On the Motion of Rectangular Prismatic Bodies

Abstract

Rectangular prismatic bodies can assume either a translatory or an auto-rotating mode of motion during free motion in the atmosphere. The translatory mode is stable only when the dimensionless moment of inertia of the bodies is large, however, large perturbations will always start auto-rotation. The characteristics of the auto-rotational mode are shown to depend primarily on the aspect ratio of the bodies which determines the dimensionless rotational speed and the lift coefficient. Both the average drag and lift-coefficients of auto-rotating bodies are estimated, but it is shown that secondary effects make it impossible to determine their exact trajectories in atmospheric flows.