Skin friction drag

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Skin friction drag is a type of aerodynamic or hydrodynamic drag, which is resistant force exerted on an object moving in a fluid. Skin friction drag is caused by the viscosity of fluids and is developed from laminar drag to turbulent drag as a fluid moves on the surface of an object. Skin friction drag is generally expressed in terms of the Reynolds number, which is the ratio between inertial force and viscous force.

Total drag can be decomposed into a skin friction drag component and a pressure drag component, where pressure drag includes all other sources of drag including lift-induced drag.^[1] In this conceptualisation, lift-induced drag is an artificial abstraction, part of the horizontal component of the aerodynamic reaction force. Alternatively, total drag can be decomposed into a parasitic drag component and a lift-induced drag component, where parasitic drag is all components of drag except lift-induced drag. In this conceptualisation, skin friction drag is a component of parasitic drag.