Parasitic drag

Parasitic drag is drag that acts on an object

when the object is moving through a fluid. In
the case of aerodynamic drag, the fluid is the
atmosphere. Parasitic drag is a combination of
form drag and skin friction drag.[1] Parasitic
drag does not result from the generation of lift
on the object, and hence it is considered
parasitic.

The other components of total drag, lift–

induced drag, wave drag, and ram drag (see
ram pressure), are separate types of drag, and
are not components of parasitic drag.

Drag curve for a lifting body in steady flight

Contents
Description
Form drag
Skin friction drag
Profile drag
See also
References

Description
In flight, lift–induced drag results from the lift force that must be produced so that the craft can maintain
level flight. Induced drag is greater at lower speeds where a high angle of attack is required. As speed
increases, the induced drag decreases, but parasitic drag increases because the fluid is striking the object
with greater force, and is moving across the object's surfaces at higher speed. As speed continues to increase
into the transonic and supersonic regimes, wave drag grows in importance. Each of these drag components
changes in proportion to the others based on speed. The combined overall drag curve therefore shows a
minimum at some airspeed; an aircraft flying at this speed will be close to its optimal efficiency. Pilots will
use this speed to maximize the gliding range in case of an engine failure. However, to maximize the gliding
endurance (minimum sink), the aircraft's speed would have to be at the point of minimum drag power, which
occurs at lower speeds than minimum drag.

At the point of minimum drag, CD,o (drag coefficient of the aircraft when lift equals zero) is equal to CD,i
(induced drag coefficient, or coefficient of drag created by lift). At the point of minimum power, CD,o is
equal to one third times CD,i. This can be proven by deriving the following equations:

where:
is the dynamic pressure and

where

is the aspect ratio,

Form drag
Form drag or pressure drag arises because of the shape of the object. The general size and shape of the
body are the most important factors in form drag; bodies with a larger presented cross-section will have a
higher drag than thinner bodies; sleek ("streamlined") objects have lower form drag. Form drag follows the
drag equation, meaning that it increases with velocity, and thus becomes more important for high-speed
aircraft.

Form drag depends on the longitudinal section of the body. A prudent choice of body profile is essential for
a low drag coefficient. Streamlines should be continuous, and separation of the boundary layer with its
attendant vortices should be avoided.

Skin friction drag

Skin friction drag arises from the friction of the fluid against the "skin" of the object that is moving through
it. Skin friction arises from the interaction between the fluid and the skin of the body, and is directly related
to the wetted surface, the area of the surface of the body that is in contact with the fluid. Air in contact with
a body will stick to the body's surface and that layer will tend to stick to the next layer of air and that in turn
to further layers, hence the body is dragging some amount of air with it. The force required to drag an
"attached" layer of air with the body is called skin friction drag. Skin friction drag imparts some momentum
to a mass of air as it passes through it and that air applies a retarding force on the body. As with other
components of parasitic drag, skin friction follows the drag equation and rises with the square of the
velocity.

Skin friction is caused by viscous drag in the boundary layer around the object. The boundary layer at the
front of the object is usually laminar and relatively thin, but becomes turbulent and thicker towards the rear.
The position of the transition point from laminar to turbulent flow depends on the shape of the object. There
are two ways to decrease friction drag: the first is to shape the moving body so that laminar flow is possible.
The second method is to increase the length and decrease the cross-section of the moving object as much as
practicable. To do so, a designer can consider the fineness ratio, which is the length of the aircraft divided by
its diameter at the widest point (L/D). It is mostly kept 6:1 for subsonic flows. Increase in length increases
Reynolds number. With Reynolds no. in the denominator for skin friction coefficient's relation, as its value
is increased (in laminar range), total friction drag is reduced. While decrease in cross-sectional area
decreases drag force on the body as the disturbance in air flow is less. For wings of an aircraft, a decrease in
length (chord) of the wings will reduce "induced" drag though, if not the friction drag.

The skin friction coefficient, , is defined by

where is the local wall shear stress, and q is the free-stream dynamic pressure.[2] For boundary layers
without a pressure gradient in the x direction, it is related to the momentum thickness as

For comparison, the turbulent empirical relation known as the One-seventh Power Law (derived by
Theodore von Kármán) is:

where is the Reynolds number.[3]

Profile drag
Profile drag is a term usually applied to the drag acting on a wing. With a 2-dimensional wing there is no
lift-induced drag so the whole of the drag is profile drag. With a 3-dimensional wing the total drag minus the
lift-induced drag is the profile drag[4] - it is defined as the sum of form drag and skin friction.[5]

See also
NACA duct
Skin friction line

References
1. Clancy, L.J. (1975). Aerodynamics, Sub-section 5.9. Pitman Publishing. ISBN 0 273 01120 0
2. "Skin friction coefficient -- CFD-Wiki, the free CFD reference" (http://www.cfd-online.com/Wiki/
Skin_friction_coefficient). www.cfd-online.com. Retrieved 22 April 2018.
3. Introduction to Flight, John Anderson Jr., 7th edition
4. Anderson, John D. (1984). Fundamentals of Aerodynamics, p.192, 233. McGraw-Hill Book
Company ISBN 0-07-001656-9
5. "Profile drag definition and meaning - Collins English Dictionary" (http://www.collinsdictionary.c
om/dictionary/english/profile-drag). www.collinsdictionary.com. Retrieved 22 April 2018.

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