Although eyes are common at the center of large-scale cyclones, scientists are only now beginning to understand how they form. Since real-world cyclogenesis is complicated by many competing effects, researchers Keep reading
Tag: boundary layer
Reducing Drag with Bubbles
Large ships experience a great deal of drag due to friction between their hull and the water. One method shipbuilders are considering to combat this drag is the use of Keep reading
Wrinkling Winds
If you’ve ever sat out on a lake and just watched the water’s surface, you’ve probably noticed how complex and variable it looks. There may be waves that rock your Keep reading
HIFiRE
Earlier this month, an international team launched a successful hypersonic flight test in Australia. The Hypersonic International Research Experimentation (HIFiRE) Flight 5b was launched atop a two-stage rocket and reached Keep reading
The Reverse Magnus Effect
A good soccer player can kick the ball from the corner of the field into the goal thanks to the Magnus effect. But if you’ve ever tried to play soccer Keep reading
How Fluid Dynamics Saved the Space Shuttle
New FYFD video! In which Dianna Cowern (Physics Girl) joins me to explore boundary layer transition and how a couple of small bits of roughness could be a huge problem Keep reading
Plasma Flow Control
Engineers frequently face the challenge of maintaining control of air flow around an object across a wide range of conditions. After all, wind turbines and airplanes don’t always get to Keep reading
Meander from Above
This photo of the Amazon River taken by Astronaut Tim Kopra reveals the many meandering changes of the river’s course. Left untouched by human intervention, rivers tend to get more Keep reading
City Winds Simulated
Anyone who has spent much time in an urban environment is familiar with the gusty turbulence that can be generated by steady winds interacting with tall buildings. To the atmospheric Keep reading
Transonic Flow
In the transonic speed regime the overall speed of an airplane is less than Mach 1 but some parts of the flow around the aircraft break the speed of sound. Keep reading