Wing fairings-Worth It?
I know of 3 people who have experimented with wing root fairings on their RV have found they added no speed
, and several have reported gaining speed by removing their custom fiberglass fillet fairing and installing the per plans root fairings.
One person was Tracy Saylor who has a very fast race proven RV6. Why I don't know, but may be the optimal wing-root fillet fairing has not been made yet, but just making it "swoopy" is not a speed secret. They do look nice though however they require more fasteners both thru wing and also fuselage to mount. The standard flat sheet metal and rubber molding fairing is an easy and clean installation with just a few fasteners. James aircraft use to make them but does not any more by looking at his web site.
http://www.jamesaircraft.com/Our_Products.html
I understand aerodynamics as an engineer and have read a few good books that touch on this fairing subject, such as Speed with Economy by Kent Paser, who reported gains on his Mustang II with a modified root fairing. So may be there is something to be gained on a RV? In general intersection or interference drag is always present between the wing and body, especially when not at right angles. It is a little black magic, flight test and computational fluid dynamics to know what is going on. Personally I think unless the looks are important to you, there are areas where you can gain documented speed and efficency, other than a wing root fairing. Otherwise they are cool looking
Cheers George
Jimmy Cox said:
I looked at several RVs with different wing root fairings before I started these. I did not like the looks of any I saw and could see that they might not be highly effective. We also do most of Team Rockets fiberglass production and design. ......The long term plan is for these type parts to pay for my RV, so I have a personal interest in them being effective.
The Team-Rocket fiberglass is TOP notch, the best I have seen. Yes, I agree some of the previous attemps wre not very nice looking. I too am looking to improve performance, even 1 kt at a time. Look forward to seeing your products. Keep us informed as what your flight test show and where we can see them. All the best with this effort. Thanks George