Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Drag coefficients in fluids with Reynolds number approximately 10 4 [1] [2] Shapes are depicted with the same projected frontal area. In fluid dynamics, the drag coefficient (commonly denoted as: , or ) is a dimensionless quantity that is used to quantify the drag or resistance of an object in a fluid environment, such as air or water.
Dimensionless numbers (or characteristic numbers) have an important role in analyzing the behavior of fluids and their flow as well as in other transport phenomena. [1] They include the Reynolds and the Mach numbers, which describe as ratios the relative magnitude of fluid and physical system characteristics, such as density, viscosity, speed of sound, and flow speed.
For an object with well-defined fixed separation points, like a circular disk with its plane normal to the flow direction, the drag coefficient is constant for Re > 3,500. [16] The further the drag coefficient C d is, in general, a function of the orientation of the flow with respect to the object (apart from symmetrical objects like a sphere).
A water tunnel is an experimental facility used for testing the hydrodynamic behavior of submerged bodies in flowing water. It functions similar to a recirculating wind tunnel , but uses water as the working fluid, and related phenomena are investigated, such as measuring the forces on scale models of submarines or lift and drag on hydrofoils .
is the drag coefficient – a dimensionless coefficient related to the object's geometry and taking into account both skin friction and form drag. If the fluid is a liquid, c d {\displaystyle c_{\rm {d}}} depends on the Reynolds number ; if the fluid is a gas, c d {\displaystyle c_{\rm {d}}} depends on both the Reynolds number and the Mach number .
The two main factors that impact drag are the frontal area of the vehicle and the drag coefficient. The drag coefficient is a unit-less value that denotes how much an object resists movement through a fluid such as water or air. A potential complication of altering a vehicle's aerodynamics is that it may cause the vehicle to get too much lift.
Skin friction drag is a type of aerodynamic or hydrodynamic drag, which is resistant force exerted on an object moving in a fluid.Skin friction drag is caused by the viscosity of fluids and is developed from laminar drag to turbulent drag as a fluid moves on the surface of an object.
A n are experimentally determined coefficients. For air (Davies, 1945): [2] A 1 = 1.257 A 2 = 0.400 A 3 = 0.55. The Cunningham correction factor becomes significant when particles become smaller than 15 micrometers, for air at ambient conditions. For sub-micrometer particles, Brownian motion must be taken into account.