Title: Aerodynamic properties comparison between natural feather, nylon, and synthetic shuttlecocks

Authors: Dangsuria Ab Rasid; Muhammad Fairuz Remeli; Baljit Singh; Hazim Moria

Addresses: Energy Conservation for Automotive Research Group, School of Mechanical, College of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), 40450, Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia ' Energy Conservation for Automotive Research Group, School of Mechanical, College of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), 40450, Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia ' Energy Conservation for Automotive Research Group, School of Mechanical, College of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), 40450, Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia ' Department of Mechanical Engineering Technology, Yanbu Industrial College, Yanbu Al-Sinaiyah City 41912, Yanbu Saudi Arabia; Kingdom of Saudi Arabia College, Saudi Arabia

Abstract: This study compared the aerodynamic properties between the natural feather, nylon, and foam shuttlecocks under various pitch angles, α using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) during steady-state flight conditions. The velocity varied within 10-60 m/s and α = 10°, 20°, 30°. The drag coefficient for feather/foam was approximately constant at 0.56. Other aerodynamic properties including the lift and moment coefficients were also investigated. The lift coefficient obtained for nylon and feather/foam were 0.38 and 0.30 at α = 30° (30 m/s). All models had shown a negative sign for the moment coefficient, which indicates the aerodynamic centre is always behind the centre of gravity. Therefore, it will give stability to the shuttlecock during the flight. The nylon shuttlecock showed a higher drag coefficient compared to others due to its larger gap area and an increased wake behind the shuttlecock.

Keywords: aerodynamic properties comparison; natural feather shuttlecocks; nylon shuttlecocks; synthetics shuttlecocks; computational fluids dynamics; CFD; drag coefficients; lift coefficients; steady-state flight.

DOI: 10.1504/IJESMS.2025.142974

International Journal of Engineering Systems Modelling and Simulation, 2025 Vol.16 No.1, pp.44 - 51

Accepted: 14 Aug 2023
Published online: 02 Dec 2024 *

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