The testing, which took place at the Human-Flow Interactions Wind Tunnel at The University of Manchester, in partnership with RGK Wheelchairs, focused on assessing the aerodynamic drag (the main resistive force) encountered by wheelchair racing athletes when moving.
It’s the work of Doctoral Researcher, Will Dixon. He explains: “Our testing, which forms part of my PhD, involves the athlete in three different positions throughout their stroke cycle - the catch, release and recovery to see the different phases of drag. We're also assessing at different speeds to see what happens to the drag as the athlete goes faster or slower.
“We’re very lucky to have been given access to this full-scale wind tunnel as it allows us to validate the simulations, I’ve been putting together at Loughborough, by giving us the opportunity to work alongside a Paralympics GB athlete in as realistic conditions as possible.”
Senior Lecturer of Applied Fluid Mechanics at Loughborough, Dr Dan Butcher has been supervising Will with his work. He says:
“A lot of the PhD work is based on computer simulation so it’s important that we validate these findings in real world conditions so we can better understand how the drag is impacting a real athlete in motion.
“What we're doing at Loughborough is quite different in that we have a 1/3 sized model which allows us to take long time measurements which just isn’t practical or realistic with a real athlete. By using these scale model 3D prints, we open a number of measurement options that wouldn't be possible with a real person – whether that’s using laser-based techniques or having an athlete hold one of the set positions for 20 or 30 minutes at a time.”
Dixon added: “We’ve been using two racing wheelchairs, provided by my PhD sponsors, RGK. They’re using my data to help manufacture their next generation of racing chair whilst I will be using it to create a mathematical model which we can use to inform athletes how they can change their drag area to be quicker over a certain distance. The hope is that these numbers can then be converted into those all-important marginal gains on race day – which could be the difference between achieving a podium place or not.”
Director of the Peter Harrison Centre for Disability Sport at Loughborough, Professor Vicky Tolfrey said partnerships have been key in this project: “I think collaboration means you can elevate your science to the next level and remains at the heart of what we do. Coupling the expertise we have at Loughborough in aerodynamics with my expertise in Para sport really lends itself to achieving groundbreaking research where we can directly impact racing chair design as well as the athlete’s performance – hopefully combining those for success at the upcoming Paralympics in LA and beyond.
“The athlete’s voice is very prominent and key to our success so having this opportunity to work with Mel Woods from Paralympics GB in a full-scale wind tunnel has allowed us to gain that vital and instant feedback. We believe this partnership work will really lead to success across the board.”
Timothy Carew is a Knowledge Exchange Research Fellow in Applied Aerodynamics at The University of Manchester and helped facilitate the testing. He adds: “The University of Manchester have successfully secured funding from the National Wind Tunnel Facility to develop this wind tunnel in collaboration with British Cycling. The tunnel has already been used to help win gold medals across Olympic and Paralympic games, however we are keen to diversify the capability of the tunnel and ensure it is generating impact away from the Olympic cycle and for other sporting applications.
“Collaboration is essential to strengthening our research impact, so we are making the facility open access and available to commercial partners as well as other higher education institutions, including Loughborough University. The highly successful collaboration with Will is the first step in a programme of further work that we hope will lead to continued collaboration between Loughborough and Manchester.”