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Computational fluid dynamics for the nordic

combined skiing jump
ARTICLE OCTOBER 2015

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Universit de Reims Champagne-Ardenne

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Taiar Redha

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Retrieved on: 08 October 2015

Series on Biomechanics, Vol.29, No. 2-3 (2015), 31-38

Computational fluid dynamics for the nordic combined skiing jump

N. Gardana, J. Laheurte b, E. Gouy c, N. Dey d, E. Abdi e, U. Asgher f, M. A
Choukou g, A. Schneider h, R. Taiar i
a

CAD and CAE R&D Center DINCCS of Micado; nicolas.gardan@dinccs.com

Fdration Franaise de Ski ; Jerome.laheurte@ensm.sports.gouv.fr, etienne.gouy@orange.fr
d
Bengal College of Engineering & Technology, India; neelanjandey@gmail.com
e
E. Orange School District and Montclair State University, USA ; ellieabdi@verizon.net
f
National University of Science and Technology (NUST), Islamabad, Pakistan; umer.asgher.eng@ieee.org
g
Laval University, Qubec. Department of Family Medicine; choukouamine@gmail.com
h
URCA/CReSTIC/NUM3D, France; alexandre.schneider@univ-reims.fr
i
Universit de Reims Champagne Ardennes ; redha.taiar@univ-reims.fr
b,c

Abstract
The Nordic Combined is a winter sport which athletes compete in two specific and very different disciplines:
the cross-country skiing and the ski jumping. In this study, we focus on the ski jumping and more specifically on the
take-off and the stable flight phases of the high level of athletes behaviors. This production is performed in
partnership with the French team of the Nordic Combined. The aim of our paper is to develop combined
methodologies between the experimental data approaching from the kinematical Vicon system and those from the
CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) methods. The simulation of the body movement will permit to understand
and improve the posture of the skier during jumps in addition to distribution of the air pressure on the body of the
skier. This will allow to develop and design a specific and dedicated form of underwear.
The aim of this study is to present a robust 3D methodology capable of improving the skier jump. The developed
model can be used with specific three-dimensional athlete data in two ways: 1) the aerodynamic behavior of the
skier in the stable flight phase (study of the aerodynamic drag) and 2) the air pressure influence on the skier. In order
to design the specific and dedicated underwear.
Keywords: Computational fluid dynamics, ski jumping, methodology, virtual wind tunnel

1. Introduction
The Nordic Combined is a winter sport which athletes compete in two specific and very different
disciplines: the cross-country skiing and the ski jumping. Performance in ski jumping is characterized by
the length of the jump. All parameters of the performance require effective coordination of different jump
phases which comprises run, take-off, flight and landing. The latest published literature review illustrated
the importance of the take-off phases in high-level performance. Many methods were developed and
focused on the quantification of the athletes behavior during different phases of the movement. In a study
Chardonnensn et al. [2], 2012 developed a system to measure the kinematics during the entire ski jump
sequence. A very complete database of measurements based upon the state of the art and results of the
project were provided. To analyze an early flight phase, Virmavirta et al. [19], 2005 used two genlocked
high-speed video cameras installed at the Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City. In order to undertake
the kinematic analysis, a model skeleton skier and the equipment were added to videos. Thus, the authors
were able to examine a wide area of the early flight dynamic including the jumpers velocity and other
selected angular parameters. Consuming an industrial wind tunnel, Chowdhury et al. [3], 2011, developed
an experimental setup to evaluate the aerodynamic performance and its influence on ski jumping suits.
The developed system allows the experimental evaluation of drag and lifts for all types of ski gear and
can be expanded as a tool for the airflow visualizations. Various speeds have been tested to analyze the
influence on the skier and more particularly on the suit. All tests were carried out at a fixed position: a

