charles.harbert@fmglobal.com wrote:

I just read Fred Moreno's discussion of inlets and radiators which was very
good. In the near future, I plan to be modifying my inlet scoop to reduce drag.
I recently read an article that said that the effective opening of the radiator
is about a third of the total rad cross sectional area.  I had previously read
an article that said that the inlet opening for a airplane radiator should be
about 25-40% of the rad cross sectional area. It seems to me that these probably
are related, but I'm not sure exactly how. Can someone shed some light on this?

Does the higher the speed of the plane, allow a smaller inlet vs. the size of
the radiator? A higher spd plane would have a higher inlet pressure, thus
flowing more volume thru the smaller inlet, right? At climb speeds you probably
need a larger inlet to increase the volume due to lower inlet pressure. How can
I use a smaller inlet (less drag) and still have adequate climb and and ground
cooling? I've seen all kinds of inlet shapes (round, oval, D shape, NACA, etc)
and I'm still scatching my head which is best. Any advice would be appreciated.

p.s. This is a belly scoop on a Velocity, right under the engine. I think Paul
has published pictures of it previously, but below is a recent picture that will
give you an idea. Currently, it's just a crescent shaped piece of aluminum (18"
wide by 4" deep) directly feeding a 15 X 15 x 2 in. radiator.

 
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