Team 9819 1

Research of the Snowboard Course

Summary

In order to design a snowboard course, we discuss the radius of the transition and the width of the flat-bottom, which influencesthe “vertical air”, the twist of the player and the time the player need to adjust their posture.

As to maximize the “vertical air”, assume that the transition is a semicircle.Suppose that the “vertical air” is determined by the radius of the transition and the obliquity of the snowboard course. Furthermore, we analyze the forces on a player,including the snow-friction, the air resistance and the gravity. To apply the energy conservation law, we get the speed of the player at any time which is related to the radius of the transition and the obliquity of the snowboard course.Since the “vertical air” is determined by the speed of the player, we utilize Mat lab to calculate the maximum “vertical air”, the result is that the radius of the transition is 7.0m, the obliquity of the snowboard course is 0.3 rad, and the “vertical air” is 3.1m. Through the stability analysis, we conclude that our model is reliable.

To maximize the twist in the air, two factors must be considered, including the friction and the “vertical air”. Since these two factors are all related to the radius of the transition, wedesign a transition which is a combination of two circles with different radius. Through calculating the friction and the speed of the player which are related to the two different radiuses,the friction work and the kinetic energy to twist can be calculated.

To develop a “practical” course, we consider the size of the flat-bottom. The width of it influences the kinetic energy loss and the time the player needed to adjust their posture on the flat-bottom.

Introduction

The shape of a snowboard course is generally known as a “half-pipe” (shown in figure 1). In appearance, it resembles a cross section of a swimming-pool, and in its most basic form, it consists of two concave ramps (or quarterpipes). Originally half-pipes were simply half sections of a large pipe. Since the 1980s, half-pipes have had extended flat ground (theflat bottom) added between the quarterpipes; The flat ground gives the athlete time to regain balance after landing and more time to prepare for the next trick..

In order to enable the player to perform their tricks sufficiently, the design of a snowboard course is significantly important.The requiirements include the maximum vertical distance above the edge of the halfpipe (“vertical air”), and the player’s maximum twist in the air. To satisfy these kinds of requirements,many factors should be considered,such as the obliquity of a snowboard course and the radius of the transition

1.1Transitions and snowboard course design

The character of a snowboard coursedepends on four qualities: most importantly, the transition radius and the height of the vert,the obliquityand less so, the amount of flat-bottom. The flatbottom, while valued for recovery time, serves no purpose if it is longer than it needs to be.

1.2Objectives

Our goal is to design a snowboard course to maximize the vacated height or the twist.

2. Scheme 1

2.1 Assumption

(1)The own skill of the player won’t be thought over.

(2)The surface of the snowboard course is smooth.

2.2Model

Suppose that the maximum vertical distance above the edge of the half-pipeis related to the following factors, which are the radius of the transition,the height of the vert,the obliquity of a snowboard course, the friction, the air resistance and the initial speed of the player.

2.2.1Definition and symbol

Table 1 Symbols

/ The speed of the player
/ The initial speed of the player entering the transition
/ The angle that the player enters the transition
/ The speed perpendicular to the slide(shown in Figure 1)
/ The friction coefficient
/ The supportive force
/ The radius of the transition
/ The mass of a human
/ The acceleration of gravity

Figure 1: the snowboard course

The friction

According to the formula

,

The fiction is determined by the friction coefficient and the supportive force.First, we will calculate the value of.

Define as the obliquity of the snowboard course, Figure 2 shows the side face of a snowboard course.

Figure 2:The side-face of a snowboard course

Depictthe half-pipe in Figure 3,

Figure3: The cross-section of a half-pipe

The supportive force contains two parts, the centripetal force and the component force of the gravity. The centripetal force is, and the component force of the gravity is,

we could get

where

is the included angle with the perpendicular line

so

Air Resistance

The formula

Where

is the player’s sectional area

is the drag coefficient

is the density of the air

So the total resistance

In order to obtain the maximum height, the kinetic energy of the playershould be figured out. The velocity can be decomposed into the horizontal velocity, which has no effect on the “vertical air”and the vertical velocity. The resistance work is concerned with the vertical velocity, which reduces the kinetic energy of the player, thus causing the reduction of the height:

The resistance work is:

Where

is the vertical velocity

According to the law of conservation of energy, when the angle is (showninFigure3), we get

through equation 7, we could know the relationship between and ,

as

When the angle is, the equation is

In equation 8,is the player’s kinetic energy when leaving the course, so when reaches the maximum, the player could reach the maximum height.

