The Journal of The Textile Institute

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A study of drag reduction with textile roughness

on a cyclist model

X. Y. Hsu, Jiun-Jih Miau, T. H. Ku, J. J. Chen, W. C. Yuan, Y. H. Lai, Y. R. Chen, Y. J.

Chen, C. H. Tseng, C. H. Chen, S. S. Jan, Y. S. Ciou, Y. Chen & C. W. Chiu

To cite this article: X. Y. Hsu, Jiun-Jih Miau, T. H. Ku, J. J. Chen, W. C. Yuan, Y. H. Lai, Y. R.
Chen, Y. J. Chen, C. H. Tseng, C. H. Chen, S. S. Jan, Y. S. Ciou, Y. Chen & C. W. Chiu (2022)
A study of drag reduction with textile roughness on a cyclist model, The Journal of The Textile
Institute, 113:6, 1206-1230, DOI: 10.1080/00405000.2021.1950978

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/00405000.2021.1950978

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Published online: 26 Jul 2021.

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THE JOURNAL OF THE TEXTILE INSTITUTE
2022, VOL. 113, NO. 6, 1206–1230
https://doi.org/10.1080/00405000.2021.1950978

ARTICLE

A study of drag reduction with textile roughness on a cyclist model

X. Y. Hsua, Jiun-Jih Miaub , T. H. Kuc, J. J. Chenb, W. C. Yuanb, Y. H. Laib, Y. R. Chenb, Y. J. Chenb,
C. H. Tsengb, C. H. Chend, S. S. Janb, Y. S. Cioua, Y. Chena and C. W. Chiue
a
Taiwan Textile Research Institute, New Taipei City, Taiwan; bNational Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan; cFu Jen Catholic University,
New Taipei City, Taiwan; dNational Pingtung University of Science and Technology, Pingtung, Taiwan; eNational Taiwan University of
Science and Technology, Taipei, Taiwan

ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY

Efforts were made to examine the effect of textile roughness for the reduction of aerodynamic drag Received 16 July 2020
experienced on a cyclist model. First of all, flow visualization experiments were conducted in a water Accepted 6 April 2021
channel with a 1/5 scale cyclist model to identify the flow separation lines on the contoured surface.
KEYWORDS
Subsequently, based on the information learned, the idea of delaying flow separation on the model
Textile roughness;
surface was implemented by means of sport suits. Seven sport suits featuring different textile materials aerodynamic drag; cyclist
and local roughness patterns were tested on a full-scale cyclist model in wind tunnel experiments, in model; critical
addition to a reference case without a sport suit. From the CD data deduced, we identified a critical transition phenomenon
condition in most of the cases studied, featuring a least drag coefficient occurred at a Reynolds num-
ber within the flow speed range studied. For the best case found, the drag coefficient is amounted
7.5% less than that of the reference case at the same Reynolds number. Furthermore, the Cp and Cprms
values reduced from the pressure measurements on the cyclist model with the sport suits unveil a
trend that the reduction of drag actually infers the retreat of the local flow separation lines toward
the rear side of the body accompanied with less severe the flow unsteadiness.

Introduction
In cycling aerodynamics, the drag produced by a riding cyclist
gets pronounced over the other components of the total drag
as the speed increases. For example, Kyle and Burke (1984)
pointed out that at a speed higher than 8.9 m/s, 90% of the
total drag is due to the aerodynamic drag, of which 70% is pro-
duced by the cyclist. Extensive studies on the aerodynamic drag
of cyclists can be found in the literature, encompassing a wide
range of topics. To name a few, research topics include the pos-
tures of cyclists (Blocken et al., 2018a; Defraeye et al., 2010,
2011; Fintelman et al., 2014), dynamic motions of the cyclist
legs (Crouch et al., 2014, 2016a, 2016b) and multiple cyclists at
racing (Blocken et al., 2013, 2018b; Defraeye et al., 2014).
From the perspectives of fluid dynamics, a cyclist can be
regarded as a three-dimensional bluff body, from which
flow gets separated and developed into a wake region down-
stream (Crouch et al., 2014, 2016a, 2016b, 2017; Miau et al.,
2020). According to a flow visualization experiment made in
a water channel with a 1/5 scale cyclist model, Miau et al.
(2020) pointed out that the limiting streamline pattern
(Lighthill, 1963) on the surface provided valuable informa-
tion concerning the development of three-dimensional flow
separation from the model. Miau et al. (2020) further com-
mented that delaying the flow separation would lead to
reduction of the aerodynamic drag and suppression of the
wake region behind the cyclist model.
Given the posture of a cyclist model fixed, this study aims
to examine the effect of textile roughness on delaying flow sep-
aration on the contoured surface. In the literature, a number of
studies have modeled the flow phenomenon using single circu-
lar cylinder or multiple circular cylinders roughened with textile
materials (Chowdhury et al., 2009, 2014; Oggiano et al., 2007,
2009). Recently, Hsu et al. (2019) performed an experimental
work with 38 fabric samples tested on a circular cylinder in a
wind tunnel experiment, and concluded that the roughness of
the textile materials could be expressed in terms of the
Nikuradse’s sand-grain roughness (Nikuradse, 1937). By this
finding, the effect of textile roughness on the drag crisis phe-
nomenon could be described by the empirical relations origin-
ally proposed for other types of roughness elements (Basu,
1985). As for the drag crisis phenomenon of flow over a circu-
lar cylinder, a significant number of works can be found in the
literature (Achenbach, 1968; Bearman, 1969; Farell & Blessman,
1983; Roshko, 1993; Schewe, 1983; Wieselsberger, 1922;
Zdravkovich, 1997). Basically, the phenomenon is known for a
drastic reduction in the drag coefficient within a small range of
Reynolds numbers, and is very sensitive to free stream turbu-
lence and surface roughness (Achenbach, 1971; Nakamura &
Tomonari, 1982; Wieselsberger, 1922; Zdravkovich, 1997).
In examining the effect of textile roughness on the drag
coefficients of a cyclist and a circular cylinder, Brownlie
et al. (2009) found that the drag reduction caused by a sport

CONTACT Jiun-Jih Miau jjmiau@mail.ncku.edu.tw Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan.
ß 2021 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.
0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in
any way.

