Hydrodynamics of rowing propulsion

This paper presents the results of the time resolved flow field measurements around a realistic rowing oar blade that moves along a realistic path through water. To the authors' knowledge no prior account of this complex flow field has been given. Simultaneously with the flow field measurements, the hydrodynamic forces acting on the blade...

The hydrodynamics of rowing propulsion: An experimental study

The aim of this thesis is to analyse the hydrodynamics of rowing propulsion and to enhance this propulsion. This requires to have insight in both the flow phenomena and the generated hydrodynamic forces. In (competitive) rowing athletes generate a propulsive force by means of a rowing oar blade. During propulsion the oar blade is submerged close...

PIV applied to a moving rowing blade

We investigate the fluid motion generated by a moving rowing blade. The blade follows a complex path with rather strong acceleration and subsequent deceleration. The blade path is mimicked at a 1:2 scale in a large open-top water tank using a robot system. The tank is transparent, thus enabling full optical access for performing large-field...

Towards determination of power loss at a rowing blade: Validation of a new method to estimate blade force characteristics

To analyze on-water rowing performance, a valid determination of the power loss due to the generation of propulsion is required. This power los can be calculated as the dot product of the net water force vector ( ^~ F _w;o ) and the time derivative of the position vector of the point at the blade where ^~ F <sub...

Drag force on an accelerating submerged plate

We present results on the drag on, and the flow field around, a submerged rectangular normal flat plate, which is uniformly accelerated to a constant target velocity along a straight path. The plate aspect ratio is chosen to be to resemble an oar blade in (competitive) rowing, the sport which inspired this study. The plate depth, i.e. the...

Automated LED tracking to measure instantaneous velocities in swimming

In this paper a video-based method to automatically track instantaneous velocities of a swimmer is presented. Single cameras were used to follow a marker (LED) attached to the body. The method is inspired by particle tracking techniques, traditionally used in the field of fluid dynamics, to measure local velocities of a fluid flow. During the...