#experimental fluid dynamics

[fuckyeahfluiddynamics]

Event-Based Recording

High-speed cameras are an amazing tool in fluid dynamics, but they come with a whole host of challenges. The camera and lighting have to be positioned to deal with reflections, the data sets are enormous, and post-processing all that data takes a long time. (Video and image credit: D. Sun et al.)

[fuckyeahfluiddynamics]

Testing Structures Against Hurricane Storm Surge

When hurricanes hit coasts, they bring with them incredible storm surge, which puts buildings right in the middle of ocean waves. To understand how to better protect against those conditions, engineers use facilities like the Directional Wave Basin to create smaller-scale versions of hurricanes.  (Video and image credit: Practical Engineering)

[fuckyeahfluiddynamics]

Soaring Through the Pillars of Creation

The Pillars of Creation are an iconic feature nestled within the Eagle Nebula. For decades, the public has admired Hubble's images of this stellar nursery, and, in this video, we get to fly between the pillars, shifting between Hubble's visible light imagery and JWST's infrared views.  (Image/video credit: G. Bacon et al.; via Gizmodo) Read the full article

[fuckyeahfluiddynamics]

Farewell, Saffire!

After eight years and six flight tests, NASA said a fiery farewell to the Spacecraft Fire Safety Experiment, or Saffire, mission. Each Saffire test took place on an uncrewed Cygnus supply vehicle after undocking from the space station.  (Image and video credit: NASA; via Gizmodo and NASA Glenn) Read the full article

[fuckyeahfluiddynamics]

Saving Energy By Following a Leader

Scientists have long suspected that birds save energy by following a leader -- think of the V-shaped flight formation used by geese -- but a new study captures that savings directly. (Image credit: R. Gissler and S. Hao; research credit: S. Friman et al.; via Physics World) Read the full article

[fuckyeahfluiddynamics]

Tracking Break-Up

In fluid dynamics, researchers are often challenged with complicated, messy flows. With so much going on at once, it's hard to work out a way to keep track of it all. Here, researchers are looking at the break-up of two colliding liquid jets.  (Video and image credit: E. Pruitt et al.) Read the full article

[fuckyeahfluiddynamics]

Tumbling in Air

When snowflakes and volcanic ash fall, they tumble. Historically, it's been too hard to observe this behavior first hand -- the particles are too small to easily follow with a camera -- so scientists instead looked at larger particles falling through water.  (Image credit: snow - A. Burden, experiment - T. Bhowmick et al.; research credit: T. Bhowmick et al.; via APS Physics) Read the full article

[fuckyeahfluiddynamics]

Modeling Wildfires With Water

Turbulence over a burning forest can carry embers that spread the wildfire. To understand how wildfire plumes interact with the natural turbulence found above the forest canopy, researchers modeled the situation in a water flume. (Image credit: wildfire - M. Brooks, experiment - H. Chung and J. Koseff; research credit: H. Chung and J. Koseff; via APS Physics)