I was watching Mythbusters tonight and they were testing the 'Golf Ball' effect, ie the idea that the reason why a golf ball is dimpled is to make it create less drag (in the form of turbulence) and therefore make it fly further.
They tested it on a car by altering the skin with clay to dimple it and after putting some controls in place, discovered that there was an 11% fuel burn decrease. They were pretty amazed as was i!
My question is, if this is the case, why has it not been attempted on aircraft?
I always thought that smooth surfaces were better for airflow and too reduce parasite drag etc as indeed this is what is in text books. Is this dimple effect a new area of research?
(I'm not an engineer by the way, only a pilot!)
HHH