PARTITIONED POOL

Abstract

The invention provides a new partitioned pool wherein all the lanes are separated by partitions. The partitioned pool according to the present invention provides to all the athletes equal and identical boundary conditions and there would be no splashes from side lanes. Further, in the partitioned pools according to the present invention the expensive wave eating lane ropes are discarded.

Description

FIELD OF INVENTION

This invention relates to the improvements in the design of a swimming pool used for the competitive swimming races such as in national, international championships and Olympic games.

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION

The present using swimming pool has some draw-backs. Even though, it is being used in all the above said championships. Due to this faulty design so many efficient swimmers (sometimes few previous Olympic champions) had been disqualified at the preliminary stages in their own countries and they were being made as patients of mental depression. Competitive swimming is a sport like that of running races (sprint events). But, there are some notable differences between swimming and running events.

• • 1. In running races even the athletes are covered by the medium (air) they will have grip on the earth. With that grip only they use their muscle power and run.
    • In swimming events swimmers are suspended in the medium (water) itself. So, they will have no grip to move forward. Hence, they use their energy to float on the medium and then displace the medium to their sides and move forward (Newton's Third Law of Motion).
  • 2. Water is 11 times more resistant, 55 times more viscous and 777 times denser than air.
  • 3. In running races we cannot find the boundaries of the medium because, air is everywhere on our planet.
    • In aquatics swimmers are confined to a closed medium where, they find specific boundaries (i.e. side walls and bottom).
  • 4. In running events other athletes are not disturbed by a particular athlete.
    • In aquatics side lane swimmers to a particular swimmer are very much disturbed by the waves produced by him.

Draw-Backs of the Existing Swimming Pool Design

The present swimming pool used for competitive swimming has a closed medium. While conducting a competitive race in a closed medium all the participant swimmers must have equal and identical conditions (or) parameters.

Parameters:—

• • 1. Temperature - - - same to all swimmers.
  • 2. Surface tension - - - same to all swimmers.
  • 3. Density - - - same to all swimmers.
  • 4. Specific gravity - - - same to all swimmers.
  • 5. Depth of the medium - - - same to all swimmers
  • 6. Viscosity or fluid friction - - - same to all swimmers.
  • 7. Boundary conditions - - - not same to all swimmers.
  • 8. Wave disturbance - - - not same to all swimmers.

Boundary Conditions

Since, the medium (water) is a Newtonian fluid it obeys the Newton's law of fluid friction (or) Newton's law of viscosity.

$\tau \left(\mathrm{tau}\right)=\mu \frac{u}{y}$

Where,

• • τ (tau)=shear stress
  • μ=coefficient of viscosity (or) dynamic viscosity.
  • u=velocity of the swimmer.
  • y=distance from the nearer side wall.

$\frac{u}{y}=\mathrm{velocity}\mathrm{gradient}$ F=τ(tau)×A

Where,

• • F=force required by a swimmer to move forward with a velocity of u.
  • A=total wetted area of the swimmer.

F=F ₁ +F ₂

Where,

• • F₁, F₂ are forces with respect to the two side walls.

Therefore,

$F=\mu A\frac{u}{y1}+\mu A\frac{u}{y2}$

• • y₁=nearer side wall distance from the swimmer
  • y₂=farer side wall distance from the swimmer

$\begin{array}{c}F=\mu \mathrm{Au}\left(1/y_1+1/y_2\right)\\ =\mu \mathrm{Au}\left(1/y+1/b-y\right)\end{array}$

Where,

• • b=total width of the pool

See FIGS. 1 and 2

1=b, 2=y, 3=b−y, 4=velocity distribution, 5=nearer side wall, 6=farer side wall.

In the above equation (μAu) is a constant for a particular swimmer in any lane.

• • Therefore, F is inversely proportional to y.

So, the swimmers distance from the side wall increases, the force (F) required to move forward will be decreased. The above equation is applicable where, the velocity distribution is linear. For larger widths where, the velocity distribution is parabolic the equation will become as

$U=\frac{1}{2\mu }\left(-\frac{p}{x}\right)\left(\mathrm{by}-y^2\right)\dots \mathrm{plane}\mathrm{Poisenille}\mathrm{Flow}\mathrm{equation}$

(Fundamental rule of fluid mechanics is whether the object moves through the stationary water or the water moves around the stationary object is alike.)

$U=\frac{1}{2\mu }\left(-\frac{p}{x}\right)\left(b-y\right)y$

Where,

$\frac{p}{x}=\mathrm{Pressure}\mathrm{gradient}$

• • (b−y)=farer side wall distance from the swimmer.
  • y=nearer side wall distance from the swimmer.

In the above equation the value of

$\left[\frac{1}{2\mu }\left(-\frac{p}{x}\right)\right]$

for a particular swimmer is constant in all lanes.

Therefore u∝y

Velocity of the swimmer is directly proportional to the distance between the swimmer and the side wall of the swimming pool.

So, the two side wall distances from a lane play an important role in determining the velocity of a swimmer.

As, the swimming race conducting authorities are measuring the race time to an accuracy of 1/100 of a second, the minor variations in velocity should also be taken into account.

Several attempts have been made to overcome the above mentioned drawbacks. One such attempt is to provide an extra lane at each end of the pool (extra widening by 5 meters) to rectify the velocity irregularities of the swimmers.

Accordingly the swimming pool in the recent Olympics was constructed with 10 lanes each of 2.5 meters wide. Only 8 swimmers participated in all the races leaving the end lanes without swimmers. However, the drawbacks still exist.

Further it is very important to know about the lane coefficient to understand the boundary conditions in a better way.

Lane Coefficient (L.C)

Lane coefficient is the ratio of the distance from the farer side wall to the distance from the nearer side wall (both distances measured from the centre of a lane).

L.C of a lane=farer side wall distance/nearer side wall distanceL.C of 8^th and 1^st lanes=(W+7Lw)/(W−7Lw)L.C of 7^th and 2^nd lanes=(W+5Lw)/(W−5Lw)L.C of 6^th and 3^rd lanes=(W+3Lw)/(W−3Lw)L.C of 5^th and 4^th lanes=(W+Lw)/(W−Lw)

Where,

W=width of the pool

Lw=lane width

20 Meter Wide Swimming Pool Boundary Conditions

1^st and 8^th lane coefficient=(20+17.5)/(20−17.5)=15.002^nd and 7^th lane coefficient=(20+12.5)/(20−12.5)=4.33333^rd and 6^th lane coefficient=(20+7.5)/(20−7.5)=2.24^th and 5^th lane coefficient=(20+2.5)/(20−2.5)=1.2857

25 Meter Wide Swimming Pool Boundary Conditions

1^st and 8^th lane coefficient=(25+17.5)/(25−17.5)=5.66662^nd and 7^th lane coefficient=(25+12.5)/(25−12.5)=3.03^rd and 6^th lane coefficient=(25+7.5)/(25−7.5)=1.85714^th and 5^th lane coefficient=(25+2.5)/(25−2.5)=1.2222

Still, there is a difference between first and fourth lanes after extra widening. So the concept and practice of extra widening is wrong.

So, the concept extra widening of the pool by 5 meters does not eliminate the differences in boundary conditions of the participant swimmers.

Velocity of the Swimmer is Inversely Proportional to the Lane Coefficient.

Lane coefficient values of all lanes with different pool widths:

