Investigation of body motions and forces during hiking

• Main Author: Ong, Rong Gui.
• Other Authors: Hoon Kay Hiang
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2010
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Mechanical engineering::Bio-mechatronics
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/40074
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

In the sailing of a sail-craft, forces caused by the wind acting on a boat’s sail may cause a moment and tip the craft from one side or another. This is known as heeling. Heeling is undesirable as it reduces a boat’s effectiveness in maintaining its motion in a forward direction (deviate’s the craft from its original course), correcting the resultant drift with the rudder also slows the boat down by creating drag. Hence, to counter-act heeling, the crew of a sail-craft will have to create a counter-moment to that caused by the wind on the sail. This is achieved by moving the crew’s center of gravity by leaning over the edge of the boat as the boat heels. The technique requires the sailor to hook his feet beneath foot-straps attached to the center of the craft, rest part of his body on the sidedeck (to act as a fulcrum) and extend the rest of his body over the water. The project seeks to investigate the forces generated on the body during the hiking motion. We seek to achieve this through the motion capture of a sailor’s hiking movement with a hiking simulator and motion capture software The Kinetics and Kinematics data obtained will then be assimilated with 2 software packages (LifeModeler and Anybody) to determine the forces that the sailor generates and is subjected to during the hiking movement. Results from the study will contribute towards enhancing the performance of National sailors, as well as injury prevention.