Paddle/blade testing for canoes and kayaks: Feasibility of an innovative methodology

独木舟和皮划艇的桨/叶片测试：创新方法的可行性

• 批准号: EP/F006144/1
• 负责人: A. H. Day
• 金额: $ 12.74万
• 依托单位: University of Strathclyde
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2007
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2007 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=EP%2FF006144%2F1
• 关键词: Paddle; blade; testing; canoes; kayaks

One way to improve the performance of UK competitors in canoeing/kayaking events is to improve the performance of their equipment; in particular the canoe hulls and the paddle blades. Currently UK Sport are working to improve the design and construction of paddle blades; however, at the moment, the blades are evaluated by testing on-the-water testing using athletes. This is inevitably a somewhat subjective process, and the lack of repeatability introduced by the human intervention in the process leads to an undesirable level of uncertainty into the conclusions.Some researchers have tested oar and paddle blades in laboratories, but in most cases the motions of the blade through the water has been much simpler than the realistic stroke, so the results cannot be regarded as reliable indicators of all aspects of performance in the real situation. Thus the on-the-water data is not repeatable enough, and the laboratory data is not realistic enough. The lack of realistic and repeatable quantitative data means that it is difficult to develop new designs, and also it is hard to determine whether computer predictions are accurate.This proposal is aimed at examining the feasibility of developing techniques for realistically, repeatably, accurately, and reliably testing and analysing paddle blades for canoes and kayaks in laboratory conditions, to allow quantitative comparisons between different designs. If successful, the techniques developed can be used in the context of a testing and analysis procedure to evaluate and assess new blade designs and so deliver performance improvements to UK competitors for the 2012 Olympic Games. At the same time further fundamental studies using the techniques will improve scientific understanding of the highly complex and dynamic flow around paddle blades. The long-term goal is the prediction and optimisation of blade performance at the design stage for different athletes in different events. The research will start by measuring the path of the blades in three dimensional space relative to the water for canoes and kayaks using motion capture techniques commonly employed in the film animation industry. A test rig will then be designed which can exactly replicate these paths of the blade through the water in a test tank.The output from the rig will be a knowledge of the forces acting on the blade at each moment through the paddling cycle. These time-histories will be analysed to find out the key features exhibited by blades which give high efficiency. This will in turn allow the definition of a measure which can be used to characterise the performance of a given blade / and thus allow different designs to be compared directly in terms of performance.In order to demonstrate the techniques developed, a small series of paddles will be tested in the rig, with different measured paddling styles. This will allow an understanding to be gained of how sensitive the results are to small changes in the paddling style, which will give an indication of how different the best designs would be for different athletes and different events. Results will be correlated with existing data based on testing on-the-water with athletes and coaches to refine the process. Finally, in addition to testing the paddle technology the use of the test rig to analyse the performance of different paddling styles will be investigated, to see if it can usefully be used as a training aid for athletes.

提高英国参赛者在皮划艇/皮划艇项目中表现的一个方法是提高他们的设备的性能；特别是皮划艇的船体和桨叶。目前，英国体育正在努力改进桨叶的设计和构造；然而，目前，桨叶的评估是通过使用运动员进行水上测试来进行的。这不可避免地是一个有点主观的过程，而人为干预过程中引入的可重复性的缺乏导致了结论中不受欢迎的不确定性。一些研究人员在实验室中测试了桨和桨叶，但在大多数情况下，桨叶在水中的运动比实际划程要简单得多，因此结果不能被视为真实情况下各方面性能的可靠指标。因此，现场数据的可重复性不够，实验室数据也不够现实。缺乏真实和可重复的定量数据意味着很难开发新的设计，也很难确定计算机预测是否准确。这项建议旨在研究开发技术的可行性，在实验室条件下对独木舟和皮划艇的桨叶进行真实、重复、准确和可靠的测试和分析，以便在不同设计之间进行定量比较。如果成功，开发的技术可以在测试和分析程序的背景下使用，以评估和评估新的叶片设计，从而为2012年奥运会的英国参赛者带来性能改进。同时，使用该技术进行进一步的基础研究将提高对桨叶周围高度复杂和动态流动的科学理解。长期目标是在设计阶段为不同项目的不同运动员预测和优化叶片性能。这项研究将首先使用电影动画行业中常用的运动捕捉技术，测量独木舟和皮划艇叶片在三维空间中相对于水的路径。然后将设计一个测试平台，它可以在测试水箱中准确地复制叶片在水中的这些路径。该测试平台的输出将是在整个划桨周期中每个时刻作用在叶片上的力的知识。将对这些时间历程进行分析，以找出叶片表现出的高效率的关键特征。这反过来将允许定义可用于表征给定刀片的性能的测量，从而允许在性能方面直接比较不同的设计。为了展示开发的技术，将在试验台上测试一小系列具有不同测量划桨风格的划桨。这将使我们了解结果对划桨风格的微小变化有多敏感，这将表明不同运动员和不同项目的最佳设计有多大不同。结果将与现有的数据相关联，这是基于对运动员和教练进行的水上测试，以完善这一过程。最后，除了测试划桨技术外，还将调查使用测试台分析不同划桨风格的表现，看看它是否可以有效地用作运动员的训练辅助工具。