Pool width	1 and	2 and	3 and	4 and
(in meters)	8 lanes	7 lanes	6 lanes	5 lanes
20	15.00	4.3333	2.2000	1.2857
25	5.6666	3.00	1.8571	1.2222
30	3.80	2.4285	1.6666	1.1818
35	3.000	2.111	1.5454	1.1538
40	2.5555	1.9090	1.4615	1.1333
45	2.2727	1.7692	1.4000	1.1176
50	2.0769	1.6666	1.3529	1.1052
55	1.9333	1.5882	1.3157	1.0952
60	1.8235	1.5263	1.2857	1.0869
65	1.7368	1.4761	1.2608	1.0800
70	1.6666	1.4347	1.2400	1.0740
75	1.6086	1.400	1.2222	1.0689
80	1.5600	1.3703	1.2068	1.0645
85	1.5185	1.3448	1.1935	1.0606
90	1.4827	1.3225	1.1818	1.0571
95	1.4516	1.3030	1.1714	1.0540
100	1.4242	1.2857	1.1621	1.0512
110	1.3783	1.2564	1.1463	1.0465
120	1.3414	1.2325	1.1333	1.0425
130	1.3111	1.2127	1.1224	1.0392
140	1.2857	1.1960	1.1132	1.0363
150	1.2641	1.1818	1.1052	1.0338
160	1.2456	1.1694	1.0983	1.0317
170	1.2295	1.1587	1.0923	1.0298
180	1.2153	1.1492	1.0869	1.0281
190	1.2028	1.1408	1.0821	1.0266
200	1.1917	1.1333	1.0779	1.0253
250	1.1505	1.1052	1.0618	1.0202
300	1.1238	1.0869	1.0512	1.0168
350	1.1052	1.0740	1.0437	1.0143
400	1.0915	1.0645	1.0382	1.0125
450	1.0809	1.0571	1.0338	1.0111
500	1.0725	1.0512	1.0304	1.0100
550	1.0657	1.0465	1.0276	1.0091
600	1.0600	1.0425	1.0253	1.0083
650	1.0553	1.0392	1.0233	1.0077
700	1.0512	1.0363	1.0216	1.0071
750	1.0477	1.0338	1.0202	1.0066
800	1.0447	1.0317	1.0189	1.0062
850	1.0420	1.0298	1.0178	1.0058
900	1.0396	1.0281	1.0168	1.0055
950	1.0375	1.0266	1.0159	1.0052
1,000	1.0356	1.0253	1.0151	1.0050
1,500	1.0236	1.0168	1.0100	1.0033
2,000	1.0176	1.0125	1.0075	1.0025
2,500	1.0140	1.0100	1.0060	1.0020
3,000	1.0117	1.0083	1.0050	1.0016
3,500	1.0100	1.0071	1.0042	1.0014
4,000	1.0087	1.0062	1.0037	1.0012
4,500	1.0078	1.0055	1.0033	1.0011
5,000	1.0070	1.0050	1.0030	1.0010
6,000	1.0058	1.0041	1.0025	1.0008
7,000	1.0050	1.0035	1.0021	1.0007
8,000	1.0043	1.0031	1.0018	1.0006
9,000	1.0038	1.0027	1.0016	1.0005
10,000	1.0035	1.0025	1.0015	1.0005
15,000	1.0023	1.0016	1.0010	1.0003
20,000	1.0017	1.0012	1.0007	1.0002
25,000	1.0014	1.0010	1.0006	1.0002
30,000	1.0011	1.0008	1.0005	1.0001
35,000	1.0010	1.0007	1.0004	1.0001

If, there has to be no difference in the boundary conditions (up to 3 decimal points) between first and fourth lanes, the pool must be widened up to 35 kilo meters.

The discussed above plane Poiseuille flow equation can be written in terms of W and Lw.

In 1^st and 8^th lanes - - -

$u=\frac{1}{8\mu }\left(-\frac{p}{x}\right)\left[W^2-{\left(7\mathrm{Lw}\right)}^2\right]$

In 2^nd and 7^th lanes - - -

$u=\frac{1}{8\mu }\left(-\frac{p}{x}\right)\left[W^2-{\left(5\mathrm{Lw}\right)}^2\right]$

In 2^rd and 6^th lanes - - -

$u=\frac{1}{8\mu }\left(-\frac{p}{x}\right)\left[W^2-{\left(3\mathrm{Lw}\right)}^2\right]$

In 4^th and 5^th lanes - - -

$u=\frac{1}{8\mu }\left(-\frac{p}{x}\right)\left[W^2-{\left(\mathrm{Lw}\right)}^2\right]$

Wave Disturbances

The waves produced by the centre lane swimmers move across the lanes and cause disturbance to side lane swimmers. To avoid this problem in 1960's Adolph Kiefer invented wave-crushing [or] wave-eating lane ropes and got patent for them. These lane ropes diminish the waves and make the pool less turbulent. However these also have drawbacks. Actually lane ropes diminish the superficial waves only. They do not prevent the underwater currents because water moves as a continuum.

The details are given in FIG. 3.

1. water surface. 2. top layers of wave. 3. lane rope. 4. Middle layers of wave. 5. Pool bottom.

So, the wave disturbance is not eliminated completely by installing lane ropes. Due to improper boundary conditions and partial elimination of wave disturbances, the final pictures of 200 m, 400 m, 800 m and 1500 m races are looked like in inverted “v” shape which is given in FIG. 4. Where, 1 to 8 numbers are lane numbers.

