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Hydrodynamic Drag during Gliding in Swimming

2009; International Society of Biomechanics; Volume: 25; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1123/jab.25.3.253

1543-2688

Daniel A. Marinho, Víctor Machado Reis, Francisco Alves, João Paulo Vilas‐Boas, Leandro Machado, António Silva, Abel Rouboa,

Cardiovascular and Diving-Related Complications

This study used a computational fluid dynamics methodology to analyze the effect of body position on the drag coefficient during submerged gliding in swimming. The k-epsilon turbulent model implemented in the commercial code Fluent and applied to the flow around a three-dimensional model of a male adult swimmer was used. Two common gliding positions were investigated: a ventral position with the arms extended at the front, and a ventral position with the arms placed along side the trunk. The simulations were applied to flow velocities of between 1.6 and 2.0 m·s −1 , which are typical of elite swimmers when gliding underwater at the start and in the turns. The gliding position with the arms extended at the front produced lower drag coefficients than with the arms placed along the trunk. We therefore recommend that swimmers adopt the arms in front position rather than the arms beside the trunk position during the underwater gliding.