Sports Engineering

Summary

Sports engineering is the study of how sports equipment affects performance and safety. Sports engineers use technologies, such as three-dimensional imaging and computer modeling, in combination with engineering analysis to optimize the overall performance of athletes and their equipment. The scope of sports engineering includes optimizing safety equipment such as helmets and pads, fields and buildings such as hockey arenas, and equipment required for sports such as skis and racquets. Sports engineering is a relatively new discipline, founded as a degree program in 1998 at the University of Sheffield in the United Kingdom. The International Sports Engineering Association (ISEA) was subsequently formed to promote the field of sports engineering and to provide a forum for sports engineers to discuss and collaborate.

Definition and Basic Principles

Sports engineering is the application of engineering principles to study sports equipment and venues. This field most closely resembles mechanical engineering. Mechanical engineering uses physics and mathematics to study and design physical processes and mechanical systems. Sports engineering uses the same techniques to study and design sport-specific equipment and venues. Since the 1990s, sports engineers have been involved in sports as varied as golf, football, hockey, speed skating, and tennis.

Background and History

Sports engineering is a relatively new field that was formed as a subdiscipline of mechanical engineering. The best-known sports engineering program is at the University of Sheffield in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1998, the program divides the discipline into aerodynamics, sports surfaces, impact, and friction. Although the field of sports engineering is new, the fundamentals that make up this subdiscipline are based on centuries of study.

The earliest recorded Olympic competition dates back to ancient Greece, and sports retain the same high level of interest in the twenty-first century. As technology improves, it has been applied to virtually all sports. Even clothing has advanced to provide sports-specific advantages, such as improved aerodynamics, breathable fabric, thinner insulating fabrics, and superior waterproofing. Sports engineers also work with the governing bodies of sports organizations to meet the regulations of those specific sports.

The fields of engineering evolved from physics and mathematics. The first societies were formed in the nineteenth century. As the field of mechanical engineering evolved, the principles of physics and mathematics were already being applied to sports equipment. Biomechanics and kinesiology developed as specialized fields in the subject of human movement. However, these fields did not specifically address sports equipment. The University of Sheffield provided a focused area of study in sports equipment and venues by founding the sports engineering program along with the Sports Engineering Research Group (SERG). The International Sports Engineering Association (ISEA) was then founded to provide a forum for engineers interested in this subject. There are now a handful of universities around the world that offer degrees in sports engineering and other mechanical engineering programs that offer classes in sports engineering.

How It Works

Mechanical engineering applies mathematics and physics to the design and study of physical and mechanical processes. Sports engineering uses mechanical engineering knowledge to focus on the study and design of sports equipment and venues. Refinements in equipment lead to improved performance by athletes and improved safety for participants. Regulations of various sports have been modified to accommodate new forms of equipment while maintaining fairness between competitors and improving sports safety. It is useful to use the University of Sheffield's divisions of aerodynamics, sports surfaces, impact, and friction to understand the areas of study that make up sports engineering.

Aerodynamics. Aerodynamics uses mathematics and physics to describe and model the airflow around objects. For any sport that uses balls, it is helpful to understand the trajectories that may result under different circumstances to develop techniques for improved accuracy and speed. Aerodynamics also applies to any sports that involve speed. Skeleton, speed skating, bobsledding, sprinting, downhill skiing, and many other sports use specialized equipment and clothing to reduce the effects of airflow on performance.

To study the aerodynamics of sports equipment, there are a variety of techniques that can be employed. Wind tunnel tests and laser scanners are used in the study of sports aerodynamics along with sophisticated mathematics techniques, such as computational fluid dynamics (CFD). Forces like lift and drag can be calculated using these methods. Variations in the surface roughness of a ball or of clothing, spin on a ball, or other factors will change how an object moves through space. The most familiar example of this is the variation in the behavior of a baseball depending on the pitch.

Sports Surfaces. The interactions between athletic shoes or equipment and the sports surface play a large role in performance and can result in injuries. Surfaces may vary even within a sport, such as in tennis and soccer. Information about these interactions is used by shoe manufacturers and other manufacturers to design equipment that will reduce injuries and optimize performance. Traction-test devices are used to simulate conditions in some cases. A traction-test device is simply a shoe surface that is mounted on a plate that can be tested on various surfaces.

Numerous variables are involved in surface interactions. Each sport has different materials and requirements for surface movements, and there are also differences between athletes. The mathematical models needed to study these interactions are so complex that SERG researchers have turned to neural network modeling to generate information that can be used to design better equipment.

Impacts. One of the most-studied sports has been tennis. The variables of racquet design, swing technique, ball design, and area of the strings used will all change the trajectory and speed of the tennis ball in play. Numerous other sports can be studied in terms of impacts, including baseball, squash, hockey, field hockey, and cricket.

