2022/01/05 by GP Benham, Benham, GP, O Devauchelle +5 · 1 citation
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Experimental and Theoretical Physics Studies #FOS: Physical sciences #Fluid Dynamics (physics.flu-dyn) #Sports Dynamics and Biomechanics #physics.flu-dyn
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2201.01533
openalex publication_date 2022/01/05 · arxiv created 2022/01/16 · arxiv updated 2022/01/19 · openalex created_date 2023/01/03 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
It has been shown experimentally that small droplets, bouncing on a vibrated liquid bath, can "walk" across the surface due to their interaction with their own wave-field. Gunwale bobbing is a life-size instance of this phenomena in which a person standing on the gunwales of a canoe propels it by pumping it into oscillation with the legs. The canoe moves forward by surfing the resulting wave-field. After an initial transient, the canoe achieves a cruising velocity which satisfies a balance between the thrust generated from pushing downwards into the surface gradients of the wave-field and the resistance due to a combination of profile drag and wave drag. By superposing the linear wave theories of Havelock (1919) for steady cruising and of Helmholtz for an oscillating source, we demonstrate that such a balance can be sustained. We calculate the optimal parameter values to achieve maximum canoe velocity. We compare our theoretical result to accelerometer data taken from an enthusiastic gunwale bobber. We discuss the similarities and differences between gunwale bobbing and hydrodynamic quantum analogues, and possible applications to competitive sports.