Brief Highlights Of The Fluid Dynamics Conference: The Physics Of Fluids, Sports, Magnetic Medicine

Main Category: Biology / Biochemistry
Also Included In: Conferences;  Public Health;  Blood / Hematology
Article Date: 29 Oct 2009 - 4:00 PDT

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Many of nature's most fascinating phenomena involve forms of fluid flow - the motions of liquids and gases - from the flight of golf and tennis balls to the slip of a red blood cell, the flap of an elephant ear, the line of a wildfire, the spin of a storm, or the formation of a crater on the Moon.

The 62nd Annual Meeting of the American Physical Society's (APS) Division of Fluid Dynamics takes place from November 22-24 at the Minneapolis Convention Center. This is the largest scientific meeting of the year devoted to the dynamics of fluid flows, and it brings together researchers from around the globe to present work with applications in engineering, energy, physics, astronomy, medicine, and mathematics.

BRIEF HIGHLIGHTS OF SCIENTIFIC PROGRAM

The following is a brief sampling of some of the 1,611 abstracts to be presented at the meeting.

1. THE PHYSICS OF SPORTS Aerodynamics plays a prominent role in any sport where a ball spends time in flight or a person moves through a fluid, and the field of fluid dynamics may shed new light on any such sport. In a special session on Sunday, November 22, five invited speakers will discuss everything from potential new golf ball designs to strategies professional swimmers adopt to improve their stroke.
   
   These include:
   Numerical modeling and experimental measurements of golf ball aerodynamics
   The fluid dynamics of competitive swimming
   Baseball aerodynamics
   Cricket and tennis ball aerodynamics
   
   All physics of sports session abstracts can be viewed at: http://meetings.aps.org/Meeting/DFD09/SessionIndex3/?SessionEventID=113267
   
   
2. HARVESTING ENERGY FROM TURBULENCE The availability of significant kinetic energy in fluid flows distributed over a number of temporal and spatial scales creates a unique opportunity to convert this energy into electrical output by using piezoelectric generators. http://meetings.aps.org/Meeting/DFD09/Event/111223
   
   
3. WHY DO ELEPHANTS FLAP THEIR EARS? "Noting that the elephant ears have high surface area to volume ratio and an extensive vascular network, ear flapping is thought to be the principal thermoregulatory mechanism" http://meetings.aps.org/Meeting/DFD09/Event/110596
   
   
4. THE GROWTH AND MELTING OF ICICLES Researchers at the University of Cambridge are looking at the competing forces at work in icicle formation -- heat transfer, air currents, and gravity. http://meetings.aps.org/Meeting/DFD09/Event/110706
   
   
5. THE PHYSICS OF WILDFIRES "Wildfires have been a long-standing problem in today's society. In this paper, we derive and solve a fluid dynamics model to study a specific type of wildfire, namely, a two dimensional flow around a concentrated line of fire, resulting in a narrow plume of hot gas rising and entraining the surrounding air" http://meetings.aps.org/Meeting/DFD09/Event/110726
   
   
6. AERODYNAMICS OF REED INSTRUMENTS "We present an investigation of the mechanism by which air flow induces oscillation in free reeds, which produce sound in several musical instruments." http://meetings.aps.org/Meeting/DFD09/Event/111572
   
   
7. MAGNETIC DRUGS "Magnetic drug targeting is a promising cancer treatment technique in which magnetic drug particles are steered through the blood stream or held near a tumor site using external magnetic fields." http://meetings.aps.org/Meeting/DFD09/Event/112198
   
   
8. A NEW, GROOVED, GOLF BALL A team in Korea uses a wind tunnel to measure the lift and drag on a new golf ball with grooves instead of dimples on the surface. http://meetings.aps.org/Meeting/DFD09/Event/111481
   
   
9. DWARF SEAHORSE ATTACK Why do some dwarf seahorse feeding attacks succeed and others fail? http://meetings.aps.org/Meeting/DFD09/Event/110810
   
   
10. TUNABLE ADHESIVES "We demonstrate experimentally that field-responsive magnetorheological fluids can adhere to non-magnetic substrates. The tunable adhesive performance is measured experimentally" http://meetings.aps.org/Meeting/DFD09/Event/111580
    
    
11. A COMPUTATIONAL ESTUARY Researchers in California and Switzerland simulate the complicated flows, sedimentary processes, and fresh-saltwater mixing where a river flows into the ocean. http://meetings.aps.org/Meeting/DFD09/Event/111169
    
    
12. RED BLOOD CELLS SLIP AND SLIDE "Understanding why red blood cells (RBCs) move with an asymmetric shape (slipper-like shape) in small blood vessels is a longstanding puzzle of blood circulatory research. An increase of membrane rigidity is found to lead to a dramatic change of the slipper morphology, offering thus a potential diagnostic for cell pathologies." http://meetings.aps.org/Meeting/DFD09/Event/112213
    
    
13. SORTING WITH BUBBLES Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign sort particles by size using oscillating microbubbles. http://meetings.aps.org/Meeting/DFD09/Event/110600
    
    
14. CRATER FORMATION "This project characterizes crater formation in a granular material by a jet of gas impinging on a granular material, such as a retro-rocket landing on the moon." http://meetings.aps.org/Meeting/DFD09/Event/112251

MORE MEETING INFORMATION

The 62nd Annual DFD Meeting will be held at the Minneapolis Convention Center in downtown Minneapolis. All meeting information, including directions to the Convention Center is at: http://www.dfd2009.umn.edu/

Main meeting Web site: http://meetings.aps.org/Meeting/DFD09/Content/1629

Source:
Jason Bardi
American Institute of Physics