2014

Drag Coefcient
Measurement
REVIEW OF PREVIOUS E!R"I"#
P a g e $ 2
1% INTRODUCTION
Relative motion between a particle and a surrounding fluid always involve fluid exerting
drag upon the particle Drag force is exerted in a direction parallel to the fluid velocity or
opposite to the particle velocity !or steady flow" the drag force upon the particle is given as the
following e#uation $%reen and &erry '(()*
F
D
=
C
D
A
P
u
2
2
+here !D, drag force
CD, drag coefficient
-p, pro.ected particle area in direction of motion
/ , density of surrounding fluid
u , relative velocity between particle and fluid
The drag coefficient is a dimensionless #uantity that is used to #uantify the drag or resistance
of an ob.ect in a fluid environment It is used in the e#uation above to find drag force" where
high drag coefficient corresponds to large hydrodynamic or aerodynamic drag $0oaveni '(11* It
is a function of several parameters such as shape of the body $surface area*" Reynolds number of
the flow" !roude number" 0ach number and roughness of the surface
The drag coefficient is an extremely crucial variable that determines the drag forces involved
in many aerodynamic applications such as aircraft design and automobile designs" and it helps
professionals in those fields to come up with the most energy efficient designs by minimi2ing the
drag force or utili2ing it efficiently $3enson '(1(* There are many applications in chemical
engineering that ma4e use of drag coefficients as well !or example" drag coefficients are used in
the calculation of particle terminal settling velocity of solids and therefore used where the
suspension or settling of solids particle will occur in chemical unit operations The particle
terminal settling velocity in turn can be used to calculate the hindered settling velocity" so it can
be used to help design solid5li#uid mixers" clarifiers" thic4eners" slurry transport in pipe $ie
design a slurry pump*" solid5li#uid filters It can also be used to design pneumatic transport lines
and used to help design unit operations where solid5fluid $li#uid or gas* will need to be mixed"
transported or separated
P a g e $ 3
The values of the drag coefficient for different body shapes sub.ected to different flow
conditions $laminar" transition and turbulent* are available in a wide range of literature There are
also hundreds of correlations relating the drag coefficient to the particle Reynolds number and
measure of sphericity Normally" the drag coefficients are determined through experiments !or
this pro.ect" the topic of interest involving drag coefficients is the flow over spherical ob.ects
' CONC6&T7
'1 Drag Coefficient of 7pheres
!low over spherical solid is one of the important cases to analy2e for efficient chemical
engineering design8 especially in determining the settling times of chemicals -t low Reynolds
numbers $ie" Re 99 1*" there is no flow separation" and the fluid is stuc4 to the sphere as seen in
!igure 11
Figure 1.1 Flow over sphere in low Re regions
Drag coefficient at low Re can be simply predicted by the linear function as follows8
C
D
=
24
Re
-t moderate Reynolds number between 1((( and '(((((" a boundary layer is formed around the
sphere as seen in !igure 1: - wide wa4e region is formed at the downstream of the spherical
ob.ect
Figure 1.2 Flow over sphere in moderate Re region
P a g e $ 4
The drag coefficient decreases with the increasing Re and at this region of Re" the drag
coefficient becomes constant where"
C
D
=0.44
This region is 4nown as the Newton region
Increasing the Re above '(((( will significantly reduce the boundary layer around the sphere as
shown in !igure 1;
Figure 1.3 Flow over a sphere in highly turbulent region
The flow separation is delayed and the fluid forms a relatively narrow wa4e region in which the
flow is highly unsteady and turbulent !or turbulent boundary layer flow" the drag coefficient is
decreased further until CD , ((< at Re , ;=1(
>
?ence" a turbulent boundary layer developed
along the sphere will reduce the drag force exerted upon the solid The graph of drag coefficient
of sphere as a function of Reynolds number is as illustrated in !igure 1; as follows8
Figure 1.4 Drag coefficient of a sphere as a function of Re
!irst" to find drag coefficient of a sphere" assumption is made that a solid smooth sphere
is moving along the direction of gravity The forces acting on the sphere are as illustrated as
follows8
F
D
P a g e $ 5
Figure 1.5 Free body diagram of spherical ob!ect
+here + is weight
!D is drag force
!b is buoyant force
!or an ob.ect at terminal velocity"
Drag !orce @ 3uoyant !orce A +eight , (
Therefore" the drag force can simply be found by doing force balance with above e#uation where
3uoyant force"
F
b
=V ol ume of S p her e, V Densi t y o f Fl ui d,

+eight"
!=V ol ume o f S phe r e, V De nsi t y of S pher e,
s

!or spherical ob.ects" if Re991" the drag force can be found by 7to4es BawC as shown
F
D
=" # $
f l ui d
% D
+here U is terminal velocity
D is diameter of sphere

$
f l ui d
is viscosity of li#uid
3y e#uating this e#uation to the drag force found from the force balance" the terminal velocity
e#uation can be written as
%=
D
2

&' $
f l ui d
(
P
)
Dnowing the velocity of sphere" Re can be found and subse#uently CD can be determined from
the graph in !igure 1; or from 7to4eCs Baw e#uation ?owever" if the flow is not in the 7to4eCs
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region" another method involving -rchimedesC number" -r" has to be utili2ed -r is simply found
by the following e#uation
A r=
D
"
(
P
)
$
2
Depending on the region of -r" Re values can be found by using correlations or -r vs Re graph
Re can be then used to find the CD from !igure 1;
'' Drag Coefficient of Non57pherical Ob.ects
!or flow over non5spherical ob.ects" their drag coefficient is described by their sphericity"
E $Dumar '(1:* It is the ratio of surface area of a sphere of volume e#ual to that of the particle"
to the surface area of the particle !or example" a cube has a sphericity of (F(< The Re can be
found in the same way as the method for spherical ob.ects at terminal velocity CD can be read
from the graph that shows CD as a function of Re for different sphericities $Rhodes '(1:*
': 6ffect of Near5by &articles
In realistic flows" the velocity gradients around each particle are affected by the presence
of nearby particles $Ghang nd* 7o the normal drag correlations do not apply The extent of the
effect from nearby particles can be categori2ed into three different categories depending on the
concentration of particles in the fluid and their respective CD values can be found
1. For low concentration "c#$.$5%
7low flowH
C
D
=
24
Re
?igh flowH same as for the method for single particle
2. &oderate concentration "$.$5#c#$.3%
7low flowH
C
D
=C
Do
(
&
( &()
)&
)
where N,;<>
?igh flowH
C
D
=C
Do
(
&
(&()
*
)
where
3. 'arge concentration "c($.3%
P a g e $ 7
!or large concentrations" the porous media correlations have to be used to find the I
$ReC* which is the friction factor function for the pore friction rewritten in terms of
particle diameter
&% REFERE"CES
3enson" Tom '(1( The Drag Coefficient N-7- -ccessed ;J:J'(1;"
httpsHJJwwwgrcnasagovJwwwJ451'JairplaneJdragcohtml
%reen" D" and R &erry '(() Perry's Chemical Engineers' Handbook, Eighth EditionH
0c%raw5?ill 6ducation
Dumar" &erumal '(1: Motions of Particles of Fluid" Curtin University Saraak Malaysia 0iri
0oaveni" 7 '(11 Engineering Fundamentals! "n #ntroduction to Engineering, Si EditionH
Cengage Bearning
Rhodes" 0K '(1: #ntroduction to Particle $echnologyH +iley
Ghang" Kie nd 0otions of &articles through !luid -ccessed ) -pril"
httpHJJloriennclacu4JmingJparticleJcpe1';p'html