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Swimsuit Design Uses Supercomputing

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the go-with-the-flow dept.

Roland Piquepaille writes "These days, most competitive swimmers wear some type of body suit to reduce high skin-friction drag from water. And makers of swimwear are already busy working on new models for the Olympics 2008. According to Textile & Apparel, Speedo is even using a supercomputer to refine its designs. Its engineers run Fluent Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) program on an SGI Altix system."

13 of 253 comments (clear)

  1. Roland Piquepaille & Speedo by StikyPad · · Score: 5, Funny

    Two words I never wanted to see in the same paragraph.

    --
    https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere
  2. Nice to see by 0racle · · Score: 4, Funny

    It's nice to see SGI working on winning gold medals in Swimming. They just need to find out how to get rid of the meat bag causing all that drag on their wonderfully designed swimsuits.

    --
    "I use a Mac because I'm just better than you are."
    1. Re:Nice to see by akorvemaker · · Score: 5, Funny

      At what point does "Informative" become "Too Much Information"?

    2. Re:Nice to see by ampathee · · Score: 5, Funny

      Maybe we need a "-1, Informative" mod :)

  3. Swimsuit Editions? by redphive · · Score: 4, Funny

    Does this mean Computer magazines are going to start having yearly swimsuit editions? This could be a good and a bad thing.

  4. Ahh, the differences between men and women by alshithead · · Score: 4, Funny

    "Meanwhile, the CFD analysis has already indicated that there is a more separated flow, where the water actually leaves the surface of the swimmer, for females than males, so the designs for male and female suits should be different."

    Translation: Boobs and hips create additional drag. Make the suits tighter in the chest and hips for women.

    --
    I reserve the right to think for myself. Others' opinions are optional. Puppy on lap = typos...not illiteracy.
    1. Re:Ahh, the differences between men and women by MustardMan · · Score: 4, Funny

      Next thing we'll have accusations of people using steroids, not to make them stronger, but to shrink their testicles, to cut down on yambag drag.

  5. Re:Gee, if you have until 2008... by MyLongNickName · · Score: 4, Funny

    And, yet, wasting computer resources on hosting and posting on Slashdot is acceptable?

    --
    See my journal for slashdot ID's by year. Mine created in 2005. http://slashdot.org/journal/289875/slashdot-ids-by-year
  6. childhood limerick... by lanced · · Score: 4, Funny

    That reminds me of an old limerick. Sing along if you know it...

    Taco,
    Burrito,
    What's that in your Speedo?

    But in this case, it should be...
    Jobs,
    or Gates,
    Who designed your Speedo?

    Maybe it doesn't rhyme, but now all of you are thinking of Bill Gates in a thong. Ha.

  7. Womens... by ResQuad · · Score: 4, Funny

    Obviously in womens olypic competition they should ban swimsuits all together. Not only would that level the playing field... viewership would SKY ROCKET!!! 10x at least!

    --
    snowulf.com
  8. For a _swimsuit_?! by Dorsai65 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Okay, I can see needing a supercomputer for designing Pam Anderson's bra, but not for swimsuits...

    --
    --- Asking inconvenient questions for over 30 years...
  9. Bonobo apes fence in the wild ... by Rob+Carr · · Score: 5, Funny
    Sexual behavior in Bonobo apes is much closer to humans than chimps are to humans. Bonobos have sex face to face, sex for pleasure (although parakeets do that, too), lesbian sex, and (the thing that this thread reminded me of) male Bonobo apes hang from branches and fence penises.

    The recent SciAm special issue, Becoming Human has an article on the Bonobos -- "Bonobo Sex and Society" that covers it in more detail.

    I'm going to regret posting this and admitting I know this, aren't I?

    --
    This sig seemed like a good idea at the time....
  10. Leaked Photo! by Dagmar+d'Surreal · · Score: 4, Funny

    GazetteNET has managed to get their hands on a leaked picture of the new recommended swimming helmet designed by the supercomputing software. Here's the photo. Looks pretty slick to me. :)

    http://www.gazettenet.com/business/02242003/14.jpg