Large Eddy Simulation of the Flow Past a Soccer Ball

The football game is the most popular, played, and loved sport around the world. The advent of technological breakthroughs and the continuous increase in consumer demand have led to a revolution in football's design and manufacturing process. In the past, studies in soccer ball aerodynamics mainly were limited to the investigation of lift and drag forces inside a wind tunnel apparatus. A few researchers have analyzed the flow around the different soccer balls using computational fluid dynamics simulations with the Reynolds-Averaged-Navier-Stokes equations model. This study primarily intends to simulate a modern soccer ball (Adidas Telstar 18) using the Large Eddy Simulations technique. The whole research is divided into two phases. In the first phase, the flow around a smooth sphere is simulated numerically to validate the meshing strategy, boundary conditions, and solution methodology. The same modeling approach is used in the later stage to simulate the flow around a soccer ball. The effect of panels and seam on the boundary layer flow separation and overall turbulent flow structure around the soccer ball are visualized. The results indicate that the large-eddy simulations help predict the flow intricacies by resolving small eddies near the panels.