Cylinder Drag -- from Eric Weisstein's World of Physics

Cylinder Drag

For an infinite circular cylinder of diameter d, the drag coefficient is given by

where is the drag force per unit length (Tritton 1988, p. 32). Note that this definition replaces the present in the definition of the usual drag coefficient with . The coefficient displays three distinct regimes as a functions Reynolds number Re. For , , for , , and for , drops then rises. The latter transition corresponds to the onset of turbulence in the boundary layer (Tritton 1988, pp. 32-33).

Drag, Drag Coefficient, Drag Force

References

Delany, N. K. and Sorenson, N. E. Nat. Adv. Comm. Aero. Tech. Note 3038, 1953.

Finn, R. K. "Determination of the Drag on a Cylinder at Low Reynolds Numbers." J. Appl. Phys. 24, 771-773, 1953.

Huner, B. and Hussey, R. G. "Cylinder Drag at Low Reynolds Number." Phys. Fluids 20, 1211-1218, 1977.

Jayaweera, K. O. L. F. and Mason, B. J. "The Behaviour of Freely Falling Cylinders and Cones in a Viscous Fluid." J. Fluid Mech. 22, 709-720, 1965.

Roshko, A. "Experiments on the Flow Past a Circular Cylinder at Very High Reynolds Number." J. Fluid Mech. 10, 345-356, 1961.

Tanida, Y.; Okajima, A.; and Wanatabe, Y. "Stability of a Circular Cylinder Oscillating in Uniform Flow or in a Wake." J. Fluid Mech. 61, 769-784, 1973.

Tritton, D. J. "Experiments on the Flow Past a Circular Cylinder at Low Reynolds Numbers." J. Fluid Mech. 6, 547-567, 1959.

Tritton, D. J. Physical Fluid Dynamics, 2nd ed. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, 1988.

Wieselberger, C. "Neuere Feststellungen Über die Gesetze des Flüssigkeits Luftwiderstands." Phys. Z. 22, 321-328, 1921.