suit on the cyclist could be up to 7.6%, whereas the rough-
ness effect on the reduction of the drag of a circular cylinder
could be up to 50% provided that the flow was experienced
through a critical transition process. Brownlie et al. (2009)
emphasized that the drag crisis could be triggered by the tex-
tile roughness on a cyclist, thus resulting in significant reduc-
tion of drag. In addition, Debraux et al. (2011) examined the
data of the effective frontal area of an elite cyclist, which was
defined as a product of the projected area of the cyclist and
the drag coefficient. The data reported by Debraux et al.
(2011) were obtained in a wind-tunnel experiment with the
cyclist at a static position for speeds over a range of 4.2 m/s
to 27.8 m/s. A least drag coefficient was identified at a speed
between 11.1 m/s and 13.9 m/s; the reduction was amounted
to 10% of the drag coefficient at the lowest speed 4.2 m/s. As
noted, the extents of drag reduction reported in Debraux
et al. (2011) and Brownlie et al. (2009) are comparable.
The present study was carried out experimentally and
numerically. First, flow visualization experiments were per-
formed in a water channel with a 1/5 scale cyclist model to
examine the complex flow phenomenon near the model surface.
Particular attention was paid to identify the locations of the flow
separation lines on the surface. In parallel to the flow visualiza-
tion experiment, numerical work was conducted to obtain the
time-mean flow distribution around the cyclist model, from
which the wall shear stress distribution on the model surface
was deduced to supplement the findings of the water-channel
flow visualization which basically provided the qualitative infor-
mation of the flow phenomenon. Second, experiments were car-
ried out in a wind tunnel with a full-scale model to obtain the
drag force using a balance and the real-time pressure measure-
ments on the contoured body surface. The results of the model
with seven sport suits together with a reference case without
sport suit were compared. A major finding is that the results of
the drag measurements confirm the effectiveness of drag reduc-
tion due to textile roughness. The results of pressure measure-
ments further provide insights into the roughness effect on
modifications of the boundary-layer flows on the local surfaces.
Methodology
The cyclist models
Figure 1(a) and 1(b) shows the photos of a 1/5 scale model
and a full-scale model at a dropped position for the
Figure 1. The photos of (a) a 1/5 scale model with a bike for the water-channel experiment and (b) a full-scale model with a bike for the wind-tunnel experiment.
THE JOURNAL OF THE TEXTILE INSTITUTE 1207
water-channel and wind-tunnel experiments, respectively.
The cyclist models were made by a 3-D printer, with the con-
tour data provided by TTRI (Taiwan Textile Research
Institute). For the water-channel experiments, a bike model
was made by the same 3-D printer to fit the 1/5 scale cyclist
model, whereas for the wind-tunnel experiments a commer-
cial bike was selected for the full-scale model. It is worthwhile
to mention that the full-scale model was too large to be
printed in one piece. Actually, it was segmented into 23
pieces for printing, then assembled afterwards.
Detailed dimensions of a 1/5 scale cyclist model are


shown in Figure 2. Notably, its pitch angle is 25 , which is
defined as the angle between the torso of the model indi-
cated and the horizontal axis aligned in the direction of the
incoming flow. The torso length, L, is denoted as the char-
acteristic length in this study; L ¼ 135 mm for the 1/5 scale
model. Moreover, the coordinate system employed for this
study is indicated in the figure with the origin located at the
surface of the pelvis region, where x, y and z denote the
streamwise, lateral and vertical directions, respectively.
Methods for the water-channel experiments
A closed-return type water channel was employed for the
flow visualization experiments, with a test section of 0.6 m
by 0.6 m in cross section and 2.5 m in length. The cyclist
model was situated 1 m downstream from the inlet of the
test section, where the turbulence intensity measured was
about 1% of the incoming flow velocity at 0.09 m/s. As
shown in Figure 3(a), the cyclist model and the bike were
situated on a supporting plate, with a blockage ratio of 6.8%
in total. Care was taken prior to the experiments to verify
that the disturbance introduced by the ground plate had lit-
tle effect on the flow downstream. This was confirmed by
the dye-streak visualization image shown in Figure 3(b),
unveiling that the disturbance produced from the leading
edge had little impact on the flow downstream.
Flow visualization experiments were performed using the
dye-streak, oil-film and ink-dot methods. For the dye-streak
method, the dye was introduced upstream from the model
to reveal the flow motions in the region of interest. The
outer diameter of the dye injection tube was 1 mm, that
the Reynolds number based on the freestream velocity and
the diameter of the tube was about 60. Note that the
1208 X. Y. HSU ET AL.
Figure 2. Detailed dimensions of the 1/5 scale model with the coordinate system defined for this study.
Figure 3. (a) A photo taken for the test section of the water channel. (b) A dye streak introduced upstream in the test section proving that flow over the leading
edge of the ground plate did not produce additional disturbance.
disturbance generated by the injection tube resulted in a wake
behind the tube. Under the flow condition, the disturbance gen-
erated is categorized as a laminar wake (Roshko, 1954; Van
Dyke, 1982), whose velocity deficit would be diffused by the vis-
cous effect mainly. Thus, the disturbance produced could be
regarded as insignificant to flow motion. For the oil-film
method, a white water-color paint was applied on the surface of
the model. After the model was placed in the flow for a length
of time until most of the paint material on the windward side
of the model was carried away, the flow separation lines would
be revealed clearly. As for the ink-dot flow visualization tech-
nique, the same water-color paint was applied on the model
surface in dots at the pre-determined grid points. Until the dot-
ted paint dried for a certain length of time in the air, the model
was placed in the test section. As a result, a limiting streamline
pattern would be emerged from the appearance of the ink-dots
due to the viscous effect of flow near the surface.
Methods for the wind-tunnel experiments
The ABRI (Architecture and Building Research Institute)
wind tunnel (Miau et al., 2013) at the NCKU Kuei-Ren
campus was employed for the present study. The wind tun-
nel is equipped with two test sections, including a primary
test section which is 2.6 m by 4 m in cross section at the
inlet and 36.5 m long, and the other which is 2.6 m by 6 m
in cross section at the inlet and 21 m long. Driven by an
axial fan with a motor rated 450 kW, the maximum speed
in the primary test section could reach 36 m/s. At 2.5 m
downstream from the inlet of the primary test section,
where the cyclist model was situated, the non-uniformity of
the flow was verified less than 0.4% of the free stream vel-
ocity (Kao, 2005; Miau et al., 2013). In the same cross-sec-
tional plane, the free stream turbulence intensity measured
by a single normal hot-wire probe was about 0.35% for the
free stream velocities at 10 and 20 m/s, respectively. The
thickness of the boundary layer developed on the floor at
this streamwise location was about 60 mm at the free stream
velocity 10 m/s.
Experiments were carried out for the full-scale cyclist
model shown in Figure 1(b), on which 32 pressure taps out
of 75 in total were selected for measurements. See Figure 4
for the locations of the pressure taps selected. Each pressure
tap was connected to a pressure sensor, AMS-5812-000-D-B,