In order to get ideal height, assume that, m=50kg, =0.2, p=1.293, A=0.5,, and we use Mat lab to get and. Since the equation is too complicated, we first remain unchanged. And get the following Table 2

Table 2 The relationship between Vertical air and,

when=0.1

/ / Vertical air
0.1 / 1 / 3.070
0.1 / 2 / 3.073
0.1 / 3 / 3.074
0.1 / 4 / 3.075
0.1 / 5 / 3.077
0.1 / 6 / 3.079
0.1 / 7 / 3.081
0.1 / 8 / 3.081
0.1 / 9 / 3.080

Then we remain unchanged

Table 3 The relationship between Vertical air and,

when =1

/ / Height
0.1 / 1 / 3.070
0.2 / 1 / 3.071
0.3 / 1 / 3.072
0.4 / 1 / 3.072
0.5 / 1 / 3.071

We find that when changes, the Vertical air won’t change a lot, so we focus on the parameter.

From Table2, when =0.3, the vertical air is the maximum, assume that is 0.3, and we get changed, and we can obtain the following Table 4.

Table 4 The relationship between Vertical air and ,

when =0.3

/ / Height
0.3 / 1 / 3.072
0.3 / 2 / 3.073
0.3 / 3 / 3.074
0.3 / 4 / 3.075
0.3 / 5 / 3.077
0.3 / 6 / 3.079
0.3 / 7 / 3.081
0.3 / 8 / 3.081
0.3 / 9 / 3.080

Through this method we could find the best solution, and =0.3,=7 is the best answer.

3 Scheme 2

If the twist isproduced, the friction is needed, for the friction produces a torque. Apparently, the more the friction is, the more a torque is produced. At the coping of the half-pipe, the supportive force equals to the centripetal force. As we know, the less the radius of the transition is, the more the centripetal force is. On the other hand, the twist is also influenced by the “vertical air”. As we try to balance these two factors, we design a transition which is a combination of two circles with different radius. Through descriptive geometry, depict the following Figure 4,

Figure 4: The descriptive geometry

And we could figure out the transition GEH as shown in the following Figure 5

Figure 5: the transition depicted by the descriptive geometry

As is shown in the figure, the player’s route is GEH, the radius of the ellipse could be divided into two parts., . When the player is located between E and H, the radius AH=, while the player is located between E and G, the radius EF=. Through geometrical relation,, while ,we could know,

At the coping of the snowboard course, the centripetal forceis

where

is the friction coefficient

is the speed of the player

We could work out the kinetic energy between EC and EG separately.

When the player is located in EC,

The friction work

where

is the obliquity of the snowboard course]

is the player’s sectional area

is the drag coefficient

is the density of the air

And get

Through equation (11), we could get toknow the relationship between and,

as

When the player is located in EG

The friction work

And

Thus the player’s kinetic energy at the coping is, which is determined by, that is to say, it is determined by .

Furthermore, we could calculate the friction work to twist, so

where

is the coefficient

Thus the total work to twist

4 Scheme 3

The size of the flat-bottom should be considerd to make the half-pipe pracitical. The width of it influenced the energy loss and the time the players need to adjust their posture. The energy loss will cause the decrease of the “vertical air” andfewer twists. Therefore, the width should be short and meet the requirement of adjusting the player’s posture at the same time.

Apparently, assume that time t is needed for the players to adjust their posture and the angle between the velocity V and the lengthway is. is the friction which is backward to the velocity V. Figure 6 is as below,

Figure 6: The snowboard course

The friction

Acceleration of gravity component is

So the size of the flat-bottom is

Strengths and weaknesses

5.1Strengths

  1. A useful model is set to get the “vertical air” maximized.
  2. The model can be applied in many ways, such as other different kinds of slide.

5.2Weaknesses

  1. Many resistances haven’t be considered, such as push-snow resistance.

Conclusions

We make a model to solve the maximum “Vertical Air”, and discuss the shape of the snowboard course that determines the twist of the people. Our model could be used in many ways, and we also admit that the model contains a lot of weaknesses.

Reference

[1] BaoHeng Wang. Thought for vertical air and sliding in the snowboard course. The newspaper of ShenYang Institute ,Vol24, No.2

[2] Zhimin Bai, Hailiang Yang. The research of the factors that influence the friction coefficient. The discovery and the research in the laboratory, Vol.25,No.11

[3]Hongguang Yan, PingLiu, Feng Guo. The analysis of the speed of leaving the snowboard course. The newspaper of ShenYang Institute. Vol 28, No.3

[4]Naipeng Yan .The main factors that influence the sliding resistance when skiing. China Winter Sports. No.5

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