Development of a Simulator Generating Ski Board Vibrations in Actual Skiing

Abstract

The purposes of this study are to develop a simulator generating a ski board vibration in actual skiing and to perform the basic construction for clarifying the ski sliding mechanism, which still has not been clarified completely. In the simulator developed in this study, the surface on the bottom of the ski was assumed as to be a snowy slope and a mass of snow (snow pack) assuming a skier had slid on this ski bottom surface. A ball vibrator connected to a large- sized compressor was installed onto the ski panel in order to vibrate a ski board. The compressed air from the compressor rotated a steel ball in the vibrator at high speed, causing vibration on the ski. A dynamic friction force (F) was detected by the digital force gauge when the snow pack was sliding from the top of the ski to the tail on the surface formed by the bottom of the ski. A coefficient of kinetic friction (μk) was calculated using this dynamic friction force. Furthermore, the velocity and acceleration of the snow pack were measured by two high speeded cameras. The experiment for confirming the validity of this simulator was carried out in the temperature conditions of -5°C. The velocity and acceleration of the snow pack with vibration were higher than without vibration. On the other hand, the coefficient of kinetic friction (μk) with vibration was lower than without vibration. From these results, the simulator is suitable for studying the role of vibration in ski sliding and for clarifying the ski sliding mechanism.