Figure 4. Indications of 32 pressure taps on the model surface with the frontal, top and side views.
Analog Microelectronics GmbH, featuring a maximum
frequency response of 500 Hz. Prior to the experiment,
calibration was made for each of the sensors to obtain a
relation between the output voltages and the known pres-
sures, which were provided by a Druck DPI-610 portable
pressure calibrator.
For the experiment, a self-made force balance system was
employed to obtain the aerodynamic drag of the full-scale
model together with the bike, with an area blockage ratio
of 4.2% in total. In this study, no correction was made on
the drag force measured with regard to the area blockage
effect. The balance was designed to measure a one-compo-
nent force in the streamwise direction. As shown in Figure
5(a), it was equipped with two S-Beam load cells, CLB-
200NA, Tokyo Measuring Instruments Lab., which were
installed in opposite directions to account for the forces in
both directions. Calibration for each of the load cells was
made prior to the wind-tunnel experiments. Figure 5(b)
and 5(c) shows the calibration curves of the two load
cells, respectively. For each of the load cells, the linearity
of calibration could be examined by the correlation coeffi-
cient enclosed.
In the wind tunnel, a Pitot tube was situated at the inlet
of the test section to measure the free stream velocity, Vref,
which is denoted as the reference velocity for experiment. It
was reduced from the output of a differential pressure trans-
ducer, Validyne DP-103, calibrated with the Druck DPI-610
portable pressure calibrator mentioned above. A thermom-
eter was installed in the test section to monitor the tempera-
ture of the flow. For each set of the measurements, the
output signals from the 32 pressure transducers, the force
balance, the differential pressure transducer with the Pitot
tube and the thermometer were sampled simultaneously by
the analog to digital converter modules, NI-9215, at a rate
of 1 kHz per channel for 120 s.
Design of textile roughness
The sport suits tested in the wind tunnel experiments were
made of different types of textile materials with addition of
local roughness patterns. In an earlier study, Chen et al.
THE JOURNAL OF THE TEXTILE INSTITUTE 1209
(2019) demonstrated that applying a local roughness pattern
on the cyclist model without textile material could have sig-
nificant impact on drag reduction. The idea was that if a
roughness pattern could be placed on the model surface at a
location appropriate to disturbing the boundary-layer flow
effectively, then the delay of flow separation would be
remarkable. Chen et al. (2019) compared the results of ten
different roughness patterns and found that a pattern called
the skeleton triangle, which is shown in Figure 6, was the
most effective for drag reduction. In Chen et al. (2019), the
roughness patterns were applied on the shoulders, the upper
arms, two sides of the waist and the outer sides of the upper
legs at locations upstream, but close to, the flow separation
lines as learned from the flow visualization experiments in
the water channel. The thickness of each of the roughness
patterns was 1 mm. A maximum reduction amounted to
6.7% was found in comparison with the drag coefficient of
the model without a roughness pattern at the same
Reynolds number. The Reynolds number is defined as Re¼
VrefL/m; m denotes the kinematic viscosity.
The skeleton triangular pattern proposed by Chen et al.
(2019) was implemented in the design of sport suits in this
study. Seven sport suits were made for tests. See Figure 7
for the photos of the sport suits, named Cases 1R, 2R, 2RT,
3R, 3RT, 4R and 4RT. The characteristic features of the
sport suits1R, 2R, 2RT, 3R and 3RT are further described in
Table 1, which were made of four types of textile materials,
named Types A, B, C and D. On the other hand, the textile
materials of sport suits 4R, 4RT are identical and uniform
in roughness, as described in Table 2.
Roughness of the textile materials is deemed critical to
modify the boundary-layer flow on the model surface.
Roughness measurements of the textile materials were car-
ried out with a VK-9710 3 D laser scanning confocal micro-
scope. Each image obtained was reduced for a quantity
named S10z (ISO 25178, 2012), according to the definition
below.
S10z ¼ S5p þ S5v (1)
where S5p and S5v are the average heights of the five high-
est peaks and the deepest valleys, respectively, within an
1210 X. Y. HSU ET AL.

Figure 5. (a) A schematic view of the self-made force balance, (b) the calibration results of load cell A, and (c) the calibration results of load cell B.

Figure 6. Illustrations of the roughness pattern called skeleton triangle (Chen et al., 2019). (a) The design drawing, (b) a view of the roughness pattern made of
emulsion, and (c) the patterns applied on the shoulders, arms, waist and upper legs of the cyclist model (Chen et al., 2019).

Figure 7. The photos of the sport suits for the seven cases: Cases 1R, 2R, 2RT, 3R, 3RT, 4R and 4RT. Note that the characteristics of the sport suits are also described
in Tables 1 and 2.
area of 1.5 mm by 1 mm measured. The relative roughness
given in Tables 1 and 2 is defined as the S10z value normal-
ized by the reference length, L ¼ 0.675 m, the torso length
of the full-scale model.
As indicated in Table 1, the textile materials of Types B,
C and D are non-uniform in roughness. Details about the
roughness patterns are further shown in Figure 8. Notably,
THE JOURNAL OF THE TEXTILE INSTITUTE 1211
for each of the types, the non-uniform roughness can be
highlighted by the roughness measurements in two selected
regions, named a and b, which are characterized by differ-
ent textures. Moreover, in each of the photos, a dashed-line
area marks a repeated pattern of the non-uniform rough-
ness. A ratio of this area to a square of 20 mm by 20 mm
indicated by the solid line is provided for reference.
1212 X. Y. HSU ET AL.

