EME 109

Drag on a Cylinder

Background
Congratulations! You have been hired to do an experiment to determine the drag force per unit length (N/m) that would be exerted on a
smooth cylindrical structure that is immersed in a flowing river. Numerical values related to the submerged cylinder and the water are
tabulated below. Because of budget limitations and the fact that a water tunnel is not available, your approach is to perform
experiments with a cylinder installed in the EME 109 aerodynamic wind tunnel. You need to: (1) specify the wind tunnel airspeed, (2)
measure the cylinder surface pressure as a function of angle, (3) integrate the pressure profile to calculate the drag force on the
cylinder, and then (4) scale your results to predict the drag force per unit length on the cylinder immersed in the river.

Numerical
Quantity Symbol Value
Cylinder Diameter d 0.03 m
Water Speed Vw 2 m/s
Water Density w 1000 kg/m3
Water Dynamic w 0.001 kg/(m s)
Viscosity

Description
This experiment uses an educational wind tunnel of the open-circuit type. There is a force balance that can be used to measure
aerodynamic forces acting on objects placed in the test section. Provisions have also been made to allow measurement of pressures at
various points on objects placed in the flow (though these objects must have pressure taps located on them).
You should bring a thumb drive to the lab so you can save data files.
Background
Read a fluid dynamics text about flows over cylinders. Topics of interest are surface pressure profiles, laminar and turbulent boundary
layers, Reynolds numbers, drag coefficients, and boundary later separation. You should also read about dimensionless numbers and
scaling.

Safety Guidelines
Compliance with safety instructions is mandatory. General safety information is listed below. Consult the safety guidelines in your
experiment handouts as well as safety guidelines posted in the laboratory for other safety information.

 Teaching Assistants for EME 109 must be present when any of the equipment or experiments are operated.
 Doorways must be kept clear.
 Power tools cannot be used when you are alone in the laboratory.
 Electrical wiring changes cannot be done while you are alone in the laboratory.
 Closed-heel and closed-toed shoes are required in the laboratory.
 If you are supplied eye or ear protection, you must use it.
 Safety goggles or glasses must be worn when using power tools or chemicals.
 Ventilation fans must be on when using any chemicals or operating any combustion engines in the laboratory.
 A carbon monoxide (CO) monitor must be used when operating any combustion engines in the laboratory.
 All students (and Teaching Assistants) must be familiar with the location and operating instructions for the nearest fire
extinguisher.
 Long pants must be worn when in the laboratory.

Experimental Procedure

Warning: There should be no need to unplug or plug in the power cords once the laboratory sessions have started. Only the
TA's should handle the power cords.
Warning: Only the TA should operate controls not located on the main control panel.
Warning: Stay away from the fan area while the fan motor is operating.
Warning: Do not unlatch or open the wind tunnel doors while the fan is in motion.
Warning: Always wear safety glasses and hearing protection when operating the laboratory equipment!
Warning: Always make sure that all loose objects are removed from the interior of the wind tunnel before turning on the fan.
Warning: Never allow the airspeed to exceed the value selected for this experiment. The drag forces on the cylinder
may be too large for airspeeds higher than this. Always monitor the manometer reading and make
adjustments as necessary to keep the airspeed at the required value.

1. Put on your safety glasses.

2. Record the atmospheric pressure and temperature on your data sheet.

3. You will perform experiments with the test section airspeed required for the scaling analysis. Show the TA your calculations for
this airspeed.

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 For this airspeed, calculate the reading that will apply to the digital manometer (use the Bernoulli equation for the pitot-static
probe). Record these data below (include units).

Airspeed Manometer Reading

________________ ________________

4. If not already in place on the cylinder, cut a short length of string (≈ 2 cm). Firmly tape the string onto the cylinder at the same
angle as the pressure tap (do not cover the pressure tap). You may also tape string at other locations. The purpose of the string
is to allow the flow direction to be visualized.

5. IMPORTANT: Remove all loose objects from the wind tunnel.

6. Put on your hearing protection.

7. Zero the pressure measurement systems.

8. Check to make sure that the fan speed control knob is rotated counterclockwise as far as possible.

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9. Start the fan motor.

10. Slowly increase the airspeed until the digital manometer reading reaches a value appropriate for the airspeed. Rotate the fan
control knob clockwise to increase airspeed and counterclockwise to decrease airspeed.

11. Let the fan run for about 5 minutes to allow the motor control system to stabilize. Make adjustments as necessary to keep the
airspeed at the required value.

