a r t i c l e i n f o An accurate model for the drag coefficient (C D) of a falling sphere is presented in terms of a non-linear rational fractional transform of the series of Goldstein (Proc. Roy. Soc. London A, 123, 225-235, 1929) to Oseen's equation. The coefficients of the six polynomial terms are improved through a direct fit to the experimental data of Roos and Willmarth (AIAA J., 9:285-2...

Gliding flight is a relatively inexpensive mode of flight used by many larger bird species, where potential energy is used to cover the cost of aerodynamic drag. Birds have great flexibility in their flight configuration, allowing them to control their flight speed and glide angle. However, relatively little is known about how this flexibility affects aerodynamic drag. We measured the wake of a...

A hindcast of typical extratropical storm surge occurring in the Bohai Sea in Oct. 2003 is performed using a three-dimensional storm surge model system based on Finite-Volume Coastal Ocean Model (FVCOM). The surface winds are obtained from the WRF data set. Some preliminary sensitivity studies of the influential factors affecting the storm surge simulation in the Bohai Sea are studied with the ...

The propulsive motions of swimming harp seals (Phoca groenlandica Erxleben) and ringed seals (Phoca hispida Schreber) were studied by filming individuals in a flume. The seals swam at velocities ranging from 0.6 to 1.42 m s-1. Locomotion was accomplished with alternate lateral sweeps of the hind flippers generated by lateral flexions of the axial body in conjunction with flexion of the flippers...

Although the thermoelectric figure of merit zT above 300 K has seen significant improvement recently, the progress at lower temperatures has been slow, mainly limited by the relatively low Seebeck coefficient and high thermal conductivity. Here we report, for the first time to our knowledge, success in first-principles computation of the phonon drag effect--a coupling phenomenon between electro...

An experimentalinvestigation has been made of the subsonic lift, drag and longitudinal stability characteristics of models representing some alternative slender airbus configurations. For the same wing planform of aspect ratio 1.4 the lift, drag and pitching moment have been measured for two wings of maximum thickness/chord ratio 4 and 9 per cent respectively, both without and with various body...

Steady incompressible flow around a circular cylinder in an external magnetic field that is aligned with fluid flow direction is studied for Re (Reynolds number) up to 40 and the interaction parameter in the range 0 ≤N ≤ 15 (or 0 ≤M ≤ 30), where M is the Hartmann number related to N by the relation M = √2N Re, using finite difference method. The pressure-Poisson equation is solved to find press...

Existing estimates of flight energetics in glossophagine flower bats, the heaviest hovering vertebrate taxon, suggest disproportionately high expenditure of mechanical power. We determined wingbeat kinematics and mechanical power expenditure for one of the largest flower bats (Leptonycteris curasoae Martinez and Villa) during hovering flight in normodense and hypodense gas mixtures. Additional ...

This contribution presents different approaches for the modeling of air entrainment under water by plunging jets in CFD codes. In simulations which include the full length of the jet and its environment, the process of bubble generation can not be resolved due to computational limitations. This is why the air entrainment has to be modeled in meso-scale simulations. In the frame of an EulerEuler...

We study the evolution (expansion or oscillation) of cylindrically symmetric magnetic flux ropes when the energy dissipation is due to a drag force proportional to the product of the plasma density and the radial speed of expansion. The problem is reduced to a single, second-order, ordinary differential equation for a damped, non-linear oscillator. Motivated by recent work on the interplanetary...