Fluid Dynamics - Blog Posts

Fluid dynamics in all its glory

One of the most beautiful chemical reactions is the Belousov–Zhabotinsky reaction, and it’s the subject of the latest video from Beauty of Science. (Image and video credit: Beauty of Science; via PetaPixel; submitted by clogwog)

It's 2am.

I have an assignment due in two hours ago on the Hagen-Poiseuille equation and what it explains and how you derive it etc and link it to Bernoulli's principal.

Whipee for physics.

Fuck my physics degree apparently (cos I'm definitely failing this year)

For pedestrians, windy conditions can be uncomfortable or even downright dangerous. And while you might expect the buildings of an urban environment to protect people from the wind, that’s not always the case. The image above shows a simulation of ground-level wind conditions in Venice on a breezy day. While many areas, shown in blue and green, have lower wind speeds, there are a few areas, shown in red, where wind speeds are well above the day’s average. This enhancement often occurs in areas where buildings constrict airflow and funnel it together. The buildings create a form of the Venturi effect, where narrowing passages cause local pressure to drop, driving an increase in wind speed. Architects and urban designers are increasingly turning to numerical simulations and CFD to study these effects in urban environments and to search for ways to mitigate problems and keep pedestrians safe. (Image credits: CFD analysis - SimScale; pedestrians - Saltysalt, skolnv)

This post was sponsored by SimScale, the cloud-based simulation platform. SimScale offers a free Community plan for anyone interested in trying CFD, FEA and thermal simulations in their browser. Sign up for a free account here. 

For information on FYFD’s sponsored post policy, click here.

When I post Slow Mo Guys videos, it often comes with a warning not to try this at home. For their latest video, that deserves an extra-special mention: seriously, don’t try this. In this video, Dan and Gav explode lithium-ion batteries. In the process, they discover a safety feature - namely vents on one face of the battery. Because runaway thermal reactions (a.k.a. explosions) are a possibility with this type of battery system, consumer-grade batteries are designed to try and prevent extreme damage. One of these outwardly visible safety features are these four vents that release gas when when the battery is too hot. By venting the gas, manufacturers keep the battery from exploding and sending hot chemicals and shrapnel in all directions. Instead the venting gas turns the entire battery into a miniature rocket. (Video and image credit: The Slow Mo Guys)

The team behind Beauty of Science decided to explore the four seasons in this video combining macro footage of crystal growth, chemical reactions, and fluid dynamics. It’s always a fun game with videos like this to try and guess exactly what makes the mesmerizing patterns we see. Are those blue streaming waves in Spring caused by alcohol shifting the surface tension in a mixture? Are the dots of color welling up in Autumn a lighter fluid bursting up from underneath a denser one? As fun as the visuals are, though, what really made this video stand out for me was its excellent use of “The Blue Danube” to tie everything together. Check it out and don’t forget the audio! (Video credit: Beauty of Science; via Gizmodo)

Inside the Squirting Cucumber

Though only 5 cm long, the squirting cucumber can spray its seeds up to 10 meters away. The little fruit does so through a clever combination of preparation and ballistic maneuvers.  (Research and image credit: F. Box et al.; via Gizmodo) Read the full article