Aerodynamic characteristics of runners in long-distance running with platooning

In the field of sports, fluid dynamics has been used to investigate the aerodynamic properties of sports such as baseball, swimming, and ski jumping through visualisation wind tunnels and computational fluid dynamics (CFD). In recent years, the field of fluid dynamics has also been applied to competitions where the runners form a formation, and in marathons, the effects of drag on the runners toward the front have been studied. In this study, we investigated how air resistance changes and whether there is advantageous spacing through the use of visualised wind tunnels and CFD, with regard to the concept that positioning can maintain physical fitness, which is said to be the case in marathon races. As conditions such as climate, road surface, and participants vary each time, the aim is not to create simulation models to understand the exact aerodynamic characteristics of the runners, but to ascertain how crowds gather and disperse so that coaches can instruct the runners on appropriate positioning from the roadside.