Drag On a Cylinder from Integrated Pressure Distribution

by
Dan Schwarz

School of Engineering
Grand Valley State University
EGR 365 Fluid Mechanics
Section 01
Instructor: Dr. S. Fleischmann
July 3, 2007

Outline
I.
II.

Purpose Statement
a. The drag force on a cylinder was determined experimentally by integrating the
surface pressure distribution.
Background
a. The experimental system is shown in Figure 1. Air approaches the cylinder at
constant velocity but as it flows around the cylinder the velocity must increase.
The increase in velocity produces a decrease in pressure around the cylinder. The
pressure difference creates a force on the cylinder as shown in Figure 1.

dF= PRd

Flow Direction
Figure 1: The experimental system is a cylinder with pressure taps located in 15 increments.

b. The drag force on the cylinder is created by the force component that is parallel
with the flow direction. Equation 1 gives the drag force on the cylinder. See
Appendix A for details.
Fdrag

p p

cos LRd

(1)

c. The drag force can be non-dimesionalized to produce the drag coefficient

described by Equation 2. See Appendix A for details.
CD

III.

1
2

cos d

(2)

d. Experimental Method
i. Increase the velocity of the wind tunnel until the number 0 pressure tap
reads 1 inch on the water manometer.
ii. Record the manometer readings for each pressure tap around the
circumference of the cylinder.
Results / Discussion
a. The pressure measurements taken from each pressure tap were used to compute
pressure coefficients. See Appendix E for the raw data. The pressure coefficients
were plotted with respect to the angular position of the pressure taps in Figure 2.
The curve is not symmetrical because a strip of sand paper was placed on one side

of the cylinder. The sand paper causes the flow to separate from the cylinder
earlier than it would on a smooth surface. The early separation produces a larger
pressure change and more negative pressure coefficients. Figure 2 shows that the
right side has early flow separation caused by a rough surface. The left side of the
cylinder was completely smooth.
b. Error in the pressure measurements was fairly small. This produced a curve that
tends to follow the ideal pressure coefficient curve.

Figure 2: The pressure coefficient is shown as a function of the pressure tap angles.

c. The pressure coefficients from Figure 2 were multiplied by cos() to create the
curve shown in Figure 3. The area under this curve was used to determine the
drag coefficient of the cylinder in accordance with Equation 2.

Figure 3: The experimental pressure coefficient curve was multiplied by cos() to determine C D.

IV.

V.

d. The drag coefficient for the smooth side of the cylinder was determined to be
1.0472. Other experiments with the same Reynolds number have a drag
coefficient of approximately 1.1 which confirms the experimental results. See
Appendix B and Appendix C for details.
e. The drag coefficient of the rough side of the cylinder was determined to be
0.7854. See Appendix B for details
Conclusions
a. The drag coefficient of the cylinder was experimentally determined form the
approximate area under the Cpcos() curve.
b. The drag coefficient for the smooth cylinder was 1.0472 which was supported by
other experimental data.
c. The drag coefficient for the rough cylinder was 0.7854.
d. The pressure measurement had little error and produced nearly ideal pressure
coefficient curves.
Appendices
a. Appendix A Develop an equation for the coefficient of drag
i. Relate force to pressure.
F PA

PdA

ii. The drag force only acts perpendicular to the flow direction shown in
Figure 1.
Fdrag

p p

cos LRd

iii. The drag coefficient is non-dimensionalized drag force.

CD

Fdrag

1
U 2
2

p p

cos LRd

1
U 2
2

iv. For an ideal flow the velocity is U 2U sin . Substitute this into
Bernoullis equation.
p
p 1 2
1
U 4 sin 2 U 2
2

2
p p
1
1

U 2 U 2 4 sin 2

2
2
1
p p U 2 2 U 2 sin 2
2
1
p p U 2 1 4 sin 2
2
p p
1 4 sin 2 C p
1
U 2
2

v. Substitute p p into the drag coefficient equation.

1
2
U 2 1 4 sin 2 cos LRd
1
2
CD

C p cos d
1
2
2
U
0
2
b. Appendix B Approximate the coefficient of friction of the cylinder.
i. Approximate the area under the curve in Figure 3 for the smooth side of
the cylinder.

Area smooth

1
1
1

1
0.9
1.6 1.0472
2 6
2 3
2 2

ii. Approximate the area under the curve in Figure 3 for the rough side of the
cylinder.
Area rough

1
1
1

1.6
1.4
1 0.7854
2 2
2 3
2 6

c. Appendix C Calculate the Reynolds number of the experimental system

i. Calculate the Reynolds number of the experimental system.
Re 1.34 10 5

Z 1.34 10 5 1 1.34 10 5

d. Appendix D Calculate U.
i. Find an equation for velocity in terms of pressure difference.
P1 0.5 V12 gz1 P2 0.5 V 22 gz 2
P1 P2 0.5 V 22

V 22 2 P1 P2
V2

2 P1 P2

ii. Calculate air density, .

P RT
P

RT

99000 N

m2
kg
1.17 3
286.9 J kg K 22 K 273K
m

1.17

3
kg
3 slug ft
1
.
940

10
m 3
kg m 3

iii. Calculate

P P

0.002269 slug

ft 3

where the air flow comes to rest on the cyclinder.

lb
lb
1

ft 62.4 3 5.2 2

12
ft
ft

P P h

iv. Find U.
U
U

2 P P

2 5.2 lb ft 2
2.38 slug ft

66.1

ft
s

e. Appendix E Spreadsheet Calculations

Angle, ()

Manometer (in)

P-P (lb/ft2)

Ideal Cp

Measured Cp

% Discrepancy

Measured Cpcos()

1.00

5.35

1.00

1.03

2.9%

1.03

15

0.78

4.17

0.73

0.80

9.6%

0.78

30

0.02

0.11

0.00

0.02

0.02

45

-0.94

-5.03

-1.00

-0.97

3.3%

-0.68

60

-1.72

-9.20

-2.00

-1.77

11.5%

-0.88

75

-1.65

-8.83

-2.73

-1.70

37.9%

-0.44

90

-1.60

-8.56

-3.00

-1.65

45.1%

0.00

105

-1.58

-8.45

-2.73

-1.63

40.5%

0.42

120

-1.60

-8.56

-2.00

-1.65

17.7%

0.82

135

-1.65

-8.83

-1.00

-1.70

69.8%

1.20

10

150

-1.67

-8.93

0.00

-1.72

1.49

Position

11

165

-1.59

-8.51

0.73

-1.64

323.5%

1.58

12

180

-1.53

-8.19

1.00

-1.57

257.4%

1.57

13

195

-1.55

-8.29

0.73

-1.59

317.9%

1.54

14

210

-1.60

-8.56

0.00

-1.65

1.43

15

225

-1.55

-8.29

-1.00

-1.59

59.5%

1.13

16

240

-1.50

-8.03

-2.00

-1.54

22.8%

0.77

17

255

-1.70

-9.10

-2.73

-1.75

36.0%

0.45

18

270

-2.91

-15.57

-3.00

-2.99

0.2%

0.00

19

285

-3.28

-17.55

-2.73

-3.38

23.5%

-0.87

20

300

-2.70

-14.45

-2.00

-2.78

38.9%

-1.39

21

315

-1.55

-8.29

-1.00

-1.59

59.5%

-1.13

22

330

-0.21

-1.12

0.00

-0.22

-0.19

23

345

0.66

3.53

0.73

0.68

7.2%

0.66

U (ft/s)
3

(lb/ft )

66.1
0.00238