CFD Online Discussion Forums - Cylinder projected area (Cd)

Hi! I have a cylinder perpendicular to the flow and I was wondering which is the projected area (Aref) that should be written down at the forceCoeffs function file in order to compute the drag coefficient.

The function looks like this:

Code:

patches     ( Cylinder );

    rhoName     rhoInf;

    rhoInf      1;

    liftDir     (0 0 1);

    dragDir     (1 0 0);

    CofR        (0 0 0);

    pitchAxis   (0 1 0);

    magUInf     26;

    lRef        0.120;

    Aref        0.0288;

I thought the Aref was just considering as a rectangle projected in a perpendicular plane (Aref=height*base), but maybe I am wrong and therefore the results I am obtaining are wrong as well.

Thanks in advance!

Max.