Design of Diving Board__________________________________________________________________

1. History of Diving Board

The sport of diving is hard to trace as it has been
around as long as people have leapt from rocks and
cliffs so its difficult to pinpoint an exact origin of the
sport. A tomb constructed in 480 BC called Tomba
del Tuffatore or Tomb of the Diver had a painting
of a young man diving from a narrow platform on the
roof of a burial plot just south of Naples. Visitors to
Hawaii in the late 19th century would talk about the
natives leaping, diving, and somersaulting from
considerable heights from cliffs into the bottoms of
waterfalls or deep pools. [2]

Tomba del Tuffatore [1]

2. Problem Statement
A diving board is used for diving and can be considered a cantilever beam. Diving boards are commonly fixed
by a hinge at one end (so they can be flipped up when not in use), and the other end usually hangs over a swimming
pool.

A diving board is to be
designed that can bear a
maximum weight of 120 kg of
a person standing on the
edge of the board.
Diving Board (Cantilever Beam)

3. Scope and Limitations

The design of the diving board is carried out using
the following basic concepts of solid mechanics only

Deflection of Beam

Maximum Bending Stress

Maximum Shear Stress

The following assumptions are made

The board is assumed to be horizontal.

The weight of board is neglected.
Vibrations caused by jumping are
neglected.
Concepts of fatigue are not considered.
Most of the times boards are coated with
non-slip material. Their effects are not
taken into consideration.

Design of Diving Board__________________________________________________________________

4. Strategy
o
o
o
o

The method of deflection of beams will be used to limit the amount of deflection and get an equation in
terms of length and thickness
Diving boards can be considered as long beams, so the second critical criteria would be to keep the
maximum bending stress within the limit of allowable stress
This approach will provide another equation in terms of length and thickness.
For safety, it should be further checked that the maximum shear stress is within the limit of the allowable
shear stress.

5. Design

5.1 Assumptions
Some suitable assumptions are made
For a person to stand easily on the board it should be
50 cm wide i.e.

Modulus of Elasticity =E= 70 GPa

Maximum Shear Stress = = 69 MPa
Yield Stress = yield = 105 MPa

Width of board = b = 50 cm= 0.5 m

Maximum deflection to be allowed is 5 cm i.e.
Vmax = 5 cm = 0.05 m
Most of the times, diving boards are made out of
aluminium so as a starting point we will use
properties of aluminium (AA1100). [3]

5.2

For bending stress, using a factor of safety at 2

allow =

yield
F.S

yield
2

105MPA
=
2

52.5 MPa

For shear stress, using a factor of safety of 2

allow = . = 2 = 34.5 MPa

Deflection of Beam

The moment equation in terms of x is

given by

Deflection of Beam

M = - P
Relation between deflection and
moment is given by
2

=
2

Design of Diving Board__________________________________________________________________

Integrating with respect to x, and putting

Boundary
Conditions used for
a Cantilever beam
utilize the fact that
there
is
no
deflection at the
point of support
(x=0)

5.3

boundary conditions, at x= L, = 0, v= 0
=

( 3 + 32 22 )
6

Max, deflection occurs at x = 0

=

(3 )
3

Putting
Vmax = 0.05 m
=

0.5 3
12

We get
L3 = 371644.5804h3 (1)

Maximum Bending Stress

Maximum bending stress is given by
allow =

Maximum stress occurs at the outer

edge of beam

i.e.
c=
Therefore we
2
get
= 3716.4458 2

(2)

Simultaneously solving (1) and (2)

Bending Moment Diagram

5.4

= 19.345
L = 1.39

Shear Stress

For rectangular cross sections,

allow 1.5(

1.5 (

= 0.183 MPa

Therefore,

allow 1.5(

OK
Shear Force Diagram

Hence, all our requirements are fulfilled.

Design of Diving Board__________________________________________________________________

6. Conclusion

Material: Aluminum (AA1100)

Dimensions:
L = 1.39m
b = 0.5m
h = 19.345m

Different concepts of mechanics of materials were used to design the diving board. The analysis gives out the
height to be 19.345 mm and length to be 1.39m using aluminium. Keeping in view the assumptions it is safe to
assume that dimensions calculated will keep the diving board in safe region. Any force less than or equal to 1176
N will not cause the board to break.

7. References
[1] Tomba del Tuffatore figure. Retrieved from http://www.archive.archaeology.org
[2] History of the Diving Board. (2014, September 19). Retrieved from http://www.sunplay.com/blog/fun-factfriday-history-diving-board/
[3] Properties of Aluminum AA1100. Retrieved from http://www.metalmensales.com/properties-ofaluminum.html