12. Slowly rotate the cylinder so the pressure tap is at angles of 0, 5, 10, 15, …, 180 degrees. Ask your TA to show you the correct
way to rotate the cylinder. At each angle, record data for 30 s at the fastest data acquisition rate available. Also sketch the string
behaviors.

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13. Reduce the airspeed to zero by turning the fan control knob counterclockwise.

14. Stop the fan motor.

15. Save your data.

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Data Reduction
You are to modify the R code provided for data reduction, but in order to do this you need to put your data in a csv file. You need to
have a header at the top of each column exactly as shown below. This creates a data frame. All rows except the top row should contain
only data. The first few rows of a representative data frame are shown below.

Time Drag P1 P2 Angle T_amb P_amb RHO_amb V

0 5.63 -0.04 -0.43 0 24 1000 1.17 24.77
0.5 5.72 -0.03 -0.43 0 24 1000 1.17 25.12
1 5.76 -0.04 -0.42 0 24 1000 1.17 24.94
1.5 5.7 -0.05 -0.44 0 24 1000 1.17 24.88
2 5.72 -0.05 -0.44 0 24 1000 1.17 24.91
2.5 5.86 -0.04 -0.42 0 24 1000 1.17 24.74
3 5.7 -0.04 -0.44 0 24 1000 1.17 24.74
3.5 5.56 -0.03 -0.43 0 24 1000 1.17 24.77
4 5.51 -0.05 -0.43 0 24 1000 1.17 24.88
4.5 5.45 -0.04 -0.43 0 24 1000 1.17 25.05
5 5.6 -0.03 -0.43 0 24 1000 1.17 24.88

You can now access the data with R by referencing the headers (see below). You can download a sample data file named
"Sample_Cylinder_Data_Set_Summer_2020.csv" from Canvas. Run the code below in R for sample boxplots and calculations.

# clear everything
rm(list=ls())

# read in the data

data <- read.csv(file="Lab_4.csv",head=TRUE,sep=",")

# make the data accessible via its headers

attach(data)

# experimental pressure coefficient

Cp <- 1000*(P1-P2)/(0.5*RHO_amb*V*V)

# draw the pressure difference boxplots

windows()
boxplot((P1-P2)~Angle,range=0,xlab="Angle (degrees)",ylab="P1-P2 (kPa)")

# draw the pressure coefficient boxplots

windows()
boxplot(Cp~Angle,range=0,xlab="Angle (degrees)",ylab="Cp",ylim=c(-3.5,1.5))

# plot the airspeed as a time series

windows()
plot(V,type='l',ylim=c(0.5*mean(V),1.5*mean(V)))

# calculate the pressure drag by numerical integration of the mean pressure profile
R <- 63.5/2/1000 # cylinder radius in m
L <- 300/1000 # cylinder length in m
Theta <-
c(0,5,10,15,20,25,30,35,40,45,50,55,60,65,70,75,80,85,90,95,100,105,110,115,120,125,130,135,140,145
,150,155,160,165,170,175,180)*pi/180 # vector of angles in radians

# subset the data by angle

data0 <- subset(data,Angle==0)
data5 <- subset(data,Angle==5)
data10 <- subset(data,Angle==10)
data15 <- subset(data,Angle==15)
data20 <- subset(data,Angle==20)
data25 <- subset(data,Angle==25)
data30 <- subset(data,Angle==30)
data35 <- subset(data,Angle==35)
data40 <- subset(data,Angle==40)
data45 <- subset(data,Angle==45)
data50 <- subset(data,Angle==50)
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data55 <- subset(data,Angle==55)
data60 <- subset(data,Angle==60)
data65 <- subset(data,Angle==65)
data70 <- subset(data,Angle==70)
data75 <- subset(data,Angle==75)
data80 <- subset(data,Angle==80)
data85 <- subset(data,Angle==85)
data90 <- subset(data,Angle==90)
data95 <- subset(data,Angle==95)
data100 <- subset(data,Angle==100)
data105 <- subset(data,Angle==105)
data110 <- subset(data,Angle==110)
data115 <- subset(data,Angle==115)
data120 <- subset(data,Angle==120)
data125 <- subset(data,Angle==125)
data130 <- subset(data,Angle==130)
data135 <- subset(data,Angle==135)
data140 <- subset(data,Angle==140)
data145 <- subset(data,Angle==145)
data150 <- subset(data,Angle==150)
data155 <- subset(data,Angle==155)
data160 <- subset(data,Angle==160)
data165 <- subset(data,Angle==165)
data170 <- subset(data,Angle==170)
data175 <- subset(data,Angle==175)
data180 <- subset(data,Angle==180)

