A study of the relationship between surface features and the in-flight performance of footballs

Football is widely regarded as the most popular sport in the world involving over 270 million people from different countries and cultures. It can be argued that the football is one of most important aspects of the game and hence the flight of the ball, if unexpected, can alter the outcome of the game. This thesis provides an engineering perspective and contribution to the continued understanding and improvement of the in-flight performance of FIFA approved footballs. Skilful players will impart spin onto a ball to induce a curve in-flight to try and deceive opponents. This flight is generally smooth, although subtle variations in the orientation and spin rate may cause conditions that affect the path and final ball position, in a manner considered to be unpredictable due to aerodynamic effects. Ball designs and manufacturing techniques are evolving and certain seam configurations are known to induce asymmetric pressure distributions resulting in lateral movement during flight. Aerodynamic research of sport balls has primarily focused on drag and the effects of high spin rates. Studies have shown the introduction of surface roughness affects the boundary layer state compared to a smooth sphere. Surface roughness on a football takes many forms including seam configurations and micro surface textures. The influence of changing the density, distribution and dimensions of the surface roughness with respect to the aerodynamic behaviour has been researched. The principle focus of this thesis is concerned with the influence on the lateral component as a result of applying surface roughness to the outer surfaces. The influence of the surface roughness on the drag and lateral components were determined using established wind tunnel techniques. Real balls and full size prototypes were tested. A mathematical flight model was employed to simulate realistic multiple flight trajectories based on empirical aerodynamic data. Mathematical and statistical techniques, including R.M.S and AutoCorrelation Functions were used to analyse the data. The results from this research showed how small variations in surface texture affected the complex nature of the lateral forces. Trajectories varied significantly depending on initial orientation and slow spin rate sensitivities. In conclusion, ball characterisation techniques were developed that identified lateral deviation and shape measures and considered a gradient profiling approach. Application of these novel parameters through multiple trajectory analysis allowed for an in-flight performance measure of footballs designs

The application of simulation to the understanding of football flight

This paper demonstrates the value of using a flight model in the analysis of the flight of a football, and explores the complexity of the model required to produce useful results. Two specific aspects of the simulation are addressed: the need to include a model of spin decay and the requirement to include a full aerodynamic drag profile as a function of Reynolds number rather than a single indicative value. Both are aspects of the ball performance that are experimentally intensive to obtain. The simulated flights show that the inclusion of spin degradation is important if flight validation is the objective, but that it may be unnecessary in a comparative study. The simple analytical model of spin degradation is shown to overestimate the reduction in lateral deviation when compared to experimentally acquired data. Therefore, the experimental method is preferred. The analysis of the shape of the drag profile (drag coefficient against Reynolds number) is explored, and it is shown from the simulated flights that post-critical coefficients of drag have the greatest effect on trajectories, and an average drag value is sufficient for most modelled scenarios

The aerodynamic performance of a range of FIFA-approved footballs

Much discussion surrounds the flight of a football especially that perceived as irregular and is typically done so with little understanding of the aerodynamic effects or substantive evidence of the path taken. This work establishes that for a range of FIFA approved balls there is a significant variation in aerodynamic performance. This paper describes the methods used for mounting stationary and spinning footballs in a wind tunnel enabling accurate force data to be obtained, and the analysis techniques used. The approach has been to investigate a number of scenarios: Non-spinning Reynolds Sweep, Unsteady Loads, Orientation Sensitivity (Yaw Sweep) and Spinning Reynolds Sweep. The techniques are applied to a number of footballs with differing constructions and the results reported. To put the aerodynamic data into context the results are applied in a flight model to predict the potential differences in the behaviour of each ball in the air. The paper concludes that although the drag characteristics are different for the different balls tested the simulation suggests that this has only a limited effect on the flight of the ball. It is also shown that the unsteadiness of the aerodynamic loads is unlikely to be responsible for unpredictable behaviour. However, it is also shown that there are significant differences in the lateral aerodynamic forces for a range of FIFA approved match balls, and that these aerodynamic differences have a significant effect on the flight path for both spinning and for slowly rotating balls

Maps Showing the Potential Distribution of Four Species of Mosquitoes in the United States

<p>Distribution predicted using satellite derived environmental data is in red, and recorded distribution is outlined in yellow. Image courtesy: TALA Research Group–University of Oxford.</p

Arthropod Vectors That Are Discussed in This Paper

<p>Arthropod Vectors That Are Discussed in This Paper</p

Atomic Layer Deposition of l‑Alanine Polypeptide

l-Alanine polypeptide thin films were synthesized via atomic layer deposition (ALD). Instead of using an amino acid monomer as the precursor, an l-alanine amino acid derivatized with a protecting group was used to prevent self-polymerization, increase the vapor pressure, and allow linear cycle-by-cycle growth emblematic of ALD. The successful deposition of a conformal polypeptide film has been confirmed by FTIR, TEM, and Mass Spectrometry, and the ALD process has been extended to polyvaline