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.
The impact of arm-crank position on the drag of a paralympic hand-cyclist
2019-03-12
Mannion , P , Toparlar , Y , Clifford , E , Hajdukiewicz , M , Andrianne , T & Blocken , B 2019 , ' The impact of arm-crank position on the drag of a paralympic hand-cyclist ' , Computer Methods in Biomechanics and Biomedical Engineering , vol. 22 , no. 4 , pp. 386-395 . https://doi.org/10.1080/10255842.2018.1558217
Article (Journal)
Electronic Resource
English
DDC: | 629 |
Situation of Cyclist Accidents and Vehicle-Cyclist Impact Tests
British Library Online Contents | 1998
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