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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 i...

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Main Authors: Simon Tuplin, Martin Passmore, David Rogers, Andy Harland, Tim Lucas, Chris E. Holmes
Format: Default Article
Published: 2012
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/2134/10036
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author Simon Tuplin
Martin Passmore
David Rogers
Andy Harland
Tim Lucas
Chris E. Holmes
author_facet Simon Tuplin
Martin Passmore
David Rogers
Andy Harland
Tim Lucas
Chris E. Holmes
author_sort Simon Tuplin (1251120)
collection Figshare
description 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.
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id rr-article-9227942
institution Loughborough University
publishDate 2012
record_format Figshare
spelling rr-article-92279422012-01-01T00:00:00Z The application of simulation to the understanding of football flight Simon Tuplin (1251120) Martin Passmore (1252104) David Rogers (210379) Andy Harland (1252917) Tim Lucas (7121672) Chris E. Holmes (7121669) Mechanical engineering not elsewhere classified Football Aerodynamics Flight trajectory Spin rate Spin decay Reynolds number Mechanical Engineering not elsewhere classified 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. 2012-01-01T00:00:00Z Text Journal contribution 2134/10036 https://figshare.com/articles/journal_contribution/The_application_of_simulation_to_the_understanding_of_football_flight/9227942 CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
spellingShingle Mechanical engineering not elsewhere classified
Football
Aerodynamics
Flight trajectory
Spin rate
Spin decay
Reynolds number
Mechanical Engineering not elsewhere classified
Simon Tuplin
Martin Passmore
David Rogers
Andy Harland
Tim Lucas
Chris E. Holmes
The application of simulation to the understanding of football flight
title The application of simulation to the understanding of football flight
title_full The application of simulation to the understanding of football flight
title_fullStr The application of simulation to the understanding of football flight
title_full_unstemmed The application of simulation to the understanding of football flight
title_short The application of simulation to the understanding of football flight
title_sort application of simulation to the understanding of football flight
topic Mechanical engineering not elsewhere classified
Football
Aerodynamics
Flight trajectory
Spin rate
Spin decay
Reynolds number
Mechanical Engineering not elsewhere classified
url https://hdl.handle.net/2134/10036