Soccer ball drag coefficient with respect to ISO standard surface roughness parameters

Engineering of Sport 15 - Proceedings from the 15th International Conference on the Engineering of Sport (ISEA 2024)

Surface roughness has a profound impact on the aerodynamics of soccer balls. Whilst there has been significant research in this field in the last two decades, the need to standardize parameters arises from the fact that balls have varied parameters, some having none of a particular parameter e.g., pimples/dimples. Standardization becomes even more imperative with the release of new ball designs in every new competition. This study aims to standardize surface roughness parameters across various ball designs via a combination of ISO standard 21920:2021 parameters. This paper commences the study by demonstrating the relationship between the drag coefficient (CD) and two ISO standard parameters: Mean Pit Depth (Rv) and Density of Pits (Rvd).