Megaramp Engineering Thesis = Higher Learning

Ho, ho, ho… Stop it, my sides are splitting and I’m about to pee my pants… OK then. Emily Stefano is a mechanical engineering student at Clarkson University, and she’s working on a thesis called, wait for it… MegaRamp Thesis. To what end? Emily needs money to travel to a Megaramp site and attach a bunch of gadgets to some skaters to gather data and determine how to make it better. Not so ridiculous considering the original construction of the megaramp was designed on the “let’s wing it” principal. She’s already conducted interviews with some mega ramp riders and apparently talked to some suits at the X-Games who want her to sign a non-disclosure agreement before it goes any further. Emily’s is hoping for some extra traffic to her site to help generate some buzz. The blog is kind of vague if you want details on the actual thesis, so I’ve asked her to distill everything after the jump. What’s the official term anyway, MegaRamp or Mega Ramp?

Here’s the official introduction to the thesis:

The research plan outlined in this paper proposes to study the dynamics governing skateboarding’s MegaRamp. The approach will use lumped-parameter modeling techniques supplemented with video footage and experimental acceleration measurements to characterize the system dynamics. This model will then be applied to determine if the ramp can be modified or redesigned to improve a skateboarder’s performance on the ramp. The information will also be used to guide scaling of the ramp geometry for increased vertical and horizontal jump distances. In addition to issues related to ramp design, the research will also attempt to characterize the basic biomechanical requirements of the rider for successful negotiation of the MegaRamp.

Right, but what does that mean?

There will be 3-4 camera set up along the ramp to capture the skateboarder’s entire run. They will also have something on their board that will store acceleration data. These video will be used for extracting position data so that the entire run can be digitized. The acceleration data will also be used for this. Every run will be “averaged” to normalize for varying height and weight of the riders. This should provide the general path that a skateboarder will follow through the air. This path will vary from the ideal path that is found from basic physics principles. Coefficients will be added to the ideal path until there is an equation for the exact model of the skateboarder’s motion.

From this, various parameters (such as roll in height, distance of the gap, and quarter pipe height) can be changed to see the affect of that parameter on how high/far the skateboarder will go. The ramp can not simply be scaled up linearly. I talked to JT from Vertical Production Industries who builds the ramps. He said that the larger ramp in China was designed that way, but it didn’t work. Danny didn’t land the first run, because the roll in was too short (air pressure also played a roll in this). When 4 feet were added to the roll in, he could make it over the gap, but the quarter pipe was too small. JT said that Danny was just going to fast every time and the quarter pipe didn’t absorb enough of his speed, so he lost control in the air.

The video and acceleration data will also be used to find the forces on the skateboarder throughout the whole run. These will be considered when working on how to build the ramp bigger. The ultimate goal of this is to have some sort of a program where various parameters can be plugged in and the dimensions of the ramp will come out.

Check out the MegaRamp Thesis.