The physics of badminton

Abstract

The conical shape of a shuttlecock allows it to flip on impact. As a light and extended particle, it flies with a pure drag trajectory. We first study the flip phenomenon and the dynamics of the flight and then discuss the implications on the game. Lastly, a possible classification of different shots is proposed.

Comparison of turbulence modelling approaches in simulation of a feather shuttle: a porous conical bluff body

“…4, which provides an example of the temporal history of the drag force coefficient. is comparable in magnitude to Cohen [6]; however, it is higher than data reported by other researchers.…”

“…This influence of rotation on measured C d was also investigated by Kitta et al [4]. In contrast to Cohen et al [6], the study revealed a freely rotating shuttle had a marginally higher C d ~ 0.61, than a statically fixed shuttle C d ~ 0.56. Both studies concluded that rotation had no significant influence on drag [1].…”

“…These values were obtained by averaging the instantaneous drag over the normalised period 10 = T s U/D. Average C d values obtained from wind tunnel investigations [6,7,9] are provided for comparison, as are values obtained in simulation by Verma [11].…”

“…The work of Cooke [7] presents the lowest published coefficient C d ~ 0.48 for a freely rotating feather shuttle. At the other extreme, Cohen et al [6] reported C d ~ 0.68 for a freely rotating shuttle, with increased C d ~ 0.74 when statically fixed. This influence of rotation on measured C d was also investigated by Kitta et al [4].…”

“…Studies have been published detailing wind tunnel investigations of feather shuttles [1][2][3][4][5][6], for which aerodynamic drag coefficients have been collated and are presented in Table 1. The studies report a large range of drag coefficients.…”