Influence of Seam Threading of a Cricket
Ball on Its Trajectory
K. S. Vepa and N. V. S. S. Sagar
Abstract Like other sports, cricket is also a sport where the perfection of the player
decides the outcome of the game. One of the key areas that influence the game is
bowling. Seam on the cricket ball helps a bowler in achieving the expected trajectory
of the ball. This paper focuses on modelling the flow around the ball with its seam
upright and travelling in air. This is the phase during which the ball movement is
completely under the influence of aerodynamic loads. This is an important phase
during its flight since this will decide the course of the ball after it hits the ground. In
order to model this, three different models of cricket balls are taken viz., a smooth
sphere, a sphere with a plain seam and a sphere with threaded seam. All the three
models are subjected to numerical simulation of wind tunnel tests and the results
are compared with the existing results. It is observed that the threading on the seam
plays an important role and hence should not be neglected while modelling. It is also
observed that the computational cost associated with the modelling of threading on
the seam is high.
Keywords Cricket ball · Trajectory · Wind tunnel · CFD
1 Introduction
Cricket is a sport where the accuracy of the bowler in pitching the ball at the expected
location can yield favourable results. There are four aspects of bowling that are
influencing the trajectory of a ball viz., (a) seam, (b) asymmetric tear, (c) speed and (d)
bowling action. Lot of work has already been done in the area of asymmetric tear and
bowling action [1, 2]. Many experimental studies have been carried out to understand
K. S. Vepa (B)
GITAM (Deemed to Be University), Hyderabad, India
e-mail: Sridhar.v.k@gmail.com
N. V. S. S. Sagar
Vel Tech Rangarajan Dr. Sagunthala R&D Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai, India
e-mail: nvsssagar@gmail.com
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license
to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021
N. Gascoin and E. Balasubramanian (eds.), Innovative Design, Analysis
and Development Practices in Aerospace and Automotive Engineering, Lecture Notes
in Mechanical Engineering, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-6619-6_17
163
Ball on Its Trajectory
K. S. Vepa and N. V. S. S. Sagar
Abstract Like other sports, cricket is also a sport where the perfection of the player
decides the outcome of the game. One of the key areas that influence the game is
bowling. Seam on the cricket ball helps a bowler in achieving the expected trajectory
of the ball. This paper focuses on modelling the flow around the ball with its seam
upright and travelling in air. This is the phase during which the ball movement is
completely under the influence of aerodynamic loads. This is an important phase
during its flight since this will decide the course of the ball after it hits the ground. In
order to model this, three different models of cricket balls are taken viz., a smooth
sphere, a sphere with a plain seam and a sphere with threaded seam. All the three
models are subjected to numerical simulation of wind tunnel tests and the results
are compared with the existing results. It is observed that the threading on the seam
plays an important role and hence should not be neglected while modelling. It is also
observed that the computational cost associated with the modelling of threading on
the seam is high.
Keywords Cricket ball · Trajectory · Wind tunnel · CFD
1 Introduction
Cricket is a sport where the accuracy of the bowler in pitching the ball at the expected
location can yield favourable results. There are four aspects of bowling that are
influencing the trajectory of a ball viz., (a) seam, (b) asymmetric tear, (c) speed and (d)
bowling action. Lot of work has already been done in the area of asymmetric tear and
bowling action [1, 2]. Many experimental studies have been carried out to understand
K. S. Vepa (B)
GITAM (Deemed to Be University), Hyderabad, India
e-mail: Sridhar.v.k@gmail.com
N. V. S. S. Sagar
Vel Tech Rangarajan Dr. Sagunthala R&D Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai, India
e-mail: nvsssagar@gmail.com
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license
to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021
N. Gascoin and E. Balasubramanian (eds.), Innovative Design, Analysis
and Development Practices in Aerospace and Automotive Engineering, Lecture Notes
in Mechanical Engineering, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-6619-6_17
163