Check this out: www.sciencedaily.com/.../080228100709.htm
excerpt:
Dr. Morvan said, "CFD is used to help us gain an idea of the sources of skin and form drag. Skin drag is inherent to the material properties over which a fluid flows and to the local flow conditions (speed in particular) as it is induced by the local velocity gradients (on your body, the water velocity is 0 m/s; away it is faster; the gradient creates a shear due to the viscous property of the fluid)."
Form drag is due to the presence of one's body travelling through the fluid, and what is desirable is to make the flow path as smooth and undisturbed as possible. Dr. Morvan said, "With CFD analysis we were able to use the compressive properties of the suit to make the swimmer as hydrodynamically efficient as possible; some simulation were also used to help train/educate swimmer in fact, highlighting the effects of one's cap or finger positions on one's performance."
Very interesting.I like that these suits should be more comfortable,though I can stand a little chafing to save money.I have 2 problems with the suits and the science behind them both related to the testing being done on towed swimmers,not actvely swimming swimmers.
First is regarding compression.Muscle(or flab) rippling could slow one down,but restricting muscle movement may slow one down even more.Also does it restrict venous return or lung expansion.
Second,flow characteristics are very different for a moving object than for a relatively ridged one and I am not sure how well their data actually translates to the swimmer.
First is regarding compression.Muscle(or flab) rippling could slow one down,but restricting muscle movement may slow one down even more.
I think this is the main reason why the new suits work so well - at least on me.
