The Fun but Useless Similarity between an Airfoil and a Tire
This blog mainly discusses some interesting observations about the mathematical models for an airfoil (aerofoil) and a tire (tyre). My professor stressed that the essential external forces applied to an automobile only include aerodynamic ones and ones through the tires. And I find it quite interesting that some forces acting upon an airfoild and a tire can all be expressed in the form of: F = ka + C For an airfoil, F can be seen as the lift and k the lift coefficient. a in this case would be the angle of attack (AOA). C is the result of an airfoil's camber. For a tire, F can be seen as the lateral force, k the cornering stiffness and a the slip angle. C is due to the tire's camber and is known as the "camber thrust". It is also noticed that this linear expression only holds true for a limited range of a , which is nevertheless where an airfoil or a tire normally opereates. The following two graphs would be helpf...