Shuttlecock velocity decay after smash and slice shots in badminton

Abstract This paper reports on the decay in shuttlecock velocity after smash and slice shots performed by elite and international players, based on the analysis of videos captured on a badminton court with high-speed cameras. For a fast smash, the trajectories of feather shuttlecocks show an exponential decay in velocity and an exponential increase in time-of-flight with distance, in accordance with the equation of motion of a shuttlecock subjected to high drag. The initial speed, which can exceed 500 km h −1 , is typically reduced by half every ≈ 3.35 m, depending on the physical parameters of the shuttlecock characterized by a speed index. The videos show that plastic shuttlecocks, which are more resistant than feather shuttlecocks, deform at high speeds. The resulting decay of their drag coefficient with increasing speed makes them unsuitable for high-level play. The study also shows that the spin induced by the slice shots of left-handed players or the reverse slice shots of right-handed players slows the shuttlecock down.