Virtual skeleton methodology for athlete posture modification in CFD simulations

Abstract

This study focuses on the aerodynamic influence of athlete posture in sports aerodynamics. To analyze a specific posture, wind tunnel measurements and computer simulations are commonly employed. For computer simulations, the growing trend is to use 3D scanning to create accurate representations of an athlete’s geometry. However, this process becomes cumbersome and time-consuming when multiple positions need to be scanned. This work presents a methodology to use a virtual skeleton to perform modifications of an athlete’s posture. This is an efficient approach that can be applied directly to a scanned geometry model, and that allows easy modification and use in optimization procedures. The methodology is applied to two different cases; small adjustment of arm position for a time-trial cyclist, and large alteration of a standing alpine skier into a tucked position. Computational fluid dynamics simulations show that similar results are obtained for aerodynamic drag using the proposed methodology as with geometry models obtained from 3D scanning. Less than 1% difference in drag area was found for the cyclist, and less than 2% difference for the skier. These findings show the method’s potential for efficient use in sports aerodynamics studies.