EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION OF THE EFFECTS OF SURFACE GEOMETRY ON THE FLIGHT OF A NON-SPINNING SOCCER BALL

Previous stationary wind tunnel experiments include tests on smooth and rough spheres (Achenbach, 1972, 1974), golf balls (Bearman & Harvey, 1976), tennis balls (Chadwick & Haake, 2000) and soccer balls (Carré et al., 2005). The recent improvements in computer power have also allowed Computational Fluid Dynamics studies to be undertaken on balls such as smooth spheres (Constantinescu & Squires, 2004) and, more recently, soccer balls (Barber et al., 2006).