Experimental Characterization of a Cyclist’s Wake

Large-scale particle image velocimetry (PIV) is used to characterize the dynamics of the unsteady wake of a non-pedalling full-scale cyclist. This to provide better understanding of the flow structures that generate the aerodynamic drag. Instantaneous flow fields are acquired and averaged to obtain the time-average flow topology. Afterwards,...

Aerodynamic drag of a transiting sphere by large-scale tomographic-PIV

A method is introduced to measure the aerodynamic drag of moving objects such as ground vehicles or athletes in speed sports. Experiments are conducted as proof-of-concept that yield the aerodynamic drag of a sphere towed through a square duct in stagnant air. The drag force is evaluated using large-scale tomographic PIV and invoking the time...