Forces on bodies moving transversely through a rotating fluid

Abstract

Measurements have been made of the net force F acting on a bluff rigid body moving with velocity U (relative to a fluid rotating about a vertical axis with uniform angular velocity Ω) in a plane perpendicular to the axis of rotation. The force F is of magnitude 2ΩρVU, where ρ is the density of the fluid and V is a volume which depends on the size and shape of the body. The relative direction of F and U is found to depend on the quantity \[ {\cal S}\equiv \frac{2\Omega L}{U}\bigg(\frac{h}{D}\bigg), \] where L and h are horizontal and vertical lengths characterizing the object and D is the depth of the fluid in which the object is placed.