The Dynamics of Springboards

Abstract

The maneuvers of a competition diver on a springboard before takeoff may serve to maximize the height of the flight phase. To simplify analysis, it is often assumed that the diver performs motions at the top of a single degree-of-freedom (DOF) system, usually consisting of one mass and one linear spring. This system is expected to simulate the behavior of the board sufficiently. In this paper we propose a new single DOF system approximating the effects of a board with passable accuracy. This model is applied to three types of springboards to obtain numerical values for their virtual masses at the tip.