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SUMMARY Engineering

– About the drive

– Position of the blade in the water
– Oar (entry and release) blade pitching
– Angular and peripheral velocity
– Efficiency of the blade with or without pitch
– Athletes balancing in terms of weight and power
– Strain Vs. performance
– Weight influence

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ABOUT THE DRIVE Engineering

From catch to release

• Catch: best angle, direction of the force, importance of velocity

in entry

• Main phase: position of the blade in the water, how big can be
the blade?

• Release: best angle, direction of the force, importance of

movement in boat to minimize deceleration

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ABOUT THE DRIVE Engineering

Catch

• The angle of catch has to be in comparison with the curve of

strength and the athletic resistance

• We need to entry in the water with the same velocity of the boat

• We can use blade pitch to improve the entry, but it costs in

terms of blade efficiency

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ABOUT THE DRIVE Engineering

Main phase

• We need the maximal force at this moment

• Check if the drive velocity of all athletes is the same. Change

the inboard lever action if needed. Pay attention to increase the
effort

• We need to simulate the run with different drive types to

understand the best solution for our crew

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ABOUT THE DRIVE Engineering

How big can be the blade?

• Water is a fluid, so it tends to escape from the disturb (in this

case of the blade). The blade works thanks to the pressure
difference between front and rear, so at tip the fluid tends to
separate from the rear.

• The blade works well if it can sustain the power of rower, so the
necessary dimension of the blade is the minimum that doesn't
permit the stalls

• This image shows the vortex effect.

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ABOUT THE DRIVE Engineering

Release

• Most of the oar force is transversal to the motion.

• We can't accelerate, we are in the final drive phase, so we will

pull out the blades

• Check the amplitude of the drive in comparison to the athletics

resistance.

• We need to simulate the run with different drive types to

understand the best solution for our crew

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POSITION OF THE BLADE IN THE WATER Engineering

• Use the minimum part of the shaft in the water

• The blade requires to be over 2cm in the water, better if

parallel to the water. Check the oarlock-water distance to
obtain it

• Use typical 22cm(h) oarlock-water distance to start setting

trials

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OAR BLADE PITCHING Engineering

• Check the angle to permit the blade to stay minimum 2cm

under the water surface.

• Change the position of the pin to obtain a lighter entry/release

in/from water

• Check it with data analysis (if possible)

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ANGULAR AND PERIPHERAL VELOCITY Engineering

Be careful to
• Normally we think that the best solution for the movement is
that the rowers have the same velocity of movement and the
same catch and finish, not at all!
• If they have the same velocity of movement, they have the same
angular velocity at the pin only if the lever inboard is the same,
besides if they have different inclination of the shaft they have
different velocity of the blade (peripheral velocity), so
everybody feels different toughness
• If they have the same velocity of movement, but they have a
different inside lever, the angular velocity changes
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ANGULAR AND PERIPHERAL VELOCITY Engineering

Be careful to

• If the angular velocity is the same but the pin is not at the same
height from the water, the peripheral velocity results to be the
same, but it's a bad condition
• If the amplitude of the drive is not the same for every rower,
the angular velocity is different

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ANGULAR AND PERIPHERAL VELOCITY Engineering

What we can do

We have to check (with data analysis) that the whole crew starts
the FORCE (and not the catch) in the same and for the same
time, possibly with the same force.

In this case the corrections will be little, without very big effort

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EFFICIENCY OF THE BLADE WITH OR WITHOUT Filippi
Engineering
PITCH
The optimal angle

• If we want a good catch, we often use an angle of pitch, it is in

fact the only option to do
• Nothing is for free. The slip on to the blade increases and the
efficiency decreases, and not only in the catch but continuously
till the finish. Do Not exaggerate.

It can stall!!!

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ATHLETES BALANCING IN TERMS OF WEIGHT Filippi
Engineering
AND POWER
The ideal target

Only if we have equal rowers, with equal strength and equal

resistance we can obtain the perfection
For all the other cases, we have to work hard to obtain the ideal
target.
Now, with the acquisition data analysis, is more simple.
Check the effort curve: the amplitude, the area contained in the
curve (integral), the maximal force and so on

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ATHLETES BALANCING IN TERMS OF WEIGHT Filippi
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AND POWER
Make an attempt

We will see soon as the position of the rowers, in function of

weight, can permit or not to come in a glide condition.
However now, fix the mind on the concept of POWER:
a boat with athletes having different shapes of strength curve go
straight. This fact is due to the power that all rowers have
developed. The shapes of the curve are different but the area is
the same.

