Rashid B.

Kolaghassi

Professor Enrique Gutierrez Wing

ME – 360

February 11th, 2022

Assignment 2: Skateboard Design

Introduction:

I. Motivation:

Skateboards are a tool of transportation and recreation for many kids, teenagers, and adults. Here at

Boston University, many students chose skateboards as their mode of transportation and can be often seen

skating down Commonwealth Avenue and bay state road. Skateboards were first commercially produced

in 1959, and often advertised as “sidewalk surfing” in the 60s. Many experts and safety professionals

warned of their use as they perceived the activity to be dangerous. Yet, the introduction of polyurethane

wheels and the kicktail design in the 80’s, started a revolution in skateboard history. The developments

made skateboards more maneuverable, opening room for new tricks and stunts. Many individuals began

to pick up skateboards as a form of recreation and skating infrastructure started to pop up in US cities and

abroad. Today, many skateboard designs exist, ranging from longboards designed for cruising to penny

boards; miniature skateboards designed for extreme maneuverability and portability.

However, the most iconic skateboard type that revolutionized skateboard history remains to be the classic

double-kick popsicle skateboard. The double-kick popsicle skateboard is the choice for avid

skateboarders who enjoy preforming tricks and stunts. Given the harsh impact forces that this skateboard

experiences, it is of interest to design a standard skateboard that can withstand the forces of an adult user.

II. Problem Statement:

To design a standard skateboard deck using computer aided design that can withstand the forces of an

adult user weighing up to 180lbs.

III. Objective & Metrics:

As traditional skateboards are used for a variety of purposes, including transportation on the road and

tricks on ramps, safety is of paramount importance. The skateboard must be designed to safely

accommodate the weight of its user and the impact forces it experiences during tricks and stunts. As a
result, a safety factor of three will be used when designing the board to account for additional stresses

experienced by the board. The board must also be maneuverable. Consequently, the iconic kicktail design

will be incorporated to allow users to preform tricks. The board must also be affordable, which will affect

material choice.

Objectives Metrics
Withstand weight of 180lbs user ensuring that stress does not exceed 1/3 yield
Safely accommodate weight of user stress of material. Deformation of platform under static load to not exceed 0.375
inches.
Maneuverable Turning radius < 4 ft.
Affordable Cost <$80
Durable Be able to withstand at least>500 kickflips without showing any signs of fatigue
Large enough deck area for comfortable foot placement of up to size 12 US
Ergonomic/Comfort
shoe.
Stability Stable deck at speeds of 15 mph
Table 1: Objectives and metrics for double-kick popsicle skateboard

Preliminary Design:

I. Deck Design Considerations:

The important dimensions to consider when designing a skateboard deck include the length, width, pan

wheelbase, rail, tail, and nose measurements. Most importantly, given that the skateboard is intended to

be used by adults with shoe sizes of up to US 12, the width of the deck must be 180 mm or greater to

comfortably accommodate the rider’s feet. The deck will be designed as flat deck. The thickness of the

deck will be designed to accommodate a minor deflection that will give the deck a rocker form as can be

seen in figure 2. This will increase the skateboards stability as compared to a rigid flat deck. To find the

optimum deflection, FEA will be performed on the preliminary design to find the deflection, and the

thickness of the deck will be modified until a minor deflection of 0.2 inches is achieved. The deck will

also incorporate a kicktail. A kicktail is the upward curve found traditional skateboards in their front and

back section. The kicktail provides clearance and footing that enables skateboard users to preform tricks

and stunts. They also aid in maneuverability.

https://www.warehouseskateboards.com/help/Skateboard-Decks-Buying-Guides

II. Material Choice Considerations:

The choice of material will greatly affect the design and performance of the skateboard deck. Ideal

materials for skateboard decks must be tough with a high yield stress but remain flexible to provide the

rider with comfort and impact cushioning. As such, decks are traditionally constructed out of wood

laminates layered in several different directions. Different laminate ordinations exhibit different stress and
torsional behavior in response to applied loads. However, there is no existing literature that documents

this behavior. As such, for the purposes of this design, the deck will be considered as solid block of wood.

