drag Bucket
The Drag Bucket
54
55
Chapter Ten
Results
Results
Results
Results
Results
Results
66
67
Chapter Eleven
The Social Constructionof a Technology
The Social Construction of a Technology
70
71
Appendices
Appendices
Appendix A
Appendices
Appendices
Appendices
Appendices
Appendices
Appendices
Appendices
Appendices
Appendices
Appendices
Appendices
Appendices
Appendices
Appendices
Appendices
Appendices
Appendices
Appendices
Appendices
Appendices
Appendices
Appendices
Appendices
Appendices
Appendices
Appendices
Appendix B
Appendices
Appendices
Appendices
Appendices
Appendix C
Appendices
Appendices
Bibliography
Bibliography
Bibliography
Bibliography
Bibliography
Index
Index
150
151
The NASA History Series
The NASA History Series
The NASA History Series
The NASA History Series
The NASA History Series
162
Fairing Well
From Shoebox to Bat Truck and Beyond – Aerodynamic Truck Research at NASA Dryden Flight Research Center
by Lane E. Wallace
Christian Gelzer
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Monographs In Aerospace History #45NASA SP-2010-4545
National Aeronautics and Space AdministrationDryden Flight Research CenterP.O. Box 273Edwards, CA 93523-0273
Fairing
Well: Fro
m S
ho
ebox to
Bat Tru
ck and
Beyo
nd
G
elzer
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