ABSTRACT
Today, many researchers are studying the aerodynamic force on balls used in sports (Briggs, 1959; Mehta et al., 1983; Mehta, 1985; Watts and Bahill, 1990). We focused on determining the aerodynamic characteristics of a ball in a ball game. Lateral deflection in flight (otherwise known as curve, swing, or swerve) is well recognized in many sports. The curve is obtained by spinning the ball about an axis perpendicular to the line of flight, which gives rise to what is commonly known as the Magnus effect. However, there are few studies on the curve ball in soccer (Asai et al., 1998a). Curve ball kicking is one of the most common techniques used today. The purpose of this study is to clarify the Magnus force on a curve ball in soccer using computational fluid dynamic analysis.
