The aerodynamic characteristics of archery arrows fletched with two types of straight vanes, for which the area is different, were studied. The arrows’ pitching moment (CM), lift (CL) and drag (CD) coefficients were measured in the 60 × 60 cm Magnetic Suspension and Balance System (MSBS) from JAXA. At a Reynolds number of Re = 1.2 × 104, the values of CD were 1.56 and 2.05 for the short and large vanes, respectively. In a second experimental procedure, the arrows’ deceleration in free flight was measured by inserting an acceleration sensor inside their shafts. For shots with an initial velocity of around 56.4 ms−1, a velocity decay of around 8% was measured. A turbulent–laminar boundary layer transition during free flight was found for shots with an average Re = 1.8 × 104. Lastly, through numerical computations, the area difference of the two vanes was analyzed to verify the importance of CM and CL during the arrows’ flights.

https://www.mdpi.com/2504-3900/49/1/56/pdf

Toshinari Hasegawa

Papers

Experimental and Computational Study of Archery Arrows Fletched with Straight Vanes