Aerodynamics of shuttlecocks

The popularity of Badminton sports has gained significantly over the years with the invention of synthetic shuttlecock which is lower in cost and more durable. However, a synthetic shuttlecock that exactly mirrors the flight of feather shuttlecock is yet to be produced. The purpose of this study is to understand the aerodynamics properties of feather shuttlecock by doing various experiments in outdoor and wind-tunnel. Terminal velocity experiment and closed loop wind tunnel experiment were carried out in this project. Initially, the wind tunnel experimental fixture was designed using Solidworks and manufactured. However, problems were encountered at low air speed which is then solved by designing a different low speed fixture. The experiments were carried out using load cell to obtain the drag force experienced by shuttlecocks and high speed camera to capture the rotation motion of the shuttlecocks. The data collected was further processed by calibration and calculation which eventually gave the shuttlecocks skirt deformation, rotation rate and drag force. The experiment showed that the aerodynamic properties of the shuttlecocks were different under rotating and non-rotating conditions. Furthermore, it also justified that the drag force of the shuttlecock at terminal velocity is equal to its weight. Finally, this report discuss on future recommendation that needed to be done on this project to further understand the aerodynamics properties of feather shuttlecock.Bachelor of Engineering (Aerospace Engineering