Figure 7. Continued

For Cases 2RT, 3RT and 4RT, the skeleton triangle pat- the quantities of time-mean value F and root-mean square
terns (Chen et al., 2019) were implemented. The thicknesses value Frms, respectively. See the expressions below.
of the patterns varied in different cases, with the thicknesses
1X N
of 2.45 mm, 1.85 mm and 0.5 mm for Cases 2RT, 3RT and F¼ F ðiÞ (2)
4RT, respectively. In addition, a case named Case O denot- N i¼1
vffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
ing the model without a sport suit was studied. The results u
u 1 X N
of Case O will be referenced for comparison later. Frms ¼t ðFFÞ2 (3)
N  1 i¼1

Statistical analysis of the experimental data F(i): the real-time force value at the data point i sampled;
N: the number of the data points in a sampled
In this study, the data sampled within a length of time for
record, N ¼ 12000.
analysis, named a sampled record, is treated as a stationary
Subsequently, the drag coefficient, CD, and its root-mean
random process (Bendat & Piersol, 1991). The methods of
square value, CDrms, can be reduced according to the expres-
data analysis are presented below. The force-balance data
sions below.
obtained from a wind tunnel experiment can be reduced to
 THE JOURNAL OF THE TEXTILE INSTITUTE 1213

Table 1. Characteristics of the sport suits 1R, 2R, 2RT, 3R and 3RT, each of which was made of a combination of different types of textile materials as indicated.
(a) The textile materials used in the sport suits
Fabric type Weight (gsm) Fiber content Fiber structural Relative roughness (S10z/L) Remarks
Type A 130 86% polyester Warp knitting 5.88  104 Uniform roughness
14% elastane
Type B 180 82% polyester Warp knitting a: 9.24  104 Non-uniform roughness
18% elastane b: 7.24  104
(See Figure 8a for the sampled areas a and b)
Type C 150 80% polyester Warp knitting a: 9.04  104 Non-uniform roughness
20% elastane b: 5.6  104
(See Figure 8b for the sampled areas a and b)
Type D 110 94% polyester Warp knitting a: 7.61  104 Non-uniform roughness
6% elastane b: 6.12  104
(See Figure 8c for the sampled areas a and b)
(b) Descriptions of the design of the sport suits (See also Figure 7)
Areas of the model surface with different fabric types
Inner side of the
Shoulders and upper arms and Local
Front of the outer side of Rear of the the two sides of roughness
Case upper body upper arms upper body the upper body pattern
1R A C C D None
2R A A C D None
2RT A A C D Yes (2.45 mm thick)
3R B B A D None
3RT B B A D Yes (1.85 mm thick)

Table 2. Characteristics of sport suits 4R and 4RT, whose base textile materials were identical and uniform in roughness.
Case Weight (gsm) Fiber content Yarn number Fiber structure Relative roughness (S10z/L) Local roughness pattern
4R 200 Nylon/Spandex ¼ 80/20 Nylon: 40 D; Spandex: 40 D Warp knitting 5.56  104 none
4RT 200 Nylon/Spandex ¼ 80/20 Nylon: 40 D; Spandex: 40 D Warp knitting 5.56  104 Yes (0.5 mm thick)

F Prms
CD ¼ 1 (4) CPrms ¼ 1 (9)
2 qair Vref
2
q 2
2 air ref At
V
Frms In the expressions above, Pstatic denotes the static pres-
CDrms ¼1 (5)
q 2
2 air Vref At sure of the freestream flow. In addition, a real-time pressure
In the expressions above, qair denotes the density of the coefficient, Cpr, is defined below.
air; At denotes the frontal area of the cyclist model together PðiÞPstatic
with the bike, 0.438 m2. CPr ðiÞ ¼ (10)
2 qair Vref
1 2
Similarly, the pressure data obtained at each of the pres-
sure taps on the model surface in a wind tunnel experiment
can be reduced to the time-mean value P and the root- CFD method for flow simulation
mean square value Prms, respectively. See the expressions
below. Numerical simulation of flow around the cyclist model
X
N without a bike was made to examine the phenomenon of
1
P¼ P ðiÞ (6) flow separation from the body surface. A commercial
N i¼1 software ANSYS Fluent was employed to solve the RANS
vffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
u (Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes) equations using the
u 1 X N
Prms ¼t ðPPÞ2 (7) SIMPLE algorithm. In solving the equations, a k-x SST
N  1 i¼1 (Shear-Stress Transport) turbulence model was adopted.
See Figure 9(a) for the computation domain. The dimen-
P(i) denotes the real-time pressure value at the data point
sions were defined according to the test section of the
i sampled.
water channel. A 1/5 scale cyclist model with no bike was
Subsequently, the pressure coefficient, Cp, and its root-
mean square value, CPrms, can be reduced according to the situated in the domain. An adaptive grid system generated
expressions below. by the ANSYS ICEM software was employed, which con-
sisted of seven million cells. The grid system is illustrated
PPstatic in Figure 9(b). Care was taken with the mesh size
CP ¼ 1 (8)
2 qair Vref
2
near the model to ensure that the distance from the first
grid point to the surface of the body, in terms of yþ, a
1214 X. Y. HSU ET AL.

Figure 8. The non-uniform textile materials of (a) Type B, (b) Type C and (c) Type D shown in Table 1. In each photo, a and b indicate the regions where the
roughness measurements were made. The laser scanning images of the measurements corresponding to the two regions are enclosed. The percentage value indi-
cated in each of the photos is the ratio of the area enclosed by the dashed line characterizing the repeated pattern of roughness versus the area enclosed by the
solid line, 20 mm by 20 mm.

non-dimensional distance based on the wall-friction vel- Results and discussion

ocity (White, 1974) and the kinematic viscosity, be less
than 1. For the computation made at Re¼ 1.4  104 , the
height of the first cell from the surface was 1.5  104 m.
More information regarding the present computation
method can be found in Tseng (2019).
Results of the water-channel experiments
The results of flow visualization of the 1/5 scale model
obtained in the water channel at Re ¼ 1.4  104 together
with the CFD results obtained at the same Reynolds number
 THE JOURNAL OF THE TEXTILE INSTITUTE 1215

Figure 9. The setup for the numerical simulation at Re ¼ 1.4  104. (a) The computation domain for simulating the flow over a 1/5 scale cyclist model in the test
section of the water channel. (b) An illustration of the adaptive grid system employed for the numerical simulation.