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ATHLETES BALANCING IN TERMS OF WEIGHT Filippi
Engineering
AND POWER
Make an attempt

Normally we use to concentrate the heaviest rowers in the

center, but, if the balancing of their strength is right, it's better
to put them at stern. In this case the boat is trimmed by stern,
from tests we know that is not the best but close to the best
condition (neutral).
In this case when the rowers are at the release the boat is near
the neutral condition.

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STRAIN VS. PERFORMANCE Engineering

The Shell

• The transmission of the power comes through the boat to the

water, so it's important that we spend the minimal potential
energy in this passage

• Riggers are the first components that have to stand this effort.
Carbon riggers are the best choice.

• Finite elements analysis shows that 10-15% of energy is

necessary to transmit the power to the water

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WEIGHT INFLUENCE Engineering

Various tests with Kimè (Laura Milani's degree)

We have tested with the same boat one rower using 100Kg force
and than 125Kg, 150Kg, 200Kg

As results:
force increase 25% velocity increase 15,3%
force increase 50% velocity increase 24,6%
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WEIGHT INFLUENCE Engineering

Various tests with Kimè (Laura Milani's degree)

So, there is a optimum for every boat in function of strength

and not only of weight!

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WEIGHT INFLUENCE Engineering

Various tests with Kimè (Laura Milani's degree)

Now we change the weight of the rower:

The rower weight is 100Kg, we increase it to 105 and down to
95Kg.

The result is: for a weight increase of 5% the velocity decreases

of 4.38%; when the weight decreases of 5% the velocity
increase of 3,9%. It's nearly linear
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WEIGHT INFLUENCE Engineering

Various test with Kimè (Laura Milani's degree)

Now we change the weight of the rower and the force to

understand if it is better to decrease the weight or increase the
power:

The influence of 25% (up to 125Kg) of the power makes over

15% difference in velocity, while decreasing weight of 15%
gives only an additional 5% of velocity
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SIMPLE QUESTIONS OVER ROWING BOATS Engineering

• Is the boat better rough or smooth?

• Does the rowing boat glide?

• Is right to spend a lot of money to buy the new carbon fins?

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SIMPLE QUESTIONS OVER ROWING BOATS Engineering

Is the boat better rough or smooth?

Coaches and athletes often ask us for sand boats. Now we show
you that it's a mistake.
I'll try to show you in a simple way a complex phenomena of a
flow friction around smooth solid.
Our boats are similar to an aeronautical (NACA) profile in fact
the wake is very thin. In this case we want to obtain the
minimal drag friction, because the shape resistance is not
important (not like a ball immersed into a flux of water)
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SIMPLE QUESTIONS OVER ROWING BOATS Engineering

Is the boat better rough or smooth?

Here is a typical MOODY diagram showing the CDf in

comparison to Reynolds number

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SIMPLE QUESTIONS OVER ROWING BOATS Engineering

Is the boat better rough or smooth?

So, the diagram showed before, explains that the frictional drag
increases in exponential way when we pass from laminar to
turbulent flux.
In the first 2-3meters of boats the flux is laminar. After this
point it is not so important the type of surface.

In conclusion, I suggest to wash and clean the surface of the

rowing boats to have them like a mirror
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DOES THE ROWING BOAT GLIDE? Engineering

Critical velocity

The boat produces wave at bow and rear. The boat can't go out
from this two hill. The only possibility to cross the wave, is to
glide.

The max velocity before the glide is Vcr=1.25(lwet)1/2

All the boats run with an average velocity nearest Vcritical,
sometimes faster than Vcr and sometimes slower.

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DOES THE ROWING BOATS GLIDE? Engineering

All boats glide in the same way?

There is big difference between the class of rowing boats(single,

double...). In fact the wet length change from single to eight, the
average velocity changes but not proportionally, so the time
that we can stay over the water is different, more for the single,
less for the eight, so the philosophy to make boats changes.

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THE NEW CARBON FINS?
The stall

The aluminum fin is a plate, narrow, but plate.

When the flux is not allineate to the direction of the fin, it tend
to loose the surface. When the bubble will become too big the
lift decrease immediatly, this phenomena is named stall.
Shaped solid (like a drop) permits the flux to stay close to
surface. The stall will become at higher angle.

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THE NEW CARBON FINS?
The carbon fins
The composite technologies permit shape impossible for the
aluminum. So the engineer of the world have had possibility to
improve the design with CFD or real test.
This types of fins succeede in generating more lift with the same
wet surface, so we can decrease the area reducing friction. The
surface so designed reduce the wake. The total drag decrease
very much and so the efficiency increase. Moreover the new fins
containing the rudder have a very high efficiency in
comaparison to the standard ones
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Thank you for your attention

Eng. Alessandro Placido

R&D Filippi Lido s.r.l.

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