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John Barton, Jan Včelák, Javier Torres-Sanchez, Brendan O’Flynn, Cian O’Mathuna, Robert V. Donahoe
Procedia Engineering, Volume 34, 2012
Abstract
Measuring an arrow’s ballistic performance such as arrow velocity on impact, total time of flight and arrow shaft oscillation is challenging because of the dynamic nature of arrow flight. This challenge becomes increasingly difficult as the distance of the shot increases. It is also of great interest to bowhunters to understand the ballistic performance of arrows that include hunting broadheads. A miniaturized, sensory data acquisition system, located in the arrow tip and engineered to withstand the high accelerations experienced at launch and impact, enables the precise measurement of arrow ballistics in flight. By continuously recording arrow drag in flight, the system enables measurement of the ballistic performance of an arrow as it travels downrange. The authors have also built an adapter that is connected to the housing of the sensing system to allow for comparative ballistic tests to be performed on hunting broadheads. Here, we present results obtained using the sensing system to perform initial testing on two commercially available broadheads at shot distances of approximately 45 m.
The following illustrates the accelerometer and shock switch signals of the system recorded during arrow flight:
The system provides various measures of performance including time of flight, and launch and impact values of arrow speed, kinetic energy and momentum. The system also provides a percentage of retained energy determined as kinetic energy at impact divided by kinetic energy at launch. The system is currently being used by archery manufacturers and archery professionals to determine whether changes in equipment, equipment adjustments and shooting form aid performance. For example, a number of factors including accuracy, speed/energy loss in flight and performance on impact are used to select broadheads and to design broadheads. These results illustrate one example of a difference in ballistic performance between two types of broadheads.
Bowhunters value a broadhead that flies most like a conventional arrow field point because their bowsights do not need to be adjusted when they move from the practice range using field points to a hunting situation where broadheads are used. These results demonstrate that further testing will be valuable to gain a more comprehensive understanding of how the performance of various broadheads compare with one another and with the performance of conventional field point configurations.
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