An air bubble trapped inside a viscoelastic fluid is squeezed between two plates in this video, revealing a Saffman-Taylor-like fingering instability stemming from local stress concentrations. (Video credit: Baudouin Saintyves)
Month: November 2023
Winds Across the US
A collaborative project on data visualization brings to life the wind velocity data across the United States. The Wind Map is an interactive, nearly real-time indicator of wind conditions across the Keep reading
Micro Air Vehicle Flow Viz
A smoke wire shows the deformation of streamlines around a swept-winged micro air vehicle (MAV). These crafts typically feature wingspans smaller than one foot and, thus, never develop the type Keep reading
Visualizing Ocean Currents
Researchers used computational models of ocean currents to produce this video visualizing worldwide ocean surface currents from June 2005 through December 2007. Dark patterns under the ocean are representative of Keep reading
Vortex Cannon
Building a vortex cannon is a great way to demonstrate the power and longevity of vortex rings. As demonstrated here, it’s possible to create one with just a box with Keep reading
Science Off the Sphere: Liquid Lenses
Astronaut Don Pettit delivers more “Science Off The Sphere” in his latest video. Here he demonstrates diffusion and convection in a two-dimensional water film in microgravity. He notes that the viscous Keep reading
Reader Questions: What Majors Study Fluids?
squky asks: Your blog has truly inspired me to want to major in the field of fluid dynamics, and for that I wholeheartedly thank you. But I’m having some confusion over Keep reading
Tornado in a Bubble
In this video, a miniature tornado-like vortex is created inside a soap bubble. Here’s how it works: after the first bubble is formed and the smoke-filled bubble is attached to Keep reading
How Dams Affect Rivers
This video shows how the installation of a dam can affect river flow and sediment transport. Before the dam is added, the flow is shallow and the sediment transport is Keep reading
Supersonic Flow
This video shows a sphere in a small supersonic wind tunnel at Mach 2.7. Once the tunnel starts, a curved bow shock forms in front of the sphere, close to Keep reading