Often researchers are interested in flows around and between objects, but seeing those flows is a challenge in a crowded field of view. One useful trick for this problem is Keep reading
Tag: experimental fluid dynamics
How the Hummingbird Got Its Hum
Summer hikes in the Rocky Mountains are frequently pierced by a hum that can deepen to a bomber-like buzz as hummingbirds flit by. They’re so small and fast that they’re Keep reading
Iceberg Melting Depends on Shape
Not all icebergs melt equally. Through a combination of experiment and numerical simulation, researchers have shown that an iceberg’s shape underwater strongly affects how it melts. Specifically, icebergs in a Keep reading
Bubbles Affect Lava Flow
During the 2018 eruption at Kilauea, scientists noticed that the lava flowed very differently depending on how bubbly it was. In this experiment, researchers used corn syrup as a lava Keep reading
Making a Miniature River
Despite wide differences in ecology and geology, rivers around the world share certain fundamental features. Physicists study these characteristics by creating small-scale rivers in the laboratory, like the experiment featured Keep reading
Recreating Infinity
In the ocean, tiny organisms can migrate hundreds of meters through the water column. Recreating and tracking those journeys in a lab is quite a challenge, but it’s one the Keep reading
Aerodynamic Flight Testing
Flight testing models has a long history in aerodynamics. Above you see a Curtiss JN-4 biplane in flight with a model wing suspended below the fuselage. This test was conducted Keep reading
“It’s All About Flow”
Fluid dynamicists, like other scientists, have lives and interests well beyond our research. Ivo Nedyalkov, for example, is a professional rapper in addition to a PhD-level fluid dynamicist. In “It’s Keep reading
Inside the Fire Lab
Fire plays an important role in nature, one with which humanity must live without controlling fully. After several disastrous historic wildfires in the American West, the U.S. Forest Service established Keep reading
Robotic Research Facilities
One of the major challenges in fluid dynamics is the size of the parameter spaces we have to explore. Because many problems in fluid dynamics are non-linear, making small changes Keep reading