Waterslide

Water slide tower in Tropical Islands

Water slides in the Rasti-Land theme park

Slide in the Serena water park

Slide in Calypso Park

Extreme form in Alberta, Canada

A tube slide made of plastic

Easy water slide

A water slide is a special type of slide in which the friction of the sliding person is reduced by the water flowing in the slide. The speed increases due to the lower frictional resistance.

Water slides are mainly found in swimming pools and outdoor pools , but occasionally also in amusement parks .

Working principle

At the end of the water slide there is a catch basin or the swimming pool. From this, water is pumped through pipelines to the beginning of the slide, where it enters the slide. There are water slides as tubes or as channels. For safety, some slides, but mostly closed slides, have traffic lights installed that regulate the safety distance between people sliding and thus prevent accidents.

Slide types

Water slides or slides in general are divided into three types of slide:

1. The box slide (a straight floor with two upright side walls): It is the most common type of slide that is used primarily for playground slides. But this type of slide is also used for high-speed slides, the so-called free-fall slides, as these can usually only be guided in a straight line for safety reasons.

The box slides are manufactured in three different designs: Slide bottom as an inclined plane, as an inclined plane with a wave or shaped as a brachistochrone (also known as a parabolic slide ).

2. The half-shell slide (open trough). It is mostly used when additional curves are to be built. Due to the many possibilities of curve combinations and the associated slide length, this type of slide offers a particularly long and winding slide experience.

3. The tunnel slide (closed tube). It represents an increase in the half-shell slide. In addition, tunnel slides, provided they are darkened or opaque, have the adventurous kick of the “black hole effect”, in which users cannot see the slide, but can only feel or guess . This type of slide is mainly used for high exit heights, as it is a closed system and thus the falling out of the slide can be excluded.

Executions

Conventional

Most of the slides are made of GRP , some slides are also made of stainless steel. The slides from 1960/70 were made of reinforced concrete; the watered slide surfaces were plastic-coated or made of artificial stone .

In addition to the classic slides, the so-called "body slides", there are also tire slides in which passengers use a tire alone or with other people. Furthermore, especially in amusement parks, there are often versions in which small rubber boats are used so that they can be used in normal clothing.

If a tube slide is darkened, it is called a "black hole slide". These slides are also often equipped with light or sound effects and some with a water curtain.

Failed

Looping slides : Currently there are rarely called looping slides that a looping included, in contrast to normal roller coaster loops is rather weird and not so steep, corresponding to an oblique upward helix. This design means that a lower speed is required, which is intended to minimize the risk of injury. In order for a looping slide to be permitted, there must be an emergency exit before each looping, so that the slide can be left if the looping is not made. In addition, a contact pressure of 2.6 g ( gravitation + centripetal acceleration ) must not be exceeded.

Double loop slide : The Austrian Wave adventure pool in Wörgl has the world's first double loop water slide. On this slide, called L2 , you start at a height of 25 meters in the so-called rocket launch mode : A trap door opens and sends the slide user into a tube in which he can reach a top speed of up to 65 km / h. This is followed by the two loops, in which you are whirled upwards first seven and then 3.5 meters. There are more double loop slides in the Miramar in Weinheim and in the Kristallbad Palm Beach in Stein (near Nuremberg). The latter opened in December 2012 and is the tallest model of its kind in Europe

Funnel slide: In this slide, the user is accelerated in a turbo slide and then enters a large kettle-shaped slide funnel, in which he approaches the hole in the center of the funnel in circular movements and then falls into a pool of water below.

Schanze slides : Also one finds only sporadically so-called flight or jump slides . The tube is often only a short, steep section and the rest (usually only a few meters) you jump or “fly” afterwards. For safety reasons, the impact surface often consists of an elastic material.

Pendulum slides : So-called pendulum slides are also becoming increasingly popular. The pendulum slides can be guided with a few large pendulum movements or with many small ones, such as in a halfpipe. These slides are designed as both body and tire slides .

Master Blaster : Master-Blaster slides are tire slides in which the slide - sitting in the tire - is "shot" uphill by powerful water jets. Such a slide can be found, for example, in the Aquana leisure pool in Würselen , in the Schenkenseebad in Schwäbisch Hall, in Aqualand in Cologne and in the Erding thermal baths . In the AquaMagis Plettenberg , strong winds are used for horizontal movement under the name 'Storm-Force 1'.

Whitewater stream: Some slide manufacturers supply whitewater rivers or streams. These are mostly open slides laid outside, which are a combination of half-shell-shaped and box-shaped slide segments. Through tight curves, very strong water flow and sudden depths or currents, you can find interesting courses even without a large difference in altitude.

Plastic wrap water slide

Slide for private use

For private use, special plastic films with nozzles for wetting with water are available, which can be connected to the garden hose, for example in play centers or in the garden for children as a simple water slide. The film needs a sufficiently flat surface, possibly with a slight slope as a base. Slip foil should only be left temporarily on a piece of meadow so as not to stifle its growth.

Records

The highest water slide in the world is the Crazy Park , which opened in July 2014, in Schlitterbahn Waterpark in Kansas City, USA. Its starting point height of 51.4 m, noted in the Guinness Book of Records, is just about the free fall height of Niagara Falls and is higher than the head of the Statue of Liberty . The facility was closed after a fatal accident in August 2016. Before that, the 42 m high Captain Spacemaker facility in the Italian leisure park Aqualandia in Jesolo near Venice was the record holder for a long time .

The current record holder opened on September 27, 2019 in Escape Park on the island of Penang in northwest Malaysia. With a height difference of 70 m, it goes over 1140 m through the jungle. The start of the route is reached via a cable car. A ride on the slide takes about four minutes. The height above the ground is so low on the whole ride that the slide could be designed as a completely open channel.

Water quality in landing basins

With reference to the Austrian Swimming Pool Hygiene Ordinance 2012 and its interpretation by experts, in June 2015 the authorities required many Carinthian bathing establishments that operate slides with landing pools to chlorinate the slide water or to carry out an extensive renovation. Only landing pools allow small children and non-swimmers to use the slide. A slide is typically flushed with water taken from the lake at 300 liters / minute. Chlorinating this water contradicts efforts to preserve the drinking water quality of the lakes.