Aerodynamic Drag Reduction in Athletes’ Sliding Position of Skeleton Using Wind Tunnel Tests

Wind tunnel test is the main method to optimize the position of athletes in the racing sports for aerodynamic drag reduction. Taking the skeleton as an example, the study introduces the test devices and procedure for aerodynamic drag reduction of athletes using wind tunnel tests. According to the characteristics of the skeleton, the zero-line position in the sliding stage is selected for drag reduction. The position of the head, shoulder, hand, leg, feet, body location and body height are changed one by one, then the best position is combined and verified based on the measured aerodynamic drag. The results showed that, the two male athletes with the best performance have the lowest aerodynamic drag in zero-line position, which is even lower than that of female athletes, it is showed that the aerodynamic drag in the sliding stage of the skeleton is closely related to the competition performance. Using the wind tunnel tests, the drag acting on 8 athletes in the sliding stage is reduced, and the average drag reduction ratio is 11.78%.Although the drag of the zero-line position of the two elite male athletes is small, the drag reduction ratio reaches to 10.50% and 7.70%, respectively. According to the empirical model, the performance can be improved by 1.00% and 0.77%, respectively.