Estimation of mechanical power and energy cost in elite wheelchair racing by analytical procedures and numerical simulations

Abstract

The aim was to compare the mechanical power and energy cost of an elite wheelchair sprinter in the key-moments of the stroke cycle. The wheelchair-athlete system was 3D scanned and then computational fluid dynamics was used to estimate the drag force. Mechanical power and energy cost were derived from a set of formulae. The effective area in the catch, release and recovery phases were 0.41 m², 0.33 m² and 0.24 m², respectively. Drag increased with speed and varied across the key-moments. The catch required the highest total power (range: 62.76–423.46 W), followed-up by the release (61.50–407.85 W) and the recovery (60.09–363.89 W).

Keywords:

• Drag
• kinetics
• paralympics
• power output
• sprinting

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This project was supported by the National Funds [FCT - Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (UID/DTP/04045/2013)] and the European Fund for regional development (FEDER) allocated by European Union through the COMPETE 2020 Programme