New test dummy will make speed suits even more effective
Athletes and sportsmen are constantly striving forward, towards higher heights and faster results. For some time now, researchers have been collaborating with the Swedish Alpine Ski Association to find solutions for the next generation of speed suits, including the help of a lifelike test dummy.
"Collaboration with the Alpine Ski Association is part of the Augmented Sports project and will hopefully provide a broad basis for further work in both speed and safety for elite skiers," says Mikael Bäckström, research director at the Sports Tech Research Centre.
The research focuses on how aerodynamically different suits work, an aspect that is affected by details such as where the seams and zippers are located and how much friction occurs through the fabric.
With the help of a test dummy made of chipboard, the researchers want to carry out various tests of speed suits in the wind tunnel that the research centre has at its disposal. The test dummy has been developed as a degree project by students Linus Hermansson and Rasmus Blixt at the Sports Technology Programme at Mid Sweden University and is based on a real alpine skier.
"Rasmus and Linus have developed a method that we can use in the future to develop cost-effective instrumented, test dummies, with sensors that measure force, pressure and directions, for our wind tunnel trials. They also succeeded incredibly well in creating a replica of a real person, where deviations in measurements compared to the real person were less than 16 millimeters in circumference," says Mikael Bäckström.
Linus Hermansson and Rasmus Blixt together with the alpine skier on whom the test dummy is based, in the wind tunnel at the Sports Tech Research Centre.
Linus and Rasmus' degree project has been carried out within the framework of the project Augmented Sports , which is carried out with the support of the European Regional Development Fund, where Östersund municipality is also involved as a financier.