Hi,

Can anyone tell me how to calculate the lift caused by rotation of a cylinder in a flow of air?

We could define the cylinder as being 14ft long, 6ft wide and rotating at 10,000rpm

Airflow could be anything above 10mph

Is it dimpled like a golf ball or polished smooth?

Wow, 2 year old post, start, how did you pick up on this one? :)

I see no reason why the cylinder shoul dbe dimpled.

In 2 years, no one answered, I was curious. Thinking the surface would have an effect.
Hope all is well.

Yes, it does, but we can assume it's smooth, no? :)

Check out Magnus effect - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnus_effect)

The dimples of a golfball help to enhance this effect. But it still happens for a smooth surface (for exampl, bullets).

The shadowraph of 308 winchester, looks exactly like a boat and its wake.
Poster if your out there, here is what you have been waiting for, I hope, Sorry about the wait.
[edit] Example Equation
The following equations demonstrate the manipulation of characteristics needed to determine the lift force generated by inducing a mechanical rotation on a ball.


F = lift force
ρ = density of the fluid
V = velocity of the ball
A = crossectional area of ball
Cl = lift coefficient
The lift coefficient is very dependent on the spin ratio ( (angular velocity*diameter)/(2* linear velocity) ) of the ball. Lift coefficient may be determined from graphs of experimental data using Reynolds number and spin ratio. Typical lift coefficients of a smooth ball range from 0.2 to 0.6 for spin ratios ranging from 0.5 to 4.5.

Is that a wing for an Experimental Aircraft, or you can't tell?

Strat, I already gave the link the article containing the exact text, why copy paste it while forgetting to copy paste the equation? :rolleyes: