A Computational Fluid Dynamic Study on the Sculling Motion for Water Safety

Abstract

This study analyses the effects of various angles in sculling on human body lift and drag by means of computational fluid dynamics, discusses the importance of sculling and provides a basis for the development of future water safety education programmes. Study subjects were based on the mean data collected from males in the age of 20s from a survey on the anthropometric dimensions of the Koreans. Moreover, lift, drag as well as coefficient values, all of which were governed by the angle of the palm, were calculated using 3-dimentional modelling produced by computational fluid dynamics programmes i.e. CFD. Interpretations were performed via general k-ε turbulence modelling in order to determine lift, drag and coefficient values. Turbulence intensity was set to one per cent as per the figures from preceding research papers and 3-dimentional simulations were performed for a total of five different angles 0°, 15°, 30°, 45° and 60°. The drag and lift values for the differing angles of the hands during sculling movement are as follows. The lift and drag values gradually increased with the increasing angle of the palm, however, the magnitude of increase for drag started to predominate lift from 45° and lift gradually decreased from 60°. Overall, it is concluded that the optimal efficiency of sculling can be achieved at the angles 15° and 30°, and it is anticipated that greater safety and informative education can be ensured for Life saving trainees if the results were to be applied to practical settings. However, as the study was conducted using simulation programmes which performed analyses on the collected anthropometric dimension, the obtained results cannot be made universal, which warrants furthers studies involving varied study subjects with actual measurements taken in water.