Monday, March 28, 2022

Aerodynamics of a golf ball

 Stallion 3D is an aerodynamics analysis software package that can be used to analyze golf balls in flight. The software runs on MS Windows 10 & 11 and can compute the lift, drag and moment coefficients to determine the trajectory.  The STL file, even with dimples, can be read directly into Stallion 3D for analysis.


What we learn from the aerodynamics:

  • The spinning golf ball produces lift and drag similar to an airplane wing
  • Trailing vortices can be seen at the "wing tips"
  • The extra lift helps the ball to travel further

Stallion 3D strengths are:

  • The built-in Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes equations provide high fidelity CFD solutions
  • The grid is generated automatically 
  • Built-in  menus are used to specify speed, angle, altitude and even spin
  • Built-in visualization
  • The numbers are generated to compute the trajectory of the ball
  • The software runs on your laptop or desktop under Windows 7, 10 and 11
More information about Stallion 3D can be found at https://www.hanleyinnovations.com
Thanks for reading 🙋