Human Movement
in a Fluid Medium
The Nature of Fluids
Fluid:
Air and water are fluids that exert
forces on the human body.
◦ Although in general conversation the term fluid is
often used interchangeably with the term liquid,
from a mechanical perspective, a fluid is any
substance that tends to flow or continuously
deform when acted on by a shear force.
◦ Fluid: substance that flows when subjected to a
shear stress.
Relative Motion
Relative velocity:
Velocity of a body with respect to a fluid is the
vector subtraction of the velocity of the fluid from
the velocity of the body.
◦ Because a fluid is a medium capable of flow, the
influence of the fluid on a body moving through it
depends not only on the body’s velocity but also on the
velocity of the fluid.
◦ Relative velocity: velocity of a body with respect to the
velocity of something else, such as the surrounding fluid
◦ When a body moves through a fluid, the relative velocity
of the body with respect to the fluid influences the
magnitude of the acting forces.
Types of flow
If the relative velocity of the object with respect to the
water is low, there is little apparent disturbance of the
immediately surrounding water e.g. human hand or a
canoe paddle moves through the water
If the relative velocity of motion through the water is
sufficiently high, waves and eddies appear
◦ When an object moves with sufficiently low velocity
relative to a fluid medium, the flow of the adjacent
fluid is termed laminar flow.
◦ Laminar flow: flow characterized by smooth, parallel
layers of fluid
◦ When an object moves with sufficiently high velocity
relative to a surrounding fluid, the layers of fluid
near the surface of the object mix, and the flow is
termed turbulent.
◦ Turbulent flow: flow characterized by mixing of
adjacent fluid layers
Laminar versus Turbulent Flow
Laminar flow:
◦ Low velocity relative to fluid medium
Turbulent flow:
◦ High velocity relative to fluid medium
Fluid Properties
Other factors that influence the magnitude of
the forces a fluid generates are the fluid’s
density, specific weight, and viscosity.
The denser and heavier the fluid medium
surrounding a body, the greater the magnitude
of the forces the fluid exerts on the body.
The property of fluid viscosity involves the
internal resistance to a fluid to flow.
Increased fluid viscosity results in increased
forces exerted on bodies exposed to the fluid.
Fluid Properties
Density () = mass / volume
Specific weight () = ratio of weight to
volume
Viscosity = internal resistance to flow
◦ Atmospheric pressure and
temperature influence a fluid’s
density, specific weight, and viscosity
Buoyancy
Buoyancy is a fluid force that always acts vertically
upward.
Archimedes’ principle:
Weight of the fluid is calculated by multiplying
the specific weight of the fluid by the volume of
the portion of the body that is surrounded by
the fluid.
Buoyancy (F ) is calculated as the product of the
b
displaced volume (Vd) and the fluid’s specific
weight ().
The more dense the surrounding fluid, the
greater the magnitude of the buoyant force.
Center of volume: point around which a body’s
volume is equally distributed and at which the
buoyant force acts.
Buoyancy
Archimedes’ principle: the magnitude of the
buoyant force acting on a given body is
equal to the weight of the fluid displaced
by the body.
Fb = Vd
Center of Volume: point around which a
body’s volume is equally distributed and at
which the buoyant force acts.
Flotation of the Human Body
Some individuals cannot float in a motionless
position, and other float with little effort.
Floatability is a function of body density
For flotation, buoyant force must be greater
than or equal to body weight
Orientation of the human body
Torque on the floating human body
Flotation
Depends on body’s buoyancy and its
weight
Weight = buoyant; body floats in a
motionless state
Weight > buoyant; body sinks, moving
downward in the direction of the net force
Most object float statically in a partially
submerged position
15-3
Drag
Drag: is a force caused by the dynamic action of
a fluid that acts in the direction of the free
stream fluid flow
Generally, a drag is a resistance force: a force
that slows the motion of a body moving through
a fluid.
The drag force acting on a body in relative
motion with respect to a fluid is defined by the
following formula:
In this formula, F is drag force, C is coefficient
D D
of drag, is fluid density, Ap is the projected
area of the body or the surface area of the body
oriented perpendicular to the fluid flow, and v
is the relative velocity of the body with respect
Drag
FD = ½CDApv2
Coefficient of drag:
Depends on shape & orientation of a body
Components of total drag force:
Skin friction
Form drag
Wave drag
Coefficient of drag: unit less number that
is an index of a body’s ability to generate
fluid resistance
Its size depends on the shape and
orientation of a body relative to the fluid
flow, with long, streamlined bodies
generally having lower coefficients of drag
than blunt or irregularly shaped objects.
