The pressure underneath a skate at rest

TL;DR

This paper models the pressure distribution beneath a skate at rest on ice, accounting for elastic and plastic deformation, and provides exact calculations for different skate positions.

Contribution

It introduces a method to relate plastic and elastic deformation under a skate, enabling precise pressure distribution calculations on ice with finite hardness.

Findings

Elastic and plastic deformation contributions are quantified.

Exact solutions for upright and tilted skate positions are provided.

Deformation in finite-hardness ice can be mapped to elastic deformation with infinite hardness.

Abstract

The pressure distribution is calculated underneath a skate which is pushed in the ice by the weight of a skater at rest. Due to the sharp edges of the skate the deformation is partly elastic and partly plastic. The ratio of the plastic and elastic contribution to the reaction force is determined. Using this ratio the deformation in ice with a finite hardness can be mapped on the problem of the deformation in a purely elastic medium with infinite hardness. Both the upright skate and the tilted position are exactly calculated.