Drag coefficient

About: Drag coefficient is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 14471 publications have been published within this topic receiving 303196 citations. The topic is also known as: drag factor.

The effects of hydraulic resistance on dam-break and other shallow inertial flows

Abstract: The effects of resistive forces on unsteady shallow flows over rigid horizontal boundaries are investigated theoretically. The dynamics of this type of motion are driven by the streamwise gradient of the hydrostatic pressure, which balances the inertia of the fluid and the basal resistance. Drag forces are often negligible provided the fluid is sufficiently deep. However, close to the front of some flows where the depth of the moving layer becomes small, it is possible for drag to substantially influence the motion. Here we consider three aspects of unsteady shallow flows. First we consider a regime in which the drag, inertia and buoyancy (pressure gradient) are formally of the same magnitude throughout the entire current and we construct a new class of similarity solutions for the motion. This reveals the range of solution types possible, which includes those with continuous profiles, those with discontinuous profiles and weak shocks and those which are continuous but have critical points of transition at which the gradients may be discontinuous. Next we analyse one-dimensional dam-break flow and calculate how drag slows the motion. There is always a region close to the front in which drag forces are not negligible. We employ matched asymptotic expansions to combine the flow at the front with the flow in the bulk of the domain and derive theoretical predictions that are compared to laboratory measurements of dam-break flows. Finally we investigate a modified form of dam-break flow in which the vertical profile of the horizontal velocity field is no longer assumed to be uniform. It is found that in the absence of drag it is no longer possible to find a kinematically consistent front of the fluid motion. However the inclusion of drag forces within the region close to the front resolves this difficulty. We calculate velocity and depth profiles within the drag-affected region, and obtain the leading-order expression for the rate at which the fluid propagates when the magnitude of the drag force is modelled using Chae#169;zy, Newtonian and power-law fluid closures; this compares well with experimental data and provide new insights into dam-break flows.

Numerical Solution of the Problem of Vortex Street Development

Abstract: A method is described for the solution of time‐dependent problems concerning the flow of viscous incompressible fluids in several space dimensions. The method is numerical, using a high‐speed computer for the solution of a finite‐difference approximation to the partial differential equations of motion. The application described here is to a study of the development of a vortex street behind a plate which has impulsively accelerated to constant speed in a channel of finite width; the Reynolds‐number range investigated was 15 ≤ R ≤ 6000. Particular attention was given to those features for which comparison could be made with experiments, namely, critical Reynolds number for vortex shedding, drag coefficient, Strouhal number, vortex configuration, and channel‐wall effects. The nature of the early stages of flow‐pattern development was also investigated.

An Improved Approach to Calculating Terminal Velocities of Plate-like Crystals and Graupel

Abstract: Measurements of 461 planar crows and 312 graupel reported by Kajikawa have been used to develop equations for calculating the terminal velocity and mass of lump and conical graupel and of planar crystals of a variety of shapes and degrees of riming, the resultant equations being applicable to numerical modeling studies. Because all of the parameters required for the derivation of particle drag coefficients were known, the equations are more accurate than those previously used. The implications of the changed values for terminal velocity for these particle types are discussed with respect to the growth of particles through accretion.

A Physics-Based Parameterization of Air–Sea Momentum Flux at High Wind Speeds and Its Impact on Hurricane Intensity Predictions

Abstract: A new bulk parameterization of the air–sea momentum flux at high wind speeds is proposed based on coupled wave–wind model simulations for 10 tropical cyclones that occurred in the Atlantic Ocean during 1998–2003. The new parameterization describes how the roughness length increases linearly with wind speed and the neutral drag coefficient tends to level off at high wind speeds. The proposed parameterization is then tested on real hurricanes using the operational Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL) coupled hurricane–ocean prediction model. The impact of the new parameterization on the hurricane prediction is mainly found in increased maximum surface wind speeds, while it does not appreciably affect the hurricane central pressure prediction. This helps to improve the GFDL model–predicted wind–pressure relationship in strong hurricanes. Attempts are made to provide physical explanations as to why the reduced drag coefficient affects surface wind speeds but not the central pressure in hurric...