1

Dat a Cor r el at i on f or Dr ag Coef f i ci ent

f or Spher e


Fai t h A. Mor r i son
Depar t ment of Chemi cal Engi neer i ng
Mi chi gan Technol ogi cal Uni ver si t y, Hought on, MI 49931

Ci t e as: Fai t h A. Mor r i son, Dat a Cor r el at i on f or Dr ag Coef f i ci ent f or Spher e,
Depar t ment of Chemi cal Engi neer i ng, Mi chi gan Technol ogi cal Uni ver si t y, Hought on, MI ,
www. chem. mt u. edu/ ~f mor r i so/ Dat aCor r el at i onFor Spher eDr ag2010. pdf , accessed ( gi ve dat e) .


The cor r el at i on f or dr ag coef f i ci ent i n uni f or mf l ow ar ound a spher e
( Schl i cht i ng, 1955; Bi r d et . al , 2002; Denn, 1980; Geankopl i s, 2003;
Whi t e, 2006) i s a st apl e of f l ui d f l ow cal cul at i ons and f l ui d mechani cs
educat i on. Engi neer s use t he dr ag coef f i ci ent s f r omt hi s char t t o
cal cul at e pr essur e dr ops and f l ow r at es f or f l ows ar ound spher es,
i ncl udi ng set t l i ng and bal l i st i cs f l ows. A cor r el at i on i s pr esent ed
t hat capt ur es dr ag coef f i ci ent ver sus Reynol ds number f or al l val ues of
Reynol ds number ( cr eepi ng f l ow, r eci r cul at i ng, and t ur bul ent ) .


I t i s occasi onal l y desi r abl e t o have a dat a cor r el at i on t hat spans t he
ent i r e r ange of Reynol ds number , f r omcr eepi ng f l ow, t hr ough f l ows wi t h
vor t i ci es, and r eachi ng t he hi ghest val ues of Reynol ds number i n
t ur bul ent f l ows. For t hi s pur pose, we have devel oped a new dat a
cor r el at i on f or uni f or mf l ow ar ound a spher e, one t hat i s expl i ci t i n
dr ag coef f i ci ent and whi ch i s r el at i vel y si mpl e i n f or m. The equat i on
i s gi ven bel ow:

Spher e dr ag:
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000 , 461
Re
000 , 263
Re
1
000 , 263
Re
411 . 0
0 . 5
Re
1
0 . 5
Re
6 . 2
Re
24
80 . 0
00 . 8
94 . 7
52 . 1
D
C ( 1)

wher e C
D
i s t he dr ag coef f i ci ent , and Re i s t he Reynol ds number .

A pl ot of equat i on 1 i s shown i n Fi gur e 1 al ong wi t h dat a f or spher es
f r omSchl i cht i ng ( 1955) . At l ow Reynol ds number , equat i on 1 becomes
C
D
=24/ Re. At t he hi ghest Reynol ds number s, equat i on 1 becomes a l i ne
wi t h sl ope of 0. 80 on a l og- l og gr aph. We do not r ecommend usi ng
equat i on 1 f or Reynol ds number s l ar ger t han 10
6
. Equat i on 1 capt ur es
t he shape of t he dat a f or uni f or mf l ow ar ound a spher e t hr ough t he
hi ghl y var i abl e t r ansi t i on r egi on near Re=2x10
6
( Fi gur e 1) .
2

0.01
0.1
1
10
100
1000
10000
0.01 0.1 1 10 100 1000 10000 1E+0
5
1E+0
6
1E+0
7
Re
C
D


Fi gur e 1: Equat i on 1 capt ur es dr ag coef f i ci ent as a f unct i on of
Reynol ds number over t he ent i r e Reynol ds- number r ange of t he avai l abl e
exper i ment al dat a. Al so shown ar e dat a f or uni f or mf l ow ar ound a
spher e ( Schl i cht i ng, 1955) . Use beyond Re=10
6
i s not r ecommended; f or
Re<2 equat i on 1 f ol l ows t he cr eepi ng- f l ow r esul t ( C
D
=24/ Re) .





Ref er ences:

R. B. Bi r d, W. St ewar t , and E. Li ght f oot , Tr anspor t Phenomena, 2
nd

edi t i on ( J ohn Wi l ey & Sons: New Yor k, 2002) .
M. M. Denn, Pr ocess Fl ui d Mechani cs ( Pr ent i ce- Hal l : Engl ewood Cl i f f s,
NJ , 1980) .
C. J . Geankopl i s, Tr anspor t Pr ocesses and Uni t Oper at i ons, 4
t h
edi t i on,
( Pr ent i ce Hal l : Engl ewood Cl i f s, NY, 2003) .
F. M. Whi t e, Fl ui d Mechani cs, 6
t h
edi t i on ( McGr aw- Hi l l , I nc. : New Yor k,
2006) .
H. Schl i cht i ng, Boundar y Layer Theor y, ( McGr aw- Hi l l , New Yor k, 1955) .


10
4
10
5
10
6
10
7

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+ =

000 , 461
Re
000 , 263
Re
1
000 , 263
Re
411 . 0
0 . 5
Re
1
0 . 5
Re
6 . 2
Re
24
80 . 0
00 . 8
94 . 7
52 . 1 D
C

sphere