Shape and flow Form Skin

Drag friction

0% 100%

~10% ~90%

~90% ~10%

100% 0%

In fluid dynamics, drag (sometimes called air resistance, a type of friction, or fluid resistance, another type of
friction or fluid friction) is a force acting opposite to the relative motion of any object moving with respect to a
surrounding fluid.[1] This can exist between two fluid layers (or surfaces) or a fluid and a solid surface. Unlike
other resistive forces, such as dry friction, which are nearly independent of velocity, drag forces depend on
velocity.[2][3] Drag force is proportional to the velocity for a laminar flow and the squared velocity for a turbulent
flow. Even though the ultimate cause of a drag is viscous friction, the turbulent drag is independent of
viscosity.[4]

Drag forces always decrease fluid velocity relative to the solid object in the fluid's path.

Examples of drag

Examples of drag include the component of the net aerodynamic or hydrodynamic force acting opposite to the
direction of movement of the solid object relative to Earth as for cars, aircraft[3] and boat hulls; or acting in the
same geographical direction of motion as the solid, as for sails attached to a down wind sail boat, or in
intermediate directions on a sail depending on points of sail.[5][6][7] In the case of viscous drag of fluid in a pipe,
drag force on the immobile pipe decreases fluid velocity relative to the pipe.[8][9]

For instance, in physics of sports, the drag force is necessary to explain the performance of runners,
particularly of sprinters.[10]

Types of drag

Types of drag are generally divided into the following categories:

parasitic drag, consisting of

form drag,

skin friction,

interference drag,

lift-induced drag, and

 wave drag (aerodynamics) or wave resistance (ship hydrodynamics).

The phrase parasitic drag is mainly used in aerodynamics, since for lifting wings drag is in general small
compared to lift. For flow around bluff bodies, drag is most often dominating, and then the qualifier "parasitic"
is meaningless. Form drag, skin friction and interference drag on bluff bodies are not coined as being
elements of "parasitic drag", but directly as elements of drag.

Further, lift-induced drag is only relevant when wings or a lifting body are present, and is therefore usually
discussed either in the aviation perspective of drag, or in the design of either semi-planing or planing hulls.
Wave drag occurs when a solid object is moving through a fluid at or near the speed of sound in that fluid—or
in case there is a freely-moving fluid surface with surface waves radiating from the object, e.g. from a ship.

Drag coefficient Cd for a sphere as a

function of Reynolds number Re, as
obtained from laboratory experiments.
The dark line is for a sphere with a
smooth surface, while the lighter line
is for the case of a rough surface.

Drag depends on the properties of the fluid and on the size, shape, and speed of the object. One way to
express this is by means of the drag equation:

where

is the drag force,

is the density of the fluid,[11]
is the speed of the object relative to the fluid,
is the cross sectional area, and
is the drag coefficient – a dimensionless number.

The drag coefficient depends on the shape of the object and on the Reynolds number

where is some characteristic diameter or linear dimension and is the kinematic viscosity of the fluid
(equal to the viscosity divided by the density). At low , is asymptotically proportional to , which
means that the drag is proportional to the speed. At high , is more or less constant. The graph to the
right shows how varies with for the case of a sphere.

For high velocities (or more precisely, at high Reynolds number) drag will vary as the square of velocity. Thus,
the resultant power needed to overcome this drag will vary as the cube of velocity. The standard equation for
drag is one half multiplied by the fluid mass density, the cross sectional area of the specified item, and
the square of the velocity.
Wind resistance is a layman's term for drag. Its use is often vague and is commonly used in a relative sense
(e.g. a badminton shuttlecock has more wind resistance than a squash ball).

Drag at high velocity

Main article: Drag equation

0:00

Explanation of drag by NASA.

As mentioned, the drag equation with a constant drag coefficient gives the force experienced by an object
moving through a fluid at relatively large velocity (i.e. high Reynolds number, Re > ~1000). This is also called
quadratic drag. The equation is attributed to Lord Rayleigh, who originally used L2 in place of A (L being some
length).

see derivation

The reference area A is often orthographic projection of the object—on a plane perpendicular to the direction
of motion—e.g. for objects with a simple shape, such as a sphere, this is the cross sectional area. Sometimes
different reference areas are given for the same object in which case a drag coefficient corresponding to each
of these different areas must be given.

In case of a wing, comparison of the drag to the lift force is easiest when the reference areas are the same,
since then the ratio of drag to lift force is just the ratio of drag to lift coefficient.[12] Therefore, the reference for
a wing is often the lifting area ("wing area") rather than the frontal area.[13]

For an object with a smooth surface, and non-fixed separation points—like a sphere or circular cylinder—the
drag coefficient may vary with Reynolds number Re, even up to very high values (Re of the order 107). [14] [15]
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.[15] Further the drag coefficient Cd is, in general, a
function of the orientation of the flow with respect to the object (apart from symmetrical objects like a sphere).

