Observing Wave Propagation of a Float Serve on a Volleyball

There has been research that has determined that the drag forces on a non-spinning volleyball's boundary layer causes the ball to swerve on its trajectory. The purpose of this paper is to develop a numerical model for wave propagation on a volleyball, which we model as a smooth sphere, to show that the waves lead to some turbulence on the flight path of a volleyball. By applying various initial conditions to the three-dimensional wave equation, we can observe waves travelling on its surface. We first solve the wave equation with spherical coordinates using separation of variables. For our model, we study the wave equation restricted to a sphere and describe it solutions, which are known as spherical harmonics. By using the software \emph{Matlab}, we are able to implement our equations and initial conditions to observe the wave oscillations on the volleyball.

Grantor dc:publisher

Wake Forest University

Year dc:date.issued

2012

Author dc:creator

• Novacek, Katherine

• Mathematics

Language dc:language.iso

en

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/10339/37650

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:wakespace.lib.wfu.edu:10339/37650