A study of shuttlecock’s trajectory in badminton

Abstractthe main purpose of this study was to construct and validate amotion equation for the flight of the badminton and to find therelationship between the air resistance force and a shuttlecock’sspeed. this research method was based on motion laws of aerodynamics.it applied aerodynamic theories to construct motionequation of a shuttlecock’s flying trajectory under the effects ofgravitational force and air resistance force. the result showedthat the motion equation of a shuttlecock’s flight trajectorycould be constructed by determining the terminal velocity. thepredicted shuttlecock trajectory fitted the measured data fairlywell. the results also revealed that the drag force was proportionalto the square of a shuttlecock velocity. furthermore, theangle and strength of a stroke could influence trajectory. finally,this study suggested that we could use a scientific approach tomeasure a shuttlecock’s velocity objectively when testing thequality of shuttlecocks. and could be used to replace the traditionalsubjective method of the badminton world federationbased on players’ striking shuttlecocks, as well as applyingresearch findings to improve professional knowledge of badmintonplayer training.