Quote:
Originally Posted by plucas
Correct that cfd is not "real life." It is an experiment with conditions that do not change to get repeatable results. It is in no way 100% and that is a big misconception. However, it can definitely drive quality design changes that drastically improve performance.
Also windtunnels are not "real life" either. That is also a big misconception. It is also just an experiment to get repeatable results that represent what is going on in real life (just like cfd). Both are doing the same thing, just in different ways.
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THIS! CFD testing and wind tunnel testing is a means to drive the design, speed up design iterations, and reduce costs. You still want to correlate your results from either method with real world results.
Don't mistake wind tunnel tested for wind tunnel optimized. They are two different things. This is the equivalent of thinking someone is a lawyer just because he or she has taken the bar exam. It's easy to get too wrapped up in pictures of smoke streams or wool tufts.
And anything you put in the air stream will have an aero effect. Whether it is a beneficial effect or not is a different story.