Composite Javelin
Originally published in 1979
Body
General Electric Company developed an advanced type of javelin designed to meet specifications laid down by the International Amateur Athletic Federation that has better stability than conventional javelins. At the Montreal Olympics, they noticed that javelins in flight made eccentric wobbling motions -- called flutter -- although different athletes were throwing different javelins. They concluded that greater shaft stiffness would reduce flutter and improve performance. Their answer was use of an epoxy graphite composite material to provide the requisite stiffness within weight limitations.
Full article: http://hdl.handle.net/hdl:2060/20070019717
Abstract
General Electric Company developed an advanced type of javelin designed to meet specifications laid down by the International Amateur Athletic Federation that has better stability than conventional javelins. At the Montreal Olympics, they noticed that javelins in flight made eccentric wobbling motions -- called flutter -- although different athletes were throwing different javelins. They concluded that greater shaft stiffness would reduce flutter and improve performance. Their answer was use of an epoxy graphite composite material to provide the requisite stiffness within weight limitations.
Composite Javelin
Composite Javelin
