A comparative study of football aerodynamics

Ball sports are becoming faster and more demanding than ever before, pushing traditional ball designs to their limits. In order to meet the increasing performance requirements, the ball manufacturers are producing new designs progressively. A traditional spherical football made of 32 leather panels stitched together in 1970s has now become only 14 synthetic curved panels thermally bonded (without stitches). This 14-panels ball is believed to be more spherical and performs well. The primary objectives of this study were to evaluate aerodynamic performances of footballs made of 32 panels and 14 panels. The aerodynamic forces and moments were measured experimentally for a range of wind speeds (20 km/h to 130 km/h) and the non-dimensional drag coefficient was determined and compared.