A System for Measuring the Lift and Drag Forces of a Spinning Golf Ball Held Fixed Within a Wind Tunnel

A system was designed, built and tested in order to test the aerodynamic properties of a standard golf ball in a wind tunnel manufactured by ELD, Inc. model 406(B). The system consists of a rotating shaft, on which the golf ball is attached, connected to a two-axis force transducer. Additionally, an automated data acquisition system was built for enhanced precision of measurements. Data for wind speeds up to 160 ft/s and rotational speeds up to 8,600 rpm were obtained and analyzed. The purpose of the designed apparatus was to allow for studies to better understand the lift and drag coefficients of golf balls during their flight. Subsequent to testing, it was found that the force transducer was not adequate to measure the lift and drag coefficients with sufficient accuracy. Several suggestions have been made on how to improve the wind tunnel so that better results might be obtained in the future.

Name thesis:degree_name

MS in Mechanical Engineering

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Mechanical Engineering

Year dc:date.available

2009

Author dc:creator

• Miller, Ryan R

Contributors dc:contributor

• Tom Mase

• golf balls
• aerodynamics
• testing
• data acquisition
• Aerodynamics and Fluid Mechanics
• Applied Mechanics

Identifier

10.15368/theses.2009.13

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digitalcommons.calpoly.edu:theses-1048