Figure 10. (a) Oil-film visualization on the back surface of the model; (b) an illustration of the counter-rotating vertical flows over the back of the model (Miau et
al., 2020); (c) the wall shear-stress distribution on the back surface obtained by the present numerical simulation; (d) the ink-dot flow visualization on the back sur-
face; (e) the skin friction distribution on the back surface; (f) and (g) the dye visualization of flow around the head of the model, respectively.

are shown in Figure 10. Note that the flow visualization
experiments were made for the model together with a sting
support and a ground plate on the floor of the test section.
On the other hand, the CFD simulation was carried out for
the model only, for the sake of simplicity.
In Figure 10(a), the oil-film flow visualization results
unveil the formation of the flow separation lines on the rear
side of the shoulders, which were extended toward the cen-
ter of the back of the model. This appearance is associated
with two large-scale counter-rotating vortical flows induced
1216 X. Y. HSU ET AL.

Figure 11. (a) Oil-film visualization on the right side of the model; (b) wall shear-stress distribution by numerical simulation on the right side of the model; (c) oil-
film visualization on the left side of the model; (b) wall shear-stress distribution obtained by numerical simulation on the left side of the model.

by flow separation from the shoulders and the upper body,
subsequently re-attached at the center of the back surface.
For reference, a numerical plot of the streamline distribu-
tion in Figure 10(b) (Miau et al., 2020) for a cyclist model
at the hoods position illustrates the formation of the vortical
flows over the back surface. This flow characteristic was also
mentioned in Crouch et al. (2014) and Crouch et al. (2017)
for models at different postures. Figure 10(c) shows the
numerical results of the wall shear stress distribution on
the back surface of the present model. In this plot, the
separation lines can be clearly discerned. Basically, the flow
separation lines revealed from the shear stress distribution
are conformed with those seen in the experimental flow
visualization indicated by dashed lines in the numerical
image. This comparison gives a strong support to the pre-
sent numerical method, which is capable of unveiling the
major flow characteristics around the cyclist model.
More details concerning the formation of the separation
lines can be seen with the ink-dot visualization image and
the corresponding numerical results shown in Figure 10(d)

Figure 12. The distributions of CD and CDrms versus Re for all the cases studied. The CD and CDrms distribution of Case 3R are highlighted with solid symbols.
and 10(e), respectively. Both images clearly indicate that the
formation of a flow separation line is resulted from a con-
vergence of the limiting streamlines nearby. Physically, by
the law of conservation of mass, a separation line is formed
due to the convergence of the surrounding fluid near the
surface, leading to a lift of the fluid from the surface
(Lighthill, 1963). Furthermore, the complicated flow separ-
ation patterns revealed are attributed to the contoured sur-
face of the model. Apart from the separation lines identified
on the back of the model, two spiral separations formed on
the two sides of the pelvis are noted in the figure. Each of
the spiral separations is associated with the convergence
of the limiting streamlines to a focal point, followed by a lift
of the fluid from the focal point (Lighthill, 1963).
A flow separation region appeared on the rear side of the
head of the model caught our attention, which can be fur-
ther elaborated with the photos in Figure 10(f) and 10(g).
The photo in Figure 10(f) was taken from a top view of the
model with the dye streaks released upstream from the
model. As seen, the flow around the head surface was
entrained into a wake region, which was extended over the
rear side of the head and the neck region. A side view
shown in Figure 10(g) further indicates that a reversed flow
was developed from the neck towards the head, subse-
quently shedding downstream. In accordance with the
THE JOURNAL OF THE TEXTILE INSTITUTE 1217
appearance of the diffused dye behind the head, one could
further make an estimation about the lateral extent of the
wake region.
As a counterpart of Figure 10, Figure 11 presents the
results of flow visualization obtained from the right and left
sides of the cyclist model together with the CFD simulation
results. The dashed lines marked in the photos indicate the
flow separation lines identified by the flow visualization,
which can be referenced for comparison. Two interesting
aspects of the flow characteristics learned from the experi-
mental and numerical results are described below. First, the
flow separation lines along the two sides of the waist and
the outer sides of the two legs basically follow the topology
of the three-dimensional contoured surface as the cyclist
model is facing the incoming flow. Second, the appearances
of the flow separations lines on the upper right and left
arms bear a similarity to a situation of flow over a normal
circular cylinder. This observation strongly infers that flows
around the upper arms can be modeled by flow over a cir-
cular cylinder, which will be elaborated later.
Above findings enlighten an important aspect in sport
suit design. Namely, if a sport suit with a roughness element
could have significant impact on delaying the flow separ-
ation lines on the model, the reduction of drag would be
remarkable. Accordingly, the sport suits of Cases 2RT and
1218 X. Y. HSU ET AL.

Figure 13. (a) Cp and (b) Cprms distributions versus Re at pressure taps 4-4, 4 and 4-6 on the right shoulder of the model for all cases studied. The Cp and Cprms
distributions of Cases 1R and 2RT are highlighted with solid symbols, which are connected by dashed lines respectively. In each of the plots, the distribution of
Case O is plotted with a dashed line for reference.

Figure 13. Continued
3RT were designed with the skeleton triangle patterns
(Chen et al., 2019) on the shoulders, waist and arms,
whereas the Case 4RT was designed with the skeleton tri-
angle patterns on the shoulders and arms. See also Figure 7
for the locations of the roughness patterns on the
sport suits.
Results of the wind-tunnel experiments
The CD distributions versus Re for all the eight cases studied
in the wind-tunnel experiment are presented in Figure
12(a). Note that for each of the CD values plotted, the
accompanied error bars indicate the range of uncertainty.
Owing to that at each of the flow speeds measured multiple
THE JOURNAL OF THE TEXTILE INSTITUTE 1219
measurements were made, the CD value shown actually is
the mean of the repeated measurements, whereas the upper
and lower error bars indicate the highest and lowest CD val-
ues obtained, respectively. As a counterpart of the plot of
the CD distributions, a plot of the distributions of CDrms, i.e.,
the standard deviation associated with the CD values, is
given in Figure 12(b). Similarly, each of the CDrms value
plotted correspond to the mean of multiple measurements,
accompanied with the error bars to indicate the range of the
CDrms values among the measurements.
For Case O, the CD values are the highest compared to
the seven cases with the sport suits for the Reynolds num-
bers higher than 5.5  105. As noted, at Re ¼ 3.9  105 the
uncertainty associated with the plotted value was pronoun-
cedly higher than those at higher Reynolds numbers due to
1220 X. Y. HSU ET AL.

