Effect of Modified Seam Geometry on Cricket Ball Swing: A CFD Study Using ANSYS Fluent

This paper investigates how seam geometry affects the lateral force on a cricket ball using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) in ANSYS Fluent. The seam was modified to 4 mm wide and approximately 1 mm high with a sharp profile. Simulations used the standard k-ε turbulence model at an inlet velocity of 35 m/s (Reynolds number ≈ 1.7×10⁵) in a 250 × 250 × 500 mm domain. Non-rotating and rotating (ω = 30 rad/s) balls were simulated at seam angles of 35°, 45°, 55°, 65°, 75° and 90°, and results were compared with published standard-seam values. For the non-rotating ball, the peak lateral force was 0.567 N at 55°, 27.7% above the reference value of 0.444 N. The modified seam gave higher forces at 35°–55° but lower forces at 65° and 75° (57.1% and 94.4% lower), indicating a stronger but narrower effective swing window. For the rotating ball, the peak force was 0.565 N at 55°, and the force at 45° was 0.526 N, compared with 0.186 N in the reference. Because the baseline values come from the literature rather than from a standard-seam run with the present setup, the differences should be read as indicative.