Relative Motion Between Ski and Boot Under Impact Testing of Ski Bindings

The relative translation and rotation of a snow ski and boot under lateral impact of the ski is critical to the function of the ski release binding. The binding couples the ski and ski boot during skiing and releases them under potentially excessive loading of the skier’s leg. A displacement transducer was developed to measure the general, two dimensional translation and rotation of the boot relative to the ski during laboratory impact tests of bindings. The requirement that the boot and ski separate upon release of the binding complicates the transducer design. Lateral impacts were applied with a pendulum at the “ski tip”, at the “ski tail” and at the “boot toe” positions on the ski. The model leg, ankle and ski response were recorded. Significant differences in leg-ski-binding system response were observed with two commercial bindings and with the impact locations on the ski.