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The effect of swimsuit resistance on freestyle swimming race time.

The effect of swimsuit resistance on freestyle swimming race time.
The effect of swimsuit resistance on freestyle swimming race time.
It is known that swimming equipment (suit, cap and goggles) can affect the total resistance of a swimmer, and therefore impact the resulting swimming speed and race time. After the 2009 swimming world championships (WC) the international swimming federation (FINA) banned a specific type of full body suit, which resulted in an increase in race times for subsequent WC events. This study proposes that the 2009 suits provided a reduction in swimming resistance and aims to quantify this resistance reduction for male and female freestyle events. Due to the practical difficulties of testing a large sample of swimmers a simulation approach is adopted. To quantify the race time improvement that the 2009 suits provided, an equivalent 2009 “no-suit” dataset is created, incorporating the general trend of improving swimming performance over time, and compared to the actual 2009 times. A full race simulation is developed where the start, turn, underwater and surface swimming phases are captured. Independent resistance models are used for surface and underwater swimming; coupled with a leg propulsion model for underwater undulatory swimming and freestyle flutter kick, and a single element arm model to simulate freestyle arm propulsion. A validation is performed to ensure the simulation captures the change in swimming speed with changes to resistance and is found to be within 5% of reality. Race times for an equivalent “no-suit” 2009 situation are simulated and the total resistance reduced to achieve the actual 2009 race times. An average resistance reduction of 4.8% provided by the 2009 suits is identified. A factor of 0.47 ± 10%, to convert resistance changes to freestyle race time changes is determined
709-714
Webb, A.P.
6df7f434-521f-48e4-8625-12d7ca6b2b5d
Taunton, D.J.
10bfbe83-c4c2-49c6-94c0-2de8098c648c
Hudson, D.A.
3814e08b-1993-4e78-b5a4-2598c40af8e7
Forrester, A.I.J.
176bf191-3fc2-46b4-80e0-9d9a0cd7a572
Turnock, S.R.
d6442f5c-d9af-4fdb-8406-7c79a92b26ce
Webb, A.P.
6df7f434-521f-48e4-8625-12d7ca6b2b5d
Taunton, D.J.
10bfbe83-c4c2-49c6-94c0-2de8098c648c
Hudson, D.A.
3814e08b-1993-4e78-b5a4-2598c40af8e7
Forrester, A.I.J.
176bf191-3fc2-46b4-80e0-9d9a0cd7a572
Turnock, S.R.
d6442f5c-d9af-4fdb-8406-7c79a92b26ce

Webb, A.P., Taunton, D.J. and Hudson, D.A. et al. (2014) The effect of swimsuit resistance on freestyle swimming race time. Procedia Engineering, 72, 709-714. (doi:10.1016/j.proeng.2014.06.120).

Record type: Article

Abstract

It is known that swimming equipment (suit, cap and goggles) can affect the total resistance of a swimmer, and therefore impact the resulting swimming speed and race time. After the 2009 swimming world championships (WC) the international swimming federation (FINA) banned a specific type of full body suit, which resulted in an increase in race times for subsequent WC events. This study proposes that the 2009 suits provided a reduction in swimming resistance and aims to quantify this resistance reduction for male and female freestyle events. Due to the practical difficulties of testing a large sample of swimmers a simulation approach is adopted. To quantify the race time improvement that the 2009 suits provided, an equivalent 2009 “no-suit” dataset is created, incorporating the general trend of improving swimming performance over time, and compared to the actual 2009 times. A full race simulation is developed where the start, turn, underwater and surface swimming phases are captured. Independent resistance models are used for surface and underwater swimming; coupled with a leg propulsion model for underwater undulatory swimming and freestyle flutter kick, and a single element arm model to simulate freestyle arm propulsion. A validation is performed to ensure the simulation captures the change in swimming speed with changes to resistance and is found to be within 5% of reality. Race times for an equivalent “no-suit” 2009 situation are simulated and the total resistance reduced to achieve the actual 2009 race times. An average resistance reduction of 4.8% provided by the 2009 suits is identified. A factor of 0.47 ± 10%, to convert resistance changes to freestyle race time changes is determined

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Published date: 2014
Organisations: Fluid Structure Interactions Group

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Local EPrints ID: 373142
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/373142
PURE UUID: d467645d-1546-41fe-8ada-a527cac95f47
ORCID for D.J. Taunton: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-6865-089X
ORCID for D.A. Hudson: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-2012-6255
ORCID for S.R. Turnock: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-6288-0400

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Date deposited: 09 Jan 2015 12:23
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 03:00

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Contributors

Author: A.P. Webb
Author: D.J. Taunton ORCID iD
Author: D.A. Hudson ORCID iD
Author: S.R. Turnock ORCID iD

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