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If a moving fluid meets an object, it exerts a force on the object. Suppose that the fluid is a liquid, and the variables involved – under some conditions – are the: speed u, fluid density ρ, kinematic viscosity ν of the fluid, size of the body, expressed in terms of its wetted area A, and; drag force F d.
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.
A body is known as bluff or blunt when the source of drag is dominated by pressure forces, and streamlined if the drag is dominated by viscous forces. For example, road vehicles are bluff bodies. [9] For aircraft, pressure and friction drag are included in the definition of parasitic drag. Parasite drag is often expressed in terms of a ...
Stokes' law is important for understanding the swimming of microorganisms and sperm; also, the sedimentation of small particles and organisms in water, under the force of gravity. [ 5 ] In air, the same theory can be used to explain why small water droplets (or ice crystals) can remain suspended in air (as clouds) until they grow to a critical ...
Jean le Rond d'Alembert (1717-1783) From experiments it is known that there is always – except in case of superfluidity – a drag force for a body placed in a steady fluid onflow. The figure shows the drag coefficient C d for a sphere as a function of Reynolds number Re , as obtained from laboratory experiments.
The inertia force is of the functional form as found in potential flow theory, while the drag force has the form as found for a body placed in a steady flow. In the heuristic approach of Morison, O'Brien, Johnson and Schaaf these two force components, inertia and drag, are simply added to describe the inline force in an oscillatory flow.
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.
The downward force of gravity (F g) equals the restraining force of drag (F d) plus the buoyancy. The net force on the object is zero, and the result is that the velocity of the object remains constant. Terminal velocity is the maximum speed attainable by an object as it falls through a fluid (air is the most common example).