An experimental aerodynamic study of a series of rugby balls

The aerodynamic properties of oval shaped balls, rugby balls and Australian Rules (AFL) football, exhibit peculiar trends which impacts sharply on the balls flight trajectory; with a kicking efficiency of only 60% amongst elite footballers in AFL and NRL, understanding the physics behind oval shaped balls can be very perplexing. Very little literature has been made available on the aerodynamic characterisitics of oval shaped balls, under non-spinning conditions. THe rugby and AFL footballs are asymmetric by design, and hence can rotate both laterally and longitudinally, not to mention an offset angle to these axes of rotation. Initial tests of three differing rugby balls, positioned at a zero pitch angle but with a varying yaw angle have been analysed with curious results. Subsequently, a look into the flow around these balls was studied using flow visualisation methods of wool tuft and smoke flow.