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Old October 5th, 2010, 16:47   #125
krap101
 
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Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Roscoe, IL USA
I talked to a really smart Aerospace PhD student (I'm a sophmore in aerospace), since I've been wanting a "scientific" answer for the aerodynamics of a twist barrel. He said that he believed that decreasing the turn rate of the spiral of the barrel wouldn't really affect the max fps of the barrel. I think it had something to do with the aerodynamics of a sphere, and something called the Karman vortex street. At a certain point, the velocity of the air will cause vortices to get thrown off unevenly, which will destabilize the bb.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C3%A1..._vortex_street

Although he wasn't 100%, and this isn't exactly his field, he's extremely smart, and I would side with him than just about anybody else.


Interesting video

YouTube - unstable velocity flow of air past cylinder with alternating direction

YouTube - karman vortex street

YouTube - Fluid Mechanics - Cool Science Experiment

Last edited by krap101; October 6th, 2010 at 02:09..
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