On the mechanics of the modern working-recurve bow

Characteristic for the bow are the slender elastic arms or limbs. The bow is braced by putting a string shorter than the bow between the tips of the limbs. Additional deformation energy is stored in the elastic limbs by drawing the bow into the fully drawn position. Part of this amount of energy is transformed into kinetic energy of a light arrow.In the 1930's the design of the bow became a subject of scientific research. Experiments were performed in which design parameters were changed more or less systematically. However, the mathematical models were rather simple. Because fast computers are now available the presented model in this paper can be much more advanced. The resulting set of partial differential equations with known initial values and moving boundaries is solved numberically using a finite-difference method.In this paper the design parameters associated with the developed model are charted accurately. Bows used in the past and nowadays on shooting meetings such as the Olympic Games are compared. It turns out that the application of better materials which can store more deformation energy per unit of mass and that this material is used to a larger extent, contribute most to the improvement of the bow. The parameters which fix the mechanical performance of the bow appear to be less important as is often claimed.