Laboratory experiment measuring expected drag forces on limpets

The expected drag forces that the average sized limpets were exposed to in the high and low intertidal zones at Griffith Point, Victoria were estimated in a continuously circulating flow tank. The flow tank was 1.8m x 20.5cm x 19.5cm and had a maximum velocity of 0.5m/s. To adequately represent the water velocities found in the field, models of limpets that were 16 times the size of the average limpet for both the high and low zones were used. The large model limpets meant that the effects of drag in an effective flow environment of 8m/s could be measured, which were similar to velocities found in the field. Drag forces exerted on models of limpets that were 8 times the size of the shortest and tallest limpets from the high shore and the flattest limpets from the low shore limpets were also estimated.