Drag analysis of a jeep wrangler, vs a lobster

Made for Mitchell Fagnan

Matthew Mueller (Dipl. Mechanical Engineering- Robotics)

Undergraduate Engineering University of Alberta
Introduction
This paper will be a brief analysis of the drag experienced by a new model jeep wrangler and a lobster.

This methodology is based on Cengel’s Fluid Mechanics Fourth ed.

Analysis
The formula for drag force is as follows:

𝐶𝐷 𝐴𝜌𝑉 2
𝐹𝐷 =
2
Where:

𝐹𝐷 is drag force.

𝐶𝐷 is drag coefficient

𝐴 is the Frontal area of the object

𝑉 is the up stream velocity

Jeep Wrangler
The frontal area of the Jeep according to Cengel has a drag coefficient of 0.4.

The frontal area of the Jeep is calculated as follows:

𝐴 = 𝐿𝑥𝑊
Where L and W are available in Appendix A.

𝐴 = 1873𝑚𝑚𝑥1865𝑚𝑚 = 3.49𝑚2
Therefore, the drag force of the Jeep Wrangler at 100𝑘𝑚/ℎ𝑟 is:

1𝑚/𝑠𝑒𝑐 2
0.4𝑥3.49𝑚2 𝑥1.20𝑘𝑔/𝑚3 𝑥(100𝑘𝑚/ℎ𝑟)2 𝑥 ( )
3.6𝑘𝑚/ℎ𝑟
F𝐷 = = 646.3𝑁
2
The Lobster
This analysis will follow the same steps as the Jeep Wrangler.

The area of the lobster is more complex, see Appendix B.

𝐴 = 0.1502𝑚(. 0508𝑚) = 0.076𝑚

The drag coefficient can be estimated a cylinder 1.1.

1𝑚/𝑠𝑒𝑐 2
1.1. 𝑥0.076𝑚2 𝑥1.20𝑘𝑔/𝑚3 𝑥(100𝑘𝑚/ℎ𝑟)2 𝑥 ( )
3.6𝑘𝑚/ℎ𝑟
F𝐷 = = 38.7𝑁
2

Conclusions
There is no doubt that the lobster has significantly less drag force than that of a Jeep Wrangler, however
the surface area of the lobster is 2.2% of the area of the jeep.

What if the lobster had the same approximate size as a jeep?

The Lobster II
If we re estimate the size of the lobster to about the size of a car we obtain:

𝐴 = 1.5𝑚(. 508𝑚) = .762𝑚2

Rerunning the drag equation:

1𝑚/𝑠𝑒𝑐 2
1.1. 𝑥0.762𝑚2 𝑥1.20𝑘𝑔/𝑚3 𝑥(100𝑘𝑚/ℎ𝑟)2 𝑥 ( )
3.6𝑘𝑚/ℎ𝑟
F𝐷 = = 388𝑁
2
This is much closer, and to be expected given the size of a normal lobster compared to a normal Jeep.

This also raises concerns about lobsters the size of Cars.

Appendix A
Appendix B

Using the ruler in frame and estimating the frontal surface area of the lobster a value of:

6” (0.152m) for the width

2” (.508m) for the height is obtained