Three-dimensional ideography and high-speed photography can be used to study the effects of different variables in the impact stage and the resulting trajectory of the ball. This information can then be used to refine the athlete's technique and to design more effective equipment.

Friction. Surface characteristics of balls, fields, and other sports equipment will affect sports performance. The interactions between the athlete's skin and grip must be considered in these circumstances, in addition to environmental conditions like moisture. The effects of sports surfaces on human skin are also studied to reduce injuries.

This area of sports engineering overlaps with biomechanics since it involves the interaction of the skin and other tissues with the sports equipment or sports surface.

Special Considerations. There are areas where these SERG divisions will overlap or where specialized knowledge is required. For speed skaters, the interaction of the skate blade and the ice surface creates a melting effect that must be understood to design faster skates. There are experts in this specific interaction that are working to improve skate-blade design. For changing conditions, such as outdoor skiing or biking, there are different types of equipment that are designed for specific conditions. One example of this is the powder ski, which has different characteristics in terms of shape and design as compared with slalom or downhill skis.

The varied requirements for each sport result in a wide array of specializations for sports engineers.

Applications and Products

Engineering techniques have been used to improve sports equipment of all types even before there was a designation called sports engineering. There are many examples of this in sporting history. The pole vault record has increased to 6.14 meters as a result of improvements in materials and design during the twentieth century. This is a 53 percent increase from the first official competition. Sports engineering has resulted in improvements in areas as diverse as fly-fishing rods and Frisbees. Amateur, professional, and Olympic competitors have all benefited from improvements in equipment and venues.

Olympic Sports. Sports engineering has increasingly been used to improve Olympic athlete performance. Researchers at the University of Sheffield were credited with helping the British cycling team win four gold medals at the 2004 Summer Olympic Games in Athens. Researchers then turned to studying skeletons and used complex modeling and digital shape sampling and processing to improve performances in the 2006 Winter Olympic Games in Turin, Italy. Sports engineering can be particularly helpful in those sports where one-hundredth of a second might be the difference between a gold and silver medal.

Amateur Sports. Sporting equipment manufacturers use designers and engineers to produce better-performing shoes, skis, racquets, and other products intended for the general public. Well-known sports manufacturers hire sports engineers to improve on existing products continually. These improvements have benefited the casual sportsman as well as more serious amateurs.

For example, lighter materials and the development of the oversized tennis racquet in the 1970s made it easier for beginners. Improved materials have increased racquet stiffness, which allows for a more efficient transfer of force to the ball, which leads to faster speeds.

In mountain biking, the addition of front and rear shock absorbers, lightweight frames, improved gearing, and step-in toe clips have made it easier for less experienced riders to navigate difficult terrain. Similarly, skis and snowboards have evolved to provide increased ease of turning, which helps beginner and intermediate skiers and snowboarders.

Lightweight helmets are now worn by most bikers and skiers, which improves safety. Many ski helmets have improved features, such as removable inserts for warmth and vents that can be opened or closed for cooling. Wearable water backpacks are now commonplace among many athletes and are more convenient than the standard water bottle.

Virtually every sport has benefited from sports engineering since the field was established in the late 1990s.

Professional Sports. Improvements in sports equipment is driven by the demand for increased performance by Olympians and professional athletes. Advances in technology, such as the larger tennis racquet head and increased racquet stiffness, which have benefited both amateur tennis players and professional tennis players. The larger head allows highly skilled professionals to achieve more topspin and higher speeds.

Advanced golf club and ball designs have been used by professional golfers. Differences in weighting and shaft construction influence performance. Golf balls are also evolving with the introduction of solid cores, which lead to longer drives. The dimpling on the golf balls is designed to give maximum flight. These dimples are modified in some newer balls to optimize flights. Equipment improvements have benefited professional sports of all types, and professional organizations continue to push for the technological edge that will make them more competitive.

Sports Venues. Sports engineers are also involved in designing and studying sports venues. An example of this is the recent development by SERG engineers of a trueness meter for greens evaluation. This is a device that helps greens keepers evaluate the smoothness of turf. This improves the ability of the greenkeeper to achieve optimum conditions for best performance.

In 2011, the National Hockey League (NHL) discussed the need for improved safety to reduce concussions in players. Discussions included possible changes to the glass surrounding the rinks. The league implemented changes to the glass at NHL arenas for the 2015–2016 season. This type of design change to improve the safety of a sporting venue is an area where sports engineers may get involved.

