Drag on Cylinders from an Integrated Pressure Distribution

• Drag on Cylinders from an Integrated Pressure Distribution o Introduction Observing pressure distribution of a cylinder Determining the coefficient of drag via integration Comparing

Drag on Cylinders from an Integrated Pressure Distribution

by

Hieu Nguyen

School of Engineering Grand Valley State University

Laboratory Module 8

EGR 365 – Fluid Mechanics

Section 03

Instructor: Dr David Blekhman

July 5, 2006

• Drag on Cylinders from an Integrated Pressure Distribution

o Introduction

Observing pressure distribution of a cylinder

Determining the coefficient of drag via integration

Comparing the differences in flow behavior between a smooth surface and

a rough surface

o Purpose

To measure the drag on a cylinder in cross-flow by integrating the surface pressure distribution

o Apparatus

Wind tunnel

4-in diameter by 12-in cylinder w/strip simulating rough surface on the side

Tape measure

Manometer

Figure 1: Diagram of apparatus used in the experiment

o Procedure

Verify the dimensions of the cylinder

Set the wind tunnel speed where pressure is between 1.7 to 2.1 in H2O

Measure pressure at infinity (tube position 0) and pressures along the cylinder at the remaining tube positions

o Theory

Equations used

•
   
     

•    

o Results and Discussion

Ideas

• Very odd that pressure all around the cylinder save three positions were negative; reason for negative pressure readings was that stagnation pressure was low to begin with

• Coefficient of drag for simulated rough surface was lower compared to smooth surface due to rough surface promoting delaying the separation of flow, creating a smaller wake and thus less drag

• Reynolds number of experiment was 197488, which means pressure forces are more dominant than viscous forces

Figure 3: Plot of pressure measurements versus radial position

Figure 4: Plot of experimental and theoretical pressure coefficients

o Error Analysis

Error propagation not calculated for coefficient of drag due to indirect measurement of property

Discrepancy between a theoretical drag coefficient value of 1.25 to experiment drag coefficient was 4 percent

o Conclusion

Drag on rough side of cylindrical rod was less than drag on smooth surface due to delay of separation of flow from body

Discrepancy between theoretical and experimental drag coefficient was low

Drag on Cylinders from an Integrated Pressure Distribution

Introduction

In a previous laboratory, the determination of drag coefficient for a cylindrical rod was calculated using a linear momentum balance In this experiment, the calculation of the drag coefficient of a cylindrical rod was performed using an integrated pressure distribution The comparison between the coefficient of drag for a rough and smooth surface was also discussed

Purpose

To measure the drag on a cylinder in cross-flow by integrating the surface pressure

distribution

Apparatus

The experiment was performed using a 4-in diameter by 12-in cylinder placed inside of the wind tunnel The cylinder contained 24 pressure taps drilled in at about half of its height Pressure was measured using a U-tube manometer and the pressure indicator of the wind tunnel Figure 1 shows the diagram of the apparatus; Figure 2 shows an in-depth look of the cylinder with the pressure taps

Figure 1: Schematic of the apparatus used in the laboratory

Figure 2: Close up of the cylindrical rod with drilled pressure taps

Procedure

• The dimensions of the cylinder were verified using a digital Vernier caliper

• Wind tunnel speed was set to an air speed where the indicated pressure was 2.0 in H2O

• Pressure at infinity (tube position 0) and pressures along the cylinder at the remaining tube positions were measured and recorded

Theory

Equation (1) was used to determine the drag coefficient of the cylindrical rod,

 

!

where CD is the coefficient of drag, Fdrag is the drag force on the object, ρ is the density of the air, and & is the air velocity at infinity (before flow comes in contact with the object) When air flows around the cylinder, there is a pressure distribution around its surfaces, which can be integrated to calculate the drag force Fdrag, as shown in Eq (2)

   
      (2)

where p is the measured pressure and the differential surface area dA is the length of the cylinder multiplied by the radius and the differential angle θ, or

Substituting Eqs (2-3) into Eq (1) yields the following equation (4)

 )*)* 

Cancelling length L and radius R and introducing the limits of integration of a cylinder yields Eq (5), the coefficient of drag of the object as an integrated pressure distribution

    (5)

where the coefficient of pressure Cp is the ratio of the measured pressure to pressure at infinity, or:

 