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unique hydrodynamic posture has been tested based on the research of Schmlzer [14], 2005 and Mller,
2005 [12]. Numerous authors expended a wind tunnel to quantify the athletes behavior in the ski jumping
context (Reisenberger et al. [13], 2004, Seo et al. [15], 2004, and Barelle [1], 2011). The basic idea of
mentioned researchers was to start from simple geometric configurations to understand the different
influences of sharp or rounded form of the body edges, thickness, roughness and inclination relative to
the airflow. In regards to contribution of the suit for performance, the international ski federation
imposes the utilization of the same material and characteristics such as air permeability and thickness for
all high-level athletes. The difference can be found only in the underwear characteristics, which assists
athletes to improve performance. The influence of textile surface, especially with the help of a wind
tunnel is described by Chowdhury et al. [4], 2009 and 2011.
The modeling and simulation of take-off phase in the movement under application of various stresses
imposed on athletes will assist in controlling of training. This will occur in order to predict and optimize
performance. The aim of this current study is to develop a methodology that allows the utilization of CFD
(Computational Fluid Dynamics) to predict the influence of the underwear suit on performance.
2. Methodology
The skiers posture used in the stable flight phase influences the aerodynamic forces in many ways.
The result of aerodynamic forces on the skier are divided into two components, i.e.1) the drag force and
2) the lift force (see figure 1). Lift and drag forces are direct result of pressure differentials generated by
flowing fluid around the skiers body. In a very simplistic approach, the drag force acts in a direction that
is opposite of the oncoming air flow and the lift force acts in a direction that is perpendicular to the
oncoming air flow (Leutwyler and Dalton [11], 2004)(Goff [9], 2013). In the stable flight phase, the skier
has to orient the body and skis to minimize drag and the lift while making a V-shape with the skis. The
posture of V-shape (see the photo in figure 1) improves the projected frontal area of the skis. This move
increases the lift force generated by the air turbulence around the skier. The quality of the flight can be
simulated by CFD (computational fluid dynamics) in order to quantify for the turbulent flow. This occurs
around the body of the skier and his equipment. The study of a new posture, the test of different angles of
attack and results of airflows can be completed with the support of the simulation. The first step in this
studys is the 3D reconstruction of the skier and the material in stable dynamic air flight. The originality
of the methodology developed in this study lies in the coupling of 3D point measurements and a
parametric design of the skier (see the complete process in figure 2).

Fig. 1.Aerodynamic forces on a skier with the drag force, the lift force, the velocity,
skier and the V-shape of the high level athlete

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the weight of the

N. Gardan et al. / Computational fluid dynamics for the nordic combined skiing jump

Fig. 2. The process developed to obtain the CFD calculus

The 3D model of the skier is then based on anthropological data and 3D points approaching from
measures operated with 8 cameras of the Vicon. The Vicon system has existed for the measure of the
kinematic variations which allowed for geometric construction. The 3D points of the stable-flight posture
(after an interpolation application of different measure, each skier has been realized 5 tests) has been
loaded in the 3D skier parametric model and the model has been adapted to the 3D points to have the
right posture. This measure is completed with the equipment. The helmet and the skis were scanned with
a 3D laser scanner (Zscan 700 CX) and added to the 3D model of the skier. The position of the ski has
been processed in regards to the position of 3D measure (with Vicon cameras) of the feet. Every skier was
equipped with active marker (about thirty per skier). Figure 3 shows the different steps of modelization.

Fig.3. High level athlete process modeling

After the integration of the equipment, the 3D model of the skier is meshed with triangle elements (3
nodes) of suitable quality. The influence of mesh quality can be important on the grid density (the grid is
the cells on which the flow is solved), on the solution accuracy, and on the CPU time required. The
surface mesh processing and grid permit us to build our model.

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N. Gardan et al. / Computational fluid dynamics for the nordic combined skiing jump

The mesh density should be relevant to capture enough flow features and we must direct attentions to
the mesh adjacent to the wall (for example in our case the skier body). Actually the boundary mesh
should be fine enough to resolve correctly the boundary layer flow. Some methodologies developed byour
team to easily link CAD model to CAE model have been very useful (Danesi et al. [5], 2012), (Gardan et
al.[7], 2011), (Gardan and Gardan [8], 2003) and (Jaisson et al. [10], 2012) to obtain a good result (see
figure 4). The mesh is then loaded in a Virtual Wind Tunnel and a negative mesh is ready (see figure 5)
to obtain the grid. Kinematical variables obtained in this study were compared to those obtained by
Chardonnens et al., 2012. The figure 6 shows the principal values of angles.

Fig.4. Visualization of the body athlete mesh

Fig.5. Virtual Wind Tunnel mesh

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N. Gardan et al. / Computational fluid dynamics for the nordic combined skiing jump