The most popular wood type used for skateboard deck manufacturing in industry is maple plywood wood

as it is known for its strong flexural yield strength. Our goal is to find a material that can exhibit high

yield strength and low density, ensuring that it can meet our constraints of safety factor and deflection

while minimizing the weight of the deck. As such, the following materials will be considered and

analyzed using FEA: Mahogany, pine, sugar maple and al 6061.

Finite Element Analysis:

All skateboard deck designs were tested using Finite Element Analysis (FEA). The deck was constrained

using a pin joint at the front axle location and roller joint placed at the rear truck axle location. This can

be seen in figure 3 The forces were applied on the approximated foot area of the user. The max weight of

the user (981 N) divided by two was used as the applied force on each force application area. This can be

seen in figure 4 below:

Figure 3: Deck constrained using pin and roller joints

Figure 4: Force applied on deck footwells

I. Adherence to safety constraints:

The utmost priority of this deck design is to ensure that it can safely withstand the weight of the user. This

will be tested by simulating the weight of the user on the deck using Finite Element Analysis software.

The maximum stress experienced by the board will be documented. For the design to adhere to the safety

constraints, the maximum stress must be less than 1/3 the yield stress of the material.

II. Maximum Deflection Optimization

The maximum deflection of each deck design will be recorded and analyzed. The deck’s total deflection

must be under 9.5mm. However, a deck deflection of about 1-2mm is optimum, as this provides the rider

with stability when riding.

III. Weight Optimization of Deck

Once an optimum material that can meet our safety standard and exhibit a low weight density is found, I

will iterate the deck thickness to minimize the weight of the deck while meeting my safety and maximum

deflection constraints.
FEA Results:

I. Finding Optimum Material

The FEA analysis for all boards of identical thickness (13mm) report a max stress experienced and a

maximum deflection experienced. The properties of materials were found in SolidWorks material

repository and/or through matweb. The deck weight of the board was also recorded. It can be noted that

the two materials that stand out are pine and AL 6061 with the highest safety factors of 5.10 and 30.17

respectively. However, pine has a much lower weight density and thus lower weight deck. As a result, it

will be the material of choice to optimize for weight.

Deck Material Max Stress (Pa): Flexural Yield Safety Factor: Maximum Deck Weight
Stress (Pa): Deflection (mm): (g):
Mahogany 7.999*10^6 24*10^6 3.00 0.4548 1155.33

Pine 8.117*10^6 41.4*10^6 5.10 0.4528 889.49

Al 6061 7.998*10^6 2.413*10^8 30.17 0.05732 4803.26

Sugar Maple 9.383*10^6 28.3*10^6 3.016 0.3179 871.70

II. Optimizing Deck weight

To optimize the weight of the deck, the deck thickness must be decreased. When decreasing the deck

thickness, the maximum stress and deflection experienced by the board increases. As such, we need to

find the optimum thickness in which deck weight is minimized yet the stated safety factors and maximum

deflections are not exceeded. The results of FEA analysis of varying board thicknesses can be found

below. The optimum deck design is that of 9 mm thickness constructed out of pine wood. The deck meets

a safety factor of 3 and has a deflection of 1.020mm, under the maximum permitted deflection of 9mm.

Deck Thickness: Critical Stress (Pa): Yield Stress (Pa): Safety Factor: Maximum Deck Weight
Deflection (mm): (g):
13 mm 8.117*10^6 41.4*10^6 5.10 0.4528 889.49

11mm 9.477*10^6 41.4*10^6 4.37 0.5779 979.30

10 mm 1.133*10^7 41.4*10^6 3.65 0.7566 742.53

9 mm 1.355*10^7 41.4*10^6 3.05 1.020 668.86

Evaluation & Conclusion:

The final design meets all required objectives, including having a factor of safety above 3 and deflecting

no greater than 9mm. The design also optimizes the weight of the skateboard. The total weight of the deck

is 688.86 grams.