Vibration Analysis of Pole-vaulting via Mathematical Modeling

Abstract

This project studied the factors including the weight of athlete (𝑚) and stiffness of the pole ( 𝑘) that can influence the efficiency of the energy conversion. The efficiency refers to the percentage of initial kinetic energy transferred into potential energy stored in a pole. A mathematical model is built based on Hamilton ’s method to simulate the pole motion. The efficiency can be optimized if 𝑚 and 𝑘 satisfy a linear expression that has been derived in the project.