Use supercomputers to design Olympic swimsuits

This year, important sporting events like the Winter Olympics in Turin (Italy) or the World Cup 2006 in Germany have become "hi-tech catwalks". The next destination for technology will be the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

Super computer analysis flow around the athlete's body.Photo: Speedo

In order to prepare for the next two-year Olympics, the world's leading sportswear company Speedo has cherished plans to use supercomputers to produce the next version of Fastskin's famous swimwear. .

Speedo said that at the moment, most swimmers are wearing bodywear. Some like to cover their wrists and ankles, others do not want sleeves and many prefer only knee-length suits. The company has met all these needs, but wants to find out more details about how the swimwear structure will affect the speed of the athlete.

The research data collected by Speedo collected Fluent Computational Fluid Dynamics (Fluent CFD) mobile computing program directly analyzed on the high-performance supercomputer of SGI Altix Silicone Company in Speedo Aqualab laboratory. .

CFD displays the path of the currents emanating from the athlete's body and around the Fastskin material, designed like shark skin with small ripples on the surface. Speedo observes that the flow of water appears more during the swim of women than men, so designing clothes for the sexes will be completely different.

Barry Bixler, an important member of Aqualab, said that thanks to Fluent CFD, he could further analyze and handle some swimming resistance problems. "We are concerned about the speed and direction of the flow, where they come from the body, the time of the intersection and the strength and weakness of friction," Bixler said.

Bixler also believes that athletes can swim faster if wearing a long suit because it helps regulate the flow around the body and reduce traction.