In Reply To:
Dimpling introduces turbulence, thus delaying the onset and magnitude of flow separation on bluff bodies (e.g. a spherical golf ball). For bodies that are already streamlined, such as an airfoil, the advantages to dimpling become trivial.
I don’t thing that is entirely accurate. The effect is not trivial; but a dimple is not the best way to arrive at that 'trip' introducing turbulence. Dimples are useful if
you do not know the orientation of the object as it travels through the air; or if it is a changing orientation of the object. If you have a object that has the same orientation in relation to travel direction, then you are better off with trip lines; which I have most often seen a chevrons. These are available as 'stickers' that you can put on your glider, Cessna, small aircraft, etc. Going from my foggy memory, you put them just before the maximum diameter of your airfoil for maximum effect. There are even YouTube videos online which show how to test the placement of the strips to get the maximum effect using oil (there must be some flyers on this list who know more about this than me). Anyway, with this given, dimples would be good for golf balls, bicycle wheels, but not really frames, helmets, or bodies. Maybe cranks; but that I think gets more into the realm of marketing.
Stephen J
I believe my local reality has been violated.
____________________________________________
Happiness = Results / (Expectations)^2