Wave rotors. Waste or wonders?

[Grumpy Goat]

Got it. (Mind was on work..., as it should be, and I thought they meant surface area used for braking....  )

So are those edges and perhaps as important, edges of holes, catching the air more important to cooling than surface area of disk? Or is the increase in edges on a thick rotor, simply a way of increasing surface area of the disk (without a marked increase in mass)?

(All I know is, Ari Henning has promoted them, which is usually good enough for me.)

I hold Ari in much the same regard.

I'm no brake rotor expert of course, but area is area (if I remember my thermodynamics sufficiently well) and the size of the swept area should radiate more heat than the smaller edges. That is why I think that the pedal contour is more for resistance against warping as the rotor heat cycles. AFAIK, the holes are mostly for venting gases generated during braking, and the increase in thickness would just be for increasing wear-out life, since it runs counter to cooling efficiency, although it helps regarding warping. This illustrates well an engineering problem, which usually has many variables, often working against each other. I have had many hours of fun chasing design rabbits down holes playing with finite element models.

Engineers know that our design challenges are typically exercises in compromise. People who like to fiddle and buy aftermarket parts often fall prey to marketing BS which may tout one quality even at the expense of another. Then there is the question of cost, also a very (perhaps the most) important variable.