Mumbai: Did you know that the ‘Ball’ of 2014 FIFA World Cup has been designed keeping in mind different important concepts? Yes the reason of selecting the Adidas Brazuca ball has been found out by engineers of NASA Ames University. Aerodynamics has played a major role in creating this specific type of football.
NASA Ames University Researchers; Photo courtesy: NASA
Aerodynamics is the study of how air and liquids, referred to collectively as ‘fluids’ in aerodynamics research, flow around objects. Dr Rabi Mehta and Christina Ngo tested the football by using a traditional 32-panel football scale-model in the 17-inch water channel. Flow patterns were visualized using florescent dye and black lights. After in-depth research, NASA researchers said that there are no external stitches piecing the outer covering of the ball together but it does have seams, many of them.
Video Courtesy: NASA
The green dye shows the water flow around the object. The pink dye is injected separately just behind the ball to show the position of the low-pressure zone behind the ball.
To address the unpredictability of the Jabulani ball, Adidas worked with hundreds of players to develop the Brazuca football. As per official reports, a traditional football has 32 panels, the Jabulani has eight panels and the Brazuca has only six.
Despite having fewer panels, the finger-like panels on the Brazuca increase the seam length, compared to previous World Cup balls. The seams are also deeper than those of the Jabulani and the panels are covered with tiny bumps; all of these factors influence the ball’s aerodynamics. ‘The airflow around a sphere is not smooth; a great amount of drag is created behind the object’, said researchers.
‘The materials used, the ball’s surface roughness and its distribution is what determines its aerodynamics,’ highlighted researchers. ‘With the increased roughness of the Brazuca, this critical speed for maximum knuckling is reduced to about 30 mph. So it is expected that the 2014 World Cup ball will have a more predictable flight path at typical striking speeds’, as per Aerodynamics. Knuckling occurs when, at zero or near-zero spin, the seams of the ball channel airflow in an unusual and erratic manner making its trajectory unpredictable.
The overall increased roughness of the Brazuca football will help to decrease the ball’s knuckling tendencies at kicking speeds typically encountered in the World Cup.