Figure 14. (a) Cp and (b) Cprms distributions versus Re at pressure taps 4-8, 4-10 and 4-14 on the left shoulder of the model for all cases studied. The Cp distribu-
tions of Cases 1R and 2RT are highlighted with solid symbols, which are connected by dashed lines respectively. The Cprms distributions of Case 1R in the three plots
of (b) are highlighted with solid symbols. In each of the plots, the distribution of Case O is plotted with a dashed line for reference.

Figure 14. Continued
the contamination of background noise in the measured sig-
nals. For Case O, Re¼ 5.5  105 to 10  105, the CD values
appear to decrease monotonically with Re, from 0.71 to
0.67. On the other hand, the CDrms distribution of Case O
shows a trend of decreasing with Re up to 9  105, but
reversed the trend at higher Re. This infers that the flow
unsteadiness gets more pronounced at Re beyond 9  105.
Discussion on the CD data of the seven cases with sport
suits is made below. Comparing the CD distributions of
Cases 1R and 2R, whose sport suits feature different materi-
als at the shoulders but identical in other areas, the differ-
ence is rather significant. Namely, the CD distribution of
Case 1R shows a significant reduction compared to that of
Case O for Re higher than 5.5  105. On the other hand, the
distribution of Case 2R appears to be similar to that of Case
THE JOURNAL OF THE TEXTILE INSTITUTE 1221
O with small differences only. In fact, the distribution of
Case 2R is the only one among the seven cases with sport
suits that shows no appreciable reduction in drag for Re
higher than 5.5  105. Based on this finding, one can say
that the surface roughness at the shoulders plays a critical
role to reduce drag at high Reynolds numbers, and in Case
2R the textile material at the shoulders could be too smooth
to have a significant impact on delaying flow separation.
A comparison of the CD distributions of Cases 2R and
2RT, whose textile materials are identical, unveils that the
latter with the skeleton triangular patterns implemented has
a significant impact on drag reduction. In the CD distribu-
tion of 2RT, a minimum CD value can be identified at Re
between 7  105 and 8  105, beyond which the CD value
gets increased. This appearance infers the existence of a
1222 X. Y. HSU ET AL.
Figure 15. The real-time Cpr traces obtained at three pressure taps, 4-8, 4-10 and 4-14, of Case 1R at Re¼ 4.6  105. All three traces consistently indicate that at
the time instant 100 s, the laminar separation bubble is formed on the left shoulder.
critical condition under which the CD value reaches a min-
imum. The corresponding Reynolds number can be named
as the critical Reynolds number (Hsu et al., 2019). A similar
finding was pointed out by Basu (1985) in reviewing the
experimental results of flows over roughened two-dimen-
sional circular cylinders. Physically speaking, the critical
flow phenomenon in flow over a two-dimensional circular
cylinder is accompanied with the formation of separation
bubbles on the circular cylinder (Zdravkovich, 1997;
Bearman, 1969). Likewise, one would expect that separation
bubbles could be formed on the surface of the cyclist model,
although the model is much more complicated in a 3-D
contoured shape. More findings in this regard will be pre-
sented later.
Cases 3R and 3RT feature sport suits with the same tex-
tile materials, but the latter includes the skeleton triangular
patterns. A comparison of the CD distributions of the two
cases reveals a difference similar to that seen in Cases 2R
and 2RT that the artificial roughness pattern has a positive
impact on drag reduction, even though the thickness of the
roughness pattern of Case 3RT is less than that of Case
2RT. Meanwhile, it is worthwhile to mention that the crit-
ical CD value obtained in Case 3RT appears to be the lowest
among all the cases presented in the figure. Note that in
Figure 12(a), the CD distribution of Case 3RT is highlighted
with solid symbols. In this case, the critical condition
occurred about Re¼ 6.4  105, which is lower than the crit-
ical Reynolds number in Case 2RT mentioned above.
Referring to the CD value of Case O at the same Reynolds
number, the reduction in Case 3RT is amounted to 7.5%.
Comparing the CD distributions of Cases 4R and 4RT, it
is found that the addition of the skeleton triangular patterns
at the shoulders and arms in fact has a negative impact on
drag reduction at Reynolds numbers beyond the critical
value about 6  105. Evidently, this finding is contrary to
that learned from Cases 2R, 2RT, 3R and 3RT above. In
summary, the comparisons made above suggest that the
effectiveness of the local roughness patterns deserves careful
investigation for each of the individual cases.
To better understand the physical mechanism of surface
roughness involved in drag reduction, it is worthwhile to
examine the pressure data obtained on the model surface.
In the following, the results of the pressure measurements
made on the shoulders, the right waist and the right arm
are presented for discussion. Similar to Figure 12, each of
the Cp or Cprms values plotted in the following figures is the
mean of the values obtained from multiple measurements,
accompanied with the error bars to indicate the range of
variations among the measurements.
Figures 13 and 14 present the distributions of Cp and
Cprms on the right and left shoulders, respectively, versus
Reynolds number for all the cases studied. The locations of
the pressure taps on the right shoulder, named 4-4, 4 and 4-
6, and on the left shoulders, named 4-8, 4-10 and 4-14, are
shown in the figures for reference.
In comparing the Cp distributions of all the eight cases,
one finds a feature in common in the two figures that the
distributions of Case O show the least negative. In viewing
that flow separations were developed on both shoulders
(Figure 10), this appearance infers that for all the seven
cases with sport suits the flow separations on the shoulders
were actually delayed downstream relative to the Case O.
Further explanation in this regard can be made below.
Delay of flow separation on the upper surface of a shoulder
is equivalent to a situation that the boundary-layer flow per-
sists over the shoulder surface a longer distance, which
basically is convex in shape. Thus, the attached flow keeps
accelerating along the surface, leading to lower static
 THE JOURNAL OF THE TEXTILE INSTITUTE 1223