Power

The power required to overcome the aerodynamic drag is given by:

Note that the power needed to push an object through a fluid increases as the cube of the velocity. A car
cruising on a highway at 50 mph (80 km/h) may require only 10 horsepower (7.5 kW) to overcome air drag, but
that same car at 100 mph (160 km/h) requires 80 hp (60 kW).[16] With a doubling of speed the drag (force)
quadruples per the formula. Exerting four times the force over a fixed distance produces four times as much
work. At twice the speed the work (resulting in displacement over a fixed distance) is done twice as fast. Since
power is the rate of doing work, four times the work done in half the time requires eight times the power.

Velocity of a falling object

Main article: Terminal velocity

An object falling through viscous medium accelerates quickly towards its terminal speed, approaching gradually as the speed gets
nearer to the terminal speed. Whether the object experiences turbulent or laminar drag changes the characteristic shape of the graph
with turbulent flow resulting in a constant acceleration for a larger fraction of its accelerating time.

The velocity as a function of time for an object falling through a non-dense medium, and released at zero
relative-velocity v = 0 at time t = 0, is roughly given by a function involving a hyperbolic tangent (tanh):

The hyperbolic tangent has a limit value of one, for large time t. In other words, velocity asymptotically
approaches a maximum value called the terminal velocity vt:

For a potato-shaped object of average diameter d and of density ρobj, terminal velocity is about

For objects of water-like density (raindrops, hail, live objects—mammals, birds, insects, etc.) falling in air near
Earth's surface at sea level, the terminal velocity is roughly equal to

with d in metre and vt in m/s. For example, for a human body ( ~ 0.6 m) ~ 70 m/s, for a small animal like a
cat ( ~ 0.2 m) ~ 40 m/s, for a small bird ( ~ 0.05 m) ~ 20 m/s, for an insect ( ~ 0.01 m) ~ 9 m/s,
and so on. Terminal velocity for very small objects (pollen, etc.) at low Reynolds numbers is determined by
Stokes law.

Terminal velocity is higher for larger creatures, and thus potentially more deadly. A creature such as a mouse
falling at its terminal velocity is much more likely to survive impact with the ground than a human falling at its
terminal velocity. A small animal such as a cricket impacting at its terminal velocity will probably be unharmed.
This, combined with the relative ratio of limb cross-sectional area vs. body mass (commonly referred to as the
Square-cube law), explains why very small animals can fall from a large height and not be harmed.[17]

Very low Reynolds numbers: Stokes' drag

Trajectories of three objects thrown at the same angle (70°). The

black object does not experience any form of drag and moves along a
parabola. The blue object experiences Stokes' drag, and the green
object Newton drag.

Main article: Stokes' law

The equation for viscous resistance or linear drag is appropriate for objects or particles moving through a
fluid at relatively slow speeds where there is no turbulence (i.e. low Reynolds number, ).[18] Note that
purely laminar flow only exists up to Re = 0.1 under this definition. In this case, the force of drag is
approximately proportional to velocity, but opposite in direction. The equation for viscous resistance is:[19]

where:

is a constant that depends on the properties of the fluid and the dimensions of the object, and
is the velocity of the object

When an object falls from rest, its velocity will be

which asymptotically approaches the terminal velocity . For a given , heavier objects fall

more quickly.
For the special case of small spherical objects moving slowly through a viscous fluid (and thus at small
Reynolds number), George Gabriel Stokes derived an expression for the drag constant:

where:

is the Stokes radius of the particle, and is the fluid viscosity.

The resulting expression for the drag is known as Stokes' drag:[20]

For example, consider a small sphere with radius = 0.5 micrometre (diameter = 1.0 µm) moving through
water at a velocity of 10 µm/s. Using 10−3 Pa·s as the dynamic viscosity of water in SI units, we find a drag
force of 0.09 pN. This is about the drag force that a bacterium experiences as it swims through water.

Drag in aerodynamics
Main article: Aerodynamic drag

Lift-induced drag
Main article: Lift-induced drag

Induced drag vs. lift[21][22]

Lift-induced drag (also called induced drag) is drag which occurs as the result of the creation of lift on a three-
dimensional lifting body, such as the wing or fuselage of an airplane. Induced drag consists of two primary
components, including drag due to the creation of vortices (vortex drag) and the presence of additional
viscous drag (lift-induced viscous drag). The vortices in the flow-field, present in the wake of a lifting body,
derive from the turbulent mixing of air of varying pressure on the upper and lower surfaces of the body, which
is a necessary condition for the creation of lift.

With other parameters remaining the same, as the lift generated by a body increases, so does the lift-induced
drag. For an aircraft in flight, this means that as the angle of attack, and therefore the lift coefficient, increases
to the point of stall, so does the lift-induced drag. At the onset of stall, lift is abruptly decreased, as is lift-
induced drag, but viscous pressure drag, a component of parasite drag, increases due to the formation of
turbulent unattached flow on the surface of the body.

