Mailing List flyrotary@lancaironline.net Message #54816
From: Tracy <rwstracy@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [FlyRotary] Re: Cooling Inlets
Date: Sun, 1 May 2011 18:06:10 -0400
To: Rotary motors in aircraft <flyrotary@lancaironline.net>
I may have read it wrong, but it seems the NACA study that Tracy was referencing said that the cooling drag for the Aztec they were testing was about 5% to 7% of total drag.  I've read before that cooling drag is more like 30% of total drag.  Big difference there it seems.

E

I have heard the 30% of total drag as cooling drag but it applied to CLEAN airplanes.  The Aztec is no biplane but does not qualify as 'clean' .  5 - 7% still sounds low however.

T



On Sat, Apr 30, 2011 at 11:10 AM, Ernest Christley <echristley@att.net> wrote:
Ed Anderson wrote:

For a high speed cruise environment, I would think cooling drag might be of more importance than say perhaps a few pounds of additional weight, on the other hand if you are flying an already draggy biplane for example, cooling drag is probably a very small part of your over all drag, but getting cooling with low airspeed might be the system driver.
 Its all about compromises - space, weight, flow, drag, etc. - oh, yes! - and cooling of course {:>)  all matched to your constraints and operating environment.
 


I may have read it wrong, but it seems the NACA study that Tracy was referencing said that the cooling drag for the Aztec they were testing was about 5% to 7% of total drag.  I've read before that cooling drag is more like 30% of total drag.  Big difference there it seems.

Does anyone have any better insight, or is this just an apples vs oranges thing?  We've spent a LOT of time discussing cooling drag on this list.  Is it even worth worrying over?  Is it worth stressing over an engine overheating to go 196MPH instead of 192MPH?

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