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Original Article

Assessment of passive drag in swimming by numerical simulation and analytical procedure

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Pages 492-498 | Accepted 10 Apr 2017, Published online: 28 Apr 2017
 

ABSTRACT

The aim was to compare the passive drag-gliding underwater by a numerical simulation and an analytical procedure. An Olympic swimmer was scanned by computer tomography and modelled gliding at a 0.75-m depth in the streamlined position. Steady-state computer fluid dynamics (CFD) analyses were performed on Fluent. A set of analytical procedures was selected concurrently. Friction drag (Df), pressure drag (Dpr), total passive drag force (Df+pr) and drag coefficient (CD) were computed between 1.3 and 2.5 m · s−1 by both techniques. Df+pr ranged from 45.44 to 144.06 N with CFD, from 46.03 to 167.06 N with the analytical procedure (differences: from 1.28% to 13.77%). CD ranged between 0.698 and 0.622 by CFD, 0.657 and 0.644 by analytical procedures (differences: 0.40–6.30%). Linear regression models showed a very high association for Df+pr plotted in absolute values (R2 = 0.98) and after log–log transformation (R2 = 0.99). The CD also obtained a very high adjustment for both absolute (R2 = 0.97) and log–log plots (R2 = 0.97). The bias for the Df+pr was 8.37 N and 0.076 N after logarithmic transformation. Df represented between 15.97% and 18.82% of the Df+pr by the CFD, 14.66% and 16.21% by the analytical procedures. Therefore, despite the bias, analytical procedures offer a feasible way of gathering insight on one’s hydrodynamics characteristics.

Acknowledgements

This project was supported by national funds granted by the Portuguese Science and Technology Foundation (FCT) (UID/DTP/04045/2013) and European Union fund for regional development (FEDER) under the COMPETE 2020 Programme for Competitiveness and internationalization (POCI) (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-006969).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This project was supported by national funds granted by the Portuguese Science and Technology Foundation (FCT) [Grant Number UID/DTP/04045/2013] and European Union fund for regional development (FEDER) under the COMPETE 2020 Programme for Competitiveness and internationalization (POCI) [POCI-01-0145-FEDER-006969].

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