• Atmosphere
• /
• v.17 no.4
• /
• pp.381-391
• /
• 2007

The characteristics of flow around a single obstacle with fixed height and varied length and width are numerically investigated using a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model. As the obstacle length increases, flow distortion near the upwind side of the obstacle increases and the size of the recirculation zone behind the obstacle also increases. As the obstacle width increases, the size of the recirculation zone decreases, despite almost invariable flow distortion near the upwind side of the obstacle. Flow passing through an obstacle is separated, one part going around the obstacle and the other crossing over the obstacle. The size of the recirculation zone is determined by the distance between the obstacle and the point (reattachment point) at which both the flows converge. When the obstacle width is relatively large, flows are reattached at the obstacle surface and their recoveries occur. Resultant shortening of the paths of flows crossing over and going around decreases the size of the recirculation zone. To support this, the extent of flow distortion defined based on the change in wind direction is analyzed. The result shows that flow distortion is largest near the ground surface and decreases with height. An increase in obstacle length increases the frontal area fraction of flow distortion around the obstacle. In the cases of increasing the width, the frontal area fraction near the upwind side of the obstacle does not change much, but near the downwind side, it becomes larger as the width increases. The frontal area fraction is in a better correlation with the size of the recirculation zone than the building aspect ratios, suggesting that the frontal area fraction is a good indicator for explaining the variation in the size of the recirculation zone with the building aspect ratios.

• Korean Journal of Applied Biomechanics
• /
• v.20 no.3
• /
• pp.261-266
• /
• 2010

Human body is hard to be in perfect balance during walking. Most of time the trunk is supported by one leg and the center of mass(COM) falls to the contralateral side. Thus, dynamic variables such as the velocity of the COM should be considered when gait stability is evaluated. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the extrapolated center of mass(XCom) which utilized the COM position and its velocity, is appropriate to evaluate gait stability. Ten healthy adults participated in this study and performed 3 different types of gaits(normal(NG), hands on waists(HWG), and hands on shoulders(HSG)) onto 4 different types of obstacle(obstacle height: 0%, 30%, 40% and 50% of leg length). Medio-lateral Com-CoP and XCom-CoP inclination angle were calculated during support phase. For all condition, greater M-L XCoM-CoP inclination angles were found(p<.05) compared with those of matched obstacle height CoM-CoP. Especially, M-L XCoM-CoP inclination angle at 50% height revealed the best condition for monitoring dynamic stability. Significantly increased in M-L XCoM-CoP inclination angle was found(p<.05) as obstacle height increased on NG and HWG.

• Physical Therapy Korea
• /
• v.15 no.3
• /
• pp.35-43
• /
• 2008

The purpose of this study was to compare spatio-temporal parameters during walking between patients with idiopathic Parkinson's disease and a control group matched for age, height, and weight. Thirty-three subjects were included in this study. Fifteen normal subjects (age, $63.3{\pm}5.8$ yrs; height, $164.1{\pm}8.7$ cm; weight, $60.7{\pm}17.5$ kg) and eighteen patients (age, $64.0{\pm}7.7$ yrs; height, $164.7{\pm}7.3$ cm; weight, $63.6{\pm}7.7$ kg) participated in the study. The Vicon 512 Motion analysis system was used for gait analysis in each group during walking, with and without an obstacle. The measured spatio-temporal parameters were cadence, walking speed, stride time, step time, single limb support time, double limb support time, stride length, and step length. Results in stride length and step length, when walking without an obstacle, showed a significantly greater decrease in the patient group compared to the control group. During walking with an obstacle, the patient group showed a significantly greater decrease in the step length as compared to the control group. For the control group, there were significant decreases in parameters of cadence and walking speed and increases in parameters of stride time, step time, and single limb support time when walking with an obstacle. The patient group had lower cadence and walking speed and higher stride time, step time, and single limb support time during walking with an obstacle than in walking without an obstacle. These results suggest that patients with Parkinson's disease who walk over an obstacle can decrease cadence, stride length, and step length. Further study is needed, performed with more obstacles and combined with other external cues, such as visual or acoustic guides.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Physical Medicine
• /
• v.9 no.1
• /
• pp.69-74
• /
• 2014

PURPOSE: The aim of this study is to compare the spatio-temporal gait parameters between paretic and non-paretic limb while stepping over the different obstacle's heights in subjects with stroke. METHODS: Nine subjects with stroke were participated in this study. Subjects were asked to step over obstacles with a different height. 8 camera motion analysis system(Motion Analysis Corporation, Santa Rosa, USA) was used to measure spatio-temporal parameters. The two way repeated measurement ANOVA was used to compare spati-temporal gait parameters between paretic and non-paretic limbs while stepping over a different obstacle's height(0cm, 10cm, 20cm). RESULTS: Step width, velocity, single supoort time, and double support time were not different among obstacle's height(p>0.05) but stride length, step length, and cadence were significantly different(p>0.05). In stride length, cadence, and double support time, the interactions between obstacle's heights and limbs were not different(p>0.05) but it was significantly different in velocity, step length, and single support time(p<0.05). Velocity, stride length, cadence, and double support times were not different between paretic limb and non-paretic limb(p>0.05) but step length and single support times were significantly different between paretic limb and non-paretic limb(p<0.05). CONCLUSION: These results show that there are differences with spatio-temporal gait parameters among obstacle's heights and between paretic and non-paretic limb during obstacle crossing in subjects with stroke.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
• /
• v.18 no.7
• /
• pp.578-586
• /
• 2006

