Cushioning Performance of the Biomimetic Cobweb Cushioning Silicone Pad

The Myth of Running Shoe Cushioning

The advent of the “Running Boom” in the late 1970’s coincided with the introduction of the first “technical” running shoe products incorporating cushioned soles and features intended to stabilize the foot during ground contact. The sensation of comfort provided by cushioned running shoes appears to have facilitated the participation of many “joggers” who would otherwise not have taken up the sp...

The Cushioning Benefits of Biased Beliefs

We present a model of dynamic investment and production when producers may have biased beliefs in which they overextrapolate recent demand conditions into the future. We point out that in a volatile industry, while biased beliefs lead firms to make sub-optimal investment decisions in the short-run, they can be beneficial in the long-run by counteracting the general trend in the industry, “cushi...

Air-cushioning in impact problems

Cushioning Systems for Impact Energy Absorption

In this paper we investigate the use of an innovative sheet folding theory and technology in the design of new cushioning systems. Flat sheets of material are folded into three dimensional patterns. The effectiveness of the folded pattern in absorbing impact energy without subjecting items being cushioned to high acceleration is dependent on the sheet material, the fold configuration (number of...

Air cushioning with a lubrication/inviscid balance

The air cushioning effect in the gap between an almost inviscid body of water and a nearby solid wall (or another body of water) is studied theoretically and is found to depend on predominantly lubricating forces in the air, in certain applications. The situation in which the density and viscosity in air are taken as small compared with those in water is investigated. In this situation potentia...