| Topic for open discussion: "Popping"
a Power Kite for Big Air
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| July 27, 2020, post by Dave
Santos "Popping" a Power Kite for Big Air Good example of an intuitive Kite Pro who freely admits to understand scarcely formal physics, yet knows things undreamt by lagging kite science. Here the Pro breaks down the artful technique of jumping really high by means of kite, which could apply someday to an AWES that similarly develops a massive power pop in its orbital cycle- Technical comment: Science does have something to add to kite jumping topic; there is obviously a strong DS boost to Big Air, where the kite starts low and accelerates to zenith, across as much surface boundary wind gradient as possible The timing of deep edging by the preload pop gets the most out of the DS effect. Its a bit paradoxical that the preload involves dissipating a bit of energy downward in order to to then pop higher, but that's how optimal dynamics often work. There is in fact considerable elastic energy momentarily stored in the lines, kite fabric, and air itself, but its rather invisible, the polymer stretch is just one or two percent, but UHMWPE is a high-Q elastic material, returning almost all the elastic energy. The jumper also sheets in hard, and the moving kite collides with more air, compressing it, and much of that kinetic energy is returned as well into the jump. The kite is also completing its climb, mostly moving horizontally, as the jumper is fully lofted up. It all comes together, beautifully timed. |