Figure 16. Cp and (b) Cprms distributions versus Re at pressure taps (a) 13-1 and (b) 13-6 on the upper right waist of the model for all the cases studied. The Cp
and Cprms distributions of Case 2RT at the pressure tap 13-1 in (a) are highlighted with solid symbols, which are connected by dashed lines. The Cp and Cprms distri-
butions of Case 2RT and 3RT at the pressure tap 13-6 in (b) are highlighted with solid symbols, which are connected by dashed lines. In each of the plots, the distri-
bution of Case O is plotted with a dashed line for reference.

pressure at the pressure taps measured. Based on this rea-
soning, one can further argue that among the seven cases
with sport suits Cases 1R and 2RT appear to be the most
effective in delaying the flow separation over the shoulders,
as the Cp values show the most negative. In the figures, the
Cp distributions of the two cases are highlighted with
solid symbols.
The value of Cprms basically indicates the degree of flow
unsteadiness at the pressure tap measured. Presumably, the
flow unsteadiness is predominated by flow separation on the
shoulders, a situation like flow over a circular cylinder
where the flow unsteadiness is mainly associated with the
phenomenon of vortex shedding (Bloor, 1964; Gerrard,
1966; Miau et al., 2006). In Figures 13 and 14, it is noted
that for all the cases studied, the Cprms values are about 0.1
in general. This observation infers that the unsteadiness of
flow over both shoulders was not affected by the sport suits
appreciably. Nevertheless, special attention is paid to Case
1R at Re¼ 4.6  105 in Figure 14(b), where the Cprms values
at the three pressure taps 4-8, 4-10 and 4-14 on the left
shoulder appear distinctly higher. The distributions of Case
1R in the three plots of Figure 14(b) are highlighted with
1224 X. Y. HSU ET AL.
Figure 16. Continued
solid symbols. To gain further insights into this finding, the
real-time pressure coefficient traces in terms of Cpr are pre-
sented in Figure 15 for examination. In the figure, the three
real-time traces consistently indicate an abrupt change from
1 to 1.5 at t ¼ 100 s. Physically, this appearance infers
that a separation bubble was formed on the left shoulder at
the time instant and remained afterwards. The formation of
a separation bubble on the shoulder would alter the pressure
distribution remarkably, as evidenced in flow over a circular
cylinder in the critical regime (Farell & Blessman, 1983;
Gaster, 1969; Lin et al., 2011; Miau et al., 2011; Tani, 1964).
More discussions on the Cp distributions of Cases 1R and
2RT in Figures 13(a) and 14(a) can be made below. In
Figure 13(a), it is noticed that the Cp distributions of Case
1R at the pressure taps 4-4, 4 and 4-6 consistently show a
significant drop at Re¼ 4.6  105. Similar finding is noted
in Figure 14(a) for the Cp distributions of Cases 1R and
2RT at the pressure taps 4-8, 4-10 and 4-14. Remarkable
uncertainties associated with the Cp values of Case 1R at
Re¼ 4.6  105 in all the plots in Figure 14(a) as well as the
corresponding Cprms plots in Figure 14(b) infer the unsteadi-
ness of the formation of separation bubble. The effect of
delaying flow separation is seen at this Reynolds number
and beyond. For Case 2RT, in viewing that the roughness
elements situated on the windward side of both shoulders
(Figure 7), the boundary layer flows on the shoulders were
tripped to promote turbulent momentum mixing, thus delay
flow separation effectively.
Discussion on the characteristics of the separated flow
around the right waist of the cyclist model can be made by
examining the Cp and Cprms data obtained at pressure taps
13-1 and 13-6. For all the eight cases studied, the distribu-
tions of Cp and Cprms versus Re are presented in Figure 16
for comparison. Several interesting features of the flow char-
acteristics deserve attention here. First, on the pressure data
obtained at the pressure tap 13-1, the Cp values of Case O
show a trend of increasing with Re up to 10  105, and the
corresponding Cprms values maintain at a relatively high
level compared to the rest cases, and reach a peak around
Re¼ 7  105. These observations suggest that for Case O,
flow separation around the waist is accompanied with
strong flow unsteadiness, which gets less significant at Re
beyond 7  105. Since the separated flow developed from
the waist is merged into the wake flow behind the back of
the cyclist model, the appearance of high Cprms values could
be intimately associated with the flow unsteadiness of the
wake flow behind the back of the model. Based on this rea-
soning, one could further argue that since the Cprms values
show a trend of decreasing with Re, the flow unsteadiness
associated with the wake gets less severe as Re increased
beyond 7  105. For the seven cases with sport suits, the Cp
distributions show less variations with Re and the Cprms
 THE JOURNAL OF THE TEXTILE INSTITUTE 1225

Figure 17. (a) Cp and (b) Cprms distributions versus Re at pressure taps 21, 22, 21-1 and 21-4 on the upper right arm of the model for all the cases studied. In the
figure, the Cp and Cprms distributions of Case 2R are highlighted with solid symbols, which are connected by dashed lines; the Cp and Cprms distributions of Case 4R
are highlighted with solid symbols. In each of the plots, the distribution of Case O is plotted with a dashed line for reference.

distributions stay at lower values compared to that of Case
O. These findings infer that the wake flow behind the back
of the cyclist model tends to be reduced in size with less
unsteadiness, compared to Case O. Examining the data in
the figure, one may further obtain an idea that the most
remarkable change is due to Case 2RT, whose Cp and Cprms
distributions at the pressure tap 13-1 are highlighted with
the solid symbols in Figure 16(a).
Second, at pressure tap 13-6, for each of the cases the Cp
distribution versus Re appears to be almost constant.
Meanwhile, the Cprms values stay low. These findings suggest
that pressure tap 13-6 be located in the wake region. The Cp
distribution of Case O appears to be the lowest in value
among the eight cases studied, implying that the flow separ-
ation line in this case would be located farthest upstream
compared to the other cases. This can be reasoned with our
knowledge about flow around a bluff body. Delaying flow
separation on a contoured surface would result in an
increase in base pressure, such as in the case of flow over a
circular cylinder (Achenbach, 1968; Igarashi, 1978; Roshko,
1993). Moreover, a numerical study by Phung et al. (2017)
on flow over a cyclist model at the hoods position using a
1226 X. Y. HSU ET AL.
Figure 17. Continued
Large-Eddy-Simulation (LES) method indicated that the flow
separation lines on the contoured surface of the waist region
were actually wandering in time, and the drag coefficient in
real time varied accordingly. Following this reasoning, one
can argue that as far as delaying the flow separation around
the waist region is concerned, Case 2RT or 3RT appears to
be the most effective, accompanied with the least flow
unsteadiness measured. Conceivably, the addition of the local
roughness patterns at the waist in the two cases had a signifi-
cant impact on the flow development. The Cp and Cprms dis-
tributions of the two cases corresponding to the pressure tap
13-6 are highlighted in Figure 16(b) with solid symbols. A
summary based on above findings at two pressure taps sug-
gests that Case 2RT is the most effective in delaying flow sep-
aration in the waist region of the model.
The Cp and Cprms data obtained at pressure taps 21, 22,
21-1 and 21-4 on the right arm of the cyclist model are pre-
sented in Figure 17 for discussion. Notably, the locations of
pressure taps 21 and 22 are on the windward and rearward
sides, respectively. Pressure taps 21-1 and 21-4 are located
on the outer side of the arm where the flow separation phe-
nomenon would be anticipated.