# calculate the mean pressure difference P1-P2 for each angle in kPa
dP0 <- mean(data0$P1-data0$P2)
dP5 <- mean(data5$P1-data5$P2)
dP10 <- mean(data10$P1-data10$P2)
dP15 <- mean(data15$P1-data15$P2)
dP20 <- mean(data20$P1-data20$P2)
dP25 <- mean(data25$P1-data25$P2)
dP30 <- mean(data30$P1-data30$P2)
dP35 <- mean(data35$P1-data35$P2)
dP40 <- mean(data40$P1-data40$P2)
dP45 <- mean(data45$P1-data45$P2)
dP50 <- mean(data50$P1-data50$P2)
dP55 <- mean(data55$P1-data55$P2)
dP60 <- mean(data60$P1-data60$P2)
dP65 <- mean(data65$P1-data65$P2)
dP70 <- mean(data70$P1-data70$P2)
dP75 <- mean(data75$P1-data75$P2)
dP80 <- mean(data80$P1-data80$P2)
dP85 <- mean(data85$P1-data85$P2)
dP90 <- mean(data90$P1-data90$P2)
dP95 <- mean(data95$P1-data95$P2)
dP100 <- mean(data100$P1-data100$P2)
dP105 <- mean(data105$P1-data105$P2)
dP110 <- mean(data110$P1-data110$P2)
dP115 <- mean(data115$P1-data115$P2)
dP120 <- mean(data120$P1-data120$P2)
dP125 <- mean(data125$P1-data125$P2)
dP130 <- mean(data130$P1-data130$P2)
dP135 <- mean(data135$P1-data135$P2)
dP140 <- mean(data140$P1-data140$P2)
dP145 <- mean(data145$P1-data145$P2)
dP150 <- mean(data150$P1-data150$P2)
dP155 <- mean(data155$P1-data155$P2)
dP160 <- mean(data160$P1-data160$P2)
dP165 <- mean(data165$P1-data165$P2)
dP170 <- mean(data170$P1-data170$P2)
dP175 <- mean(data175$P1-data175$P2)
dP180 <- mean(data180$P1-data180$P2)

# create a mean pressure vector in Pa

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dP <- c(dP0, dP5, dP10, dP15, dP20, dP25, dP30, dP35, dP40, dP45, dP50, dP55, dP60, dP65, dP70,
dP75, dP80, dP85, dP90, dP95, dP100, dP105, dP110, dP115, dP120, dP125, dP130, dP135, dP140, dP145,
dP150, dP155, dP160, dP165, dP170, dP175, dP180)*1000

# numerical integration via the trapezoidal rule

x <- Theta
y <- dP*cos(Theta)
library(pracma)
Dp <- 2*R*L*trapz(x,y) # pressure drag in N
Dp/L # pressure drag per unit length (N/m)

Perform the following tasks to provide data and plots that will help you to execute the tasks described in the Background section.

1. Generate boxplots of the measured pressure difference (ps - p¥) and the associated pressure coefficient Cp,expt = (ps - p¥)/(airV2/2) as
a function of the angle . Use the R code provided.

Comment on whether these plots are consistent with literature data. Also comment on the angular location of boundary layer
separation, whether the boundary layer is laminar or turbulent, and what would be expected based on the literature.

L = cylinder length = 300 mm, R = cylinder radius = 63.5/2 mm = 31.75 mm, ps = local cylinder surface pressure, p¥ =
static pressure far upstream of the cylinder, V = speed of flow far upstream of the cylinder,  = angle from the forward
stagnation point, air = air density.

2. Plot the airspeed as a time series and comment on the airspeed steadiness over the duration of your experiment.

3. Using your experimental data on surface pressure as a function of angle, evaluate the pressure drag force D p acting on the
cylinder. Do this by numerically integrating the surface pressure data over the cylinder surface (evaluate the integral below, which
you can consider to be a data reduction equation). Note that you need to use radians in the integral. The function trapz() in the R
library pracma does trapezoidal integration.

π
Dp
=2 R ∫ ( p s− p∞ ) cos ( θ ) dθ
L 0

Use the R code provided for the integration. Modify this code provided to include all of the angles you investigated in your
experiments. The lines of code to be modified are highlighted.

NOTE: For this lab report, all plots are to be created using R. All calculations are also to be done in R.

NOTE: This report is due at 9:00 pm on 07/16/2020. It is to be turned in on Canvas as a pdf file. Also upload a .R executable file
that the TA can run as well as any data files that your R code uses for its calculations. The R code must have comments so
the TA can understand what the code is doing.

NOTE: The late policy for this report is 25% off (of the total possible) for every 24-hour period that the report is late.