Project 3 Frisbee Flight Vfinal

Project_3_Frisbee_Flight_vFinal
Project Three - Frisbee Flight

Adi Sudhakar and George Tighe
Abstract: We are modeling the two-dimensional flight of a frisbee, sweeping through different angles
of attack and launch angles to find the optimal charactersics for a maximum horizontal distance. We
found that the optimal throw had an angle of attack of 14 degrees and a launch angle of 10 degrees,
producing a horizontal distance of about 81 meters. A scatter plot of launch angle and angle of attack
versus maximum horizontal distance is shown below.
In [0]: #Scatter Plot
Question: Olin is known world-wide for the quality of its athletes. Ultimate frisbee, one of two sports at
Olin, is one of Olin's best sports teams (usually ranked in the top two at Olin each year). As true
student-atheletes, it is our goal to optimize our understanding and application of long frisbee throws.
And so we ask the question: What is the optimal angle of attack and launch angle to throw a frisbee
at a fixed translational velocity to get the furthest horizontal distance?
Methodology: We will be limiting our model of a frisbee's flight to only two dimensions (which we are
taking to be x and z). Thus the spin of the frisbee causing sideways motion is not considered. Our
frisbee then becomes a projectile, with the following characteristics:
Angle of attack (angle between the plane of the frisbee and its velocity vector)
Launch angle (angle between initial velocity vector and the horizontal)
Aerodynamic lift force
Aerodynamic drag force
Frisbee flight depends on the gyroscopic stabilization of its spin, but we chose to assume the spin
was enough to allow projectile motion but not impact trajectory. The vertical lift force of the frisbee
comes from its airfoil shape, where airflow on top of the disc moves faster than that below, producing
a pressure gradient due to Bernoulli's Principle, lifting the frisbee to the lower pressure air above it.
The aerodynamic drag force is caused by air resistance due to the frisbee's profile, skin-drag, and lift-
http://localhost:8888/nbconvert/html/Documents/FA%202018/ModSimPyGit/code/Project_3_Frisbee_Flight_vFinal.ipynb?download=false[12/9/2018 5:38:19 PM]

induced drag. These two forces are computed as L = (1/2)pACₗv² and D = (1/2)pACdv², where Cₗ and
Cd are the unitless coefficients of lift and drag, respectively, which are determined experimentally and
change with variable angle of attack.
Our physical model calculates the overall vertical force on the frisbee (lift and gravity) and the overall
drag force and updates the velocity and position of the disc in each time step.
We are making a few assumptions in our model of flight.
The frisbee is a Discraft Ultrastar 175g

Changing angle of attack during flight is not considered
Our model only works for angles of attack below ~15 degrees
We are sweeping angle of attack and launch angle to find the maximum horizontal distance possible.
In [0]: #Importing necessary libraries

from modsim import *
from mpl_toolkits.mplot3d import Axes3D
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
In [0]: #Creating our Launch Angle Series to sweep through

launch = SweepSeries()
launch = linrange(0, 50, 5)
launch = launch * pi / 180
#Creating our Angle of Attack Series to sweep through

aattack = SweepSeries()
aattack = linrange(-10, 16, 2)
In [0]: #Creating System object with constants, angles, initial velocity, and time
step
#m = mass of disc, d = diameter of disc, v0 = initial translational veloci
ty,
#g = acceleration due to gravity, p_air = density of air, dt = time step
system = System(m = 0.175, d = 0.27, v0 = 15, launch = launch, aattack = a

attack, g = -9.8,
p_air = 1.23, dt = 0.1)
state = State(xpos = 0, zpos = 1, vx = 14, vz = 0)
In [0]: #Function that outputs the drag force for a given angle of attack.
def drag(system, state, alpha):
unpack(system)
A = 0.057 #m^2. Planform area of the frisbee
cd = 0.08 + ((alpha+4)*pi/180)**2 #Calculation of coefficient of drag
fdrag = p_air*A*cd*(state.vx**2) #Calculation of drag force

return fdrag
In [0]: #Function that outputs the lift force for a given angle of attack
def lift(system, state, alpha):
unpack(system)
A = 0.057 #m^2. Planform area of the frisbee
cl = 0.1 + (1.4*alpha*pi/180)
clift = clf(aattack)
v = ((state.vx**2)+(state.vz**2))**(1/2)
flift = (1/2)*p_air*A*cl*(state.vx**2) #Lift force.
return flift
In [0]: #Function that outputs the state of the model in the next time step
def updatefunction(system, state, t, alpha):
unpack(system)
fvert = lift(system, state, alpha) + (m*g) #Calculating total vertical