Results and Discussion

Appendix A contains the results of the pressure measurements taken during the experiment A graph of the measurements is shown in Figure 3 From Figure 3, it can be seen where the wake is formed (behind the cylinder between radial positions of 60 degrees to 240 degrees) Another feature of Figure 3 is the dramatic drop in pressure at radial positions 250 degrees to 285 degrees Located at these positions was a strip of tape with what appeared to be silica beads attached to it, simulating a rough surface This rough surface caused turbulent air flow at this section of the cylinder, which increased pressure at this region Also, all but two pressure measurements along the cylinder were negative This may be attributed to starting the wind tunnel at a low pressure As the flow moves around the cylinder, it becomes accelerated, and according to Bernoulli's principle, the pressure at accelerated flow should decrease Thus, negative pressure was measured

Figure 3: Graph of the results of the pressure measured

The theoretical and experimental pressure coefficients around the cylinder is shown in graphical form in Figure 4 As was seen in Figure 3, the pressure coefficients decrease drastically as the flow moves around the rough surface of the rod Comparing the theoretical model to the experimental model, it can be seen that the behavior of the flow behind the cylinder does not resemble the flow of the theoretical model Under the theoretical model, flow streamlines and pressure distribution on the front and back end of the cylinder are mirror images (see Figure 5) and the net drag force is zero [1]; fluid flow does not separate from the surface of the object due to the absence of friction For the experimental model, flow is not frictionless and

as the fluid moves across the surface and towards the rear of the cylindrical rod, it begins to separate and develops a wake behind the rod, creating drag (see Figure 6 for an approximation of real viscous fluid flow) The wake can be seen in Figure 4 as an almost constant pressure coefficient from a radial position of 45 degrees to 235 degrees An adverse pressure gradient behind the cylinder also contributes to the separation of fluid flow at that region

Figure 4: Graph of the experimental and theoretical pressure coefficient of the cylindrical rod

versus radial position

Figure 5: Diagram showing frictionless flow around a cylindrical cross-section [2]

Figure 6: Diagram showing viscous fluid flow around a cylindrical cross-section [3]

Figure 7 shows a graph of the pressure coefficient as a function of the cosine of the radial position From Figure 7, it can be seen that the coefficient of pressure is largest behind the cylindrical rod Where the flow crosses the rough surface can also been seen in Figure 7, where the coefficient of pressure is at its lowest at -1.326 at a radial position of 300 degrees Equation (5) was used to determine the coefficient of drag Since one half of the cylinder contained the smooth surface and the other half contained the rough surface, the integration was broken up, with the limits of integration of   0 to   , representing the smooth surface and θ = π to θ = 2π representing the rough surface The coefficient of drag were CD = 1.43 and CD = 1.17 for the smooth and rough surfaces, respectively (see Appendix A for calculations) The coefficient of drag for the entire rod was CD = 1.30

Figure 7: Graph of the pressure coefficient as a function of the cosine of radial position

Notice that the drag coefficient of rough surface is less than the smooth surface The rough surface delays the separation of the flow from the surface, which causes a smaller wake to be developed behind the cylinder, thus reducing drag and drag coefficient Figure 8 shows the different wake areas for both a smooth ball and a dimpled ball (which represents the rough surface of the experimental model)

Figure 8: Diagram comparing a sphere with a smooth surface and a golf ball with a dimpled

surface representing the rough surface of the experimental model [4]

Error Analysis

Propagated error for the coefficient of drag was not calculated since it was indirectly measured The discrepancy between the theoretical and experimental values, if the theoretical

CD value is 1.25,was 4 percent (see Appendix A for calculation)

Conclusion

The coefficient of drag between the smooth and rough surfaces of the cylindrical rod were found using the integrated pressure distribution and it was found that the drag coefficient of the smooth surface was greater than the rough surface This is due to the delay of flow separation caused by the rough surface, which decreases drag at that region of the rod The error

between the theoretical and experimental drag coefficients was low (at 4 percent), but could have been lower if the pressure was read accurately using the manometer instead of the pressure indicator on the wind tunnel, which did not produce and an accurate reading

REFERENCES

1 Fleischmann, S: "Drag on Cylinders From an Integrated Pressure Distribution." Fluid

Mechanics - EGR 365 Design-Based Fluid Mechanics Laboratory Padnos College of Engineering and Computing, 2006

2 pilotsweb.com/principle/lift.htm

3 www.allstar.fiu.edu/aero/Flow1.htm

4 http://www.aerospaceweb.org/question/aerodynamics/q0215.shtml

Drag on Cylinders from an Integrated Pressure Distribution

Introduction

In a previous laboratory, the determination of drag coefficient for a cylindrical... the manometer instead of the pressure indicator on the wind tunnel, which did not produce and an accurate reading

REFERENCES

1 Fleischmann, S: " ;Drag on Cylinders From an Integrated. .. balance In this experiment, the calculation of the drag coefficient of a cylindrical rod was performed using an integrated pressure distribution The comparison between the coefficient of drag