Field Observation and Numerical Analysis of a Rotating Pipe in Flight

Abstract

To reveal the mechanism of a flying pipe, we conduct field observations of the flying pipe in rotation using a pair of high-speed video cameras, together with 3D motion analyses based on their recorded images. Moreover, we attempt numerical analyses. As a result, the field observations show the statics of flying-pipe aerodynamics for both commercial and simplified laboratory models. The numerical analyses reveal details of the flow around the flying pipe.