Skin Friction
Skin friction, surface drag, or viscous drag:
Resistance derived from friction between
adjacent layers of fluid near a body moving
through the fluid
Fluid particles slowed due to shear stress
Boundary layer: layer of fluid immediately
adjacent to the body
Factors that affect skin friction drag
◦ Velocity of fluid flow
◦ surface area
◦ roughness
◦ viscosity
Wave Drag
Wave drag: Resistance created by the
generation of waves at the interface between
two different fluids, such as air and water
Major effect on human swimmers in
open
Factors that affect wave drag
◦ Greater up-and-down motion
◦ Increased swimming speed
Skilled
swimmer produce smaller waves
than less-skilled swimmers, presumably
due to better technique (less up-and-
down motion)
Form Drag
Form drag or profile drag or pressure drag:
Resistance created by a Pressure differential
between the lead and rear sides of a body
moving through a fluid
Factors that affect form drag:
◦ Relative velocity, pressure gradient, and surface area
Streamlining helps to minimize form drag
Cyclists drafting helps to minimize form drag
Bernoulli’s principle
Pressurein a fluid varies inversely
with the velocity
Lift Force
Lift: force acting on a body in a fluid in a
direction perpendicular to the fluid flow
Lift Force
While drag forces act in the direction of the free
stream fluid flow, another force, know as lift, is
generated perpendicular to the fluid flow.
Although the name lift suggests that this force
is directed vertically upward, it may assume any
direction, as determined by the direction of the
fluid flow and the orientation of the body.
Lift: force acting on a body in a fluid in a
direction perpendicular to the fluid flow
The factors affecting the magnitude of lift are
basically the same factors that affect the
magnitude of drag
F = ½CLApv2
L
In this equation, FL represents lift force, CL is
the coefficient of lift, is the fluid density, Ap is
the surface area against which lift is generated,
and v is the relative velocity of a body with
respect to a fluid.
Foil Shape
Foil: shape capable of generating lift in the
presence of a fluid flow
Bernoulli principle: inverse relationship
between relative velocity and relative pressure
in a fluid flow
Factors that Affect:
◦ Velocity, pressure, and lift force
Coefficient of lift: unit less number that is
an index of a body’s ability to generate lift
One way is which lift force may be
created is for the shape of the moving
body to resemble that of a foil.
Foil: shape capable of generating lift in
the presence of a fluid flow
When the fluid stream encounters a foil,
the fluid separates, with some flowing
over the curved surface and some
flowing straight back along the flat
surface on the opposite side.
The fluid that flows over the curved
surface is positively accelerated relative
to the fluid flow, creating a region of
relative high-velocity flow.
The difference is the velocity of flow on
the curved side of the foil and opposed
to the flat side of the foil creates a
pressure difference in the fluid, in
accordance with a relationship derived by
the Bernoulli.
15-7
Foil Shape
Semi-foil shape of projectiles such as the discus
and javelin generate some lift force when oriented
at appropriate angles with respect to the direction
of the fluid flow.
Angle of Attack: angle between the
longitudinal axis of a body and the direction
of the fluid flow
Lift/drag ratio: the magnitude of the lift force
divided by the magnitude of the total drag
force acting on a body at a given time
Magnus Effect
Magnus force: lift force created by spin
Magnus effect: deviation in the trajectory of a
spinning object toward the direction of spin,
resulting form the Magnus force
Spinning objects also generate lift.
When an object in a fluid medium spins, the
boundary layer of fluid molecules adjacent to the
object spins with it.
When this happens, the fluid molecules on one
side of the spinning body collide head-on with
the molecules in the fluid free stream.
This creates a region of relative low velocity and
high pressure.
On the opposite side of the spinning object, the
boundary layer moves in the same direction as
the fluid flow, thereby creating a zone of relative
high velocity and low pressure.
The pressure differential creates what is called
the Magnus force, a lift force directed from the
high-pressure region to the low-pressure
region.
Magnus force: lift force created by spin
Magnus effect: deviation in the trajectory of a
spinning object toward the direction of spin,
resulting form the Magnus force
Propulsion in a Fluid Medium
Resistive drag acts on a swimmer
Propulsive drag: force acting in the direction
of a body’s motion
Propulsive drag theory: attributes propulsion
in swimming to propulsive drag on the
swimmer
Propulsive lift theory: theory attributing
propulsion in swimming at least partially to
lift acting on the swimmer
Propulsion in a Fluid Medium
Vortex Generation
may play a role in swimming
propulsion
Stroke Technique
product of stroke length (SL) and stroke rate
(SR).
Vortex Generation
Researchers have found a poor correlation
between physiological and mechanical
approaches to calculating propelling efficiency
in swimming.
This has led to the speculation that some
unknown processes may play a role in
swimming propulsion, with one possibility
being the generation of vortices in the water by
the swimmer.
Stroke Technique
Just as running is the product of stride length and
stride rate, swimming speed is the product of stroke
length (SL) and stroke rate (SR).
Of the two, SL is more directly related to swimming
speed among competitive freestyle swimmers.
The End