The present study has been conducted to examine the effect of obstacles around a cooling tower and an air-guide to prevent recirculation. In order to analyze the interaction between external flow and cooling tower exit flow, the external region as well as the cooling, tower are included in computational domain. Two dimensional analysis is performed using the finite volume method with non-orthogonal and unstructured grid system. The standard ${\kappa}-{\varepsilon}$ turbulence model is used. To investigate the recirculation phenomena, flow and temperature fields are calculated with three approaches such as, the distance between cooling tower and obstacle, the allocated geometrical type, and the effect of height of obstacle. In addition, the air-guide is considered in the current computation. The mean recirculation rate increases with the height of obstacle. The effect of air-guide to reduce the mean recirculation rate is obviously observed.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
• /
• 2001.11b
• /
• pp.676-681
• /
• 2001

In this paper, the spin-up from rest to a state of solid-body rotation in a circular container with a slender rectangular obstacle on the bottom wall is analysed experimentally. We use a PIV method for the evolution of the free-surface flow. Laboratory experiments have been carried out for a variety of the obstacle height h(0, 5, 10 [mm]) and the liquid depth H(25, 50, 75, 100 [mm]). It was found that the spin-up time is crucially dependent on the obstacle height T. In the case of T=10[mm] the spin-up time is considerably shorter then the other cases.

• Korean Journal of Applied Biomechanics
• /
• v.24 no.2
• /
• pp.95-101
• /
• 2014

The purpose of this study was to investigate the training and detraining effects of a 8-week water exercise on lower extremities coordination during obstacle gait in the female elderly. Eight elderly participants (age: $76.58{\pm}4.97$ yrs, height: $148.88{\pm}7.19$ cm, body mass: $56.62{\pm}6.82$ kg, and leg length: $82.36{\pm}2.98$ cm), who stayed at the Seoul K welfare center, were recruited for this study. All participants had no history of orthopedic abnormality within the past 1 year and completed the aquatic exercise program which lasted for 8 weeks. To identify the training and detraining effect of 8 weeks of water exercise, a 3-D motion analysis with 7 infrared cameras and one force plate sampling frequency set at 100 Hz and 1,000 Hz, respectively, was performed. A two-way ANOVA was performed to find training and detraining effects among diferent obstacle heights. In this study significant level was set at .05. Significant training effects of LTS (lead foot thigh and shank) coordination in all obstacle height were found (p<.05). It is also found that the training effect of LTS remained 37%, 58%, and 25% in obstacle height of 30%, 40%, and 50%, respectively. Lead foot showed the greater detraining effect of coordination compared with trail foot, and SF (shank and foot) coordination revealed better detraining effects of coordination compare with TS (thigh and shank) in both feet. Based on the findings, a 8 week water exercise give an positive effects to the elderly in terms of segment cooperation which potentially helps reducing their accident falls. The magnitude of detraining may also help the elderly to find the retraining moment.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Information and Commucation Sciences Conference
• /
• 2015.10a
• /
• pp.522-525
• /
• 2015

In this paper, we propose a walking aid system that guides route to visually impaired people in order to recognize uncertain obstacles based on tactile stimulation. The proposed system is composed of the touch-based obstacle detection module, the obstacle height detection module, and the route guidance algorithms. The touch-based obstacle detection module detects each obstacle, which is located at left, right, and front of a visually impaired person by stimulating his thumb with the rotational force of the servomotor. The obstacle height detection module integrates detected data by the linear arrangement of ultrasonic sensors to identify the height of an obstacle about 3 of-phase(i.e., high, medium, low). The proposed route guidance algorithm guides an optimized path to the visually impaired person by updating his current position information based on the signal of the built-in GPS receiver in smartphone. In addition, the route guidance algorithm delivers information with speech to a visually impaired person through Bluetooth commuination in the developed route guidance app. The proposed system can create a path to avoid the obstacles by recognizing the placed situation of the obstacles with exploring the uncertain path.

• Korean Journal of Applied Biomechanics
• /
• v.18 no.2
• /
• pp.1-9
• /
• 2008

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of different obstacle heights on the plantar foot pressure during obstacle crossing. Sixteen healthy adults who had no musculoskeletal disorders were instructed to perform unobstructed level walking and to step over obstacles corto 10cm, 20cm, 30cm. Plantar foot forces and pressures were recorded by the Footmat system(Tekscan, Boston, USA) during level and obstacle walking with barefoot. Plantar foot surface was defined as seven regions for pressure measurement; two toe regions, three forefoot regions, one midfoot region, one heel region. One-way ANOVA was used to compare each region data of foot according to various heights. The results indicated that there are significant differences on peak pressure and maximal forces regarding each region at stance phase. As height of obstacle became high, the pathway of COP had a tendency to be short and abducted. Plantar pressure of foot could be changed by obstacle height and these findings demonstrated that obstacle with different height have an effect on structure and function of the foot.

• The Journal of Korea Robotics Society
• /
• v.2 no.1
• /
• pp.55-63
• /
• 2007

Mobile robots traveling on rough terrain need several algorithms to overcome obstacles. In this paper, we propose the step-type obstacle traversal algorithm to adapt the mobile robot with six arms and wheels to travel on rough terrain. Obstacle traversal is composed of two different stages: planning and control. In planning stage, the required joint torque of each arm as well as the interference between the wheels and the arms are analyzed to guarantee traversing obstacles. Control stage includes such steps as checking distance to obstacle, determining the height and length of obstacle, performing arm motion according to sensed torque data, and evaluating safety at every instance. The proposed algorithm is designed and implemented for CALEB 1 six legged robot developed in the laboratory and verified by simulation and experiment in outdoor environment.