Inspired by a simulation, Steve Mould asks a great question in this video: can water solve a maze? Yes — with some caveats. Steve makes two different maze patterns — Keep reading
Tag: pipe flow
How Sewers Work
One of the most important and underappreciated pieces of urban infrastructure is the sewage system. We rely on them to make our waste vanish, as if by magic. In reality, Keep reading
Pipe Flow and Pressure
Whether you’re a homeowner or an engineer, at some point you’ll have to deal with pipe flow and the challenges inherent to getting water from Point A to Point B. Keep reading
Loopy Networks and Bird Lungs
When mammals breathe, air flows back and forth inside our lungs. But in birds that inhale and exhale get transformed into one-directional flow inside their lungs. To figure out how, Keep reading
Pumping Through Liquid Tubes
As the tubes carrying a liquid get smaller, it becomes harder and harder to keep fluids flowing. Friction between the fluid and the wall brings flow there to a standstill Keep reading
New Signs of Turbulence in Blood Flow
Our bodies are filled with a network of blood vessels responsible for keeping our cells oxygenated and carrying away waste products. In many ways, our blood vessels are tiny pipes, Keep reading
Holding Pipes in Place
Newton’s 3rd law states that any action has an equal and opposite reaction. Often engineers use this to our advantage; the thrust from expelling propellants is what lifts our rockets Keep reading
Eulerian vs. Lagrangian
When I first studied fluid dynamics, one of the concepts I struggled with was that of Eulerian and Lagrangian reference frames. Essentially, these are just two different perspectives you can Keep reading
Osborne Reynolds and Transition
How and when flow through a pipe becomes turbulent has been a conundrum for fluid mechanicians since the days of Osbourne Reynolds (~1870s): Typically, the laminar-to-turbulence transition is studied mathematically Keep reading