force
dvz = fvert*dt / m #Calculating change in vertical velocity

dvx = -drag(system, state, alpha)*dt #Calculating change in horizontal
velocity
vzf = dvz + state.vz #Calculating updated vertical velocity

vxf = dvx + state.vx #Calculating updated horizontal velocity
xposf = state.xpos + (vxf*dt) #Calculating updated horizontal position

zposf = state.zpos + (vzf*dt) #Caluclating updated vertical position
newstate = State(xpos = xposf, zpos = zposf, vx = vxf, vz = vzf)
return newstate #Returns the updated version of the state
In [0]: #Function that runs the simulation for varying angle of attack and returns
the results
def runsimulation():
data = SweepSeries()
for n in aattack: #Sweep through angles of attack
frame = TimeFrame(columns = state.index)
frame.row[0] = state
ts = linrange(0, 100, system.dt)

for t in ts: #Looping through time
if frame.row[t].zpos > 0: #Updates state if vertical posit
ion is positive
frame.row[t+system.dt] = updatefunction(system, frame.
row[t], t, n)
else:
break
data[n] = frame #Stores each simulation in the SweepSeries

return data #Returns SweepSeries of simulations
In [0]: results = runsimulation()
In [0]: #Function that sweeps through launch angles, calling runsimulation

def superrun():
lsweep = TimeSeries()
for j in launch: #Looping through launch angles
state = State(xpos = 0, zpos = 1, vx = system.v0*np.cos(j), vz = s
ystem.v0*np.sin(j)) #Creates state dependent on launch angle
lsweep[j] = runsimulation(state) #Calls runsimulation to sweep thr
ough angle of attack for each launch angle
return lsweep #Returns TimeSeries of SweepSeries of simulations
In [0]: results2 = superrun() #Stores data from all simulations
Results: We swept through both angle of attack and launch angle, running 130 simulations total. We
attempted to plot angle of attack, launch angle, and final horizontal distance of each simulation as a
3D scatter plot where our answer is the peak, but this is difficult to intepret in Jupyter. We also
included ten plots, one for each launch angle where each curve is a simulation of a different angle of
attack.
Our greatest horizonal distance achieved was 81.16 meters, for a launch angle of 10 degrees and an
angle of attack of 14 degrees.
In [0]: #Producing scatter plot of angles of attack, launch angles, and final x-di
stances of each simulation
#The answer to our question is the peak of this plot (which is unfortunate
ly difficult to see)
fig = plt.figure()
ax = fig.add_subplot(111, projection='3d')
x1 = []
for a in aattack:
k = 1
while k < 11:
x1.append(a)
k = k + 1
y1 = []
for l in launch:
q = 1
while q < 14:
y1.append(l*180/pi)
q = q + 1
z1 = []
for l in launch:
for a in aattack:
z1.append(get_last_value(results2[l][a].xpos))
x = x1
y = y1
z = z1

X, Y = np.meshgrid(x, y)
ax.plot_trisurf(x, y, z,
cmap='viridis', edgecolor='black', linewidths = 0.2);
ax.set_xlabel('Angle of Attack (Deg.)')

ax.set_ylabel('Launch Angle (Deg.)')
ax.set_zlabel('Distance (m)')
ax.set_title('Frisbee Flight')
plt.show()
In [0]: for i in aattack:

plot(results2[0][i].xpos, results2[0][i].zpos, label = i)
decorate(xlabel = 'X-Position (m)', ylabel = 'Z-Position (m)',
title = 'Trajectories for Launch = 0 deg')

plot(results2[launch[1]][i].xpos, results2[launch[1]][i].zpos, label =
i)


i)

i)


i)

i)


i)

i)


i)

i)

Interpretation: Our model predicts that the maximum horizontal distance achieved by a frisbee throw
(within the constraints of the angles of attack and launch angles we used) would be 81.16 meters for
a launch angle of 10 degrees and an angle of attack of 14 degrees. We believe, based on our
experience with frisbee throws, that the horizontal distances we found are reasonable. We are less
sure of the vertical distances these throws achieved. The maximum vertical distance we found was
almost 50 meters, which seems outside the realm of possibility. This is most likely due to our decision
not to update angle of attack over time. Although we did not consider sideways motion due to the
disc's spin, but this should not have significantly impacted the results.
Our modeling process began with a simulation of a single frisbee throw with a given angle of attack
and launch angle. During refinement of this process, we tested out different methods of determining
the coefficients of lift and drag based on different data sets we found. With this accomplished, we
were able to sweep the angle of attack for a given launch angle. Finally, we swept through different
launch angles and angles of attack to produce our final model. The logical next steps in this modeling
would be to allow for a changing angle of attack during flight, and then add in the y-direction of flight
taking into account the disc's spin.