Figure 17. Continued
The Cp and Cprms data obtained at pressure tap 22 basic-
ally reflect the characteristics of flow in the wake region
behind the arm. For Case O, the Cp values appear to be
increased with Re and approach to a level about 1 for Re
beyond 7  105, meanwhile the Cprms values appear to be
decreased remarkably for Re beyond 7  105. These findings
strongly suggest that flow separation be delayed further
rearward as Re gets increased up to 7  105. On the other
THE JOURNAL OF THE TEXTILE INSTITUTE 1227
hand, attention is drawn to Case 2R. The distribution of
Cprms versus Re unveils a trend that the flow unsteadiness
appears to be more severe than that of Case O at Re beyond
7  105. Meanwhile, the Cp and Cprms distributions of Case
2R show no appreciable variations with Re, which infers no
evidence about the occurrence of the critical transition phe-
nomenon. This can be also learned from the Cp data
obtained from pressure taps 21-1 and 21-4 that for Case 2R
1228 X. Y. HSU ET AL.
Figure 18. The real-time Cpr traces obtained at the three pressure taps, 21, 21-1 and 21-4, of Case 4R at Re¼ 6.2  105. The traces obtained at pressure taps 21-1
and 21-4 show fluctuations between the levels of -1 and -3, inferring switching off and on regarding the formation of the separation bubble on the arm surface.
the Cp values stay about 1.5 for Re beyond 7  105, which
is attributed to no formation of separation bubble on the
outer surface of the right arm. Also noted from the Cp distri-
butions of the pressure tap 21 in the figure, the Case 2R
appears to have the least negative values and remain almost
constant, slightly less negative than 1, over the Reynolds
number range studied. In the figure, the Cp and Cprms distri-
butions of Case 2R are highlighted with the solid symbols.
For Case 4R, the Cprms data obtained at Re¼ 6  105, at
pressure taps 21-1 and 21-4, show distinctly high values
compared to those of the other cases. Interestingly, this phe-
nomenon was confirmed by a repeated measurement. To
gain better understanding on these data, the real-time Cpr
traces of one set of the measurements at the two pressure
taps are presented in Figure 18, in which the real-time trace
at the pressure tap 21 is also included for reference.
Notably, high Cprms values are attributed to pressure fluctua-
tions with large amplitude characterized by two levels. The
two levels in fact correspond to on and off, respectively,
concerning the formation of a separation bubble on the arm
surface. This has been seen in flow over a circular cylinder,
for which switching between states appears to be very pro-
nounced in the critical transition range (Bearman, 1969; Lin
et al., 2011; Miau et al., 2011; Zdravkovich, 1997). To be
more specific, in the real-time Cpr traces, the level of 3
infers the presence of a separation bubble on the arm sur-
face. On the other hand, the pressure coefficient at the level
of 1 infers no presence of a separation bubble. The large
pressure fluctuations imply that the arm of the cyclist model
would be experiencing a remarkably unsteady side force.
For Case 4R, the Cp distribution at pressure tap 21-1
appears to drop to the lowest value about 2.2 at Re¼
6  105, and then recovers to a less negative value about
1.6 at higher Re. Meanwhile, the Cp distribution at
pressure tap 21-4 shows that it levels off at about 2.5 for
Re¼ 6  105 and beyond. These findings suggest that in this
case the separation bubble stay on the arm surface for Re
beyond 6  105. The corresponding Cprms distributions
appear to stay at low values in this Re range, implying that
the separation bubble is stably situated on the arm. In the
figure, the Cp and Cprms distributions of Case 4R are high-
lighted with solid symbols.
Conclusions
Fruitful results were obtained in this study, in terms of the
flow visualization on a 1/5 scale model made in a water
channel supplemented by the results of numerical simula-
tion, and the drag force and pressure measurements made
in a wind tunnel on a full-scale cyclist model with seven
sport suits. These findings lead to the following conclusions.
1. The CD data of six out of the seven cases with sport
suits clearly indicate that a critical condition with
remarkable drag reduction can be reached within the
Reynolds number range studied.
2. Comparing the CD data obtained for the seven cases
with sport suits indicates that both the base textile
materials and the local roughness pattern are crucial to
the reduction of aerodynamic drag. Evaluation on the
effectiveness should be made for each of the individual
cases, whereas no general guidelines could be recom-
mended. The best result found in this study is due to
the Case 3RT that the drag reduction is amounted to
7.5% at Re¼ 6.4  105, compared to that of Case O.
3. By examining the Cp and Cprms data together with the
CD data obtained for all the cases studied, reduction of
drag evidently is accompanied with the delay of flow

separation on the model and lower the flow unsteadi-
ness around the model.
4. The present findings of separation bubbles on the local
surfaces of the cyclist model provide a directly support
to the statement made in the literature (Brownlie et al.,
2009) that the critical transition phenomenon could
have a significant impact on drag reduction of the aero-
dynamic flow around a cyclist body.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to express their sincere appreciation to Taiwan
Textile Research Institute for providing the 3-D contour data of the
cyclist model for this study and Architecture Building Research
Institute for the technical assistance in the wind tunnel experiments.
Sincere appreciation also goes to Mr. Tzu-Liang Chen who designed
the force balance for the wind tunnel experiments. Funding support by
Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan, under the project num-
ber: 108-2627-H-006-003 for this work is gratefully acknowledged.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
ORCID
Jiun-Jih Miau http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3655-9917
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