By IANS
New York : It’s being touted as the fastest swimsuit in the world. And within a week of its launch, athletes wearing it have broken three world records!
The swimsuit – created by engineers using a specialised computer modelling technique – even harnessed NASA expertise, Sciencedaily reported.
The revolutionary new design of the Speedo brand’s new LZR swimsuit is credited to Herve Morvan of the University of Nottingham and Rick Sharp of Iowa State University.
As part of the research to create the swimsuit, Morvan scanned over 400 athletes. Using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis he and his team were able to pinpoint areas of high friction on the athletes’ bodies.
CFD is the computer modelling of fluid flow. The technique is rapidly developing in its technology and applications and can cut design times, increase productivity and give significant insight to fluid flows.
“CFD is used to help us gain an idea of the sources of skin and form drag,” said Morvan.
Drag is the friction caused by the body travelling through fluid, and what is desirable is to make the flow path as smooth and undisturbed as possible.
“With CFD analysis we were able to use the compressive properties of the suit to make the swimmer as hydrodynamically efficient as possible. Some simulation were also used to help train swimmers, highlighting the effects of one’s cap or finger positions on one’s performance.”