Project 3 Frisbee Flight Vfinal

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Project 3 Frisbee Flight Vfinal

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Project_3_Frisbee_Flight_vFinal

Project Three - Frisbee Flight

In [0]: #Scatter Plot

http://localhost:8888/nbconvert/html/Documents/FA%202018/ModSimPyGit/code/Project_3_Frisbee_Flight_vFinal.ipynb?download=false[12/9/2018 5:38:19 PM]

We are making a few assumptions in our model of flight.

The frisbee is a Discraft Ultrastar 175g

In [0]: #Importing necessary libraries

In [0]: #Creating our Launch Angle Series to sweep through

#Creating our Angle of Attack Series to sweep through

system = System(m = 0.175, d = 0.27, v0 = 15, launch = launch, aattack = a

state = State(xpos = 0, zpos = 1, vx = 14, vz = 0)

A = 0.057 #m^2. Planform area of the frisbee

cd = 0.08 + ((alpha+4)*pi/180)**2 #Calculation of coefficient of drag

fdrag = p_air*A*cd*(state.vx**2) #Calculation of drag force

http://localhost:8888/nbconvert/html/Documents/FA%202018/ModSimPyGit/code/Project_3_Frisbee_Flight_vFinal.ipynb?download=false[12/9/2018 5:38:19 PM]

A = 0.057 #m^2. Planform area of the frisbee

fvert = lift(system, state, alpha) + (m*g) #Calculating total vertical

dvz = fvert*dt / m #Calculating change in vertical velocity

vzf = dvz + state.vz #Calculating updated vertical velocity

xposf = state.xpos + (vxf*dt) #Calculating updated horizontal position

newstate = State(xpos = xposf, zpos = zposf, vx = vxf, vz = vzf)

return newstate #Returns the updated version of the state

ts = linrange(0, 100, system.dt)

http://localhost:8888/nbconvert/html/Documents/FA%202018/ModSimPyGit/code/Project_3_Frisbee_Flight_vFinal.ipynb?download=false[12/9/2018 5:38:19 PM]

return data #Returns SweepSeries of simulations

In [0]: results = runsimulation()

In [0]: #Function that sweeps through launch angles, calling runsimulation

In [0]: results2 = superrun() #Stores data from all simulations

http://localhost:8888/nbconvert/html/Documents/FA%202018/ModSimPyGit/code/Project_3_Frisbee_Flight_vFinal.ipynb?download=false[12/9/2018 5:38:19 PM]

ax.set_xlabel('Angle of Attack (Deg.)')

In [0]: for i in aattack:

In [0]: for i in aattack:

http://localhost:8888/nbconvert/html/Documents/FA%202018/ModSimPyGit/code/Project_3_Frisbee_Flight_vFinal.ipynb?download=false[12/9/2018 5:38:19 PM]

In [0]: for i in aattack:

In [0]: for i in aattack:

http://localhost:8888/nbconvert/html/Documents/FA%202018/ModSimPyGit/code/Project_3_Frisbee_Flight_vFinal.ipynb?download=false[12/9/2018 5:38:19 PM]

In [0]: for i in aattack:

In [0]: for i in aattack:

http://localhost:8888/nbconvert/html/Documents/FA%202018/ModSimPyGit/code/Project_3_Frisbee_Flight_vFinal.ipynb?download=false[12/9/2018 5:38:19 PM]

In [0]: for i in aattack:

In [0]: for i in aattack:

http://localhost:8888/nbconvert/html/Documents/FA%202018/ModSimPyGit/code/Project_3_Frisbee_Flight_vFinal.ipynb?download=false[12/9/2018 5:38:19 PM]

In [0]: for i in aattack:

In [0]: for i in aattack:

http://localhost:8888/nbconvert/html/Documents/FA%202018/ModSimPyGit/code/Project_3_Frisbee_Flight_vFinal.ipynb?download=false[12/9/2018 5:38:19 PM]

http://localhost:8888/nbconvert/html/Documents/FA%202018/ModSimPyGit/code/Project_3_Frisbee_Flight_vFinal.ipynb?download=false[12/9/2018 5:38:19 PM]

You might also like

fdrag = p_airAcd*(state.vx**2) #Calculation of drag force