Samenvatting
The aerodynamic features associated with the rotation of a cyclist’s legs have long been a research topic for sport scientists and engineers, with studies in recent years shedding new light on the flow structures and drag trends. While the arm-crank rotation cycle of a hand-cyclist bears some resemblance to the leg rotation of a traditional cyclist, the aerodynamics around the athlete are fundamentally different due to the proximity and position of the athlete’s torso with respect to their arms, especially since both arm-cranks move in phase with each other. This research investigates the impact of arm-crank position on the drag acting on a hand-cyclist and is applied to a hill descent position where the athlete is not pedalling. Four primary arm-crank positions, namely 3, 6, 9, and 12 o’clock of a Paralympic hand-cyclist were investigated with CFD for five yaw angles, namely 0°, 5°, 10°, 15°, and 20°. The results demonstrated that the 3 and 12 o’clock positions (when observed from the left side of the hand-cyclist) yielded the highest drag area at 0° yaw, while the 9 o’clock position yielded the lowest drag area for all yaw angles. This is in contrast to the 6 o’clock position traditionally held by hand-cyclists during a descent to reduce aerodynamic drag.
| Originele taal-2 | Engels |
|---|---|
| Pagina's (van-tot) | 386-395 |
| Aantal pagina's | 10 |
| Tijdschrift | Computer Methods in Biomechanics and Biomedical Engineering |
| Volume | 22 |
| Nummer van het tijdschrift | 4 |
| DOI's | |
| Status | Gepubliceerd - 12 mrt. 2019 |
Financiering
The authors acknowledge the support of the College of Engineering and Informatics at the National University of Ireland, Galway. The authors acknowledge the collaboration with Paralympics Ireland, Cycling Ireland and the Sport Ireland Institute, along with the technical support team of the Department of the Built Environment at Eindhoven University of Technology. The authors acknowledge the SFI/HEA Irish Centre for High-End Computing (ICHEC) for the provision of computational facilities and support, and also acknowledge the partnership with ANSYS CFD.