Parasitic drag
Main article: parasitic drag
Parasitic drag (also called parasite drag) is drag caused by moving a solid object through a fluid. Parasitic
drag is made up of multiple components including viscous pressure drag (form drag), and drag due to surface
roughness (skin friction drag). Additionally, the presence of multiple bodies in relative proximity may incur so
called interference drag, which is sometimes described as a component of parasitic drag.

In aviation, induced drag tends to be greater at lower speeds because a high angle of attack is required to
maintain lift, creating more drag. However, as speed increases the induced drag becomes much less, but
parasitic drag increases because the fluid is flowing more quickly around protruding objects increasing friction
or drag. At even higher speeds in the transonic, wave drag enters the picture. Each of these forms of drag
changes in proportion to the others based on speed. The combined overall drag curve therefore shows a
minimum at some airspeed - an aircraft flying at this speed will be at or close to its optimal efficiency. Pilots
will use this speed to maximize endurance (minimum fuel consumption), or maximize gliding range in the
event of an engine failure.

Power curve in aviation

The power curve: form and induced

drag vs. airspeed

The interaction of parasitic and induced drag vs. airspeed can be plotted as a characteristic curve, illustrated
here. In aviation, this is often referred to as the power curve, and is important to pilots because it shows that,
below a certain airspeed, maintaining airspeed counterintuitively requires more thrust as speed decreases,
rather than less. The consequences of being "behind the curve" in flight are important and are taught as part of
pilot training. At the subsonic airspeeds where the "U" shape of this curve is significant, wave drag has not yet
become a factor, and so it is not shown in the curve.

Wave drag in transonic and supersonic flow

Qualitative variation in Cd factor with

Mach number for aircraft

Main article: wave drag

Wave drag (also called compressibility drag) is drag which is created by the presence of a body moving at
high speed through a compressible fluid. In aerodynamics, Wave drag consists of multiple components
depending on the speed regime of the flight.
In transonic flight (Mach numbers greater than about 0.8 and less than about 1.4), wave drag is the result of
the formation of shockwaves on the body, formed when areas of local supersonic (Mach number greater than
1.0) flow are created. In practice, supersonic flow occurs on bodies traveling well below the speed of sound, as
the local speed of air on a body increases when it accelerates over the body, in this case above Mach 1.0.
However, full supersonic flow over the vehicle will not develop until well past Mach 1.0. Aircraft flying at
transonic speed often incur wave drag through the normal course of operation. In transonic flight, wave drag is
commonly referred to as transonic compressibility drag. Transonic compressibility drag increases
significantly as the speed of flight increases towards Mach 1.0, dominating other forms of drag at these
speeds.

In supersonic flight (Mach numbers greater than 1.0), wave drag is the result of shockwaves present on the
body, typically oblique shockwaves formed at the leading and trailing edges of the body. In highly supersonic
flows, or in bodies with turning angles sufficiently large, unattached shockwaves, or bow waves will instead
form. Additionally, local areas of transonic flow behind the initial shockwave may occur at lower supersonic
speeds, and can lead to the development of additional, smaller shockwaves present on the surfaces of other
lifting bodies, similar to those found in transonic flows. In supersonic flow regimes, wave drag is commonly
separated into two components, supersonic lift-dependent wave drag and supersonic volume-dependent
wave drag.

The closed form solution for the minimum wave drag of a body of revolution with a fixed length was found by
Sears and Haack, and is known as the Sears-Haack Distribution. Similarly, for a fixed volume, the shape for
minimum wave drag is the Von Karman Ogive.

Busemann's Biplane is not, in principle, subject to wave drag at all when operated at its design speed, but is
incapable of generating lift.

d'Alembert's paradox
Main article: d'Alembert's paradox

In 1752 d'Alembert proved that potential flow, the 18th century state-of-the-art inviscid flow theory amenable
to mathematical solutions, resulted in the prediction of zero drag. This was in contradiction with experimental
evidence, and became known as d'Alembert's paradox. In the 19th century the Navier–Stokes equations for the
description of viscous flow were developed by Saint-Venant, Navier and Stokes. Stokes derived the drag
around a sphere at very low Reynolds numbers, the result of which is called Stokes' law.[23]

In the limit of high Reynolds numbers, the Navier–Stokes equations approach the inviscid Euler equations, of
which the potential-flow solutions considered by d'Alembert are solutions. However, all experiments at high
Reynolds numbers showed there is drag. Attempts to construct inviscid steady flow solutions to the Euler
equations, other than the potential flow solutions, did not result in realistic results.[23]

The notion of boundary layers—introduced by Prandtl in 1904, founded on both theory and experiments—
explained the causes of drag at high Reynolds numbers. The boundary layer is the thin layer of fluid close to
the object's boundary, where viscous effects remain important even when the viscosity is very small (or
equivalently the Reynolds number is very large).[23]

See also