olefud wrote:It might, but riff-raff's "turbulators" would make more sense in that micro turbulance would be generated at the radiator.
olefud-
Convective heat transfer between a metal substrate and a passing airflow is influenced by a few things besides velocity. There are trade-offs in air mass flow rate, temperature rise in the airflow, aerodynamic drag, core size and weight, etc. The airflows in the ducts ahead of and behind the heat exchanger core would ideally have as little turbulence as possible for good efficiency. The duct inlets should also be located where they have adequate flow in yaw conditions.
However, the boundary airflows right at the surface of the heat exchanger fins/tubes should be turbulent for best heat transfer rate. The reason for this is because there is only heat transfer occurring between the fin and the boundary airflow layer. Once the boundary layer airflow temperature rises to that of the fin surface, any heat transfer effectively stops. The boundary layer is very thin and has very little mass, so it can't absorb much heat. If the boundary layer flow is laminar it will absorb heat from the metal fins/tubes much faster than it can transfer that heat to the core airflow, so it effectively acts as an insulator. By using "turbulators" on the fins to trip up the boundary layer, making it turbulent and forcing mixing with the cooler core flows, there is a much more efficient heat transfer to the total air mass flow.
Achieving a greater temperature rise in the cooling airflow would allow a reduced mass airflow rate, which in turn would permit a smaller intake duct area, which in turn would reduce drag.
