Author(s)

P.C. Chu, A.F. Giles, C. Fan, J. Lan & P. Fleischer

Abstract

The hydrodynamic features of a falling cylinder into the water column is investigated experimentally. The experiment consisted of dropping three cylinders of various lengths into a pool where the trajectories were filmed from two angles. The controlled parameters were, cylinder parameters (length to diameter ratio, center of mass location), and initial conditions (initial velocity, and drop angle). Results indicate that center of mass position has the largest influence on the cylinder's trajectory and that accurate trajectory modeling requires the inclusion o f both momentum and moment equations. A statistical-dynamic model has been established to predict the trajectories o f the falling cylinders.

Keywords