Sports Safety. Sports equipment engineering has had an impact on injury prevention at all levels. Helmets have become mandatory in the National Hockey League whereas they were once optional. Helmets have also become commonplace for sports, such as downhill skiing and bicycling. Baseball is another sport in which a helmet is required for certain positions. In some jurisdictions, bicycle helmets are required by law to be worn by riders under the age of eighteen. Many amateur participants will wear helmets to reduce the chance of injury, even if they are not mandatory. There is strong evidence in the peer-reviewed medical literature that helmet use for sports, such as bicycling and hockey, greatly reduces injury. Full facial protection has also been shown to reduce injury in hockey players.

In football, another high-contact sport, the twenty-first century saw an increased effort to find a helmet design that could not only protect players against the worst injuries but also the types of injuries that had become of increasing concern for the long-term health of players. The biggest issue facing designers was the prevalence of concussions, which research, sparked by several high-profile deaths and suicides of football players, increasingly showed can cause long-term brain damage and related psychological trauma. As the medical and sports communities became increasingly aware of the high risk of brain injuries like chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), helmets and safety equipment became pivotal in sports, especially high-contact sports like football and hockey. In 2018, the National Football League began using an advanced helmet design that was intended to enhance player safety and reduce concussions. According to information provided by the NFL in 2022, a four-year study indicated that the helmets had reduced concussions by about 25 percent.

For venues, sports engineering can be used to modify existing venues or to design newer, safer venues. In the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, the death of twenty-one-year-old Georgian athlete Nodar Kumaritashvili during a skeleton bobsled run sparked a public debate about track safety. Some modifications were made shortly after the accident to improve safety. There continued to be debate about the role of inexperience versus track design as a cause for the accident. This accident was likely to influence future skeleton track designs, which is an area where sports engineers will be involved.

Safety considerations include the durability of equipment and the risk of sudden failure of equipment and impact the choice of materials that sports engineers consider when they design sports equipment. These considerations affect athletes at all levels, sporting organizations, governing bodies, and manufacturers.

Clothing. Clothing for high-speed sports has been improved to reduce the drag from airflow. High-tech clothing has been credited with improvements in sprinters, speed skaters, and downhill skiers. Shoes are another area of innovation with improvements in material durability and performance characteristics. Weight, durability, cushioning, spikes, and flexibility are engineered to provide the best attributes for each sport.

Careers and Course Work

Sports engineering is a newer field than other engineering disciplines. There are some university programs that offer a sports engineering degree and others that have courses in sports engineering within their mechanical engineering degree program. Bachelor of engineering degrees usually require three to five years to complete. A strong background in mathematics and physics is needed. Advanced degrees of a Master's or Doctorate may be required for some career paths, such as teaching. Specific jobs may require some knowledge of biomechanics, kinesiology, or anatomy.

In the 2020s, Sheffield Hallam University in the United Kingdom had one of the leading programs in sports engineering. There were also programs in Australia and a noted program at the University of Colorado Denver in the United States. Purdue University and the University of Masschusetts also had programs. For prospective students interested in considering a career in sports engineering, it may be helpful to contact universities with mechanical engineering programs as well to see what courses may be offered in sports engineering.

An interest in sports or a particular skill in sports can be helpful in the field of sports engineering. In some cases, athletes will go on to become sports engineers. For example, British aerospace engineer and Olympic skeleton competitor Kristan Bromley has done research on sled design to optimize performance.

For some applications, additional expertise or training in materials, architecture, physiology, kinesiology, or biomechanics may be needed. This type of specialization might come with an advanced degree or through work experience. The applications of sports engineering are wide-ranging, so there are many paths an individual career might take.

Social Context and Future Prospects

As sports engineering degrees become more commonplace and programs are created, this discipline will likely be more widely recognized as a field separate from mechanical engineering. This is similar to the field of geomatics engineering, which was a branch of civil engineering and is now recognized as a separate field of engineering.

Since the middle of the twentieth century, new sports have evolved through material and design changes. The Frisbee and in-line skates were invented, and snowboarding was created. In Nordic skiing, a new technique called skate skiing has become popular due to changes in technique and equipment. This has changed how many Nordic trails are prepared, such that the classic ski tracks are on one side and a larger flat area of packed snow is created for the skate skiers. Skateboarding and skateboard parks are other examples of sports venues that have become popular as a result of improvements in equipment. These innovations will continue with modifications to existing sports and inventions of new sports.

As manufacturers continually improve their products, amateur and leisure sports will benefit from enhanced comfort, performance, and safety. Entrepreneurs will create new products with the help of sports engineers, who will likely play an important role in the evolution of sports going forward.

Bibliography

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"Unprecedented Rate of Improvement Stimulated in Helmet Industry, New Standard Set for 'Top-Performing' Helmet Models Worn by NFL Players." NFL.com, 24 Mar. 2022, www.nfl.com/playerhealthandsafety/equipment-and-innovation/equipment-testing/unprecedented-rate-of-improvement-stimulated-in-helmet-industry-new-standard-set. Accessed 29 May 2024.

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