I wanted to do a small study on reflex shapes—bow designs that can realistically be built in real life. Even though theory and practice don’t always align, we should remember that there is always theory behind practical results. Yes, the zero set, but it doesn’t matter, because all the bows are similar except for the side profile. The only purpose of this comparison is to examine how different side profiles affect bow performance (10 gr/# -arrow) in theory.
“mmattockx” mentioned the front profile — it’s quite standard, adjusted so that with a 0.008 taper rate the stresses are distributed as evenly as possible along the entire length of the limb. But again, that doesn’t matter here, because the main purpose is to compare how the reflexed side profile affects the performance of a bow.
Regarding energy storage, it’s true that high energy storage does not necessarily mean that a bow will be fast. However, in this comparison the fastest bow has the highest energy storage, and it also has the highest efficiency, and unfortunately it has also the highest strain values.
Remember, the main goal is to compare different models in an idealized situation. How they are actually built in reality is a different matter, and there are many other variables involved, such as stability, material properties, and so on. However, there is still one model (side profile) that clearly outperforms the others (at least in theory...).
So far, one “correct” answer.
