Simulation of puck flight to improve safety in ice hockey arenas

Ice hockey boards are equipped with protective glass to prevent the spectators from being hit by the puck. Although the height of the board with protective glass is 2.05m, this is not high enough to prevent the spectators from puck collisions - severe accidents have occurred in the past. This study investigates, which increase of height of the safety glass is necessary to significantly reduce the risk of severe puck injuries for the spectators. For this reason the flight of the puck is simulated using a rigid body puck model. Flight curves from 29 different initial positions on the ice rink were calculated, using 12 different initial take off angles and the maximum initial speed and spin that has been determined experimentally with three top level players. The simulations show that an increase of the security glass by 0.8 m will lower the relative frequency by 37%, of those shots with a potential to hit a spectator. The maximum velocity of such dangerous shots was decreased from 22.6 to 15.9 m/s. However, this reduced velocity and number of dangerous shots do not protect the spectators completely from injuries. The simulation model suggests that a barrier of 6,37 m protective glass leads to a 100% reduction of all dangerous shots.