Flow over Bicycle

Studying the Aerodynamics of Cyclist in various positions during cycling. And calculating the drag force for those positions and establishing a relationship between drag force and velocity of the bicycle, and drag force and coefficient of drag for different positions.

The Calculation is done using Matlab and the data used is referred to:

https://www.cyclingpowerlab.com/CyclingAerodynamics.aspx

The following is the Matlab Program:

% Project - FLOW OVER BICYCLE

% Density of Air (kg/m^3)
rho = 1.225;

%Velocity (m/s)
% A average person\'s max speed attaint on a bicyle is 11 m/s
v = linspace(0,11,100);

% Drag Coefficient of a bicyle with rider can vary from 0.7 - 1.15
% That is from aero bar position to top position
cd = linspace(0.7,1.15,100);

% Frontal Area of Cyclist can vary from 0.3m^2 - 0.6m^2
% That if from aero bar postion to top position
A = linspace(0.3,0.6,100);

% Show the relation between drag force and velocity
% Drag for every speed at Drag coefficient 0.8 and frontal area 0.3
d = (0.5*rho*0.3*0.8)*(v.^2);
% Plot
figure(1)
plot(v,d)
xlabel(\'Velocity (m/s)\')
ylabel(\'Drag Force (N)\')
grid on

% Relationship between drag force and coefficient of drag for various shape
% Assuming constant velocity 6m/s
drag = 0.5*rho*cd.*A*6^2;
% Plot
figure(2)
plot(cd,drag)
xlabel(\'Coefficient of Drag\')
ylabel(\'Drag Force (N)\')
grid on

The output of the program is following: