Given how simple the geometry defining a cylinder is, you'd intuitively think that the air flow around it would also be simple. And as with many things fluid you'd be wrong.

Vortex Shedding Caedium CFD SimulationVelocity vectors (high definition video)

A big draw of any Olympics is the track and field (athletics) events and no less so in London. What effect is the application of fluid technology to these events likely to have? If past Olympics are anything to go by - not much!

Nike Pro Turbospeed Promo Video: Starts at 0:50

With the London 2012 Olympics just around the corner, I thought it would be interesting to review the application of fluid technology to various Olympic sports, starting with swimming.

Men's 200m Freestyle Final - World's Swimming Championship Shanghai 2011No more supersuits

Another helium-filled post - this time it's a helium-filled blimp that houses a horizontal-axis wind turbine [source: gizmag]. Altaeros Energies recently released a video of their prototype Airborne Wind Turbine in action:

Who knew that tetrahedra could fly? I know, pretty much anything can fly when you fill it with helium, but the movement of helium-filled tetrahedra called SmartInversion by Festo gives rise to an interesting and unusual propulsion method [source: gizmag]. Using inverse kinetics, Festo have developed what they call an "airborne geometrical band with inversion drive". The movement is difficult to describe but mesmerizing to watch:

Fishermen at Lake Como, Italy, have shown remarkable knowledge of the complex water currents in the lake. Researchers found [source: Science Mag] that the fishermen's knowledge correlated well with independent observations and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations. The primary means the fishermen use to monitor water currents is by the deformations the currents cause in their large nets once deployed in the lake.

Fishing Net© Copyright Peter Church and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence

Big news from Europe - a new European directive has just been passed that requires all software applications released in the European Union to support the Esperanto language by June 2012. This is part of a larger European directive mandating that all European countries are to adopt Esperanto as the Europe-wide common language by 2014.

Caedium in Esperanto

I recently came across a blog post "How to lose races with CFD" [source: Another Fine Mesh] related to the CFD-only strategy pursued by the Marussia Formula 1 Team (formerly Virgin Racing) during the 2010 and 2011 F1 seasons. It seems such an easy conclusion to make, right? During its first 2 F1 seasons the Marussia team garnered a lot of publicity thanks to their CFD-only (no wind tunnel testing) strategy and during that period they didn't win a race, therefore CFD must lose races, right? Not so fast.

Yes you read that right - three humans were recently spotted flying over New York without a jetpack in sight. Don't believe me? Then watch this video:

I See Flying People

Do you sometimes feel like your Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulation just needs a little nudge to do the right thing? Well I'm sure you'll appreciate (need even!) some light relief with the fluid-based video game Puddle. Puddle is all about nudging and manipulating the world so your precious fluid gets to its destination through a fiendish puzzle-like maze.

Puddle For Xbox Live