Engineering in Performance—Attention to Details Pays Off in Gold in Igls, Austria
Because Luge is a sport that measures speed down to thousandths-of-a-second increments, no detail that affects speed goes unexamined.
Last week we talked about the importance of design engineering to make sure the blades remain mirror images of each other during the course of a luge run. The mirror-imaging capability of the blades plays a critical role in achieving the maximum speed for the sled. It is one of the Holy Grails of sled design.
However, other factors also impact performance and must be accommodated. A second Holy Grail of sled design is the proper contouring of the business part of the blade—the part where the blade meets the ice. The design engineer’s challenge is to contour, or round out, the bottom of the blades. The design intent is to optimize the sled’s ability to go through curves with the least amount of friction. Here again, sliders want a mirror-image in the contouring of the blade edge, as well as between the entire alignment of the two blades.
During the course of a luge run, the contact surface of the blades shifts from the bottom of the blade at the start, to the sides of the blade as it dashes up the side of the curved track to maneuver through the twists and turns in the run. The USA Luge Team won the Gold Medal in team relay at the Youth Olympic Games with a 0.4 second margin over the Silver Medal winners. Attention to details in sled design played a role in this victory.
Consider this detail: Over the course of the run, no matter what angle the sled is at relative to the bottom of the luge track, the curvature of the blade insures that the part of the blade in contact with the ice produces no drag due to variances in the contouring that might slow the sled’s speed. Proper contouring along the entire length of the blade eliminates avoidable drag, thus contributing to greater speed. A half second slower and the USA Luge Team would not have captured its first Gold Medal.
The special device we developed with help from our friends at Universal Tool allows the USA Luge Team to measure the angle of each blades contour individually, while also enabling adjustments to the contour of both blades simultaneously during the honing step.
So now, through these last two posts, you have gained an appreciation of how much science and engineering goes into sled design and testing and adjustment during the course of a luge season.
We like to think our contributions helped the USA Luge Team capture its first Gold Medal in team relay at an Olympic type event—the Youth Olympic Games just concluded in Igls, Austria. In the photo above, left to right, are men’s doubles winners Pat Edmunds and Ty Andersen, men’s singles winner Tucker West and women’s singles winner Summer Britcher. Congratulations, the future of the USA Luge Team looks great with outstanding young performers like these coming up the ranks.
Our goal is to have our “Engineering in Performance” efforts pay dividends for the USA Luge Team in Sochi, Russia, in 2014, the next Winter Olympics. Follow the progress of the team at www.usaluge.com
Read more about Vulcan’s engineering resources at www.vulcangms.com