drift
Also found in: Dictionary, Thesaurus, Medical, Financial, Acronyms, Idioms, Wikipedia.
drift
drift
[drift]drift
drift


ii. A slow movement in one direction of an instrument pointer or other marker.
iii. A slow change in frequency of a radio transmitter.
iv. The angular deviation of the spin axis of a gyro from a fixed reference in space.
v. The angular deviation of a heading indicator of a gyrocompass resulting from either real or apparent precession. See apparent drift.
vi. The movement of a parachutist downwind.
vii. In ballistics, a shift in projectile direction caused by a gyroscopic action that results from gravitational and atmospherically induced torque or the earth's rotation.
viii. The failure of photograph(s) to stay on the predetermined flight line. If the drifting is excessive, repeated flights will have to be made because of serious gaps between adjacent flight lines.
drift
Change in frequency or time synchronization of a signal that occurs slowly.Drift
the lateral deviation from the plane of fire of a rotating artillery shell (bullet) during its flight through the air.
Drift is explained by the gyroscopic property possessed by the rotating shell. When the shell is moving in a straight line, the axis of its own rotation coincides with the direction of movement. Influenced by the force of gravity, the projectile’s trajectory curves, the tangent of the trajectory (which coincides with the direction of movement) grows continually lower, and the axis of the shell’s own rotation tries to maintain its own position in space, forming an angle with the tangent to the trajectory. The force of air resistance begins to act at an angle to the axis of the shell, which leads to the appearance of a moment that overturns the shell and of a component of the force of air resistance that is perpendicular to the axis of the shell. Influenced by the overturning moment, the shell makes a precessional movement, during which the axis of the shell’s rotation moves around the tangent to the trajectory, describing a cone whose apex is the center of the mass of the shell.
When the tangent is steadily dropping, this movement occurs asymmetrically relative to the direction of movement. Depending on the direction of the shell’s own rotation (right or left rifling in the bore of the gun), its nose will normally be more to the right than the left (or the opposite), that is, the precessional movement of the shell occurs around an axis deflected from the direction of movement to the right (or to the left), which is called the axis of dynamic equilibrium. As a result of this a perpendicular force arises that carries the shell’s center of mass to the right (or left) of the plane of fire; that is, it causes drift. The magnitude of drift depends on the curve of the trajectory and the rate of the shell’s precession; the smaller the curve of the trajectory, the smaller the drift will be. This explains why drift is insignificant with flat trajectories and short firing ranges and why it is not present when firing vertically upward.
Drift is taken into account by making corrections when firing; in some cases, compensation occurs automatically, having been done when the sighting devices were set. The phenomenon of drift was studied in 1865-70 and first explained by the Russian scientist N. V. Maievskii.
IU. V. CHUEV and K. A. NIKOLAEV
Drift
with regard to ships, the displacement of a moving ship from the line of its set course under the influence of wind and waves. Drift is characterized by its angle, that is, the angle between the longitudinal axis of the ship and the direction of its actual motion. Drift is included in the calculation of the ship’s course. To “lie in drift” means to hold the ship in place, compensating for the action of the wind and the waves by the engine, the sails, the floating anchor, or other means. The term “drift” also means the movement of a ship if the engine does not work and the ship is moving under the influence of the wind or the current, for instance, if the anchor is “creeping” along the bottom.