An experimental and computational study of a rugby ball's aerodynamics

Abstract

As the Australian Rules football and the rugby ball have an odd ellipsoidal shape, they tend to differ greatly from conventional spheroid shaped sports balls in both the aerodynamic behaviour they exhibit and the axes in which they rotate. Copious amounts of data can be retrieved on spherical shpaed ball; scarce information is readily available on elliptical balls on the public domain. To be able to fully grasp an understanding on these elliptical shaped balls, exhaustive experimental studies have been undertaken for a range of varying speeds and yaw angles. The airflow around Rugby and Australian Rules foot balls was visualized and the average drag coefficients for both balls were determined and compared. The average drag coefficient for all the speeds and yaw angles was computed and compared; subsequently the corresponding Reynolds numbers variations at yaw angles were analysed; with a comparison of data analysed obtained from CFD and EFD