Publicação

Swimming propulsion forces are enhanced by a small finger spread

Ver documento

Detalhes bibliográficos
Resumo:The main aim of this study was to investigate the effect of finger spread on the propulsive force production in swimming using computational fluid dynamics. Computer tomography scans of an Olympic swimmer hand were conducted. This procedure involved three models of the hand with differing finger spreads: fingers closed together (no spread), fingers with a small (0.32 cm) spread, and fingers with large (0.64 cm) spread. Steady-state computational fluid dynamics analyses were performed using the Fluent code. The measured forces on the hand models were decomposed into drag and lift coefficients. For hand models, angles of attack of 0°, 15°, 30°, 45°, 60°, 75°, and 90°, with a sweep back angle of 0°, were used for the calculations. The results showed that the model with a small spread between fingers presented higher values of drag coefficient than did the models with fingers closed and fingers with a large spread. One can note that the drag coefficient presented the highest values for an attack angle of 90° in the three hand models. The lift coefficient resembled a sinusoidal curve across the attack angle. The values for the lift coefficient presented few differences among the three models, for a given attack angle. These results suggested that fingers slightly spread could allow the hand to create more propulsive force during swimming.
Autores principais:Marinho, D.A.
Outros Autores:Barbosa, Tiago M.; Reis, Victor M.; Kjendlie, Per L.; Alves, Francisco B.; Vilas-Boas, João Paulo; Machado, Leandro; Silva, A.J.; Rouboa, Abel
Assunto:Hand shape Numerical simulations Computational fluid dynamics Forces Competitive swimming
Ano:2010
País:Portugal
Tipo de documento:artigo
Tipo de acesso:acesso restrito
Instituição associada:Universidade Politécnica de Bragança
Idioma:inglês
Origem:Biblioteca Digital da UPB

Registos relacionados

Atividades financiadas

Não foram encontrados projetos financiados.

Registos relacionados