Article 2
Turbulators and Coefficient of Drag
by P. Chantabhakdi, K. Muangsiri, I. Poonvasin, D. Vitayatanagorn
Abstract
Turbulators have been shown to reduce the drag force on an object moving through a fluid. The relationship between the number of turbulators and the coefficient of drag of a sphere moving through water is investigated here. 3D-printed spheres of radius 25 mm with turbulators ranging in number from 0 to 106 were pulled through water to measure their drag coefficients. The results show a nonlinear relationship between the number of turbulators and the coefficient of drag. The drag decreased with the increase in number of turbulators up to around 70 turbulators, then increased with increasing number of turbulators, showing that there is an optimal range for reducing drag.