----- Original Message -----
Sent: Monday, February 26, 2007 9:38
PM
Subject: [FlyRotary] Pinched ducts was
: [FlyRotary] Re: cowl openings for water radiators
Actually, there is, Joe. But, you are going to
be sorry you asked {:>).
I spent quite a hit of time studying a tome
(Kuchuman and Weber better know as K&W) on air cooling of liquid
cooled engines written back in the hey day of high speed mustangs
lightenings, spitfires, etc. Sort of the liquid cooling bible.
Chapter 12 (the one of most interest to us) showed a duct that
reportedly had the best pressure recovery (84% or thereabouts) around for a
subsonic duct that they had found. It was called a "StreamLine Duct"
(See attached graph - the graph a of the top graph shows the shape of the
duct (or at least 1/2 around the center line - sorry for the poor
quality).
After quite a bit of studying and thinking about
what I had read about cooling ducts, it finally became clear to me that the
perhaps top thing that is clearly detrimental to good cooling is having flow
separation in the duct. Most of the old drawings of a cooling
duct shape followed a sinusoidal shape - rapid expansion right after the
opening. It turns out that "traditional" shape is probably one of the
worst shapes for a cooling duct (the story why is too long to get into
here).
Anyhow, Flow separation leads to eddies and
turbulence which casts a "shadow" of turbulent air on the cooling
core. Like a shadow, the further away from the core the separation
occurs (like near the entrance of the duct) the larger the shadow it casts
on the core area. This "shadow" adversely interferes with
the flow of air through the core and reduces the effectiveness of the
core.
What causes this separation is that as pressure
is recovered by the expansion of the duct, the build up of the very pressure
recover we want - starts to hinder the boundary layer flow near the
wall of the duct. It slows it down and causes it to lose energy and
attachment to the duct wall. At a certain point the flow separates and
starts to tumble/rotate and depending where (near the duct entrance or near
the core) the flow separates, determines how much of the core area is
adversely affected. So if the boundary layer's energy level (air speed
of its molecules) is maintained at a high level separation is less
likely.
So ideally, you would like to prevent any separation
during pressure recovery. The Streamline Duct is the so called
"Trumpet" duct or "Bell" duct . After the opening, there is a long
section of non-expanding duct followed by a rapid expansion into the "bell"
shape just before the core. The long non-expanding part of the duct
maintains the energy (air flow) of the boundary layer and separation does
not occur until well into the "bell" shape expansion.
In fact, it happens way up in the corner of the
bell/core interface and affects a very small area of the core.
For full effectiveness the "Streamline duct" from
K&W needs a length of 12-17". Well, that's way more distance than
I had. So I got to thinking that if keeping the speed of the air
molecules near the duct wall helps prevent boundary layer separation and the
cooling killing eddy of turbulent air - what could I do with my short
3 - 6" (no jokes you guys). We all know from Bernoulli that if an area
is squeezed down that the velocity of the air flow increases - right?
So I decided to try to maintain or increase the energy
of the air by pitching down the neck just before it goes into the bell shape
expansions in hopes that the increased energy will help the boundary layer
stay adhered to the duct wall until well into the corner of the bell
shape. So that's the story of the pinched ducts. There is no
question in my mind that this is not as effective as if I could have had the
16" to build the duct - but, in this hobby, you work with what you've got -
right?
Does it work? Who knows - but I seem to fly with
less opening area than most folks and have no cooling problems.
So that's my 0.02 on the topic - see told you, you would regret asking
{:>).
Ed
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Monday, February 26, 2007 8:53
PM
Subject: [FlyRotary] Re: cowl
openings for water radiators
Ed, is there some particular reason that you
necked the inlet down small, then enlarged it again. Thankyou for
the pictures. JohnD
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Monday, February 26, 2007
3:39 PM
Subject: [FlyRotary] Re: cowl
openings for water radiators
John, don't know if these photos will help.
But, like you I only have between 3 and 6" of duct distance on the
radiators. You should do Ok with 20 sq inch on each opening with a
good diffuser/duct. Attached are some photos of my current
ducts. The openings are 18 sq inches each. I have had one
opening down to as little as 10 square inches - but that was a bit
marginal - so opened it back up. I have a generous exit area for
the hot air including a larger 4" x 12" bottom opening as well as
louvers on each side of the cowl. So you mileage could vary - but
Tracy has essentially the same size opening as well as several
others.
Ed
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Monday, February 26, 2007
12:12 PM
Subject: [FlyRotary] cowl
openings for water radiators
What size openings do I need for the
water radiators? The Wittman Tailwind cowl I have has
postal slots of 3' x 7 3/4" , which is approx. 22 1/4 sq
in. on each side. Sam James for the 160 Lycoming is using 4 3/4'
round holes which are 17.6 sq. inches on each side. My radiators
are quite close to the opening and I plan on making the diffusers
trumpet shaped, will the openings be large enough if I can stay over
20 sq. inches on each side with a decent trumpet shape.
JohnD hushpowere II on order
- hope to start in 2 weeks if weather cooperates.
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