"Wind Tunnel" To reduce obstacles, let the charm of the Winter Olympics of science and technology be unlimited| people's ice and snow and ice science and technology talk

The vast majority of the Winter Olympics are racing events, and the improvement of the performance of the racing events is crucial to the improvement of the overall level of the Winter Olympic Games. Recently, Professor Wang Jiadao, the person in charge of the key technology and platform research project of winter sports and the director of the Department of Mechanical Engineering of Tsinghua University, introduced the research and development of drag reduction, skills and equipment in ice and snow racing projects from the perspective of scientific drag reduction.

Wang Jiadao said that the national key research and development plan "Science and Technology Winter Olympics" has carried out the key technology and platform research project of winter sports to reduce drag, based on the construction of sports wind tunnels, aerodynamic and friction resistance evaluation equipment, etc., forming a world-class technology research and support platform for the sustainable development of racing sports. In addition, we conduct research on aerodynamic and ice and snow surface friction and drag reduction in winter racing projects, obtain theoretical and key technological breakthroughs in the fields of attitude optimization, equipment drag reduction, friction regulation and other fields, develop drag reduction equipment and wax such as snowmobiles, helmets, skateboards, etc., to achieve a significant reduction in the resistance of winter Olympic racing projects, and help athletes achieve "higher" and "faster" goals.

According to reports, the racing project relies on speed to win, in the process of ice and snow sports, there will be relative movement with the air, there will be a feeling of wind, this part of the wind will produce resistance, called wind resistance. At the same time, to exercise, it is necessary to have a relative movement with the ground, in the ice and snow project, the ground is either ice or snow, ice and snow will produce frictional resistance. These two parts of resistance constitute the total resistance in the process of moving forward in the sports. Exercise drag reduction is mainly through the reduction of air resistance and ice and snow friction resistance to improve the performance of athletes.

During exercise, athletes are in motion, air is stationary, and it is not easy to measure resistance at this time. So what to do? Wang Jiadao said that by building a wind tunnel, let the athletes not move, let the air flow. The wind tunnel is built in a closed environment, through a large fan, the wind can move, when the person in it does not move, can also cause the wind field during the movement. "For example, skating and skiing, the resistance of athletes in the air can be tested in the wind tunnel, and their physiological and biochemical indicators can also be monitored."

Wang Jiadao said that athletes will maintain a comparative advantage posture in the process of advancing, and this posture produces less air resistance. Through the wind tunnel drag reduction test, an optimization plan is proposed, and the athletes combine their abilities to optimize their posture. Through intensive training, the speed of progress can be significantly increased.

There are two requirements for ice knives in ice sports, one is that the friction resistance in the direction of sliding forward should be small, and the other is that the driving force to move forward should be larger when pedaling, so that you can skate far. However, these two points are contradictory in many cases, what to do? Wang Jiadao introduced that in order to take into account both aspects, the ice knife is made into a sandwich-like structure, so that the two sides of the ice knife have high hardness and the middle hardness is slightly lower. In this way, during the side sliding process, the ice blade of the ice blade is sharper and more wear-resistant, thereby improving the lateral pedaling force and reducing the frictional resistance. It has been calculated that the pedaling rate can be increased by 20%-30%, and the frictional resistance can be reduced by about 10%.

"The Winter Olympics, like other large-scale sports events, compete not only for the technical combat ability of athletes, but also for the scientific and technological level of each country. For example, the wind tunnel, which reflects the strength of a country. Another example is equipment, due to the improvement of the level of science and technology, athletes can use better equipment, and they can occupy a certain advantage on the field. This is also the charm of the Winter Olympics of science and technology. Wang Jiadao said.