Drag scaling law and parachute terminal velocity of the dandelion

The common dandelion uses a bundle of drag-enhancing bristles (the pappus) that enables seed dispersal over formidable distances; however, the scaling laws of aerodynamic drag underpinning pappus-mediated flight remain unresolved. In this paper, we find that the aerodynamic drag of dandelion is appr...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:AIP advances 2023-08, Vol.13 (8), p.085305-085305-6
Main Authors: Sun, Bo-Hua, Guo, Xiao-Lin
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aerodynamic drag
Fluid flow
Reynolds number
Scaling laws
Terminal velocity
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Summary:The common dandelion uses a bundle of drag-enhancing bristles (the pappus) that enables seed dispersal over formidable distances; however, the scaling laws of aerodynamic drag underpinning pappus-mediated flight remain unresolved. In this paper, we find that the aerodynamic drag of dandelion is approximately proportional to the −2/3 power of the dandelion pappus Reynolds number, and the terminal velocity of dandelion seeds is proportional to the 3/4 power of dandelion pappus weight. By the way, the Vogel exponent −2/3 for dandelion is determined.
ISSN:2158-3226
2158-3226
DOI:10.1063/5.0155103