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Search results for: “art”

  • Computational Shock Compression

    [original media no longer available]

    Computational modeling can help verify and visualize experimental results, as in this video of supersonic flow. Oak Ridge National Laboratory produced the work as part of a project using shock compression and turbines to capture carbon dioxide gas. Shock waves and velocity profiles are shown throughout the computational field, and velocity isosurfaces paint a telling portrait of the complicated flow pattern. Wired Science features other award-winning simulation videos, many of which also feature fluid dynamics. #

  • Vortex Ring Collisions

    Vortex Ring Collisions

    Gorgeous color schlieren photography reveals the development and interaction of ring vortices. (Photo credit: Rebecca Ing)

    rebeccaing:

    It’s Schlier-tastic!!

    These are my invisible wonders!  Gas flows and fluid interactions.  Nothing but hot air, metho and acetone, yup, humble old nail polish remover.

    The images were captured using a colour indicating z-system schlieren optical array, an open shutter and a flash duration of 125 microseconds.

  • Colliding Jets

    Colliding Jets

    Two fluid jets with diameter 0.85 mm collide, creating a fantastical and unstable fluid structure. Fluid mechanics and art overlap. #

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    Carboy Combustion

    Lighting a thin layer of ethyl alcohol in a jug produces some beautiful pulse jets and a moving wall of flame that shifts and flows according to the changing pressures inside the jug. Like the video’s author, we do NOT recommend trying this combustion demo yourself.

    As for the video’s questions, firstly, blowing into the jar helps the flame because humans do not exhale pure CO2. With regard to the second question, the interior of the jug is initially thinly coated in ethyl alcohol vapor. Combustion starts at the top of the jug and the sheet of flame moves downward as the fuel at the top is spent. As that flame moves downward, however, it’s heating the air inside the jug, which expands and is forced out the opening. When the flame goes out in the upper part of the jug, that does not mean all of the fuel has combusted, simply that the ratio of air/fuel is insufficient for continued combustion. I suspect the flame persists at this opening because the air/fuel mixture is concentrated at that point. Any residual ethyl alcohol in the container is forced out through that narrow opening, and the resulting concentration of fuel there may be high enough to keep the flame burning there. (idea submitted by davidbenque #)

  • Reader Question: Similar Blogs?

    thegreatfenceof-deactivated2013 asks:

    Hello! I was wondering if you follow any similar blogs to your awesome blog? I like the idea of learning about awesome mechanical engineering stuff without learning so if you know of anything please help me out.

    As you might imagine, I started this blog because I didn’t know of any that were doing something similar. Fluid dynamics is kind of an overlooked discipline falling somewhere between classical physics and  practical engineering. However, I do follow some similar Tumblrs on different topics, such as physicsphysics, fuckyeahmath, fyeahchemistry, and freshphotons. Beyond Tumblr, there are lots of (general) science blogs like those on Discover magazine, Wired Science, or Scientific American.

    Anyone else have some suggestions? Sound off in the comments.

  • Saturn’s Storm Stretches All the Way Around

    Saturn’s Storm Stretches All the Way Around

    This picture captured by Cassini in February shows a storm on Saturn stretching all the way around the planet. Unlike Earth and Jupiter, which have numerous storms virtually all the time, Saturn tends to store energy in its atmosphere for decades and then release it all at once in mega-storms like this one. #

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    Vertical Axis Wind Turbines

    Conventional wind turbines feature horizontal axis propellers which must be placed far apart from one another to avoid wake interference. Researchers have found that using vertical axis wind turbines specially arranged to utilize the wake of one turbine to improve the efficiency of its neighbor can produce far more energy per square meter of land. The inspiration for this arrangement came from fish, which also derive benefits from the drafting that occurs in their schools. #

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    Aurora Physics

    The auroras at Earth’s poles are much more than pretty lights. This video explains their formation; fluid mechanics (specifically magnetohydrodynamics) play a major role in the convective transport of heat inside the sun as well as the movement of the plasma that makes up a solar storm that interacts with Earth’s magnetic field and produces the auroras.

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    The Tibetan Singing Bowl

    The vibration caused by rubbing a Tibetan singing bowl excites standing waves in a Faraday instability on the surface of water in the bowl. As the amplitude of excitation increases, jets roil across the surface, creating a spray of droplets, some of which actually bounce on the surface as it vibrates. For more see the BBC and SciAm articles.

  • Tour de France Physics: Wind Tunnel Testing

    Tour de France Physics: Wind Tunnel Testing

     

    Over hours of racing, even a few grams of drag can be the difference between the top of the podium and missing out. For manufacturers as well as for individual professional cyclists, hours of wind tunnel testing help determine optimum configurations of equipment and positioning. During a day of wind tunnel testing, a cyclist may complete dozens of runs, in which bikes, wheels, helmets, skinsuits, and positioning are all tested and tweaked to find the best combination of aerodynamics.

    But wind tunnel results don’t always translate perfectly to the road, where buildings, people, cars and other cyclists may interfere with the freestream. And, as any cyclist will attest, the wind is constantly shifting and changing speeds as one rides. The Garmin-Cervelo pro team has developed a rig to measure wind speeds and angles experienced by cyclists in real world conditions. (The exact components used are unclear, but probably include some form of Pitot tube or 5-hole probe.) As more on-the-road data is collected, wind tunnel tests can be improved by placing greater emphasis on the most common wind angle conditions. (Photo credits: John Cobb, Flo Cycling, and Nico T)

    This completes FYFD’s weeklong celebration of the Tour de France and the fluid dynamics of cycling. See previous posts on drafting in the peloton, pacelining and echelons, the art of the sprint lead-out train, and the aerodynamics of time-trialing.

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