Arrow behaviour in the vertical plane during and immediately following the power stroke of a recurve bow

Abstract

Arrow behaviour in the vertical plane as it leaves a recurve archery bow is mainly determined by the path taken by the bow’s nocking point during the power stroke. That path is generally not a straight line as a consequence of the arrow not being placed at the geometric centre of the bow. The arrow behaviour is important to the archer in trying to launch the arrow with minimal angle of attack and minimal angular velocity. Pekalski, Kooi and Sparenberg and Park modelled the arrow behaviour in the horizontal plane during the bow’s power stroke using a flexible beam. In this article, the method used by Park has been applied to the arrow’s behaviour in the vertical plane. It is shown that by suitable selection of the arrow’s location on the string, the archer can obtain zero angular velocity and minimal angle of attack. The modelling was tested against the use of the recurve bow in a shooting machine.