Collegiate Times

Combining the enjoyment of surfing with the technical aspects of engineering is the subject of a senior project recently designed by engineering science and mechanics students at Virginia Tech.

"It's neat to see that a lot of this hasn't been done before," said Matthew Dunham, an engineering science and mechanics Tech graduate and project member.

Engineering science and mechanics major graduates Michael Porter, Stephanie Salmons and Matthew Dunham and junior mechanical engineering major Nandan Shah felt the time was right to connect engineering and surfing after the Environmental Protection Agency closed down Clark Foam, the world's leading blank board supplier.

The company, based out of California, provides foam to various suppliers and had been using toxic chemicals called Toluene Di Isocynate to carve its original surfboards.

According to Surfer Magazine, "Clark Foam allegedly supplied more than 90 percent of the world's foam."

The students were given a list of various projects and asked to choose one to complete. However, Porter, the project initiator, approached Jack Lesko, the faculty adviser and professor of engineering science and mechanics with the idea to study several eco-friendly surfboards with different composition and performances.

"It was unique and I've grown up surfing," Salmons said regarding why she became involved in the project.

The group attended a Surf Expo last year where they met with approximately 30 different companies and requested surfboard donations for the project. Two surfboards were donated from Surf Tech and Aviso, two leading surfboard companies. Porter also used his own board, which was of a different material composition than the other two.

"We promised to give a diagnostic on the boards and tell them how their board compared with the others," Porter said.Nicknamed "Gnarly," "Tubular" and "Righteous," the boards were tested using static testing. Porter was the main tester of the boards and wore the recording data on his back. The surfboards were adorned with strain gauges. These strain gauges are tiny resistors, and when strain is applied an output of voltage provides information on strain that the board is feeling. They tested several other aspects as well. "We studied the slope and deflection of different boards based on loading position," Salmons said. Salmons used the Beam Theory of Solid Mechanics when deriving the results of slope and deflection. Results were based on conditions dealing with the weight of the rider and where the testing was done. Through this testing, it was found that longitudinal flex, or the bending of the board, was necessary, while torsion, the twisting of the board, was avoided.

"Longitudinal flex is the ideal characteristic," Porter said.According to a recent Tech press release, "Gnarly" did the best overall because of its stability. It was also the fastest of the three boards.

"Tubular" had superior longitudinal flex, but lost speed after the initial drop was made. "Righteous" performed consistently through various conditions. Because of proprietary agreements with the surfboard companies, the material compositions of the boards cannot be released.Following the testing, the results were returned back to the respective companies, where they can be reviewed and studied. Porter hopes that companies can use the information to come up with more eco-friendly materials that still have good performance and similar properties as older boards.

So far, several companies as well as students from other schools have contacted the group requesting the results of the testing.