US Speedskater Suits
The Challenge
Speed-skating is a sport of milliseconds. Well trained and technically proficient skaters need any advantage on improving their result. Olympic finish times are often separated by a few hundredths of a second. Suit design can have a major impact on races which are so close. DDI was enlisted by the suit designers to come up with a new and innovative suit.
The Solution
There were two parts to the solution. Our scan would provide the base shapes and an inertial measurement system would provide the motion. By combining these two data sources we were able to create models of the skaters in their dynamic poses as they would be while skating. From this in-motion pose a full scale model was created. This model was then analyzed using CFD and wind tunnel analyis to find the areas of greatest resistance and the suit was designed to put materials with the lowest drag coefficients in these areas.
- Reference scan using the F5 in a neutral pose. This will be used for suit sitting measurements as well as the basis for the animation model.
- Motion data from Xsens
- Create animation topology from scan
- Animate skaters using motion capture data
- CFD analysis
- Full size physical model also made to verify CFD results in a wind tunnel
