beelsebob wrote:As you can see from earlier in the thread, this effect can generate reasonably significant amounts of thrust – enough to increase plane top speeds by a good chunk... There does seem to be some debate over whether it will have a significant effect at low speeds though. I'm not certain, and haven't claimed to be certain, but it sure is an interesting avenue of discussion.gridwalker wrote:Beelsebob, the important word (which I should perhaps have put in bold) is significant : we would be looking at thrust being produced which is proportional to the expansion ratio and total mass of air that is expanding.
How much air will be drawn through the radiator and how much will it expand? I don't know the maths, but I floated the idea past a contact at British Aerospace last night and they found it more than slightly amusing.
Again – there are planes that do this simply with the radiators from their engines, not even using the temperature of the exhaust manifold.The temperatures required to produce significant thrust from air expansion alone are simply ludicrous, and are such that they could never be reached in a formula one car.
Imentioned the North American P-51 earlier in the thread but we need tobe careful jumping to the word thrust.
Venting Hot and spent cooling air via divergent nozzle does not really create significant thrust but its does create a flwo path that reduces the drag of the radiator. I believe that is more significant.
Also, on a airplane the only force opposing motion is drag.
In a F1 car there is Drag + Friction + Rolling resisance which is a much bigger numberto overcome if you understand that a F1 car is designed to maximise two of those to achieve the best downforce and grip....
Air air accelerated by the effect will be used for another process and not the production of thrust
