Nonlinear finite element analysis applied to the development of alpine ski safety net

New technologies applied to the manufacturing of sport equipment allow skiers to reach velocities higher than in the past and, as a consequence, the number of serious accidents is increasing. Safety nets installed in the critical areas of the ski tracks can help to prevent the most severe consequences of an accident. In this paper, experimental tests and numerical simulations are introduced which were performed to characterise the behaviour of a safety net under static and dynamic loads and to support the development of a numerical tool to design high-performance safety net systems. As an application of the tool, the impact of a skier onto a high containment net was simulated and the risk level associated with the impact evaluated by means of injury criteria typical of crash analyses.