Thor Forums

[Chance]

Originally Posted by blw2

What I was trying to get at, was that I think the air tabs simulate the tapered bike helmet by adding energy to the airflow, so that it flows back smoothly similar to the bike helmet, rather than folding back in behind the blunt rear which causes the eddy currents, turbulence, and drag.

The technical papers I've read on the original research were objective and included hard data. By comparison this spinoff reads like marketing to me. It covers a lot of history of previous work but doesn't document, in a scientific manner, the results of testing on air tabs. Just because rounding corners or adding boat tails in previous research reduced drag by 50% or whatever doesn't mean air tabs can achieve the same results. I personally don't see the connection and would like to see specific research with results on air tabs.

A concern I have is the use of words like "could", "may", "seem", etc... included in claims. As a technical type I prefer objective data more than subjective theories.

"At the back of a trailer, box van, or RV, Airtabs radically alter the airflow to reduce drag in two ways: Shifting the airflow pattern from vertical to horizontal to eliminate large eddies, and smoothing the airflow to artificially simulate a tapered rear of the vehicle. In fact, Airtabs have been shown effective on any vehicle with more than a 30-degree slope to the rear; the potential benefits stretch across vehicular applications and could thus benefit a considerable number of vehicles."