The aerodynamic wall

Caroline Cohen (1) , Baptiste Darbois-Texier (1) , Guillaume Dupeux (2) , Eric Brunel (3) , David Quere (1) , Christophe Clanet (2)

1 LadHyX - Laboratoire d'hydrodynamique
2 PMMH - Physique et mécanique des milieux hétérogenes (UMR 7636)
3 ONERA - The French Aerospace Lab [Lille]

We study the trajectory of dense projectiles subjected to gravity and drag at large Reynolds number. We show that two types of trajectories can be observed: if the initial velocity is smaller than the terminal velocity of free fall, we observe the classical Galilean parabola: if it is larger, the projectile decelerates with an asymmetric trajectory first drawn by Tartaglia, which ends with a nearly vertical fall, as if a wall impeded the movement. This regime is often observed in sports, fireworks, watering, etc. and we study its main characteristics.

Domains: Fluid mechanics [physics.class-ph]; Reactive fluid environment

Caroline Cohen, Baptiste Darbois-Texier, Guillaume Dupeux, Eric Brunel, David Quere, et al.. The aerodynamic wall. Proceedings of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, 2014, 470 (2161), ⟨10.1098/rspa.2013.0497⟩. ⟨hal-00995135⟩