Fig. 6. Angle value for posture retrieve with Vicon markers

4. Results and discussion

The CAD tools which were used are DAZ Studio from DAZ 3D for the human 3D modeling and the
link with physical markers obtained with the Vicon camera, Catia V5 from Dassault Systems for the
integration of the equipment (helmet, ski and suit adaptation). Boots and gloves are not digitized as they
are represented with a deformation of the meshing. A more precise representation is planned for the future
model optimization. The meshing tool is Hypermesh from Altair and the CFD software is Acusolve
from Altair. More particularly is the use of the Virtual Wind Tunnel (VWT) tool which is a vertical
solution to perform wind tunnel simulations of vehicles (adapted by us for skiing application). Transient
and steady state studies can be performed accurately and in a short time frame. An intuitive user interface
streamlines the process to define parameters for meshing as well as the CFD case setup. VWT and
Acusolve both are used to perform the CFD analysis.
The set of the CFD calculus have been done with three kinds of loads and constraints:
- the density is adjusted to 1kg/m3 (match to an altitude close to 2000 meters)
- the air flow speed is settled to 26 m/s (amount to 93,6 km/h)
- the orientation of skis air flow is ruled to 30 degrees (see figure 7).

Fig.7. Air flow orientation in the virtual wind tunnel

The resolution was performed on almost 7 million elements on a classical simulation computer (16
Go of RAM). To develop more precise results a partnership agreement was prepared with ROMEO HPC
Center (Delvacq et al. [6], 2013), a platform is hosted by the University of Reims Champagne-Ardenne
and funded by the Champagne-Ardenne regional council (2600 CPU cores, 6 TB of memory, 220 TB of
storage). A transient calculus to verify the air flow time dependent influence was prepared before a
classical steady-state analysis.

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N. Gardan et al. / Computational fluid dynamics for the nordic combined skiing jump

To compute the above aerodynamic coefficients, the following equations are used:
-

Drag coefficient:

Lift coefficient:

Cross coefficient:

Drag area:

with

and

forces are acting on the body skier in x, y and z directions, the air density, v the air

flow velocity and

the frontal projected area of the skier.
The results are classified in two parts:
- results relative to the improvement of the skier posture (training influence).
- results relative to the design of the underwear (the most important one is the air pressure on the
body of the skier).
The model presented in this study contains the kinematics of the athletes, modelization of the body
geometry, geometry of the ski, geometry of the underwear and the air flow. These different steps required
precision for preliminary simulation towards developing a realistic model representing the real
experimental data. In this study only the angle of 30 was taken and the results were correlated from the
simulation and experimentation. In fact, the number of variables is decreased pending the validation of
the model. The result that athletes used is, for instance, stabilization of the drag coefficient during time.
This information can help them to work on the body balance during the flight phases. In the next step of
this study, the inter-action between the drag coefficient (characterizing the body posture) and velocity for
different angles of attack can be observed (Taiar et al.[16], 1999), (Taiar et al.[17], 2000). In future work,
the solution that is considered rests on the implementation of a data-processing platform on virtual
prototyping is studied. In order to simulate all the stages of clothes industry and to lead the most powerful
model of textile specification including the various materials laws behavior and their air permeability
forthcoming research is needed (Taiar [18], 2014). Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and human
modeling will be used for the simulation and will be compared to the experimental data for validation.
The principal results are shown in figure 8. This concerns the drag coefficient evolution in the
transient analysis, the air flow visualization in figure 9 and the pressure influence in figure 10. Those
results are currently used to improve the athletes training behaviors and to design the new underwear in
aims to decrease drag during take-off phases.

Fig.8. Drag coefficient evolution

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N. Gardan et al. / Computational fluid dynamics for the nordic combined skiing jump

Fig. 9. Air flow evolution

Fig.10. Body surface pressure influence

4. Conclusion and future trends

The aim of this paper was to present a methodology which allows the study of the stable flight in ski
jumping. An innovative approach has been settled using the kinematical Vicon variables and a virtual
wind tunnel approach with CFD. Modelling is also based on specific data (anthropological one, for
example) that are dedicated to five athletes of the Nordic combined French team. All the different steps of
the modelization and simulation have been developed for one athlete and will be applied to other four
athletes representing the French team Sotchi Olympic Games (2014). The results of the CFD analysis are
relevant to the training part (posture analysis, air flow influence, drag/lift coefficient evolution) and the
design of specific underwear (body surface pressure retrieves with CFD is very interesting in this case).
For the first tip, the results are currently analyzed by skiers. Several areas of improvement were identified
for the next steps of our work. The first one is the necessity to re-mesh the body of the skier in case of
posture modification for the CFD analysis. Specific methodologies have been developed to automate
many aspects of the process. The second area is a complete integration of the equipment such as
additional boots and gloves as well as better material modeling of the suit (for instance the suit is
understood by the CFD model like a second skin). Finally the last area is the possibility of using a very
fine mesh to obtain more precise results. Alternative way of prospecting is a complete automation
between virtual posture modification and associative CFD mesh.

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