The swimmers in 1,2,7,8 lanes have no chances to win a race. (Unless they have extraordinary swimming power among all participant swimmers) Their chances are limited to a little.

Therefore, there exists a long felt need to provide swimming pools for competitive swimming which overcomes the above drawbacks and provides equal opportunity to the swimmers in all lanes of winning the race.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, the present invention provides a new partitioned pool wherein all the lanes are separated by partitions. The partitioned pool according to the present invention do not have wave disturbances (to or from the side lane swimmers) in any of the lanes in the pool. Further, the partitioned pool according to the present invention each lane acts like an individual swimming pool and have a lane coefficient value of 1.00. Furthermore, the partitioned pool according to the present invention provides to all the athletes equal and identical boundary conditions and there would be no splashes from side lanes.

Also, according to the present invention it is easy to modify the older pools to partitioned pools as described in herein and it is easy to remake the original pool by removing the partitions. In the partitioned pools according to the present invention the expensive wave eating lane ropes are discarded.

DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

The present invention will be understood and appreciated more fully from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the appended drawings in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates the linear velocity distribution.

FIG. 2 illustrates the parabolic velocity distribution.

FIG. 3 illustrates the wave movement.

FIG. 4 inverted “V” shaped final picture of a race.

FIG. 5 illustrates the plan of the pool as claimed in the present invention.

FIG. 6 illustrates the cross section of the pool at x-x as claimed in the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

In the following detailed description, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the invention. However, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known methods, procedures, and components have not been described in detail so as to not obscure the present invention.

According to one embodiment, the present invention provides a partitioned pool wherein all the lanes are separated by partitions. The partitioned pool according to the present invention does not have wave disturbances (to or from the side lane swimmers) in any of the lanes in the pool. Further, the partitioned pool according to the present invention each lane acts like an individual swimming pool and has a lane coefficient value of 1.00. Furthermore, the partitioned pool according to the present invention provides to all the athletes equal and identical boundary conditions and there would be no wave disturbances and even no splashes from side lanes.

According to another embodiment of the present invention the length of the pool is 50 m and the width of the pool is 30 m. The pool has 8 lanes, 9 partitions. Each lane is 3.66 m (12 feet) wide because it is twice the average wing span length of a swimmer to facilitate free swimming action and 1.83 m (6 feet) deep to provide a hydraulically most efficient section. (The hydraulically most efficient section is the one which has the minimum wetted perimeter for a particular cross sectional area). To get this section, depth must be half of the lane width. In this type of section drag force will be minimum and velocity is maximum. The Partition height is 2.2 m to leave a free board of 0.37 m to prevent the splashes from the adjacent lanes. The partitions are made of transparent material (irrespective of the material). If not the partitions must be transparent at least at the top 1.1 m portion to watch the relative positions of the other swimmers by a particular swimmer when race is going on. The number of partitions can be changed depending on the number of lanes. The bottom half partitions are provided (if necessary) with 1 cm dia holes to maintain the water level and water temperature the same in all lanes.

According to another embodiment the partition is transparent and can be made of glass, fibre glass, plastic, metal, wood or a combination of these. The partition thickness is about 5 to 20 cms, preferably 8 cms. The free board is 20 to 40 cm preferably 37 cm. The water depth is between 150 to 300 cm preferably 183 cm and the width of the lane is between 300 to 400 cm preferably 366 cm.

Example

In FIG. 5 (plan of the pool).—scale (1:250)

Width of the pool—3000 cm. (30 m)

Length of the pool—5000 cm. (50 m)

Lanes—8

Partitions—9

Lane markings—8

Starting pads—8

In FIG. 6 (cross section at x-x).—Scale. (1:50)

Partition thickness—8 cm

Free board—37 cm

Water depth—183 cm

Width of the lane—366 cm

Claims

1-5. (canceled)

6. A partitioned pool comprising lanes, partitions, lane markings and starting pads.

7. The partitioned pool of claim 6, wherein said partitions are transparent partitions.

8. The partitioned pool of claim 6, wherein the said partitions are transparent at least at top half.

9. The partitioned pool of claim 6, wherein the said partitions are made of rubber, plastic, glass, fibre glass, metal, wood or a combination thereof.

10. The partitioned pool of claim 6, wherein the partition thickness is 5 cm to 20 cm, preferably 8 cm.