In mountainous rivers, the drag force acting on cobbles abundant in the riverbed surface is important in predicting behavior and response of the river. However there is little research for the drag coefficients of cobbles. This paper is to carry out the experiments for drag force of cobble and analyze the relation between the cobble shape and the drag coefficient. The effects of the shape factor on the drag coefficients when the long axis or the short axis of the cobbles are parallel to the direction of flow velocity were analyzed. The coefficient of drag force increased with the nominal diameter Reynolds number . The drag coefficients are greater in short axis than long axis. The coefficient of determination of the relation between and is greater in long axis than short axis. This means that the drag forces acting on the irregularly-shaped cobbles depend on the axis. A change of the drag force distribution has brought about the alternative swing of cobbles. For > 12,000, the amplitude of the swing has been increased sharply and especially was greater in short axis than long axis.
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