Aerodynamics of an isolated ski jumping ski

Abstract

A single isolated ski was suspended from a six-component wind tunnel balance and three angles, the angle of attack, the yaw angle and the edge angle were adjustable during the test. Increasing yaw angle from 0 to 15° increased the lift coefficient CL from 0.42 to 0.90 at edge angle 0° and from 0.70 to 0.87 at edge angle 10°, respectively. Increasing yaw angle also increased the sensitivity of the ski to changes in edge angle, i.e., increasing the edge angle (20°–45°) decreased the CL and the ratio C2L/CDCL2/CD with large yaw angles. However, to maximize the lift-to-drag ratio with a typical angle of attack of 30° in ski jumping, it may be reasonable to have an edge angle of 5°–10° on skis as the ratio C2L/CDCL2/CD increased from 1.24 to 1.35 when edge angle increased from 0° to 10°.