Projected frontal area during locomotion in the wind
(2025) Multidisciplinary Biomechanics Journal — Vol. 49th congress of the..., n° Sport biomechanics, p. 407-409 (2025)
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- Authors
Willems, Patrick 
- Abstract
- During terrestrial locomotion, to move across any environment, one must expend energy to overcome the drag (Fd) due to the airflow. Air resistance, at a certain velocity, is directly proportional to an object’s projected frontal area (A) multiplied by the drag coefficient (Cd) and by the dynamic pressure of a moving air stream, q, (Fd = q x Cd x A) (Hoerner, 1965). In still air, the speed of the relative airflow is equal to a subject’s moving speed, which during human locomotion is generally low (<25km/h) equating to negligible drag (Pugh, 1971). Indeed, as the total mechanical work done by the body against drag is <10% of total mechanical work during walking and running, improving aerodynamics during locomotion does not lead to major performance improvements, contrary to other sports such as skating or cycling (di Prampero, 1986). However, when performance tends towards its limits, even small changes can lead to important time gains. Experimental data of legged locomotion in a wind tunnel are scarce. Recently we investigated the effect of drag on the walking and running mechanics (Mesquita et al., 2024). Fd increases with square wind speed (U2) and, at wind speeds above 12 m/s, drag differs between walking and running due to a change in the drag area (CdA) which decreases exponentially both with U and U2 (Pecchiari et al., 2023). Changes in CdA can be due to changes in Cd, which is related to wind speed and airflow regime, or a change in A. The latter has been previously characterised by a cylinder in human locomotion (Pugh, 1971).
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Citations
Da Rosa Macedo Mesquita, R., Willems, P., Natalucci, V., Luciano, F., Pavei, G., & Dewolf, A. (2025). Projected frontal area during locomotion in the wind. Multidisciplinary Biomechanics Journal, 49th congress of the...(Sport biomechanics), 407-409. https://doi.org/10.46298/mbj.14554 (Original work published 2025)