213 Sole designing based on velocity of the center of mass in walking

Abstract

Footwear with high walking efficiency can produce a long distance walking with comfort. As a parameter of walking efficiency, the external mechanical work (W_<ext>) calculated by the movement of the body's center of mass (COM) is focused. The purpose of this research is to obtain a sole designing guide of walking shoes with high efficiency. The effects of walking speed and sole geometry on W<ext>, are investigated through various walking motion analyses. It was confirmed that W_<ext> and the peak values of acceleration (A) and velocity (V) of COM increased with walking speed. Some parameters obtained from motion analyses were found as an important parameter of W_<ext> In order to clarify the effect of sole geometry on W_<ext>, some motion analyses were carried out by using practical shoes with different sole thickness distributions. Therefore it was concluded that both the positive and negative heel gradients could produce the high walking efficiency of two different stance phases.