Fifth Conference on Bluff Body Wakes and Vortex-Induced Vibrations

12-15 December 2007, Costa do Sauípe, Bahia, Brazil

MOTION OF A MÖBIUS BAND IN FREE FALL

Thomas Leweke*, Kerry Hourigan**, Mark C. Thompson**

This presentation deals with the free fall of a three-dimensional object having the topology of
a Möbius strip. Experimental results are shown concerning the free-fall trajectory, body
motion and wake structure.
There have been scientific studies on a range of free-fall or free-rise problems, such as the
free fall of plates (Dupleich 1941; Willmarth, Hawk & Harvey 1964; Smith 1971; Field et al.
1997; Belmonte, Eisenberg & Moses 1998; Mahadevan, Ryu & Samuel 1999; Andersen et
al. 2005; Pesavento & Wang 2006), seed dispersal by wind (McCutchen 1977; Augspurger
1986), air bubbles or buoyant disks rising freely in a liquid (Magnaudet & Eames 2000; Wu &
Gharib 2002; Fernandes et al. 2005). Some of the studies have looked at the vorticity
1. Zigzagging
dynamics and fluid forces that lead to a range of observed motions, such as zigzagging, 2. Spiralling
spiralling, gyrating, tumbling and fluttering. 3. Gyrating
4. Tumbling
The present study focuses on the free-fall of a well-known body, the Möbius band. Mathema- 5. Fluttering
tically, this shape is famous because it has only one side and one edge. The band also
possesses intriguing aerodynamic properties. When placed in a uniform flow perpendicular to
the plane of the centreline, the band will locally act like a thin flat plate. Due to its particular
geometry, the different elements around the band will cover all possible angles of attack,
positive and negative, from perpendicular to the flow to aligned with it. One therefore
encounters a range of different flow situations, from flow around streamlined bodies, over
high-angle of attack flows, up to bluff body wakes, all for the single object of a Möbius band.
Different parts of the strip are naturally expected to experience significantly different drag
forces.
If the band is not held perpendicularly to the flow, but allowed to fall freely under its own
weight, it is not obvious in advance which mean orientation it will choose, since the fact that
all angles of attack are present remains true, no matter from which direction the flow comes.
In addition, the twisted nature of the band is likely to lead to torque forces and a resulting
spinning motion, as the band moves down.
A simple physical model of a Möbius band, which is a two-dimensional non-orientable
surface, can be obtained by taking a sufficiently long rectangular strip of material, twisting
one end by 180°, and then gluing the two short ends together. The resulting three-
dimensional object will assume a complicated shape in space, depending on the aspect ratio
of the initial rectangle and the elastic properties of the material (Mahadevan & Keller 1993).
There exists, however, a simple geometrical model, consisting of a circular centreline and
surface elements which are locally perpendicular to this line and continuously twist around it,
completing one half turn going once around the circle. A sketch of this geometry, which is
defined by the diameter D of the ring and the width d of the band, is shown in figure 1.
In the present study we investigate experimentally the free fall of such an object at low
Reynolds numbers.

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Fifth Conference on Bluff Body Wakes and Vortex-Induced Vibrations (BBVIV 5) 97
Costa do Sauipe, Bahia, Brazil, 12 - 15 December 2007
 Fig. 1. Schematic of a Möbius band with a well-defined Fig. 2. Polyester Möbius ring (D = 45 mm)
simple shape in three-dimensional space. used in the experiments.

The Möbius bands were made out of sheets of polyester and polycarbonate. Since the
surface depicted in figure 1 is not developable (Schwarz 1990), an approximate shape of the
projection was determined empirically. The results presented here were obtained with two
bands of aspect ratio A = πD/d = 14, differing by their size (D = 18 mm and 45 mm) and
weight, which leads to different average sink speeds U. The larger band is shown in figure 2.
The Reynolds number Re = Ud/ν is based on the sink speed, the width of the band, and the
kinematic viscosity ν. For the smaller and larger ring they were Re = 130 and Re = 560,
respectively.
The free-fall experiments were carried out
in a water tank with glass walls of
dimensions 50 cm × 50 cm × 120 cm, in
which the bands were released just below
the water surface. The interior of the tank
was illuminated with either white light from
a neon lamp placed underneath its glass
base (for recordings of the ring dynamics
and trajectories), or by the light from an
Argon ion laser (for visualisations using
fluorescent dye painted on the bands prior
to release). The motion of the falling band
was recorded using a digital camera,
which could be displaced vertically at
about the same rate as the speed of the
band. The average speed of the strip was
calculated from the time it took to fall from
the free surface to the bottom of the tank.
The frequencies characterising the time-
dependent motion of the bands during
their descent were obtained from analysis
of the video recordings.
Fig. 3. Experimental setup.

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Fifth Conference on Bluff Body Wakes and Vortex-Induced Vibrations (BBVIV 5) 98
Costa do Sauipe, Bahia, Brazil, 12 - 15 December 2007
The following observations were made concerning the free fall of Möbius bands at low
Reynolds numbers:
• The rings orient themselves in a way that their centreline plane is almost vertical, and the
blunt edge faces upstream (= downwards).
• The overall shape of the trajectory is a downward spiral with an amplitude of order D and
a wavelength of around 10D, caused by the lift force on the angled surfaces at the sides
of the body. While moving along this spiral path, the band spins around the vertical axis.
• The blunt leading edge induced vortex shedding which causes a vortex-induced pitching
oscillation, which is superposed to the spiralling fall, at a frequency.
• Even at low Reynolds numbers, the wake structure of the falling Möbius band is
extremely complicated, consisting of a system of interconnecting vortex loops and rings.

Figures 4-7 illustrate some of these observations. More details, also concerning quantitative
measurements of the dynamics of the Möbius band motion, will be presented at the
conference.

Fig. 4. Stroboscopic visualisation of Möbius Fig. 5. Dye visualisation of the wake for Re = 130.
band trajectory for Re = 130.

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Fifth Conference on Bluff Body Wakes and Vortex-Induced Vibrations (BBVIV 5) 99
Costa do Sauipe, Bahia, Brazil, 12 - 15 December 2007
 0

-2

z/D
-4

3.1 D
-6

-8

-10
-1,0 -0,5 0,0 0,5 1,0
x/D

Fig. 6. Side view of the trajectory of the centre of the band for Fig. 7. Instantaneous and mean inclination of the band
Re = 560. The horizontal scale (x) is stretched by a factor 3 for Re = 560. Images from an "ascending" half cycle of
w.r.t. the vertical (z). The red line corresponds to the overall. the VIV motion were superposed after compensation
spiral The shedding-induced lateral oscillations are clearly seen. for the vertical motion of the trailing edge

This work was supported by the Australian Research Council, under the International
Linkage Grant no. LX0668992.

References

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Fifth Conference on Bluff Body Wakes and Vortex-Induced Vibrations (BBVIV 5) 100
Costa do Sauipe, Bahia, Brazil, 12 - 15 December 2007