Calculate the Drag force on a Bicycle using Matlab Program

Aim : % calculate the Drag force on a bicycle using MATLAB 

Formula  for drag force: 

        Drag force F = 1/2*rho*A*v^2*c_d

where 

    rho = density (kg/m^3)

    A = frontal area (m^2)

    v = velocity (m/s)

    c_d = drag cofficent

Software Used = Matlab

Program: 

1. Drag_force Calculation:

% calculate the drag force on a bicycle
clear all
close all
clc

% input variables

% 1. A = frontal area
% 2. rho = density
% 3. v = velocity
% 4. c_d = drag cofficent

A = 0.5;
rho = 1.2;
v = [2,5,8,10]
c_d = 0.8;

Drag_force = A*rho*v.^2*c_d*0.5

Output:

v =

2 5 8 10

Drag_force =

0.9600 6.0000 15.3600 24.0000

2.Plot (velocity vs Drag force):

Program:

% calculate the drag force on a bicycle
clear all
close all
clc

% input variables
% 1. A = frontal area
% 2. rho = density
% 3. v = velocity
% 4. c_d = drag cofficent

A = 0.5;
rho = 1.2;
v = [2,5,8,10]
c_d = 0.8;

Drag_force = A*rho*v.^2*c_d*0.5

plot(v,Drag_force)
xlabel('v')
ylabel('Drag_force')
grid on

Output Graph(Velocity vs Drag Force):

3.Drag Coffecient vs Drag force:

Program:

% calculate the drag force on a bicycle
clear all
close all
clc

% input variables
% 1. A = frontal area
% 2. rho = density
% 3. v = velocity
% 4. c_d = drag cofficent

A = 0.5;
rho = 1.2;
v = 5;
c_d = [1.17 1.20 1.16 1.60 1.55 1.96 2.00 2.30 2.20 2.05]

Drag_force = A*rho*v.^2*c_d*0.5

plot(c_d,Drag_force)
xlabel('Drag_ coefficent')
ylabel('Drag_force')
grid on

Output:

c_d =

1.1700 1.2000 1.1600 1.6000 1.5500 1.9600 2.0000 2.3000 2.2000 2.0500

Drag_force =

8.7750 9.0000 8.7000 12.0000 11.6250 14.7000 15.0000 17.2500 16.5000 15.3750

Plot (Drag_coffecient vs Drag_force):