Aerodynamic analysis of uphill drafting in cycling

T. van Druenen*, B. Blocken

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

14 Citations (Scopus)
7 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Some teams aiming for victory in a mountain stage in cycling take control in the uphill sections of the stage. While drafting, the team imposes a high speed at the front of the peloton defending their team leader from opponent’s attacks. Drafting is a well-known strategy on flat or descending sections and has been studied before in this context. However, there are no systematic and extensive studies in the scientific literature on the aerodynamic effect of uphill drafting. Some studies even suggested that for gradients above 7.2% the speeds drop to 17 km/h and the air resistance can be neglected. In this paper, uphill drafting is analyzed and quantified by means of drag reductions and power reductions obtained by computational fluid dynamics simulations validated with wind tunnel measurements. It is shown that even for gradients above 7.2%, drafting can yield substantial benefits. Drafting allows cyclists to save over 7% of power on a slope of 7.5% at a speed of 6 m/s. At a speed of 8 m/s, this reduction can exceed 16%. Sensitivity analyses indicate that significant power savings can be achieved, also with varying bicycle, cyclist, road and environmental characteristics.

Original languageEnglish
Article number10
JournalSports Engineering
Volume24
Issue number1
Early online date22 Apr 2021
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Dec 2021

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Biomedical Engineering
  • Modelling and Simulation
  • Orthopedics and Sports Medicine
  • Physical Therapy, Sports Therapy and Rehabilitation
  • Mechanics of Materials
  • Mechanical Engineering

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