Rolling Road Wind Tunnel To Improve Aerodynamics of Class 8 Trucks

[trebuchet03]

Originally Posted by rvanengen

He did say that the area between the cab and trailer has been experimented with many times, but ultimately, it gets down to utility and durability winning out.

Yep, that's the engineering dilemma. the customer asks for something to increase efficiency, but they require that it be extremely durable, as cheap as possible and impose little to no restriction of current operation (just typical customer requirements for just about anything).

It's better than nothing... but could be a lot better :/

[rvanengen]

Originally Posted by trebuchet03

Yep, that's the engineering dilemma. the customer asks for something to increase efficiency, but they require that it be extremely durable, as cheap as possible and impose little to no restriction of current operation (just typical customer requirements for just about anything).

It's better than nothing... but could be a lot better :/

Quite true. Seems that the trucking industry is one of the more "stick in the mud" kinda businesses to try to change...even the small things...they have known about aero tractors for quite a while, but only recently have they had any incentive to try them...and only because the replacement parts prices have come down quite a bit (headlamps, fenders, bumpers, etc).

Actually, if you look at my avatar, that is a perfect example of what you said...a T-34 tank. ;-)