A simple correlation formula for the standard drag coefficient (i.e. a single stationary particle in a uniform flow) of arbitrary shaped particles is established using a large number of experimental data from the literature and a comprehensive numerical study [A. Holzer, M. Sommerfeld, IUTAM Symposium on Computational Approaches to Multiphase Flow, Springer, 2006]. This new correlation formula accounts for the particle orientation over the entire range of Reynolds numbers up to the critical Reynolds number. Such a correlation may be easily used in the frame of Lagrangian computations where also the particle orientation along the trajectory is computed. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.